Canisius 150 Magazine

C AN I S I U S C O L L E G E | C E L E B R AT I NG

1 50 Y E A R S O F E X C E L L E N C E

1870

2020

Acknowledgements Canisius College wishes to express its sincere appreciation to the many individuals who, through their generous efforts and spirit, made this commemorative publication possible.

Deepest gratitude is extended to Canisius President John J. Hurley for his inspiring leadership and enthusiasm for this project and Vice President for Institutional Advancement William M. Collins for his guidance and support in its development.

A special thanks to Canisius Librarian and Archivist Kathleen M. Delaney ’73 and Emeritus Professor of Chemistry Joseph F. Bieron ’59, MS ’61, PhD, for their unfathomable knowledge of college history and anecdotal stories that contributed to the essence of this work. The editors are similarly indebted to the late English Professor Charles A. Brady ’33, HON ’87, whose breadth of scholarship on the college’s history is chronicled in Canisius College: The First Hundred Years. This very special account served as an apt foundation in charting the course for Canisius College: Celebrating 150 Years.

Foremost, Canisius recognizes Maria Scrivani ’76, an acclaimed author of several books on Buffalo history, whose counsel and personal contributions throughout have greatly enriched the historical context of this commemorative piece.

And to the many, many other individuals who generously shared their expertise to make this publication possible – a sincere Thank You. William M. Collins Vice President, Institutional Advancement

Eileen C. Herbert ’04, MS ’15

TA BL E OF C ON T EN T S Message from the President . . . . . . . . . . . . 01 Our Forefathers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 03 Prologue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 05 The Founding Years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 09

Executive Editor, Canisius College Magazine

Canisius Comes into its Own. . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Audrey R. Browka

Sacrifice and Scholarship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Managing Editor, Canisius College Magazine

Patricia Herkey Director, Creative Services

Cody Weiler Art Director, Creative Services

Brianna Blank ’14

Expanding Horizons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Revolutionary Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Academic Excellence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Photographer, Multimedia Producer

Raising the Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Thomas A. Wolf ’86

A New Buffalo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Photographer

CONTRIBUTORS Erik Brady ’76 Robert J. Butler, PhD Bruce J. Dierenfield, PhD Jessica Johnson Rev. Patrick J. Lynch, SJ John L. Maddock Matthew C. Reitnour MS ’04 Natalie R. Ryan ’18 Cynthia L. Skrzycki ’76 Kenneth M. Sroka ’65, PhD Daniel P. Starr ’58, HON ’18, PhD

* Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the historical names, places and events published in Canisius College: Celebrating 150 Years. Should there be an occurrence of oversight or omission, readers are invited to share such information at ccmag@canisius.edu so that Canisius may appropriately amend its historical records.

Epilogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

A M E S S AG E F R OM T H E PR ESI D EN T On September 5, 1870, 12-year-old Jacob Lang walked through the doors as the first student to arrive at the brand new Canisius College on Ellicott Street in Buffalo and thus was launched what would become one of Western New York’s most enduring and important institutions.

We are proudly celebrating the sesquicentennial anniversary of the founding of Canisius College during this academic year. I am pleased to welcome you to this very special edition of Canisius College Magazine, which tells our extraordinary story and traces the college’s history from day one to the present.

This beautiful commemorative piece recounts the Canisius story era by era.

We look back at our history through the stories of prominent individuals, significant events and wonderful historical photos. As the stories on these pages attest, Canisius College has a rich history of excellence and leadership in the city of Buffalo and all of Western New York. As someone who has spent a significant part of his life at Canisius, I did not think there was much about the college that I did not know or had not seen. I know that this treasure trove of history and photographs will delight even our most ardent alumni and friends.

Historical evidence aside, we bask in the observance of our sesquicentennial anniversary and reflect with enormous pride on what Canisius College has meant to our community and the tens of thousands of students we have educated over the last 150 years. We and those who will follow us have a tremendous responsibility to build on the legacy of our founders and all who have preceded us and continue to keep our beloved college robust, relevant and true to its mission.

May God continue to bless this great college!

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Our Forefathers The origins of a Canisius College education date back nearly a half millennium to the intellectual and faith experiences of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus.

“If you have too much to do, with God’s help you will find time to do it all.”

Baptized Íñigo Lòpez de Loyola in 1491, Ignatius descended from a noble family in the Basque Country of northern Spain. He was a page in the Spanish court of Ferdinand and Isabella, educated a knight and driven from a young age by ambitions of material gain, personal glory and military prowess. Of his career as an army officer, Ignatius recalled his “great and vain desire to win renown.”

St. Peter Canisius, Patron Saint, Canisius College

Pieter Kanis (his name later Latinized to Canisius) was born near the Netherlands in 1521, the very same year Martin Luther openly rebelled against the church. The son of devout Catholic parents, Aegidia van Houweningen and Jacob Kanis, Canisius often claimed idleness in his youth though he entered the University of Cologne at 15 to study theology and obtained his master’s degree before age 20.

In time, Ignatius would become a great general – though of a religious order, not an army.

His early military aspirations ended abruptly when a cannon ball shattered Ignatius’ legs as he defended the Spanish crown against the French. Throughout his lengthy recovery, Ignatius read from the only materials afforded to him – devotionals on the lives of Christ and the saints – and he began to imagine a life different than that at court.

While studying at Cologne, Canisius met Peter Faber, the first Jesuit disciple of Ignatius Loyola and the man who led Canisius through the 30-day retreat known as the Spiritual Exercises. The series of contemplative prayers and practices deepened Canisius’ spiritual life significantly and on his 22nd birthday, he made a vow to enter the newly founded Society of Jesus.

Like the saints he read about, Ignatius abandoned his prideful ambitions and committed his life to holy chivalry and service to God. He faithfully followed a new and concentrated routine of prayer, theological studies and service to the sick and poor. As his spiritual conversion deepened, Ignatius began to record his insights, experiences and movements of soul. This journal became a precursor to the Spiritual Exercises, a prayer manual to help others discern God’s presence in their lives.

It wasn’t long after that Ignatius tasked Canisius to fight the growing tide of Protestantism in Germany, where the initial Reformation movement began and the schism was greatest.

The young Jesuit faced an almost impossible mission of halting the defections of Catholics and winning back those who had already left the church. But for the next half century, he put up a heroic defense, countering the rhetoric of reformers with Catholic exhortation and education.

At the time of his conversion and even upon the founding of the Society of Jesus in 1534, Ignatius did not envision education as a priority. Rather the new Jesuit Order focused its efforts on catechesis and corporal works of mercy.

Declaring education as key to preparing future generations devout in Catholic tradition, Canisius set off to Ingolstadt, Germany. There, he used the pulpit to preach his great many catechetical writings, including his most well-known work The Summary of Christian Doctrine. Canisius used the classroom to further explain the fundamental truths of Catholic teaching. His efforts revived religious sentiments among Catholics and attracted nominal Protestants to the church.

Quickly though, it became apparent to Ignatius that the Society could make a difference for the better through education. He saw an opportunity in schools and universities to foster the intellectual, spiritual and emotional development of young people in such a way that they would look on the world with compassion and use their education to foster a more just and humane society.

The Spiritual Exercises provided the framework for Ignatius’ pedagogical paradigm, which included three key components: experience, reflection and action.

This paradigm remains at the core of an Ignatian education today. It is the basis for academic curricula at Jesuit schools and universities around the world.

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Most major movements have their heroes. The Catholic Counter-Reformation had the 16th century Dutch Jesuit Peter Canisius. The enormity of what the college’s patron saint accomplished for the Catholic Church and the zeal with which he pursued it typifies the Jesuit ideal of putting faith into action.

“Ite, inflammate omnia” “Go forth and set the world on fire.”

St. Ignatius of Loyola, Founder, Society of Jesus

Canisius went on to employ the same evangelical strategy elsewhere. By the end of his tenure, he had founded 18 colleges and universities throughout the German province, making Jesuit education the major symbol of the renaissance of the Catholic Church and him, the most influential Catholic reformer of the 16th century.

It’s for these reasons that in 1870, when the Most Rev. John Timon, bishop of Buffalo, invited the Jesuits to establish a college in the city of Buffalo, the order named it appropriately for its most diligent lover of education, the recently beatified Peter Canisius.

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Prologue Think of Rev. Henry Behrens, SJ, as a sort of priestly Indiana Jones.

This giant of Canisius history pulled off an audacious wartime ruse for the ages in 1847, 25 years before he’d become president of the college and buy the land where alma mater now stands.

Swiss federal troops were bearing down on the University of Fribourg during the Sonderbund War when Father Behrens packed up what he could of the university’s irreplaceable treasures. These chests contained chalices from the chapel, rare volumes from the library – and relics of Peter Canisius, who had founded the school nearly 300 years earlier as the College of Saint-Michel.

The brief civil war would end with Switzerland’s Catholic provinces defeated and 200 Jesuits expelled from the country. But on this day of that little-known war, Father Behrens devised a subterfuge worthy of Hollywood. He dressed the Jesuit scholastics in his charge in civilian clothes and, as the anti-clerical forces began looting the university, suddenly appeared wearing the uniform of one of their superior officers.

The disguised priest shouted orders “with the voice and bearing of a commander,” according to accounts of the day, and fooled the marauders into carrying the corded trunks filled with priceless artifacts to a prearranged place of safekeeping. Father Behrens and his scholastics escaped with the heirlooms – and their lives.

A good thing, too, because a quarter century later he’d play a pivotal role in the college’s early history as its second president.

During his term, Father Behrens purchased the so-called Villa property at Main and Jefferson for the purposes of student recreation at a time when Canisius was in cramped quarters downtown. This priest described by contemporaries as a man of “rigid resolve” looms as a forbidding figure among the dozens of German-born Jesuits we look to as our flinty founding fathers.

And the beginnings of the college are decidedly German. The language was compulsory in the curriculum. The discipline was of strict Germanic rectitude. And the man for whom the school was named would, by papal decree, soon be called “the second apostle of Germany.” (The first, St. Boniface, evangelized Christianity in Germany in the eighth century; Peter Canisius evangelized the Catholic Revival in Germany in the face of the Protestant Reformation eight centuries later.)

Rev. Henry Behrens, SJ

It is easy to understand why the German Jesuits who founded the college would think of naming it for Blessed Peter Canisius.

Canisius, the school, opened just six years after Canisius, the man, was beatified. (His canonization would come in 1925.)

So what led German Jesuits to found the college? Well, as fate would have it, the Diocese of Buffalo was founded in 1847 – the same year as the attack at Fribourg – and Buffalo’s first bishop, Most Rev. John Timon, invited two Jesuit missionaries to Buffalo a year later from the Mission of Upper Canada. The original idea was to repair a rift at St. Louis Church. (It proved unrepairable.) Some years later the bishop offered the Jesuits a site on Washington Street on the condition they build a parish church for Buffalo’s growing German population and a college for the immigrant Catholic families of his burgeoning city.

St. Michael’s Church – an echo of Saint-Michel in Fribourg – came first. Before long, the Jesuits there began teaching Latin informally.

Among their early pupils was Nelson Baker, a Union Army veteran who would go on to the priesthood and famously serve Western New York’s orphaned children and unwed mothers, making Father Baker a Canisius student of its prehistory.

By this time French Jesuits from the New York-Canadian Mission of the Society of Jesus were giving way to their counterparts from the German Province of the Society of Jesus. The German Province opened its Missio Germanica Americae Septentrionalis (better known as the Buffalo Mission) at St. Michael’s in 1869.

The Buffalo Mission served much of the Great Lakes from Western New York to Wisconsin, eventually including the dioceses of Buffalo and Rochester, NY; Erie, PA; Cleveland and Toledo, OH; Fort Wayne, IN; St. Paul, MN; and Lacrosse and Green Bay, WI. The German Province, in the form of the Buffalo Mission, would hold sway over the college through all its formative years, until 1907.

The college’s original course of study was based on the Germanic progymnasium, a six-year classical secondary course. The boys were typically 13 when they entered and 19 when they graduated – more high school plus community college (as we’d think of it in the modern sense) than college. Canisius High School and College were really one in the same at the beginning and would not be fully separate institutions until well into the 20th century.

Main Street in downtown Buffalo, NY, circa 1920s 06

The college opened on Ellicott Street in downtown Buffalo in 1870. Globally, the Franco-Prussian War raged in Europe (where our own Father Behrens ministered on the front lines). Locally, Samuel Clemens (pen name, Mark Twain) was editor of The Buffalo Express and Millard Fillmore (13th U.S. president) was chancellor of the University of Buffalo.

Rev. Henry Knappmeyer began the first day of Canisius history by writing AMDG on the blackboard, for Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, meaning “To the Greater Glory of God,” the Jesuit motto. Next he wrote the Pater Noster (Our Father) and Ave Maria (Hail Mary) on the board in Latin. The 35 students (31 of German descent) who comprised the college’s first class were instructed to memorize the prayers, in Latin, for the following day, marking the school’s first homework assignment.

Hail Mary was a felicitous choice, for Peter Canisius popularized a piece of it – some of the most famous words in all Christendom. The first lines of the prayer come to us from the Gospel of Luke: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. The last line comes to us courtesy of Canisius: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

According to historian Friedrich Streicher – who wrote a critical analysis of Peter Canisius’ famed Triple Catechism in the 1930s – this sentence appeared in print for the first time in 1555 in the first Canisius catechism. Dominican tradition holds that friar Girolamo Savonarola originated that line decades earlier, though the 2001 edition of Heaven: A History, written by American and German academics, credits Canisius.

The book notes Mary was seen as the supreme intercessor at the hour of death by Catholics of the late medieval age and that Peter Canisius included this aspect of the Mother of Mercy in his catechism to emphasize divine benevolence, in contrast to the divine justice of the Christ-judge underscored

by Philip Melanchthon’s Lutheran catechism of the era.

Suffice to say that the church officially adopted the last line of the Hail Mary in 1566 at the Council of Trent. Guess who attended the council and spoke there as a noted theologian? Hint: You can find an image of Peter Canisius at the Council of Trent in stained glass at Immaculate Conception Jesuit Church in New Orleans.

Most of the Jesuits who taught at the college in its early years were Germanborn men who’d been educated or had taught at one of the half-dozen European universities founded by Peter Canisius. That includes Father Behrens, who was prefect of discipline and professor of mathematics at the Canisius-founded University of Fribourg when those Swiss federal forces invaded.

Father Behrens’ role in another war would lead him on a path that would take him to the fledgling college in Buffalo. During the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71, Father Behrens was superior of the Jesuit priests who offered last rites on battlefields and in hospitals. He was awarded the Iron Cross for valor and rode on the train that bore Otto von Bismarck to Berlin for the German army’s triumphal return. And yet within weeks Bismarck expelled Behrens and

many of his Jesuit brethren as a supposed menace to the empire.

Father Behrens soon made his way to America and arrived in Buffalo in 1872.

Within days he was named president of the college and superior of the Buffalo Mission. Like Rev. William Becker, SJ, the college’s first president, he spoke no English. (Father Becker gave his address in German when the cornerstone of the college’s second home on Washington Street was set in May 1872.) Unlike Father Becker, Father Behrens quickly set about to learn the language at the daunting age of 56.

Among his early quandaries was this: Canisius had opened without first securing permission from the Society of Jesus in Rome. “It was as if, in building a new house, one were to put up the roof first,” Father Behrens wrote in a belated request for the Society’s blessing, which would come in early 1873.

The college would have to wait an additional 10 years for its charter to confer degrees. That could only come when the college was truly a college, rather than a progymnasium.

Father Behrens bought the Main Street property known as the Villa – the German-born Jesuits pronounced it “Willa,” much to the merriment of their American-born students – in 1875. The original purpose was for student recreation. By 1912, the college would move to its current home, away from its roots downtown but still of and in the city it serves.

There’s an old Latin saying that Jesuits love the cities as Franciscans love the valleys and Dominicans the heights. Substitute Vincentians for Dominicans and we can think of our worthy Little Three rivals: St. Bonaventure is set amid majestic mountains in the state’s Southern Tier and Niagara University is set high above the gorge not far from the thundering Falls.

St. Bona opened in 1858 and Niagara in 1856, so collegiate Catholic education was alive and well in Western New York in Timon’s time. But the bishop longed for a city school – and in 2020 Canisius will call Buffalo its home for 150 years.

We have grown beyond the geographical limits of Father Behrens’ prescient purchase but the old Villa site remains the center of our campus. It is home to Old Main, Loyola Hall, the student center, the quad, the dorms and, of course, Christ the King Chapel.

There, beneath the chapel altar, is a relic of St. Peter Canisius. Could it have been among those sacral vestiges saved by Father Behrens in 1847? Charles A. Brady ’33, HON ’87 considered that question in Canisius College: The First Hundred Years, our centennial history published in 1970. Brady found no documentary proof but concluded that it seems more than likely.

Father Behrens served just four years as president of the college. He would go on to other adventures, including a key role in the founding of St. Ignatius College (now John Carroll) in Cleveland. And then he turned his energy to a new calling, again under the auspices of the Buffalo Mission, this time among the Brule Sioux and Oglala Sioux of the South Dakota Badlands.

Father Behrens would trade the American West for Western New York in 1892 when he returned to the college as confessor. Three years later, at age 80, he died on the campus of his beloved Canisius. In this he followed the example of Peter Canisius, who died on the campus of his beloved Fribourg in 1597 – precisely 250 years before Father Behrens’ feat of cinematic sangfroid during the Sonderbund War. † - Erik Brady ’76

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1870-1912

1870

THE FOUNDING YEARS

G O FORT H AN D T EAC H

As school ventures go, 400-plus years is a long time to be in the education business. Still, Jesuit education has endured since the end of the 16th century, conceivably because its founder, Ignatius Loyola, intended it to continually adapt to the context of the modern world.

The story of how Canisius College came to be began long before this Jesuit institution opened its doors to students in 1870. Its history is prefaced by the resolve of two Buffalo bishops who, during their respective tenures, ministered to a burgeoning metropolis of primarily Catholic immigrants.

He believed Jesuit education to be the future of humanity.

Therefore, Jesuit education would continue to lead but also innovate, reflect and refine, and always respond to the needs of the times, the needs of the local community and the needs of people.

In the 21-year interval between the consecration of the Most Rev. John Timon as the first bishop of a new Buffalo Catholic Diocese, and the 1868 appointment of his successor, the Most Rev. Stephen Vincent Ryan, the city of Buffalo and its surrounding neighborhoods more than doubled in population to 100,000, half of whom were Catholic.

The Ratio Studiorum was the first document to establish a universal set of norms for Jesuit education. The plan of studies concentrated on the traditional subjects of philosophy and theology but also included the humanities – literature, history and drama – and an emphasis on Latin and Greek.

To keep pace with the congregational needs of an exploding Catholic population, Bishop Timon extended an invitation to the French Jesuits of the Upper Canada Mission. He offered the Jesuits a parcel of land on Washington Street with two conditions: that they build a parish church to minister to the new German settlers and a college to meet the urgent diocesan need for a Catholic higher education institution in the region.

Canisius operated under the Ratio Studiorum when it first opened its doors in 1870. By 1879, however, American students, both clergy and lay, sought an education that focused more on the sciences and rhetoric, and Jesuit educators tailored their teachings accordingly. At Canisius, this period of Americanization saw the introduction of the college’s first pre-med course for those who wished to attend medical school. The course later evolved into the bachelor of science program.

The Jesuit fathers accepted and in 1852 St. Michael’s Church opened on Washington Street. But as late as 1868, when Bishop Ryan succeeded Bishop Timon, the French Jesuit fathers had failed in three separate efforts to establish a Catholic college in Buffalo. The lack of money and manpower prevented them from mounting a sustained, organized effort to found a permanent Catholic college. Recognizing this, the French Superior asked the German Jesuits for help.

The Ratio Studiorum supported the American shift toward a more practical education. Its original text clearly states, “Those who attend our schools will, for the greater glory of God, make the greatest possible progress in development of character, literary skills and learning.”

They responded by assuming all assets and liabilities of the French Jesuit Mission and then opening the Buffalo Mission in 1869, which encompassed the southern shores of the Great Lakes, including the dioceses of Buffalo, Rochester and Erie, PA. At last, in 1870, the Jesuit fathers made a supreme effort to open a Catholic college in Buffalo. And though they encountered difficulties of every description, the fathers resolved to make a success of it.

On September 5, 1870, mustering an enrollment of 35 students, Canisius College opened its doors.

This theme of adaptation becomes further evident on the following pages, which highlight the history of Jesuit education at Canisius and its evolution. At the same time, readers will recognize that this need to adapt to a changing atmosphere never strays far from the foundation of Jesuit teachings.

“The mission of the new Canisius College is to instruct youth – especially Catholic youth – in all the disciplines of the liberal arts and the higher branches of knowledge.”

Most Rev. John Timon, Bishop of Buffalo

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1870

1871

P R ES ID ENTI AL P O STURI NG

WOR K I NG TOWAR D WASH I NG TON ST R EET

Throughout its 150-year history, one thorny issue has remained unresolved in the Canisius chronicles: Who, exactly, was the first president of this institution?

By the second academic year at the new Canisius College, enrollment had nearly doubled from 35 to 60 students. The pressure of the growing enrollment on available classrooms and living quarters quickly became obvious and Rev. William Becker, SJ, appealed to the Superior General in Rome for a new building. But complications arose relevant to funding the $10,000 construction costs.

The answer is as ambiguous as any scarcely archived information from the late 1800s. Even the Woodstock Letters can’t provide certainty to this matter. The North American publication of record for the Society of Jesus identifies, in varying entries, Rev. William Becker, SJ, as the first president of Canisius. It later gives the title to Rev. Ernest A. Reiter, SJ.

Rev. William Becker, SJ

In 1871, a new chancellor of the German Empire outlawed the Jesuit Order and effectively stymied the home province in Germany from providing aid for a new Canisius building.

Mutually plausible evidence exists for both.

Above: The first building to bear the name Canisius College was a small two-story brick dwelling located at 434 Ellicott Street. The ground floor of the former bookstore was converted into a single large room for the Latin class. The upstairs rooms served the residential purposes of the Jesuit fathers.

According to Father Becker’s obituary, published in the Woodstock Letters, he arrived in summer 1870 to become the first superior of the Buffalo Mission. Here, it says, Father Becker worked as a pastor of St. Michael’s Church and was “the founder and first president of Canisius College.”

Rev. Ernest A. Reiter, SJ

Below: Ready for the start of classes in September 1872, the new, three-story building at 651 Washington Street housed classrooms, study halls, dormitories, an auditorium and a chapel. Within the next nine years, Canisius would add a north and south wing to the building to accommodate the ever-growing student population.

The Buffalo Mission rallied and hosted a church fair during the last week of December 1871. The fair afforded those of more modest means an opportunity to make a voluntary contribution toward the construction of a new building.

The Jesuit fathers solicited wealthier families in person.

By early March 1872, work began on a new, three-story college building at 651 Washington Street.

A much later volume of the Woodstock Letters challenges this. It reads that in September 1870, Canisius opened in a small building. “The first president of the new school was Father Ernest Reiter.”

Father Reiter arrived in Buffalo at the same time as Father Becker but to assume the rectorship of St. Michael’s Church. The presumption that he also served as president is credible, as the two positions (rector and president) had been held concurrently by the same individual almost up until the time Canisius moved to its Main Street location.

An advertisement in the September 1, 1870, Daily Courier (left) further bolsters this suggestion. The ad announced the opening of a new Canisius College. It is signed: Most respectfully, E.A. Reiter, SJ, President. Yet it is not Father Reiter’s rendering that hangs first among the Canisius wall of presidents on the first floor of Old Main. It is Father Becker’s.

Regardless, what remains unquestionable is that the combined zeal of Father Becker and Father Reiter led to the purchase of a small, twostory residence on Ellicott Street to house the new Canisius College.

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Left: The open area behind the new Washington Street building is where students often congregated before and after classes. Pictured at the far left of the photo is the steeple of St. Michael’s Church.

1878 C AN I SI US C OL L EG E OF R OC H EST ER ?

1874

The history of Canisius in Buffalo might have ceased in 1878, if the college’s third president, Rev. John B. Lessmann, SJ, had his way. In December that year, Father Lessmann sent a request to the Superior General in Rome that Canisius College be moved from Buffalo to Rochester.

Canisius acquires the Villa property at Main Street and Jefferson Avenue from the Sisters of St. Joseph.

Below: The Villa as it looked at the turn of the century.

Rev. John B. Lessmann, SJ

Father Lessmann reasoned that the Washington Street building could no longer accommodate the college’s growing enrollment of both students and borders. Nor could the landlocked site offer room for significant expansion.

Seventy miles east, Rochester’s first bishop, Rev. Bernard J. McQuaid, was initiating efforts to open a Catholic, Jesuit college in his diocese.

He communicated his intentions to the superior of the New York Mission, who referred him to Father Lessmann.

Discussions about the move came to halt in 1879, when McQuaid made an ad limina visit to Rome and met Rev. Henry E. Manning, an English cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. At odds with the Jesuits over the question of episcopal rights, Cardinal Manning persuaded McQuaid to withdraw from discussions about a move of Canisius.

Upon informing the Superior General of McQuaid’s change of heart, Father Lessmann remarked, “Perhaps at some later date he will come to recognize the imprudence of his foresight.”

1872 Canisius completes construction of Washington Street building in September 1872.

Rev. Henry Behrens, SJ 13

1878 Canisius holds its first graduation exercise, conferring diplomas upon seven graduates who completed the six-year classical course.

1872

1881

In December, the Rev. Henry Behrens, SJ, succeeds Father Becker as rector-president of Canisius College.

The first Debating Society at Canisius College is established.

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1883

1887

NO E ND OWMENT, NO REGENT S CHART E R

F I R ST M AST ER ’S D EG R EE C ON F ER R ED

In 1882, a three-member commission from the New York State Board of Regents visited Canisius. They came at the invitation of the Buffalo Jesuit Mission, which petitioned the board for a Regents Charter to enable the college to confer baccalaureate degrees.

“Father Sindele is gone” read the February 11, 1936, announcement in The Buffalo Evening News. “Silence envelops not only Canisius College and Sisters Hospital but thousands of Buffalo homes as the passing of Rev. Francis X. Sindele, SJ, is mourned.”

The inspection went well with commissioners citing better-than-expected facilities and finances. As they took their leave, one even suggested he could foresee “no obstacles” to get the college chartered. He spoke prematurely.

The beloved Jesuit spent 38 years on the Canisius faculty and 23 years as chaplain at Sisters. He died while performing his chaplain duties.

Father Sindele earned his way into the Canisius history books as the first to receive a master’s degree from the institution in 1887 but this designation hardly defines his legacy. He served as dean, chaplain and moderator of the Alumni Sodality.

Canisius learned soon after about a precondition to the preliminary granting of a Regents Charter. The precondition required that the petitioning institution have an endowment greater than $100,000.

Known as a humble man with a colorful personality, he was often teased by colleagues for his admitted aversion to athletics. For recreation, he’d read The Congressional Record or take walks about campus with squirrels following close behind as he tossed them nuts.

Father Sindele’s promptness and methodical nature were also fodder for his friends. Thankfully he possessed a sense of humor.

Still in its infancy, Canisius had no such endowment.

It did, however, have a persuasive president.

Rev. John B. Lessmann, SJ, the same president who a few years earlier sought to move Canisius to Rochester, NY, appealed to the Board of Regents asking the commission to waive the endowment requirement. In his sworn statement, Father Lessmann made the compelling argument that the Jesuit fathers of Canisius “have devoted their lives and themselves to teaching without compensation or salary … thus rendering any endowment, other than that already provided, unnecessary.”

The Board accepted Father Lessmann’s testimony, waived the endowment requirement and granted a Regents Charter to the college on January 11, 1883. Five months later, Canisius conferred its first baccalaureate degree.

1884 The Canisius College Alumni Association is organized with 47 charter members.

1891 SA D, SI L LY, B O R E D, B R O K E Excerpts from the 1891 diary of Canisius student Joseph A. Baumert (revealed through the expert transcription of Sesquicentennial Project Assistant Jessica Johnson) show that day-to-day student life has changed dramatically but emotions–well, let’s just say “’twas ever thus.”

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Above: Rev. Francis X. Sindele (third from left) was a beloved professor of oratory and rhetoric and the first student to receive a master’s degree from Canisius. He is pictured with (l-r): Rev. William Hoar, SJ, who taught summer sessions at Canisius from 1928-29; Rev. Anthony Guenther, SJ, chair of the Classics Department; Rev. James Sweeney, president of Canisius from 1934-37; and Rev. Bartlett, SJ, whose first name and affiliation with Canisius are unknown.

While Father Sindele was nurturing in his hospital role, he was inflexible in his teaching principles. He came to Canisius in 1900 tasked with a boisterous class. A teacher of oratory and rhetoric, he quickly garnered the reputation as the toughest in the school.

While students at the time likely didn’t appreciate him, many alumni lawyers would later credit Father Sindele for their eloquence in the courts.

March 4, Wednesday

March 10, Tuesday

March 14, Saturday

March 19, Thursday

I took a bath.

Thomas Shanon from Toledo closed his eyes in death last night at 10 o’clock. May his soul rest in peace.

He is the first that died of the students in Canisius College. At a quarter after eleven we went in the chapel where we prayed the rosary for the deceased.

Weyand’s Brewery burnt today.

It began about a quarter after four.

My names day.

March 6, Friday Coming down to supper last night we found a rat in the larder. All was soon in a tumult. Chairs were knocked over and one flew on his posterior in attempting to kick it.

Note: Christian Weyand’s Brewery was located near the college at this time, on Goodell and Washington Streets.

A front page story in the March 16, 1891, edition of The Buffalo Evening News reported on the spectacle, noting that the conflagration threatened several nearby buildings.

I received no letter or congratulations from home.

Besides I am broke.

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1896 Canisius College inaugurates the Alumni Sodality of Our Lady to foster an ardent devotion, reverence and love towards the Blessed Virgin Mary.

1903 C ANI S IUS F I EL DS A T EA M Canisius fielded its first official athletic team – baseball – in 1903, though it took an Olympian effort to bring the great American game to the college.

Despite burgeoning intramural programs and increasing student pressure, the German Jesuit fathers resisted the idea of varsity sports, citing it as a financial drain. Opinions shifted, however, in 1902 when businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie made a significant gift to Princeton University. Carnegie designated that the gift be used for the construction of a lake for the school’s rowing team.

Soon, college administrators – at Canisius and around the country – softened their stance on athletic programs and the advent of soliciting philanthropic gifts for sports teams followed.

Basketball became the second sport to be granted formal recognition at Canisius in 1904.

1905 Rev. Augustine A. Miller, SJ, is appointed rector-president of Canisius College.

1907 The German Province of the Society of Jesus transfers Canisius College to the Maryland-New York Province.

The Canisius baseball team of 1903 was comprised of 13 players: Ed Eschrich (catcher), Bart Theis (pitcher), Herman Werder (pitcher/infielder), George Schmidt (1st base), Joe Buschelmann (2nd base, catcher), George Ehrman (shortstop), James Mahoney (3rd base, pitcher), John Burns (left field), John Healion (center field), Tim Shea (right field), Andrew Ronan (2nd base), Frank Clancy (substitute) and Charles Costello (substitute).

Rev. Augustine A. Miller, SJ

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1908 T H E M AK I NG OF OL D M AI N

Today it is the symbol of Canisius College and the golden dome is one of Buffalo’s most distinguished landmarks. But the history of Old Main began in 1908, when plans were laid to move the college from its second location at 651 Washington Street.

The number of students enrolled at Canisius climbed to more than 400 and it became increasingly clear that the growing college needed additional space. The Villa retreat site at Main Street and Jefferson Avenue was the desired location.

Rev. Augustine Miller, SJ, the rector-president of the college, did what every good college president is supposed to do. In spring 1910, he asked Col. John L. Schwartz, president of the Alumni Association, to form a Building Fund Committee to raise $100,000 for the new building. The committee of 140 members canvassed the city asking for donations of a dollar or more. Businessmen abandoned their work for days at a time to raise funds for the college. The Rev. Bishop Charles H. Colton also gave his full endorsement and contributed the first $5,000 gift to the campaign. In just 32 days, Schwartz and his volunteers raised $100,059. Soon after, Bishop Colton turned the first spade of earth and the building of Old Main began.

The dedication of the “New Canisius College� took place on December 30, 1912, beginning a new era in the history of the institution. Until this day, the college and the high school had been housed together. The completion of Old Main marked their separation.

More than 1,500 people witnessed the laying and blessing of the cornerstone at the new Canisius College on June 19, 1911. Attired in military splendor, Col. John L. Schwartz, head of the Building Fund Committee, addressed the crowd.

Second from right is Buffalo Bishop Charles H. Colton and Monsignor Nelson H. Baker.

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A view of the construction underway on Old Main from September 12, 1911. Canisius dedicated the building on December 30, 1912. Within 12 years, two wings were added to accommodate growing enrollment.

1913-1940 CANISIUS COMES INTO ITS OWN

It was an era of growth and some growing pains.

The college conferred its first bachelor of science degree on T. Joseph Brown, who became a Jesuit and then professor of chemistry at Canisius.

Four years later, as World War I came to an end, Canisius established its first football team – albeit an intramural scrimmage squad for its first two years.

The college kicked off the so-called Roaring Twenties in style, admitting women – on a strictly limited basis – to some courses in teacher education and business. Babe Ruth also came to town in 1920. The celebrated slugger, with other major league players, visited Buffalo for an exhibition game. A Catholic taught by Xavierian Brothers, Ruth was recruited by Canisius College President Rev. Michael J. Ahern, SJ, to speak in support of the college’s $1 million capital campaign before several hundred guests at a Lafayette Hotel luncheon.

1914

That same year – which might be called the Year of the Big Show – saw the first on-campus production of the college’s already well-known version of the “Passion Play,” with a 500-member cast comprised mainly of Canisius students and alumni. By 1923, the vaunted production featured a cast of 700 plus a menagerie including sheep, horses, donkeys and a couple of camels. Ultimately a financial loss, that was the last performance of the “Passion Play” on campus.

His legacy at Canisius lives on via the Rev. T. Joseph Brown, SJ, Memorial Scholarship, established by his nephews, William F. Brown Jr. ’44 and Joseph G. Brown ’55.

In 1925, The Coffin Club was established at Canisius. Recognizing students who rendered outstanding service to the college, the organization later morphed into what is now the DiGamma Honor Society. Similarly, the student newspaper now known as The Griffin began publishing in 1933, a successor to The Canisian. The paper’s masthead boasted an image of that mythological creature known as a griffin. The college had adopted this as its official mascot in 1933, also the year that Charles A. Brady, destined to become himself a legendary figure at Canisius, graduated from the college that became his professional home. Brady is remembered as a renowned professor of English, the father of several successful Canisius alumni and chronicler of alma mater’s first 100 years.

T. Joseph Brown ’14

Canisius College confers its first bachelor of science degree to T. Joseph Brown. Following graduation, Brown became a Jesuit priest and later professor of chemistry at alma mater.

1918 SCRIMMAGE ON THE GRIDIRON Nearly a half century after intercollegiate football kicked off in America, Canisius College sported a team of its own. Well, sort of ...

Players lacked – in materials and manpower – the backbone of a real varsity team. So instead, the different classes scrimmaged one another, eventually developing a sense and style of play under the direction of their coach, Rev. George F. Strohaver, SJ.

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Within two years, Canisius would square off against cross-town rival, the University of Buffalo (UB), in a game worth remembering. The scrimmage was played on the gridiron at the Canisius College Villa with both schools bringing an atmosphere of excitement, including a parade down Main Street.

Though Canisius was the heavy favorite going into the contest, UB came out on top by a score of 12-0. The two teams would not play again until October 15, 1977.

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Oct. 1, 1918 – The Student Army Training Corps (SATC) began at Canisius when 189 students took the oath of allegiance. All able-bodied students were inducted into the SATC. Military uniforms were worn and the group was billeted in the new gymnasium at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf. World War I ended shortly after and the Canisius SATC was demobilized just before Christmas.

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1920

1920

BABE RUT H CAMPA I GN S FO R CANIS IUS

TH E V ILLA A S A N NF L V ENUE

Western New Yorkers were thrilled when, at the close of the 1920 baseball season, it was announced that Babe Ruth along with several other major league players would visit Buffalo to play an exhibition game.

The land behind Old Main (below) was an original NFL field 100 years ago.

When you walk across the quad today, you are treading on turf where Jim Thorpe and Paul Robeson once roamed.

And our home offered quite a homefield advantage. The Buffalo All-Americans put up a combined 16-1-2 record at the Villa in 1920 and 1921, the first two seasons of the fledgling football league.

The cast of characters who brought Babe Ruth to Buffalo included Canisius’ own Rev. Michael J. Ahern, SJ. The college president had successfully pitched the idea that a portion of the proceeds from the game be directed toward the college’s $1 million capital campaign.

The All-Americans argued they won the championship in both seasons, before the NFL had playoffs but the league ruled otherwise. The first time it had to do with how to count ties; under today’s rules Buffalo would be judged the original NFL champion. The other instance centered on whether a game in Chicago was an exhibition game or one that counted.

The idea appealed to The Babe.

Raised by Xavierian Brothers and an active member in the Knights of Columbus, the celebrated slugger was pleased to be greeted by Father Ahern upon his arrival on October 13, 1920.

The Buffalo Curse is as old as the NFL itself, so add the Staley Swindle to Wide Right and No Goal.

Teams in smaller cities, such as Canton and Akron, played fewer home games because they could get larger shares of the gate from teams in bigger cities with bigger venues, such as the Villa, which seated more than 10,000.

Luke Urban was coach of Canisius football and basketball while still playing end for the All-Americans and later played catcher for the Boston Braves while still coaching Canisius football.

Christ the King Chapel, which opened in 1951, stands where this original NFL field once was. So you might say Canisius had its own Touchdown Jesus long before that other school known for its golden dome.

-Erik Brady ’76

The first stop was Canisius High School, where The Babe urged excited students to study hard. Then it was on to the Lafayette Hotel to speak at a luncheon before several hundred supporters of the Canisius campaign. The Babe heartily endorsed the campaign and even advised Father Ahern to increase his goal from $1 million to $2 million “because his cause was so important.” He said that he and his wife, Helen, had already donated $100 each to the campaign.

The following day – game day – fans swarmed the grandstand at Buffalo Baseball Park to watch Babe Ruth hit two home runs and launch two monstrous foul balls down the right-field line. According to The Buffalo Daily Courier, “The Babe kept the crowd in a constant uproar and provided many laughs by his antics with the hordes of admiring youngsters,” right up until the end, when Babe’s Polish Nationals defeated the Pittsburgh Stars, 9-0.

New York Public Library

1920 At the college’s half-century mark, Canisius College begins to admit women – though on a limited basis – for post-graduate studies and teacher education.

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“Nothing lesser in character than the ‘Passion Play’ itself could typify the aspirations of the fathers of Canisius for the future of their institution.”

Rev. Michael J. Ahern, SJ, President, Canisius College

Rev. Michael J. Ahern, SJ

Below: The college constructed a vast arena behind Old Main for the production of the “Passion Play.”

Reaching three stories in height, the stage measured 175 feet wide, 86 feet deep and was thought to be the largest in the country at that time. Pictured (left) is stage left and (below), stage right.

1920 THE WORLD ’S G REATES T D RAMA

Theatrics were not spared when advertising the 1920 production of the “Passion Play” to celebrate Canisius College’s Golden Jubilee anniversary.

Billed as the “world’s greatest drama,” potential theatregoers marveled at an “ancient Roman” dressed in tunic and sandals who traveled by plane from Silver Creek to Warsaw announcing the play. Promotional leaflets rained down from the sky as the plane flew over neighboring communities.

It was the college’s third production of the story of Jesus of Nazareth but the first presented on campus. Canisius President Rev. Michael J. Ahern, SJ, secured the rights to first produce noted playwright Clay Greene’s play in 1914, and then again in 1917, with both performances held in Buffalo theaters.

A vast arena was constructed behind Old Main reaching three stories in height. Quite a grand sight, the stage measured 175 feet wide and 86 feet deep and it was said to be the largest stage at that time in the country, perhaps even the world. The 500-member cast consisted mostly of Canisius students and alumni.

Deemed a success, it was estimated that more than 100,000 people attended the play throughout its six-week run. Father Ahern took the opportunity during opening night remarks to announce the launch of a

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$1 million Golden Jubilee capital campaign for the college. With enrollment rising to 750 since the move to Main Street, there was a great need to expand the campus, he noted.

A revival of the “Passion Play” in summer 1923 was promoted just as gloriously.

Word reached New York’s Theatre Guild, which offered technical support, set design, costumes and wigs. Renowned director Eric Seton Snowden directed the play.

While cast and crew numbered more than 700, the addition of a menagerie – sheep, horses, donkeys – garnered the most excitement. Two camels, imported from Germany, and their German-speaking trainer promoted ticket sales by making appearances in the city. After the play wrapped, the camels remained at the Buffalo Zoo, the first in its collection.

The revival, however, while said to be artistically superior to the previous production, ended with a financial loss. That was the final curtain call for the “Passion Play” at Canisius. The stage was razed and work began on two wings to extend Old Main.

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1924

1926

By 1924, Canisius’ growing enrollment necessitates an expansion and the college breaks ground on two wings adjacent to either side of Old Main’s original structure.

TH E LITTLE TH R E E B E C O M E S BIG LE AGUE

Once upon a time, the Little Three was big league.

Few games loomed larger on the Western New York sports calendar decades ago than the annual grudge matches known as Canisius vs. St. Bonaventure and Canisius vs. Niagara and St. Bonaventure vs. Niagara.

The football games in the 1920s and 1930s and 1940s were fearsome affairs. The basketball games in the 1950s and 1960s and 1970s were, if it’s possible, even more so.

Today’s Little Three games mean as much as ever to the trio of Roman Catholic schools but the fervor of fans with no affiliation to them is diminished since the heyday of the round-robin competition. Buffalo belongs largely to the Bills and Sabres now.

But back in the day, college basketball ruled winter in Western New York. Jim “Doc” Crowdle, Father of the Little Three, began doubleheaders downtown that would own Saturday nights. (The first featured Niagara vs. St. Bona and Canisius vs. Georgetown.) Crowdle was a walking doubleheader himself, running the Canisius Chemistry and Athletic departments.

Nowadays the University at Buffalo is added to the mix and the local schools are known collectively as the Big 4. The expanded local rivalry is good for all. Still, Big 4 as a moniker lacks the self-deprecating whimsy of the name Little Three, which lives on in sainted memory.

-Erik Brady ’76

1925 T HE C O F F IN C LU B Junior prom 1925 brings a new tradition at Canisius, as outstanding senior students become members of the Coffin Club.

Established to recognize those who rendered outstanding service to, and promoted the interests of Canisius, the Coffin Club inducted undergraduates for nearly 20 years until the onset of World War II. In summer 1952, the leaders of the Alumni Association revived the club, adopting a new set of bylaws and changing its name to the DiGamma Honor Society.

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R EC OL L EC T I ON S F R OM A FOR M ER GRIFFIN ED I TOR

It turned out to be a pretty stellar cohort. This one and the ones before and after it.

Since The Griffin, successor to The Canisian, began publishing in fall 1933, it has turned out some talent, journalistic and otherwise.

1929 The Canisius College Student Activities Bulletin becomes The Canisian student newspaper (left). Published by the Canisius College Press Club, it sold for 5 cents a copy. The publication continued on a weekly basis until 1933, when it was succeed by The Griffin.

1930

In my era, the mid-1970s, it produced a crop of journalists who, over the last four decades, have had careers with local and national reach. In its ranks are international correspondents, columnists, beat writers, sports writers, film critics, authors, a judge, a college president.

Remember, this was a small paper with a small staff that never would compete with the Daily Orange at Syracuse or the Yale Daily News. It was a small group of students who were pretty good writers and cartoonists, passionate about issues of the time, immersed in sports at the college, and responsible enough to design and lay out the paper and get it to the printer.

None of this was done digitally. Print only. Typewriters only. Carbon paper. Grease pencils.

On a wintry night in 1930, the renowned English author, poet and philosopher Gilbert Keith (G.K.) Chesterton arrives in Buffalo as a guest of Canisius.

Greeted by an avalanche of reporters, Chesterton spoke at the city’s old Elmwood Music Hall on the topic of Culture and the Coming Peril.

A sampling of the masthead in 1974-75: • Erik Brady ’76, Griffin sports editor. A 36-year veteran of USA Today Sports.

• Larry Vilardo ’77, HON ’19, Griffin managing editor. Now a Harvard-trained judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.

• Maria Scrivani ’76, feature editor. Started as a reporter for The Buffalo News.

Now writes for Buffalo Spree and has written two books about Buffalo and co-authored a third.

• Susan Titzler ’77 (now Wloszczyna), feature editor, spent nearly 30 years as film critic and senior writer at USA Today.

• John Hurley ’78, president of Canisius College. In his own words: “I was managing editor under the Cindy Skrzycki regime, sports editor under Judge Vilardo and then editor-in-chief.”

I became editor-in-chief a few months after the bombshell “centerfold issue” was published on January 25, 1974. The cartoon displayed the “Man of the Year,” a naked Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ, president of Canisius, sprawled on a lambskin rug. The administration suspended publishing of the paper – to an uproar – and the editor and managing editor were taken off the masthead.

The centerfold also catapulted the college into national prominence of a sort.

The story was carried as far as Ireland in The Irish Times and the International Herald Tribune.

Outraged readers wrote scathing letters to the editor: “And what, may I ask, was the president of Canisius doing in the nude in the center of the paper? Whoever perpetrated that outrage couldn’t have a brain in his head.”

Maybe so but it was a taste of the power of the free press and the responsibility that goes with it.

Or, as I said, in my own comments post-centerfold: “The written word of Canisius goes much further than Churchill Academic Tower.”

Gilbert Keith (G.K.) Chesterton

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-Cynthia L. Skrzycki ’76 Cindy spent 18 years as a business reporter for the Washington Post before becoming a columnist for Bloomberg News. She is now a senior lecturer in the writing program at the University of Pittsburgh.

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1933

Titanic Influence

A M YTH O LO G IC A L C R E ATU R E B E C O M E S C A NIS IU S ’ M A S C OT

The rest of the world thinks of April 15, 1912, as the day the Titanic sank. Here at Canisius, we remember it for more.

Charles A. Brady ’33, HON ’87 – late professor and poet, novelist and critic – was born at the very hour that the great boat went under. As he would write one day: “It would be Horatian, if not precisely flattering, to say that a whale groaned in mid-Atlantic and, on the American side of Lake Erie, a minnow was born.”

You can have your Chihuahuas, Piranhas, Horned Frogs and Iguanas.

The best all-around mascot in business today has to be the beast adopted by Canisius – the Golden Griffin.

So said Steve Weller in The Buffalo Evening News in 1962 and it remains so today. But how did the Griffin come to campus?

It happened this way:

Brady grew into a big fish in Canisius annals. Add it all up and his influence on alma mater is nothing short of, well, titanic. + His erudition as a student led to graduate school at Harvard and his talent for tennis to the college’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

English professor and father of Canisius history Charles A. Brady ’33, HON ’87, wrote a short story in the Canisius Monthly to mark Buffalo’s 1932 centennial as a city. The Foot that Went Too Far retold the story of Rene-Robert LaSalle’s doomed ship, Le Griffon, which cast off from the Niagara River in 1679 to become the first European-style vessel to sail the upper Great Lakes.

+ He was a much-loved professor of English for 42 years, teaching an ever-changing array of courses. + He even wrote the book on Canisius – the centennial history – in the 1970s. +

As if that weren’t enough, Brady coaxed the Griffin to campus from the prow of LaSalle’s doomed ship and that high-flying beast remains our golden totem.

(Le Griffon, as it happens, sank 243 years before the unsinkable Titanic.)

Brady’s minnow line appears in an autobiographical sketch for his entry in the Book of Catholic Authors. He always quibbled with the designation, preferring to say he was an author who happened to be Catholic. “Scratch an Irishman,” he’d add, “and you have a Bronze Age savage.”

His father emigrated from Ireland and Brady writes in that sketch: “I grew up thinking that ants were called ‘pismires’ and that ‘michers’ was the normal term for troublemaking boys.” His mind and will “received what discipline they could” from the Jesuits at Canisius – high school and college – but his imagination was set ablaze first by a doting mother who gave him “the great hero-tales, always in splendid editions.”

His interest in the Norse hero-tales deepened with his marriage to Mary Eileen Larson. They had six children, including the late Kristin M. Brady ’70, PhD, who followed him into academe. The award for best thesis in the Canisius Honors Program is named for her.

She was born as her father was writing Stage of Fools, his novel of St. Thomas More, a best-seller still easily found on Amazon in its hardcover and paperback iterations. Four of Brady’s books for young readers are also returned to print, including St. Thomas More of London Town.

Brady’s name turns up frequently on the Internet he never knew. When The Atlantic wrote of novelist John Marquand in 2004, it credited its headline “Martini-Age Victorian” to “the critic Charles Brady.” The definition for bravura on Dictionary.com offers an example of Brady usage from a 1960 New York Times book review.

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Charles A. Brady ’33, HON ’87

When G. K. Chesterton arrived for a Canisius-sponsored lecture in the 1930s, it was Brady who picked him up at a Buffalo train station. When the Marx Brothers crashed a Canisius dance at the Statler (they had appeared at Shea’s), Groucho cut in on him; the tale brought down the house when Brady spoke at a DiGamma dinner in the same ballroom in 1975. And when C.S. Lewis sent Brady a letter in 1944, he described Brady as his most perceptive critic.

The name immediately captured the imaginations of those on campus. Soon, the Griffin landed on the masthead of the student newspaper. And in 1933, the king of birds and beasts became the official mascot of Canisius sports.

Though one may debate the wisdom of naming athletic teams after a ship that sank on its maiden voyage, there is no arguing that the grace, agility, intelligence and strength of this eagle and lion, in one, embodies everything a college covets in a mascot.

-Erik Brady ’76

1935 B OUWH UI S B R I NG S L I F E, L EAR N I NG TO L I B R ARY

The Depression wiped out a fortune from his late father’s former North Tonawanda lumber business and so the Jesuits made Brady a bargain: They would help pay his way to Harvard if he agreed to return to teach at the college for seven years. He completed that term six times over.

Brady’s love for the written word did not end until he did.

From his deathbed at Sisters Hospital in 1995 he could see the house on Humboldt Parkway where he grew up and the golden dome of the college to which he would devote his life.

Rev. Andrew L. Bouwhuis, SJ, begins his 20-year career as the college’s librarian. Canisius had just moved the library from its original home in a secondfloor classroom of Old Main to the building’s first floor, and Father Bouwhuis was charged with making order out of chaos. Up against space limitations, poor furnishings and non-existent operational procedures, Father Bouwhuis remained steadfast in developing the Canisius library into the focal point of campus life.

Brady’s colleagues sent a letter suggesting 1976’s Azuwur yearbook be dedicated to him. “His imprint,” they wrote, “is lastingly upon the best elements in Canisius and in Buffalo.”

The letter recounted Brady’s career as teacher and writer: “All of this leaves out the most important fact about him, which is that his is one of the richest human spirits of our place and time.”

His legacy lives on today in the Rev. Andrew L. Bouwhuis, SJ, Library, at the corner of Jefferson and Hughes avenues.

Not bad for a baby born as a pinkeen. As his father could have told you, that’s Irish for minnow.

-Erik Brady ’76 Erik Brady is the son of the late Charles A. Brady.

Rev. Andrew L. Bouwhuis, SJ

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1938 ON BOORISHNESS AND BETTER DRESS : CONDUCT FOR CANISIANS

“The Freshmen, as fellow Canisius students, are to be respected as well as any other class.”

Student behavior, enforced by published rules, was closely regulated in the early days at Canisius College. Today’s students are still expected to adhere to a code of conduct–minus the sartorial rigor. There are of course always those who will push that behavioral envelope. In response to some incidences of overwrought initiation rites, an article in The Canisian (precursor to The Griffin) of October 3, 1930, implored students to settle down.

“Horseplay on the part of any upperclassman is not to be tolerated. It is nothing more than a clear manifestation of downright vulgarity, the antithesis of Canisius spirit and the mark of a boor. Canisius men will not tolerate boors.”

Reflections from the Oldest Living Alumnus

Rules were clearly laid out in a 1938 College Handbook (below), including the warning that only seniors were allowed to use the center entrance to the college. Freshmen were expected to use the rear doors.

( WE THIN K!)

Pumping gas at a nearby Standard Oil station, Walter F. Johnson worked his way through Canisius College. The annual tuition of $450 was more than his parents could afford.

When he graduated with a business degree in 1940, the accounting major could not have calculated personal longevity dovetailing with the college’s founding milestone: In October 2019, Johnson celebrated his own centennial, just as his alma mater is marking its sesquicentennial year.

Smoking was not tolerated, except in the basement. Card playing and gambling were strictly prohibited. And of course there was the belief, still held dear by many, that clothes make the man–so please dress appropriately.

“Students are always to wear a coat and tie. Careless attire, by whatever name it is called, is unbecoming of a college student.”

He recalls fondly “excellent teachers” at Canisius. “I learned a lot from the Jesuits.” The Buffalo native went to work at Trico Products after graduation. Within a year and a half, he was inducted into the Army and after several domestic postings ended up serving as a finance officer in the Philippines. In 1946, by then married to the former Irene Potter of Buffalo, he returned to his hometown. A stint at Remington Rand, where he advised businesses on computer services, led to a job with the National Transit Company in Oil City, PA, where he and his wife moved and raised two children. He ended his career with three decades at Pennzoil.

-Maria Scrivani ’76

After nearly 60 years together, his spouse died in 2001. Johnson now lives in Virginia, in his own home, affiliated with a retirement center that provides maintenance services.

Walter F. Johnson ’40

He cooks and shops and cares for himself. Blessed with 20/20 vision, he still drives.

He eschews some foods, notably tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers. He eats mostly chicken and fish, and has one glass of whiskey a day. He never smoked. He has outlived all his classmates. A friend calls daily to check on him. Last year he announced his intention to name Canisius in his will–a tribute to a venerable institution from an eminent alumnus.

-Maria Scrivani ’76

1940 A S E TTING FO R S C IE NC E Two outstanding bequests within two years make it possible for Canisius to grow its campus plan in May 1940, with the construction and dedication of the Horan-O’Donnell Science Building.

Buffalo school teacher Marian A. Horan bequeathed $100,000 to Canisius in 1936, specifically “to build or equip a scientific laboratory … in memory of the Patrick Horan family.” Shortly thereafter, neurologist William J. O’Donnell, MD, bequeathed one third of his estate to Canisius for the erection of a science building.

Left: Beanies were distributed to freshmen well into the 1970s.

This one, pictured, comes from Emil R. Inderbitzen ’40.

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The design of the three-story, $250,000 structure included an ample number of windows for its day, in order to “afford sufficient lighting for scientific research.”

Horan-O’Donnell Science Building

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1940 A HO M E FOR BASKETBALL Well before the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) arrived in Buffalo, the city commissioned a public works project at the end of the Erie Canal intended to serve as a center of entertainment for Western New Yorkers.

Buffalo Memorial Auditorium opened to the community in October 1940 and in December that same year, Canisius had the honor of playing the first collegiate basketball game in the $2.7 million arena, which seated upwards of 15,000.

The Griffs fell to the powerhouse University of Oregon, 50-42, but “The Aud” became the team’s home for 56 years and more than 600 contests, until it shuttered in 1996.

The arena’s history is indisputably linked with Canisius, as it helped build the college into a nationally-recognized force in the 1950s, when teams from the West Coast traveled by train to New York City (then the mecca of college basketball) and stopped in Buffalo for games against Canisius, Niagara, St. Bonaventure, the University of Buffalo and Buffalo State.

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1941-1949

1941

SACRIFICE AND SCHOLARSHIP

The December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor that shocked the United States reverberated through the halls of academia across the country. Canisius College, like every institution of higher learning, was deeply affected and altered. From the disruption of classes, diminished enrollment and delay of degree conferral to the utterly tragic loss of life, it was a time of tumult, angst and adjustment.

Canisians rose to the occasion.

From 1941-45, 1,766 Canisius students and faculty served in the military. Of that number, 65 men were killed in action and 46 were wounded. Facing the demands of a wartime economy and a reduced student body, the college was forced to adjust its administrative and educational operations. Thanks to the efforts of the late Rev. J. Clayton Murray, SJ, then a philosophy professor and later the college archivist, a wealth of World War II-related materials have been preserved in the college archives. Among his efforts at keeping account of the war years, Father Murray compiled a scrapbook of local articles that mentioned any of Canisius’ “boys at arms.”

It wasn’t just Canisius men who participated in the massive war effort. Women stepped into roles previously closed to them and were a saving force at Canisius College. Many attended night school while running local businesses or working in industry during the day. In a 2006 letter to the college archives, one intrepid alumna, the late Dorothy M. Suchan ’52, described college life she and other Canisius women experienced during World War II. “Many felt that it was the women who contributed to the survival of the college,” she wrote. “I agree.”

The late Theodore R. Fink ’42 wrote extensively about the work he and other science students at Canisius performed during the war– a baptism by fire, of sorts, for neophyte chemists. His memoir, titled A Canisius Chemist Remembers The Great War, begins: “When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, all of our lives at Canisius College were changed forever.”

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Poor eyesight disqualified Fink from military service, so he went to work at a new plant outside Lewiston, built to manufacture TNT for use in bombs and guns. “Almost our entire [Canisius College] chemistry class of about 20 students was immediately hired to learn how to manufacture TNT and to start up and run the plant,” he recalled. “We joined chemistry students from all over.” Following weeks of classes at the University of Buffalo (“The Chemistry of Explosives”), the group was sent for further training to a plant south of Chicago, where they lived in Army Quonset Huts for three months. When the New York plant was completed, they returned home to clean, start up and test equipment.

F E M A L E R EC RUI T S

Rev. Francis A. O’Malley, SJ

The impact of the draft upon the college’s registration rolls forced Canisius’ wartime president, Rev. Francis A. O’Malley, SJ, to levy a curricular innovation that had far reaching consequences.

including a two-decade connection between Canisius and nursing programs at Catholic hospitals such as Sisters, Mercy and Our Lady of Victory, and the eventual birth of a full-time nursing program.

At the request of the director of Buffalo City Hospital (today the Erie County Medical Center), Canisius agreed to share responsibility with the University of Buffalo for the academic training of women enrolled in the hospital’s School of Nursing.

Then, in September 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the United States Cadet Nurse Corps (CNC).

The government program provided a stipend to young women who trained as nurses in exchange for their pledge to actively serve throughout the war. Upon the legislation becoming law, 107 female recruits enrolled in scientific studies at Canisius.

Short-term, the ad-hoc arrangement helped cushion the effect of the reduced student body due to the draft.

But a long-term, positive chain of results soon followed,

Fink was assigned to the Wash House, “the most dangerous building of all because it contained thousands of pounds of TNT at any time. This is where I worked. I was only 21 years old.”

Within one year, TNT production exceeded Department of Defense goals, so the plant was shut down. Fink landed at Union Carbide Corporation in Tonawanda, “at what was called the Ceramics Plant at Linde Air Products–this was part of the Manhattan Project. We did not know and were not told what was being made in the plant. The product was called ‘X.’ But all of us, the technical people who knew chemistry, once we were employed, knew that it was uranium. But we had no knowledge of what the uranium was to be used for.”

The world would soon find out. Fink, who passed on job opportunities outside the area to remain in Buffalo with his family, recalls the moment of revelation: “I walked out on the front porch of our house at 28 Glendale Avenue – the newspaper boy delivered the news that the atom bomb had hit Hiroshima. I walked in to show my father and said, ‘Now you know what I was doing for the past two years.’”

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1942 The late Dorothy M. Suchan ’52 penned the following letter to the Canisius Archives in 2006, describing college life as she and other women experienced it during World War II.

WA R A ND ITS IM PAC T O N E D UC ATIO N

I was among those women who attended Canisius during [the] WWII years. Many felt that it was the women who contributed to the survival of the college. I agree.

Canisius makes several changes to its educational system in response to the demands of World War II. In January 1942, the college added new courses that would meet the students’ need for greater math and science courses, as well as mechanical skills.

I remember when classes were small, with women in the majority.

There were nurses, teachers and just plain people like me looking to get a degree in the evening program while working a 40 hour week.

I remember most of all the “alumnae room” the sole province of matriculating females. How we used – and abused – that room. It was always cluttered with books, bags, sometimes boots, as we hurried to make an early class – like 5 or 6 p.m. (the latest ran to about 10 p.m.) [.] No ban on smoking in those days so one had to fight to get through the haze of smoke to get to the ladies’ room. At exam time, brown baggers were everywhere munching on sandwiches and sipping Coke as they crammed for finals. And, black robed Jesuits were all over at that time. Father Morris was our own special guru – He guided us through curriculum changes and, in an attempt to counter the “all work and no play” syndrome, founded the Tekakiwika [sic] Club.

In September that same year, Canisius implemented a three-year degree program. The hope, according to Dean Rev. John P. O’Sullivan, SJ, was that by saving a year’s time, most high school students interested in attending college would be able to earn their degrees before coming of military age. Already established Canisius standards of grades and studies remained the same.

“The armed forces of our country are daily calling to the colors more and more young men of college age. In this regard, Canisius is proud to say that so far some 250 of her alumni and undergraduates have left to serve within the Army, the Navy and the Marines. That, we know, is but the beginning. Many more sacrifices will have to be made before this war is finished. Included among these, are college careers that may have to be interrupted or delayed; dreams for a professional future that may have to be set aside. The war has yet to be won. Until that time, the personal interests of all must be held in abeyance.”

That’s when the alumnae room took on real character. It was a great place for a continental breakfast following a monthly Mass in the converted classroom chapel on the second – or was it the third – floor? Or, there might be a fancy tea on a Sunday afternoon. Or, very often, a Christmas party in the appropriate season of course. Or, just plain socials where women could mix and mingle, not having to keep a wary eye on the clock. Many firm bonds of friendship were formed then and continue today. Sometimes letters from soldiers serving in the European area or possibly the South Pacific, were shared with understanding females.

And women students contributed their share of help in fundraisers – perhaps a concert by the BPO in the spanking new Kleinhans Music Hall. Or, in arranging card parties – a popular past time and financial boon then.

Canisius President Rev. Timothy Coughlin, SJ, speaking at the 1942 commencement ceremonies Rev. Timothy Coughlin, SJ

Women students were pretty important then and are even moreso [sic] now.

And, let us not forget the Alumnae Study Club formed in the early 40s according to legend. Probably the oldest continuously operating organization on the Canisius campus. Still in existence, it meets every third Thursday of the month. Rev. Nick Sullivan, SJ, moderated it in the early years. Today Rev. James Ruddick, SJ, is moderator.

1942

And so it goes. Looking back in retrospect one realizes the “good ole days” were significant in keeping Canisius the successful, vital educational institution it is today.

As the war demands physical sacrifices of Canisius, the Jesuits emphasize the importance of making spiritual sacrifices for their boys at arms. Soon Mass was offered every Tuesday and Thursday for the men in the armed services. Those who attended would sign a small Mass book showing their support and prayers.

[Signed] D.S. [Dorothy Suchan]

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S P IR ITUA L S AC R IF IC E

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1943

1944

A HERO AMONG T H E RA N K S

B R OTH E R S AT A R M S , “ S AV ING PR I VAT E RYAN ”

Senior Class President Joseph E. Driscoll ’43 may have eerily foreshadowed his own future when he addressed his classmates in the 1943 yearbook about what would be demanded of them during times of war. He reminded his peers that they were about to combat the “maelstrom of savagery now rampant” and be expected to “serve our God and our country with every ounce of our courage.”

One of the most poignant stories of Canisius’ involvement in World War II was that of the Niland family. Edward, Preston, Robert and Frederick “Fritz” were the sons of Michael and Augusta Niland. The four brothers lived in Tonawanda, NY. All went to Canisius College except for Preston, who attended the University of Buffalo. And all served during World War II.

Driscoll was called into active duty in May 1943 and within a year, this soldier of the U.S. Army Enlisted Reserve Corps went overseas with the Second Indianhead Division. By September 1944, The Griffin identified Driscoll as “missing.” Two months later, The Griffin changed his status to “deceased.”

The brothers did not serve together. The U.S. War Department prohibited this following the Sullivan case, in which five brothers were killed in action when the ship they served on sank. Still, tragedy struck the entire family.

It wasn’t until nearly 60 years later that Canisius learned about the events surrounding Driscoll’s death. The gaps were filled in by Robert R. “Duke” Maynard of Bristol, CT, who in 2000 appeared on the doorstep of John J. Hurley, then vice president for college relations: Early in the morning of July 27, 1944, Maynard and Driscoll, both infantry scouts, were in the fields east of Normandy, doing advance work for the Allied forces as they began the push toward Paris. The day before had been very eventful for Maynard and Driscoll as about a dozen German troops had surrendered to them in the field. They were proceeding in their reconnaissance as fast as they could walk when Maynard felt something hit him. He fell to the ground, knocking out his front teeth. He had been struck in the throat by enemy fire and was spurting blood. Within seconds, Driscoll was at his side using first Maynard’s aid kit and then his own to bind Maynard’s wound. He pulled Maynard to safer ground and turned to seek medical help. As he stood, he cried out, “I’ve been hit. I’ve been hit.” Maynard never saw him hit the ground. He lapsed in and out of consciousness for a long period until medical help arrived. When the medics arrived they told him Driscoll had been killed.

Joseph E. Driscoll ’43

On May 16, 1944, Michael and Augusta Niland learned that their son, Technical Sergeant Edward Niland, a pilot in the Army Air Force, went missing after his plane was shot down near Burma.

Less than one month later, on June 6, 1944, the Allied Forces began their invasion of Nazi-controlled Europe.

Preston, Robert and Fritz all took part in the first wave of the offensive. Technical Sergeant Robert Niland, with the

82nd Airborne Division, was killed on D-Day while manning his machine-gun post in Neuville, a city not far from the beaches. Lieutenant Preston Niland, of the 4th Infantry Division, was killed the next day near Omaha Beach.

Upon learning about the loss of the three brothers, the U.S. Army determined that Michael and Augusta Niland would not suffer the death of their last child. It notified Rev. Francis Sampson, chaplain of the 101st Airborne’s 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment where Fritz was assigned, to begin the necessary paperwork to bring the youngest Niland brother home.

A little more than a year after his return, Fritz learned that his brother, Edward, was still alive in a Burmese POW camp.

Though the imprisonment took a toll on Edward’s physical health (he weighed only 80 pounds when he was rescued), he and his brother, Fritz, went on to live until the ages of 72 and 63, respectively.

Their story became the premise for the 1998 Steven Spielberg film “Saving Private Ryan.”

In a subsequent letter to John Hurley, a very grateful Duke Maynard wrote, “You at Canisius College should be aware of and proud to have such a true hero among the ranks of your graduates. Amen, Duke Maynard.” Requiescant in Pace, Joseph E. Driscoll ’43.

1944 Before 16,000 cheering fans at New York City’s Madison Square Gardens, the men’s basketball team makes its first post-season appearance at the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) on March 20. The Griffins tipped off against Oklahoma State.

Herm Brunotte ’44 led the team with 11 points in a 43-29 loss to the Cowboys.

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1947 S TA ND ING OVATIO N

The end of World War II brought with it the revival of theatrical storytelling at Canisius College in the form of Little Theatre.

Though not the first drama society to stage performances on campus – the club took its cue from its pre-war predecessor, the Bards and Boards Society – Little Theatre remains among the most enduring of all student clubs.

Canisius constructed these temporary classroom quarters, known as Dewey Hall, to accommodate the 1,200 students who enrolled at the college under the G.I. Bill after World War II.

1945 SURREN DER A N D A RET URN TO SC H O O L

Playbills from opening season in 1947 included stagings of the thrilling courtroom drama “Libel,” Cary Grant’s situation comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace” and Humphrey Bogart’s comedic crime movie “Brother Orchid,” all performed under the able direction of Walter J. Barrett.

Mount Saint Joseph Academy Auditorium and Sacred Heart Academy Auditorium hosted these early Little Theatre showings. By the late 1950s, performances moved to a theater where the Koessler Athletic Center now stands. Today, Marie Maday Theatre in Lyons Hall serves as the permanent home to the troupe, which is renowned not only for its performances but the prominent alumni it has produced. Included among them, the late Hon. William J. Ostrowski ’49, retired New York State Supreme Court Judge; Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ, 22nd president of Canisius College; and the Hon. John J. LaFalce ’61, HON ’90, former U.S. Representative for the 29th District of New York.

The unconditional surrender of German forces in April 1945 and later the Japanese in September 1945 marked the official end of World War II.

Dewey Hall dining facilities

Shortly after, Canisius experienced an onrush of students so enormous that temporary classrooms had to be provided in narrow, one-story, wooden, rhomboid-shaped encampments, which stretched nearly the entire length of Hughes Avenue, from Jefferson Avenue to Meech Street.

The temporary quarters quickly became known as Dewey Hall, named for then New York State Governor Thomas J. Dewey, and helped Canisius accommodate the 1,200 students who enrolled at the college under the G.I. Bill, after World War II. Signed into law in June 1944, the G.I. Bill provided an immediate range of benefits to World War II servicemen and servicewomen. Among them, dedicated payments of tuition for those who wanted to pursue a degree in higher education or a vocation.

The G.I. Bill opened the door of higher education to the working class in a way never before done, with nearly 50 percent of college admissions in 1947 being those of veterans. Canisius was hardly an exception.

By the late 1940s, the college had the highest percentage of veteran students enrolled under the G.I. Bill of any institution in the Eastern United States. The Class of 1949 graduated 190 students, 175 of whom were veterans of World War II. Enrollment more than doubled the following year, when the Class of 1950 graduated 412 students – the largest graduating class in the history of Canisius, until the mid-1980s.

Dewey Hall classroom

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A scene from the Little Theatre production of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV.” Pictured (l-r) John Buscaglia ’66, Michael Joyce ’72, James Jurnak ’67, Joseph Enright Jr. ’66, MS ’70, Christina Carroll ’67, Ivan Ivankovich ’68, Charles Schuder ’67 and Sam Iacono ’66.

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Vince Lombardi

1948 WORLD’S GREATEST COACH – GETS AWAY

By January 1948, men’s football was in need of a new coach. Realizing Canisius wasn’t headed for the big time, Earl Brown had accepted the head coaching job at Auburn University in Alabama.

Canisius took its time in finding a new football coach, according to longtime Athletic Director Daniel P. Starr ’58, HON ’18, PhD. Included among the short list of potential applicants, Vince Lombardi (yes, THAT Vince Lombardi).

For reasons unknown, Canisius chose not to hire the man who would become known as the greatest football coach of all time. Years later, however, Lombardi recounted his rejection in a conversation with Buffalo News football writer Larry Felser.

“Canisius,” Lombardi said, “gave me the greatest disappointment of my career.” A plebe coach at Army then, Lombardi came to Canisius for his

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interview carrying a recommendation from his boss, Col. Earl “Red” Blaik, and a degree from sister Jesuit school Fordham. “I felt pretty good about my chances. But then, the college hired some lawyer who had coached the team before the war. I had never been more disappointed.”

The lawyer about whom Lombardi spoke was Jimmy Wilson, a native Buffalonian who coached the Canisius freshman team from 1934-38 and served as head varsity coach from 1939-42, when Canisius suspended football due to World War II. Vince Lombardi, meantime, went on to become the head coach of the Green Bay Packers, and led the team to three straight and five total NFL Championships in seven years – in addition to winning the first two Super Bowls in 1966 and 1967.

1948 Canisius football suits up for its first and regrettably, only post season appearance in the second Great Lakes Bowl. Under the direction of Head Coach Jimmy Wilson, the Griffins traveled to Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium to compete against John Carroll’s Blue Streaks – led by none other than Don Shula, who would go on to have an illustrious coaching career in the National Football League.

The December 5 contest proved to be a corker.

With nearly 18,000 raucous fans in attendance, John Carroll scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to win the game, 14-13.

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1949 AT LONG L AS T …

ADEQUATE HOUS I NG

On the Feast Day of St. Peter Canisius, April 27, 1949, the college laid the cornerstone for the new Jesuit faculty building, Loyola Hall. Set in place by Canisius President Rev. Raymond W. Schouten, SJ, the cornerstone was blessed

by Buffalo’s Auxiliary Bishop the Most Rev. Joseph A. Burke.

Judge Charles S. Desmond ’17, of the New York Court of Appeals, served as principal speaker and addressed the “three-fold significance” of the new Jesuit home.

Its immediate meaning, Desmond declared, is that Jesuit faculty members “are at long last to have adequate housing.” The construction of Loyola Hall also marked “another phase in the remarkable growth of Canisius College.”

The long-term significance “of this day’s doings are much greater,” continued Judge Desmond. “It is the significance that the college ... is dedicated not only to instruction and training for earning a living but to the teaching of the final truth and the proposition that there is no education without religion.”

Above: Canisius President Rev. Raymond W. Schouten, SJ, (left) watches as Buffalo’s Auxiliary Bishop, the Most Rev. Joseph A. Burke, applies a trowel to the cornerstone of the new Loyola Hall. Rev. John J. McMahon, SJ, of New York and Judge Charles S. Desmond ’17, of the New York Court of Appeals, look on.

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Rev. Raymond W. Schouten, SJ

Loyola Hall 50

George A. “Skip” Ganey ’50

1950-1965 E X PA N D I NG H O R I Z O N S

It is perhaps an understatement to call an era – starting with the Korean War and ending with the Civil Rights Movement fully ablaze – dramatic.

Better to acknowledge that Canisius College was no island of oblivion in a time of tumult. Its students, faculty and alumni were fully engaged in times that were changing. And change at the college was good, from the dedication of its beloved Christ the King Chapel in 1951 to the full admission of women in 1965.

Noted Buffalo architect Duane Lyman, whose stellar works include the Saturn Club and 800 West Ferry, was commissioned to design the Canisius chapel in Romanesque style. It was dedicated in July 1951. In the fall of that year, 300 student cadets joined the first Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) unit at the college.

To the list of bestowable honors, Canisius added the Peter Canisius Medal in 1958, to be given periodically by the Alumni Association to an individual “for contributions to the educational, spiritual, social and intellectual advancement of mankind.” Famed journalist, author and commentator Bob Considine was the first recipient.

1951 A SPI R I T UAL C EN T ER PI EC E

1950 KO REA N S TR IF E

With Loyola Hall completed shortly before Christmas 1949, Canisius President Rev. Raymond W. Schouten, SJ, turned his attention to the spiritual needs of the college community. He visited Catholic colleges in the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast. Upon his return, he pronounced the chapel facilities at Canisius as very poor. To amend this, the college retained prominent Buffalo architect Duane Lyman – draftsman of such noted city landmarks as the Saturn Club and 800 West Ferry – to design a chapel in Romanesque style.

Hon. Richard D. “Max” McCarthy ’50

Though tragically costly, North Korea’s invasion of South Korea on June 25, 1950 and the ensuing three-year war did not touch Canisius closely. “By and large,” wrote Charles A. Brady ’33, HON ’87, in The First Hundred Years, “the students paid virtually no attention to the Korean strife.” An attitude that later revealed itself to be at sharp variance with Canisius students in the 1960s, in the instance of the Vietnamese intervention.

Work proceeded rapidly on the chapel. It was completed in summer 1951, at a cost of $439,992, and dedicated on the Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, July 31, 1951. The chapel seats 492 and is constructed of granite with lighter trim of Indiana limestone.

The archetypal pattern and the overmastering symbol of the chapel is a cross formed by the intersection of the nave and the transept. A stone cross, positioned above the entrance, is an ancient Celtic cross, the Cross of Iona, which dates to the earliest days of Christianity in Ireland and Britain.

Still, there were exceptions.

Marine hero George A. “Skip” Ganey ’50 earned decoration for extraordinary valor after nearly losing his life in action. The Hon. Richard D. “Max” McCarthy ’50 had the ironic experience of serving in two wars: as a sailor in World War II and a soldier in the Korean War. McCarthy’s dual military service turned out to be a political bonanza for him. He went on to become a U.S. Representative for the 39th district of New York from 1965-71.

1951 Nearly 300 student cadets report for duty on September 24, 1951, as members of the first Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) unit at Canisius College.

Directed by Lt. Col. Andrew M. Dunn, the unit was divided into five companies and prepared cadets for Chemical Corps functions attached to the First Army including technical knowledge, basic military information and leadership. Two hours a week were devoted to theoretical instruction and equal time to drill.

By 1960, Canisius saw the establishment of the All-College Honors Program. It was in the same momentous year that the college’s School of Business Administration was formally constituted, under the stewardship of Austin S. Murphy, PhD. Two years later, heralding the arrival of many notable speakers to come, former President Harry S. Truman inaugurated the William H. Fitzpatrick Political Science Lecture Series.

The trickle of women here and there in Canisius College classes over the years built to a veritable flow as the Board of Trustees opened the doors to women in all academic day divisions in September 1965. Earlier that year, a busload of Canisius students, two Jesuits and the college’s dean of men traveled to Selma, AL, in a show of support for voting rights. As one participant noted, “Seeds of change had been sown in our lives for future germination.”

Canisius was one of 33 colleges in 22 states selected by the U.S. Armed Services to conduct an ROTC unit on campus.

There are five rose windows in the chapel: one in the West over the entrance, one each in the North and South transepts and two smaller roses in the North and South walls near the West rose.

Christ the King crowned is at the center of the West rose. The 12 petals radiating outward glow with symbols of the 12 apostles.

The two smaller rose windows in the North and South walls contain symbols of the Passion and of four Old Testament prophets: David, Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah.

In the center of the great rose window in the North transept is the Nativity under which are stained glass panels of the Joyful Mysteries. The petals of this rose are inscribed with symbols of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin.

Finally, in the South transept are the Glorious Mysteries in four stained glass panels underneath the rose window. The center of that window depicts the Pentecostal descent of the Holy Spirit upon his apostles. The petals of the rose contain symbols for the seven sacraments, the three theological virtues (faith, hope and charity; for the Church; and for prayer and good works).

At the time of its dedication, Father Schouten boldly predicted that Christ the King Chapel would be “one of the most wholesome things that has happened in the history of Canisius.”

He was right.

For more than 65 years, Christ the King Chapel has provided Canisius students, faculty, staff, alumni and Jesuits with a familiar place to celebrate their Catholic faith through the sacraments and through private prayer and reflection.

Congressman Richard D. “Max” McCarthy ’50 (left) with the 21st president of Canisius College, Rev. James J. McGinley, SJ.

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Excerpt from “The History of Christ the King Chapel at Canisius College” -John J. Hurley Canisius College President

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Christ the King Chapel in the final stages of construction in April 1951

The completed rose window in what is believed to be in the North transept, under which are panels of the Joyful Mysteries.

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The Most Rev. John F. O’Hara, bishop of Buffalo, turns the first spade of dirt for Canisius’ new Christ the King Chapel.

Left: The main altar and sanctuary furnishings in Christ the King Chapel were a gift from the Alumni Association in 1951. It was the first time the Alumni Association acted as a body to add to the spiritual and material wealth of Canisius.

Above: The rose window over the main entrance of the chapel features the figure of Christ the King. The 12 petals of the rose each represent symbols of the 12 apostles.

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1956

An Ecclesiastical Heirloom

A N U P S E T FO R TH E AG E S

The architectural details of Christ the King are reproduced in the chapel’s bridal kneelers. The heirloom project used liturgical needlepoint to create an ecclesiastical embroidered design unique to Canisius College and the sacrament of marriage.

The center panel is a crown, which represents Christ the King and the marriage crown. Underneath is the Jesuit motto of Ignatius Loyola (IHS). Flanking the crown are two heraldic animals closely associated with Canisius: On the left, the canis, Latin for dog, from the St. Peter Canisius coat of arms. On the right is the Golden Griffin.

Grapevines, celebrating the Marriage Feast of Cana, complete the design.

Once upon a time, when Canisius was the little college that could, a basketball spun in the air at Madison Square Garden.

Fran Corcoran ’56 released that 18-foot shot – the most consequential in Canisius history – and it swished to give the Golden Griffins an upset for the ages.

Unveiled in 2001 to commemorate 50 years of chapel services, the ecclesiastical heirloom was designed by the late Mary Lu Littlefield, longtime director of creative services at Canisius, and stitched by several friends of the college.

Canisius 79, North Carolina State 78.

It wasn’t just that this came in the first round of the NCAA tournament or that North Carolina State was ranked No. 2 in all the land or even that it came in four overtimes, still the longest game in tourney history. This game put the madness in March before the expression existed. That shot would be part of a TV montage of all-time best buzzerbeaters if only film could be found. As it is, Sports Illustrated in 2014 called that game “the first great upset in NCAA tournament history.”

1952

Corcoran dribbled once before uncorking the shot that still spins in the collective Canisius imagination. His mother never saw it splash: She was in the hallway, praying the rosary.

Canisius publishes its first literary magazine, The Quadrangle. The annual volume is a centerpiece of literary arts and culture, and features poetry, short stories, creative nonfiction, artwork and photography.

Johnny McCarthy ’56 and Hank Nowak ’57 were stars of that Forever Team, which would go on to finish two points shy of the Final Four. But Corcoran was the one carried off the court that magic night, earning this headline in The Griffin: “Corky’s Shot Ices 79-78 Win at Gotham.”

-Erik Brady ’76 Fran Corcoran ’56

1953 1954

Dewey Hall is razed in January 1953 to make way for a new library at Canisius College. The temporary building was constructed by New York State and leased to the college to make room for the influx of students following World War II.

Canisius writes diplomas in Latin for the final time.

The 1955-56 “Forever Team” 55

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1958

1958

A N EW CHAPTER

DOWN TO BUSINESS

A new chapter in the Canisius chronicles begins September 28, 1958 when the college dedicates its “new and modern library.” With a footprint of nearly 33,000 square feet set to hold approximately 70,000 volumes, four study rooms, two seminar rooms and a small auditorium, the fully airconditioned edifice provided a contemporary setting for students compared to its previous, increasingly cramped location on the first floor of Old Main.

The increasing demand for educated businessmen following World War II and the Korean War prompted Canisius to reorganize its Business Administration Program in 1958. Up until then, the accounting major operated independently of its academic cohorts including general business and economics.

The Most Rev. Joseph A. Burke, bishop of Buffalo, is joined by Rev. Thomas E. Henneberry, SJ, provincial of the New York Jesuit Province and Rev. Philip E. Dobson, SJ, president of Canisius College, for the blessing of the new library.

Austin S. Murphy, PhD

1958

This fragmented condition became more coherent with the arrival of Austin S. Murphy, PhD. Appointed to the newly created Albert T. O’Neill Chair of American Enterprise, the college charged this commendable educator, scholar and administrator with “ultimate responsibility for the regular functioning of the departments of business and economics.”

Murphy wasted no time and incorporated the departments of Accounting and Economics, along with a newly established Department of Management, within a Division of Business Administration, which offered a bachelor of science degree in those three concentrations. Two years later, the division and its faculty were formally constituted into the School of Business Administration.

Bob Considine, a gregarious, prolific and adventurous journalist, author and commentator, makes history at the college in May 1958 when he becomes the first individual to receive the Peter Canisius Medal.

Established and conferred by the Alumni Association, the Peter Canisius Medal recognizes an individual for contributions to the educational, spiritual, social and intellectual advancement of mankind, and whose achievements constitute an inspiration to American youth.

Considine was a noted reporter for International News Service and wrote a weekly column, “On the Line,” which appeared regularly in the former Buffalo Courier-Express newspaper. He was an active Catholic layman and a strong supporter of Jesuit education.

Left: By the mid-1950s, the library in Old Main becomes increasingly cramped and is in need of a more expansive and contemporary space.

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1960

Left: Dean of Women Lillian M. Levey meets with Barbara (Kiedrowski) Shuckra ’63, one of the first female students to enroll in the day division at Canisius.

AN HONORS PROGRAM EMERGES

The history books recorded September 1960 as the inauguration of the All-College Honors Program at Canisius. Conversations about developing a “strenuous program of collateral reading and independent thinking” for the college’s best students began two years prior. Championing the cause was Rev. William Scott, SJ, dean of faculty, who found the prospect of such a program “thrilling” and became the first to offer an interdisciplinary, sophomore honors seminar: Images of Man in Western Culture explored the ethos of ancient Greeks through modern times.

Students who successfully completed the sophomore honors seminar were formally admitted to the Honors Program, when it was ceremoniously established two years later. Junior and senior honors seminars were successively

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added and eventually supplemented by special courses offered by individual departments.

That first honors class consisted of 19 students. They came from varied disciplines but each maintained a minimum 3.0 grade point average and demonstrated a healthy appetite for reading and critical thinking. The inaugural group also developed a sense of camaraderie, as they studied and met socially at what became known as the Honors Quarters, a tight space located on the second floor of a home at 27 Eastwood Place. That same sense of community remains part of the lasting legacy of the All-College Honors Program.

HOLDING HER OWN: LILLIAN M. LEVEY BECOMES A FORCE FOR WOMEN AT CANISIUS For more than three decades, Lillian M. Levey MS ’67, HON ’03, served the college with a unique blend of quiet determination, strong spirit and great courage. She was small in stature but a force of nature, holding her own in an organization that had been exclusively male throughout most of its history.

-Robert J. Butler, PhD & Bruce J. Dierenfield, PhD

Levey came to Canisius in 1961 as acting dean of women and chair of the college’s nursing program. A trailblazer in every sense of the word, she marked many firsts for women as the college transitioned into a co-educational institution.

Levey was the first female appointed dean of women and then dean of students.

In 1978, she made history as the first woman to assume a vice president’s role upon her appointment to vice president for student affairs. Nine years later, Levey became assistant to then President Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ, a position she held until her retirement in 1995.

During her tenure, Levey was responsible for the well-being of thousands of students. A role model and mentor, she was known for her compassion and fairness. Levey often said that working with and on behalf of students was her greatest honor.

1961 GUTS AND GRACE: CO-EDUCATION COMES TO CANISIUS

They didn’t intend to be trailblazers. They just wanted to earn a college degree in business and pursue a modest career. Instead, these eight like-minded young women were part of a bold social experiment on campus when they became the first female students to enroll in the day division at Canisius in September 1961.

The call for co-education began a year prior. In a letter to the New York provincial for the Society of Jesus, Canisius President Rev. James J. McGinley HON ’69, SJ, requested the leader’s “earnest consideration that the School of Business Administration (SBA) become co-educational.” Father McGinley cited a heightened demand among women who wanted to pursue professions in various aspects of marketing and management. He emphasized that “Canisius offers Buffalo’s only collegiate program in business administration under the Catholic auspices.” Father McGinley then concluded, “Traditional objections to co-education ought not to hold for the SBA which is, in nature, a semi-professional institution.”

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Rev. James J. McGinley HON ’69, SJ

Levey earned a master’s degree in education from Canisius in 1967. For her dedication and work on behalf of the college, she received the college’s LaSalle Medal in 1991, President’s Medal in 1993 and an honorary degree in 2003. She passed away in 2008.

Lillian M. Levey (right) receives the I. Joan Lorch Award from Joan Lorch, PhD, professor emerita of biology, in 1992. The award is presented annually to individuals who have made significant contributions to women on campus.

Levey is remembered fondly for her philosophy of recognizing each person as an individual. Combined with her strong faith and good humor, that philosophy shaped the distinctive leadership that became the hallmark of her career.

Approval of Father McGinley’s request came swiftly and the following fall, Canisius admitted eight women (six freshmen and two junior transfer students) into the full-time day division of the School of Business Administration.

Soon after, pressure began to build for Canisius to become a fully co-educational college. Appeals came from parents and guidance counselors in public and private schools. Canisius faculty, both lay and Jesuit, signed a petition calling upon the college to “hasten the time of women’s entry.” A majority of alumni voiced their support, as did the male student body. And in a report to the Board of Trustees, Father McGinley reasoned that the college “had an obligation to the community” to provide a parochial, co-educational program. “There are fine girls from fine Catholic families who do not wish to continue their educations at colleges conducted by women religious … or at tax-supported institutions.”

The Board of Trustees responded to the appeals and in September 1965, Canisius opened its doors to women in all academic day divisions.

Eileen (Duch) Rolek ’73, MS ’77 was the first female editor of The Griffin.

Di Gamma Alpha officers from 1969 included (l-r) Mary Lou Tarquini DeLaPlante ’69, treasurer; Iris (Young) Woeppel ’69, secretary; and Carol (Rysz) Wysocki ’69, president.

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1962

Below: Former President Harry S. Truman reviews the ROTC cadets upon his arrival at Canisius College on March 26, 1962. He is pictured alongside Canisius President Rev. James McGinley, SJ and Lt. Col. James F. Greene Jr. (At the far left stands an unidentified Canisius ROTC student.)

1961 In the first step toward the college’s planned celebration of its 100th anniversary in 1970, Canisius President Rev. James J. McGinley, SJ, announces the adoption of a new college seal (right). The change followed one year of work and consultation with heraldic expert William F.J. Ryan.

Ryan recommended the new seal be unique to the college’s namesake, St. Peter Canisius, and less illustrative of Ignatius Loyola, whose coat of arms was being used by several other Jesuit institutions at the time.

The new adaptation shows the figure of a greyhound “courant” (running) and is representative of the Canisius family name, canis, Latin for dog. Above the greyhound is a three-pointed mark of cadency and atop this an open book symbolizing knowledge and learning. The book bears the insignia of the Society of Jesus, a small Latin cross and three nails signifying Jesus’ crucifixion. The lower portion of the seal is emblazoned with a heraldic greyish-blue vair, Latin for fur, alternatively patterned similar to the lining of cloaks and robes.

HARRY S. TRUMAN March 26, 1962

MALCOLM TOON October 16, 1980

MORRIS DEES February 12, 2002

CLINTON ROSSITER February 6, 1963

HENRY J. NOWAK March 23, 1981

MARK SHIELDS March 6, 2002

FREDERICK B. PIKE May 5, 1965

JOHN J. LAFALCE November 30, 1981

MARY FRANCES BERRY February 11, 2003

JAMES MACGREGOR BURNS April 5, 1966

ZDZISLAW RURARZ February 21, 1982

ANTHONY C. ZINNI April 3, 2003

LEWIS S. FEUER December 5, 1966

RICHARD REEVES April 26, 1983

KATHLEEN HALL JAMIESON February 23, 2004

On March 26, 1962, President Harry S. Truman delivered the first lecture in a new series at Canisius, inaugurating nearly six decades of prominent visitors discussing current political topics. The William H. Fitzpatrick Political Science Lecture Series endures as a living memorial in the college’s continuing pursuit of academic excellence.

THEODORE C. SORENSEN May 12, 1967

PAUL E. TSONGAS November 2, 1983

RICHARD BENEDETTO September 23, 2004

WILLIAM J. BRENNAN JR. October 6, 1967

ALFONSE M. D’AMATO October 30, 1984

DEE DEE MYERS October 14, 2004

EDWARD W. BROOKE III May 9, 1968

JOHN KASICH April 18, 2006

Sponsoring the series is The William H. Fitzpatrick Chair of Political Science at Canisius, which was endowed by Paul E. and Walter D. Fitzpatrick in memory of their parents. William H. Fitzpatrick, who died in 1932, had been a longtime Erie County Democratic Chairman.

Our father “lived a political life 24 hours a day, 365 days a year … with the strong support and encouragement of our mother,” the Fitzpatrick brothers said in a 1975 interview. They were pleased with the first dozen years of the series’ existence – “I don’t recall one dull evening,” said Paul Fitzpatrick.

RICHARD HOFSTADTER November 21, 1968

ALLEN MATUSOW WILLIAM RUSHER March 27, 1985

Speakers from the realms of politics, academia and journalism have been among the luminaries gracing the Fitzpatrick podium at Canisius, often attracting overflow audiences. Included on the star-studded list were Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist James “Scotty” Reston; historian James MacGregor Burns, another Pulitzer winner; Theodore C. Sorensen, presidential assistant to John F. Kennedy; Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr.; and the distinguished Senators Edward W. Brooke III, Birch Bayh, William Proxmire, George S. McGovern and Edmund Muskie.

SIDNEY HOOK April 1, 1971

Over the years, the stellar list of Fitzpatrick lecturers has burnished the series’ reputation, no small feat given the prominence of the very first speaker. True to form, Harry Truman “gave ’em hell,” speaking and then responding to questions with disconcerting frankness. According to a report in The Griffin, March 30, 1962, Truman answered queries on a number of topics pertinent to the times. Asked about the John Birch Society, he said, “Well, they’re no good … There’s no place for them in our two-party system … They are Ku Kluxers without nightgowns.”

JAMES RESTON March 1, 1973

NEVER A DULL EVENING : THE FITZPATRICK SERIES THROUGH THE YEARS

Former U.S. President Harry S. Truman (1945-53) is pictured (center) with Paul Fitzpatrick (left), Walter Fitzpatrick (right) and Canisius President Rev. James. J. McGinley, SJ. Paul and Walter Fitzpatrick are the sons of William H. Fitzpatrick (in portrait above), for whom the Fitzpatrick Lecture Series was established.

Six Decades of Fitzpatrick Speakers

He also defended his most controversial decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan, stating that their government had been warned “we had a powerful explosive and they’d better surrender for their own good. They sent me a sassy message, which someday I’ll read to you. It’s a terrible thing. What I did to them, I dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and they surrendered the next day.” He said “tear-shedders and do-gooders who yell about the people who were hurt by the atomic bomb … never tell you anything [about the attack on Pearl Harbor] … when there was no war between Japan and us. They hit us in the back and, of course, they got what was coming to them.

If you want to weep, weep for our people who were hurt not for those who caused the peace to come about.”

Thus did the Fitzpatrick lecture series start off with a bang, a harbinger of the future, and the many more hot topics to be discussed.

-Maria Scrivani ’76

BIRCH BAYH May 5, 1969 RICHARD D. MCCARTHY January 22, 1970 EDWIN O. REISCHAUER April 23, 1970 STEWART ALSOP November 10, 1970

JOHN J. GILLIGAN March 9, 1972 DANIEL P. MOYNIHAN March 23, 1972 ALEXANDER ECKSTEIN April 27, 1972 MARK RUSSELL October 19, 1972

WILLIAM PROXMIRE January 15, 1974 GEORGE S. MCGOVERN February 14, 1974 BARBER B. CONABLE JR. April 10, 1975 GARRY WILLS April 24, 1975 EDMUND MUSKIE October 2, 1975 EDWARD C. BANFIELD March 11, 1976 THEODORE J. LOWI January 25, 1977 ELIZABETH DREW April 5, 1977 JOHN V. LINDSAY November 16, 1977 CARL BERNSTEIN April 5, 1978 JACK KEMP November 8, 1978 DANIEL BELL May 2, 1979 ALEXANDER GINZBURG November 26, 1979

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DIANE SAWYER March 25, 1986 ARKADY SHEVCHENKO September 17, 1986 JAMES L. SUNDQUIST April 28, 1987 ANDREW M. GREELEY November 2, 1987 JAMES R. THOMPSON October 3, 1988 JEFF GREENFIELD May 3, 1989 DANIEL P. MOYNIHAN December 10, 1990 NEIL SHEEHAN February 21, 1991 BARBER B. CONABLE JR. November 14, 1991 JIMMY CARTER March 16, 1993 TERRY ANDERSON March 9, 1994 GEORGE J. MITCHELL March 6, 1995 BILL BRADLEY October 21, 1996 LARRY J. SABATO February 13, 1997 SUSAN MOLINARI February 20, 1997 BILL PAXON February 20, 1997 KWEISI MFUME March 20, 1997 BERNICE A. KING February 25, 1999 JAMES W. MICHAELS April 15, 1999 CHARLES E. SCHUMER November 15, 1999 CORNEL WEST February 11, 2000 MOLLY IVINS April 3, 2001 JACK QUINN September 17, 2001

MICHAEL F. SCHEUER ’74, PHD February 1, 2007 CARL M. CANNON January 23, 2008 FRANCIS FUKUYAMA, PHD April 15, 2008 BRIAN HIGGINS November 10, 2008 ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. April 16, 2009 JAMES MCPHERSON, PHD September 15, 2009 JANE GOODALL, PHD, DBE April 14, 2010 DAVID W. ROHDE ’67, PHD September 16, 2010 CÉSAR GAVIRIA April 14, 2011 TEMPLE GRANDIN, PHD April 20, 2011 BILL RICHARDSON September 20, 2011 DAVID FRUM March 19, 2012 KARL ROVE September 17, 2012 FAWAZ A. GERGES March 20, 2013 PAUL FARMER September 16, 2013 JOSEPH S. NYE JR. March 31, 2014 P.W. SINGER September 24, 2014 DANA GOLDSTEIN March 9, 2015 STEVEN FRASER October 21, 2015 JOHN SIDES, PHD March 16, 2016 JENNIFER GRANHOLM November 1, 2016 CYNTHIA L. SKRZYCKI ’76 DAVID SHRIBMAN April 24, 2017 TAMIKA MALLORY BOB BLAND September 26, 2017

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1963

1963

A GOLDEN ERA FOR THE GRIFFS

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Arguably the greatest era in Canisius athletic history took place in the half decade following World War II. Football was very successful, even playing in a bowl game, and swimming, golf, baseball, cross country and hockey (a club sport) had shining moments. And, of course, men’s basketball (there were no women’s teams at that time) reached new heights after the war.

Two new additions emerged on the Main Street campus in September 1963.

One was a student center. The other, a student residence. “Use them both well,” declared President James J. McGinley, SJ, in welcoming students to the space. “You will have only one chance per lifetime to go to Canisius College.”

At six stories high, the student residence, later renamed Frisch Hall, housed 150 double rooms and accommodated 300 students and five Jesuits. Though living quarters were cramped at just 12 x 16.5 feet, they were “dignified, not gaudy” and comfortable though not quite as comfortable as home. “We wouldn’t want to spoil you now,” quipped McGinley.

Men’s basketball would be the face of the college’s athletic program during this time period, in fact its sole major sport in the years that followed. Indeed Canisius basketball in Memorial Auditorium was the popular activity for just about all Canisius students, as well as the city of Buffalo.

The Memorial Auditorium doubleheader basketball program continued to be guided by the humble but very competent Jim Crowdle, PhD.

Modern amenities did abound. The dormitory’s lower level included a game room, a television room and an entirely soundproof music room available for “those students who wish to have their own jam session without disturbing the rest of the boarders.”

The college hoopsters had been winning regularly under Joseph P. Niland Sr. ’46, considered one of the bright young coaches in the East. Niland was replaced by his assistant, Joe Curran in 1953. After great success, Curran’s team had a dismal season in 1957-58 and he was replaced by his assistant, Bob MacKinnon ’50, MS ’62, who then stayed through the 1960s until 1972.

Connected to the new student residence via an expanded tunnel system was a new student center, a place where young scholars, McGinley said, would “meet the best people in the world – their classmates.”

The real golden era for Golden Griffin basketball occurred in three consecutive years, 1954-57. The Griffs participated in the NCAA tournament in all three years and did quite well with a 6 – 3 record, defeating Villanova and West Virginia, among others.

In its day, the two-story building was considered one of the finest examples of modern architecture in the country. An expansive foyer greeted visitors with easy chairs and couches in a summer hue “to create a warm, vibrant atmosphere even on Buffalo’s dreariest of days.” That same motif carried through to the cafeteria equipped to serve 725 students at one sitting.

Led by Johnny McCarthy ’56 and Hank Nowak ’57, the Griffs knocked off some high ranked opponents including the No. 2 team in the nation, North Carolina State, in a legendary four-overtime victory. That win is and has always been etched like solid rock in the memory of all who passed under the Golden Dome in that era.

“We knew you needed a recreation room,” explained McGinley, so the college incorporated a student lounge and multi-purpose space into the second floor design of the student center. The spaciousness is both suitable for student dances, theater performances and convocations. “A place,” McGinley said, “for students to relax with dignity and social conscience.”

Another milestone for the Griffs came in 1963 when the Bill O’Connor ’63 – Tom Chester ’63 duo led the Griffs to the finals of the National Invitation Tournament in New York City, before losing to the John Thompson-led Providence Friars.

-Daniel P. Starr ’58, HON ’18, PhD

Rev. John A. Frisch, SJ

A Spirit of Scholarship Frisch Hall is dedicated to the memory of Rev. John A. Frisch, SJ, a rare individual who harmoniously synthesized two great careers: Jesuit priest and scholar-teacher.

Father Frisch died in May 1963 but during his 24 years as chair of the Biology Department, he became renowned for his direction of the college’s pre-medical program. Father Frisch trained future doctors and biological technicians. He demanded the most of all his students and received it. His recommendations to medical school were notably difficult to come by. All told, nearly 500 of his pre-medical students went on to receive their doctor of medicine degrees after graduating from Canisius.

Father Frisch’s devotion to students was matched only by his spirit of scholarship. An eminent biologist, he was an acclaimed authority throughout the global scientific community for his research in the area of protozoan physiology. His work earned him induction into Phi Beta Kappa, the most prestigious scholarly fraternity in America.

Tri-captains of the 1963 basketball team, Bill O’Connor ’63, Pat Turtle ’63 and Tom Chester ’63

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Whether by divine providence or happy coincidence, Father Frisch’s spirit remains enshrined in his namesake residence hall. His Phi Beta Kappa key was the only item put into the cornerstone of the building, which didn’t come to bear his name until five years after opening.

Madison Square Garden, 1963

Frisch Hall

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1963

1964

A FORCE FOR FUNDRAISING

A NEW DEAN AND NEW DORM RULES

Were it not for the unwavering persistence of Irene E. Adamski ’81, the Canisius College Scholarship Associates might never have existed. The idea of a female-only fundraising group working on behalf of the primarily all-male college was met with skepticism by President Rev. James J. McGinley, SJ. But he proved to be no match for Adamski and in 1963, the Scholarship Associates was born.

The co-educational revolution at Canisius wasn’t the only change underway on campus.

For the first time, in 1964, the college appointed a lay person as dean of men.

Donald A. Nair, EdD, came to Canisius with experience far exceeding his undergraduate look. At age 28, he held a doctorate in both psychology and counseling from Pennsylvania State University and had already served six years in various studentpersonnel positions. At Canisius, Nair found himself more specialized, having the responsibility “to smooth and complement the total education of the students.”

Twenty-one attended the inaugural fundraising tea, which netted $133. With Adamski at the helm, the Scholarship Associates would raise more than $1 million before the group dissolved in 2013.

Resident students became fast fans of Nair when he announced his first order of business was to make sweeping changes to the dormitory rules. Nair condensed the old 10-page rule book to a mere page and upended long-held regulations regarding leaving the dorms and curfew. Prior to his arrival, dorm students had to request permission from the dean of men for late curfews and to return home on weekends.

Under Nair, students in good standing merely had to sign out and did not need the dean’s permission.

The college and the associates honored Adamski in 1988 with the establishment of the Irene E. Adamski Non-Traditional Scholarship to benefit students over age 24.

A widow at age 45 with grown children, Adamski established a career as an interior designer. She later returned to school as a non-traditional student, earning an associate of arts degree from Villa Maria College in 1976 and a bachelor’s degree in art history from Canisius in 1981.

Irene E. Adamski ’81

She founded Irene E. Adamski Interiors, was an instructor of interior design at Villa Maria and taught an interior design course at Canisius, donating the proceeds to the college’s scholarship fund.

Regents Ball, 1981

Donald A. Nair, EdD

1964 WVOC hits the airwaves in December 1964 as a five watt, closed-circuit wired radio station. Broadcast by students and for students, the station’s call letters changed to WCCG in 1976. Today, the radio station is known as The Wire.

Adamski presided over the annual Canisius Regents Ball as artistic designer for decades and garnered a reputation for bringing a combination of class and dramatic flair to the event. From the “Once in a Lifetime Auction” in 1969 that included items donated by Princess Grace of Monaco, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Lyndon Johnson, to the 1981 ball, which offered hot air balloon rides from the Quad, guests were always surprised and never disappointed.

She received many honors and accolades for her dedication to alma mater including the President’s Medal, LaSalle Medal and induction into the DiGamma Honor Society.

Adamski died earlier this year at the age of 102. She was one of the college’s most beloved and likely its oldest alumna.

1963

Regents Ball, 1981

Canisius College inducts its inaugural class to the Sports Hall of Fame. Those members were John C. Brady Sr. ’12 (basketball), Thomas A. Colella ’42 (football), Jack Collins ’30 (football) and Bob MacKinnon ’50, MS ’62 (coach, basketball).

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1964 NO EASY WAL K: A SEARCH FOR J US T I CE DURI NG T H E C I V I L RI GHT S M OV E M E NT

Sunday, March 21, 1965. 8:40 a.m.

A Greyhound bus carrying 33 Canisius students, two Jesuit priests and the college’s dean of men arrived in Selma, AL, to show support for the Voting Rights Movement sweeping through the South.

Despite the 15th Amendment which granted African-American men the right to vote in 1870, Southern registrars imposed poll taxes and literacy tests to disenfranchise black voters. If that didn’t work, they employed overt intimidation tactics.

As the government sat idly by, civil rights supporters, under the leadership of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., devised a nonviolent protest to draw national attention to their plight. They organized an ambitious five-day, 54-mile march to the state capital of Montgomery to pressure Gov. George Wallace into action. It took demonstrators three attempts to reach the state capital.

The raw images of the first attempt, now known as Bloody Sunday, made national news as state and local lawmen brutally attacked civil rights marchers as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Rev. King led another attempt two days later but turned marchers around when state troopers again blocked the road.

Marchers didn’t find success until nearly two weeks later, on March 21, when a group of 3,200 citizen activists – including the Canisius contingent – set out on a third attempt to reach the state capital. This time, they were armed with a court order permitting their peaceful protest and the protection of the Alabama National Guard. Marchers departed from Brown Chapel AME Church and safely crossed the symbolic Edmund Pettus Bridge successfully enroute to Montgomery.

The Selma March ultimately pressured both political parties to approve the Voting Rights Act, which President Lyndon B. Johnson signed in August 1965. The law enforces the 15th Amendment and confirms that blacks are full American citizens.

Above: A transcription of a phone call made by Dean of Men Donald A. Nair, EdD, updating the campus community on the Canisius contingent in Selma.

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1965 MEMORIES FROM A MOVEMENT Canisius alumni Mike Deninger ’68 and Robert Yuhnke ’65 reflected on their personal experiences participating in the Selma March, in the winter 2015 issue of Canisius Magazine.

It has been 50 years since I traveled to Selma for the historic voting rights march with a busload of students and faculty from Canisius College. I was an 18-year-old freshman and one of thousands of clergy, students, citizen-activists and professionals of all races and creeds who joined the protest led by Martin Luther King Jr. Not everyone agreed with the march or that we should be going. A close friend and dormmate of mine threatened termination of our friendship if I were to go.

We were never close again.

The first evidence that geography had affected politics occurred when a new bus driver took over below the Mason-Dixon Line. While singing civil rights songs, someone noticed the heater was on high. Strangely, the outside temperature was quite moderate. Our driver was objecting in his own way to our participation in the march.

Up the highway from Selma, we shaved in a truck stop restroom and changed into coats and ties to counter the image in the conservative media of freedom marchers as slovenly troublemakers.

The atmosphere at the rally was electric. Shivers rocketed up and down my spine as I stepped into the crowd. It was a righteous cause and a moment of unqualified conviction.

MLK’s rousing remarks from the porch of the Brown Chapel galvanized the assembly. Energized. No turning back. But this feeling did not stop a shock of fear from passing through me when I first saw the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

I wager I was not alone in that feeling. What if the military was unable to quash the local rage? If the philosophy was nonviolence, were we to simply take a beating?

The scene after the bridge was reassuring. More than 3,000 troops and marshals were there to protect us. They were on the north side of route 80, shielding us from rows of counter-protesters who were hoisting “n----- lover” placards, shouting obscenities and telling white folks to go home. An occasional rock was flung into our midst from the hill, but troops quickly quieted those disturbances.

We responded to their insults and attempts to harm by locking arms tightly and neutralizing their animosity with choruses of “We Shall Overcome.”

When the sun on our faces dropped closer to the horizon, all but about 50 of the thousands of marchers had to be shuttled back to Selma. By court order, only a small contingent could continue to Montgomery the next day.

I rejoined my group at the First Baptist Church, a designated food and rest center for marchers. The pews were filled with sleeping bags whose owners had traveled from every corner of the nation. There was no sleeping that night though. Fear of violent reprisals and people coming and going with news of the day kept me up until daybreak.

The trip back to Buffalo the next morning was noiseless save for murmured conversations and the snores of exhausted young men. Seeds of change had been sewn in our lives for future germination.

-Mike Deninger ’68 69

Over the first weekend in March 1965, TV networks shocked the nation with images of the brutal violence deployed by the Alabama State Police to stop a few hundred silent black Americans from marching from Selma to Montgomery, AL, to demand their constitutional right to vote.

the captain. “Don’t let them take you down,” he advised. “The Army needs leaders like you.” He gave me his second lieutenant bars and asked me to wear them in honor of the commitment I had shown to the principles for which America stands.

Mike Monin ’65 and I agreed that we should organize a Canisius contingent for the March 21 march. Rev. Edward Gillen, SJ, then vice president of Canisius, agreed to allow the student council to pay for the bus, provided a Jesuit faculty member went on the trip.

Years later I reconciled with my dad. He owned that he never would have chosen to live his life the way I lived mine but confessed pride that “You are your own man.” I always treasured that acknowledgment and that he respected me even though I did not fulfill his expectations for who he wanted his son to be.

We felt confident the trip would happen and whatever obstacles we might encounter, we expected south of the Mason-Dixon Line. We never expected that to support the right to vote for African-Americans we would first need to overcome less obvious but no less potent obstacles at home.

When I told my ROTC faculty advisor that I would be leading the Canisius delegation to march for voting rights in Selma, he interrupted to declare that I could not go because as cadet captain, I had to command the Tactical Unit (TU) in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on the same weekend. I expressed confidence that any of the platoon leaders could lead the TU in my absence but he ordered me to command the unit. If I did not, he would have me cashiered from the corps of cadets for insubordination, which would preclude my being commissioned as an officer.

Thanks to Canisius, the Selma experience opened many eyes. And nearly four decades after graduation, without any premonition that he would die within days, I called Father Gillen to thank him for the integrity and strength that he modeled for me that day in 1965.

-Robert Yuhnke ’68 (pictured)

I declared that I was not yet in the Army and if the Army was in the business of depriving people of their rights, then I did not want to be commissioned. I stormed out of his office in a rage without saluting and went to see Father Gillen.

Father Gillen and I had developed a congenial although somewhat confrontational relationship through my two years as editor of The Griffin. I recounted to him the still-fresh conversation I had with my captain. After asking one question to clarify, Father Gillen called the ROTC commander. He inquired whether it was true that I had been threatened with dismissal from the corps if I led the Canisius delegation to Selma. After some long delay or explanation or both, Gillen responded tartly: “If Yuhnke is not allowed to go to Selma, the days of ROTC on this campus are numbered.”

The next day I learned that I would not be required to command the TU in the parade.

That same night at the dinner table I announced to my family that I was helping to organize Canisius students to participate in the voting rights march in Selma.

Mom voiced her concern. She feared I would be a victim of hate violence. Dad exploded, declaring that “No son of mine would do a thing like that! If you go, I don’t ever want to see you in this house again.”

The vehemence of his reaction stunned me. It took me minutes to take in the import of this unexpected revelation of my dad’s attitude about an issue that was rending the nation and now my family. The situation did not lend itself to reasoning. I responded from my heart: “Dad, I feel that what is happening in the South affects us all and I feel called to bear witness. History is being made, and I want to be part of it.”

In retrospect, I can see that my response to these challenges was a declaration of personal independence. My commitment was to contribute to the building of a different future for America; different than the one my ROTC captain and father lived in. We had to do better.

Learning to take responsibility for committing myself to my truth has been rewarded many times in the last 50 years.

Two months after returning from Selma, the colonel who had returned to his post as commander of Canisius’ ROTC, asked me to come to his office. Much to my surprise, he apologized on behalf of the Army for the way I was treated. He warned that if I made a career of the Army, I would encounter many people like 70

1966-1979

1966

R E VO L U T I O NA RY T I M E S

LEADER OF THE BAND

It was said that Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ, put a smile on the face of Canisius College. The 22nd and longest-tenured president, Father Demske developed close ties between Canisius and the Western New York community. For most, the man and the institution were one and the same.

Seismic social and political changes began to roil the country at this point in history. Protests continued over U.S. involvement in the burgeoning Vietnam War. Racial inequality persisted despite a Civil Rights Movement that successfully fought to outlaw racial segregation and discrimination. And unrest about full equality for women remained.

Father Demske’s presidential style was unique. An unassuming man with a quick smile and warm manner, he was a charismatic leader.

An accomplished musician, Father Demske was well known for his avocation as a trombonist. He often played at college functions and performed impromptu trombone recitals for students. He was also known to break into song during commencement ceremonies, singing his signature rendition of “Pennies from Heaven.”

As Americans reeled in rage, a moral revolt ignited nationwide among college students who opposed U.S. political policies and questioned social norms of oppression and prejudice.

Here at Canisius, students marched into history under the leadership of a new college president, challenged with tempering activism with academics amidst an unforeseen shift in the mission and identity of the Society of Jesus.

This shift followed the 32nd General Congregation (GC 32) at which the Society passed its now famous decree “Our Mission Today.”

The proclamation declared that the service of faith and promotion of justice be animating forces behind all Jesuit apostolic works including higher education.

These changes slowly revealed themselves in the undergraduate curricula at Canisius, where the pursuit of excellence in the humanities, sciences, business and education was coupled with a concern for ethical and moral implications, and where theology and philosophy provided the essential synthesis among disciplines.

Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ

1966 Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ, succeeds Rev. James J. McGinley, SJ, as rectorpresident of Canisius College.

During his 27-year tenure, Father Demske is credited with guiding Canisius through exceptional growth. New academic programs strengthened the curriculum and physical plant changes were dramatic.

The Rev. Andrew Bouwhuis, SJ, Library tripled in size and a state-of-the-art outdoor athletic complex was completed. The long-awaited “home field” was named in honor of Father Demske in tribute to his tireless efforts on behalf of Canisius. Eight new buildings, including two residence halls, were added to the campus to keep pace with the college’s growing student enrollment, which recorded a 70 percent increase in undergraduate and graduate students combined.

The college’s endowment fund grew from $1 million in 1966 to more than $27 million at the time of Father Demske’s retirement as president in 1993, when he was named chancellor.

A Buffalo native, he was fiercely proud of his hometown. Father Demske created the Western New York Heritage Project, a Canisius-based program that promoted Buffalo’s history in the classroom and community.

He attended Canisius until his education was interrupted by World War II during which he served as an Army captain and company commander in Europe before returning to the college to earn his bachelor’s degree in 1947. That same year, he entered the Society of Jesus. He became a Jesuit priest in 1957.

Father Demske died in June 1994.

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1967

BUILDING THE FINEST BUSINESS SCHOOL IN THE NORTHEAST

A FORCE FOR CHANGE

The national acclaim held by Canisius’ school of business today originated with the July 1966 appointment of Bernard L. Martin, PhD, as dean. Recruited from the College of Business at Eastern Michigan University, Martin’s efforts during his 12-year tenure shaped the business school into one of the finest in the Northeast.

He assembled first-rate faculty, introduced the marketing major, and initiated and developed the master of business administration program.

Martin spearheaded the business school in its successful accreditation from the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business – an unrivaled accomplishment in the field of education. He also spent considerable time fostering relationships between the college and area business leaders. A precursor to what is today the Business Advisory Council, the group opened doors to students for authentic learning experiences.

1967 After 40 years, Canisius demolishes the Villa gymnasium, built in 1927, to make room for a second student residence and dining hall.

A small but resolute group of African-American men challenged the status quo at Canisius in fall 1967. Troubled by the lack of diversity in the student body and the academic curriculum, they founded the Afro-American Society. A student club, yes, but this was one with an infrastructure focused largely on advocacy initiatives aimed at bringing diversity to campus.

The Afro-American Society was still in its infancy when, on April 4, 1968, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed while standing on the balcony of his hotel room in Memphis, TN. “It was one of those times when you could see the social fabric of the nation loosening,” recalled English Professor Robert J. Butler, PhD. Bernard L. Martin, PhD

To repair that fabric, even within the confines of Canisius, would require substantial action on the part of faculty and students, both of whom united to bring their full support of a new Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship program to President Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ, for approval. Endorsed with ease by the college president, the program offered full academic scholarships to students of color who met the college’s admissions criteria.

Jesse E. Nash Jr. HON ’93

Approximately 20 promising students in need of financial assistance were admitted in the program’s initial year in 1968.

With the seeds of increasing diversity now sewn, the Afro-American Society next directed its attention toward minority representation in the academic curriculum. History Professor Walter G. Sharrow HON ’13, PhD, championed the change. He developed the college’s first black history course, which dove deep into the long and misunderstood history and culture of African-Americans and often related the black past to the present and the future. The success of that first course hastened the conception of many more and soon formal black studies became a reality.

The Afro-American Society has since served as the impetus for several new student clubs, each of which reflects its own ethnic interests.

Jesse E. Nash Jr.: An Influential Father Figure Jesse E. Nash Jr. HON ’93 was at the side of that small but resolute group of African-American students when they took their concerns to the Canisius administration (see “A Force for Change”).

The late professor of sociology and anthropology was the sole faculty member of color for the majority of his tenure, which spanned 33 years. So when he saw a growing number of African-American students begin to enroll, Nash recognized their need for a mentor; someone who could help them find their voices at Canisius.

His classroom became their home – a safe, inclusive and intellectually stimulating place, where open and honest conversations about race, class and gender abounded. Always, Nash reminded students that Canisius was not isolated but rather a microcosm of the struggles taking place in society at large.

Founding members of the Afro-American Society at Canisius College:

At social activities across campus, Nash became a familiar and friendly face, walking the talk he often gave to students, that “the best way to build bridges was by investing in meaningful relationships with one another.”

Frank E. Barbee ’70

Jesse Nash Jr. died in May 2016 at the age of 90.

Arnold Daniels Jr. ’71, PhD LeRoi C. Johnson ’71, HON ’18 Albert D. Kirkland ’71 Robert H. Maloney ’71

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1967 A CANISIAN FOR THE AGES

1968

“Give him a worthy purpose and watch him work.”

Apt was the portrayal of George M. Martin ’42, HON ’88, by a prescient commentator for the 1942 Azuwur. That young man, about whom the editor spoke, went on to have an enduring relevance at Canisius.

CHURCHILL ACADEMIC TOWER: WE’VE GROWN ACCUSTOMED TO ITS FACE

Martin became the first non-Jesuit to hold a vice presidency position when, in October 1967, President Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ, named him executive vice president for administrative affairs.

A stack of giant pancakes. An oversized shaving cream can. A giant Breck Shampoo bottle. One very large soup can.

Already a familiar face at Canisius, Martin’s allegiance to the college manifested during his undergraduate years and continued, in 1949, when he was named part-time alumni director. During his tenure, Martin founded the Alumni Loyalty Fund, which preceded today’s Canisius Fund, and began publishing Canisius College Alumni News.

Such were the derisive comments when plans were announced in April 1968 for a new cylindrical building on the Canisius College campus.

But where some saw an unlaunched rocketship, college administrators saw a solution to a space-crunch problem. Desperately needed were individual offices for faculty members to work and meet privately with students – but where and what to build on a compact campus?

But it was Martin’s guiding influence as vice president that cemented his status as a Canisian for the ages.

He grew the college’s advancement division from a one-person department to nine separate areas. The annual giving campaign reached a record $2.25 million goal under Martin’s leadership, and the Centennial Campaign and subsequent Campaign for the Eighties, both of which he meticulously managed, played crucial roles in the progress, prosperity and growth of Canisius.

Martin retired as vice president after 21 years, though he never grew stale even as he grew old. He served as special counsel to Canisius President Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, SJ, up until his passing in 2013.

-Maria Scrivani ’76

The controversial decision was made to go with a tower, financed mainly by pioneer televangelist Rev. Clinton H. Churchill. Designed by architect Leroy H. Welch, who built both residence halls, the dining hall and then-in-progress physical education complex at Canisius, the look of the tower wasn’t the only concern. The new edifice would block the Main Street view of the college’s iconic gold dome atop Old Main.

Frances G. Churchill, wife of the late Rev. Clinton H. Churchill, attends the dedication ceremonies of Churchill Academic Tower with Canisius President Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ.

If there was any handwringing in the administrative offices, it was short-lived. The college barreled ahead with the plans for what was projected to be a $1.5 million project. When the tower was dedicated on October 14, 1971, the final cost was reported to be $2.3 million.

For that, Canisius acquired 144 new faculty offices, seven classrooms built amphitheater-style and a statistics laboratory. The building was joined, practically at the hip, to its overshadowed brother via a bridge from the tower to second-floor classrooms in Old Main.

The controversy, though subsided, remains. The Churchill Tower was named to an infamous list of bad local architecture in a Buffalo News piece published March 29, 1985. Bonnie Ott, a visiting professor of design studies at the University at Buffalo, zeroed in on the Canisius tower, “an idiosyncratic piece and a caricature … It is in that whole genre of buildings that are highly speculative and relate only to themselves.”

President Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ, touted the “bold architectural venture” of the Churchill Academic Tower, essentially forecasting its status as the campus landmark it is today, a thing not so much of beauty but certainly of utility.

-Maria Scrivani ’76

George M. Martin ’42, HON ’88

George M. Martin ’42, HON ’88, upon receiving the President’s Medal in June 2011 75

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1968 A TIME FOR ACTION; A TIME FOR REFLECTION

If not the cause, the war in Vietnam certainly was the catalyst for a chain reaction of events that engulfed college campuses nationwide. Canisius was hardly exempt and saw its share of social and political strife.

Questioning the morality of the war and the right of individuals to refuse to participate in it, a small Canisius group formed Students for Peace and Involvement (SPI) in December 1967.

As the group matured in number and intention, Canisius became the site for peace vigils and protests. Then, in March 1968, two weeks before President Lyndon Johnson publicly withdrew his name from contention to succeed himself, the Canisius Student Government took the unprecedented action of adopting a resolution condemning his administration for its Vietnam policy.

The campus environment was one of debate, not violence. Still, student demonstrations disrupted daily academic life.

“Some professors would hold classes if the students wanted, otherwise they would just sit and talk about the issues,” English Professor Edward J. Zimmerman, PhD, recalled in a 1985 issue of The Griffin.

Members of Students for Peace and Involvement march in Buffalo during the Vietnam War.

By May 1970, the anti-war sentiment on college campuses culminated. Approximately 400 Canisius undergraduates joined hundreds of others in a national week of student strikes. The action was sparked when National Guard troops shot and killed four students in a protest rally at Kent State University following news that U.S. President Richard Nixon was expanding the Vietnam War efforts into Cambodia.

At 2001 Main Street, “students did all the things we heard people do during campus disturbances,” wrote Mike J. Smith ’73 in a September 1970 issue of The Griffin. “We rushed the ROTC building (but somebody forgot the matches). We might have taken over the administration building but somebody locked the doors. We also shocked a lot of parents who saw their sons or daughters standing on the picket line during the 11:00 news.”

Nevertheless, Canisius accomplished the difficult task of keeping the college on a relatively even keel, and administrators and faculty commended students for their behavior during these troubled times.

“Canisius is a smaller campus where people know each other,” stated History Professor James A. Duran Jr., PhD, in a Griffin interview. “There was a realization that rational people could disagree honestly about this very difficult issue.”

1968 More than 400 students gather to discuss a strategy during Student Strike Week in May 1970.

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ROTC, obligatory at Canisius since 1951 for all eligible male students in their freshman and sophomore years, is made optional for all.

Students for Peace and Involvement protest against the Vietnam War in downtown Buffalo, on October 15, 1969.

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1968

Bosch Hall, with its adjoining dining hall, opens for the fall 1968 semester. Canisius constructed both with funds from a $2.8 million loan awarded to the college from the Federal Housing and Urban Development Department.

CHALLENGING A FUTURE CHAMP

Muhammad Ali and Sharon Tolbert ’68 made for unlikely sparring partners when she challenged his separatist views as Ali spoke at Canisius on a wintry March night in 1968.

CORNED BEEF, CABBAGE AND CARE FOR THE INDIGENT

He was the ex-heavyweight champ. She was an ex-nun. He was among the world’s most famous faces.

She was an anonymous college student. He was, in his words, “as big as all history.” And she was a history major.

He wasn’t from Counties Clare, Cork or Kerry but the Canisius community celebrated Father O’Bosch Day along with St. Patrick’s Day for decades. Rev. Raymond G. Bosch was a native of Peru and ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Barcelona, Spain. So how did this Canisius tradition come to pass?

Tolbert made history of her own that night when she stood and objected as Ali preached for separation of the races. Their brief, blistering debate was reported by the Associated Press and picked up by Sports Illustrated and other national outlets.

Father Bosch worked as a missionary in South America before coming to Canisius in 1932.

He taught modern languages for 35 years and at age 68, set out to minister to lepers in the Philippines. Upon leaving Canisius, Father Bosch donated his life’s savings to the college.

Bosch Hall was named for his generosity.

Ali said it is natural law that the races remain apart. He said African-Americans are fools to believe “this airport is mine, this bus terminal is mine, this college is mine.”

Suddenly Tolbert’s voice rang out in the packed auditorium. “It is my airport,” she said. “It is my bus terminal. It is my America.”

Father Bosch focused his efforts on a leper colony in Sipocot in the Philippines, where 200 lepers, mostly children, lived in Bicol Sanitarium. Pacific winds and rain often washed out roads, which made it impossible for giving groups to make their way to the isolated city. Father Bosch regularly trekked to Manila to beg for food, used clothing and furnishings for the deserted church.

Tolbert would go on to be the first African-American woman to graduate from Canisius. She earned her doctorate in education at Stanford and spent a life in education, including at historically black colleges. She became Sharon Tolbert-Glover in 1983, when she married Gleason Glover, president of the Minneapolis Urban League.

Ali would later recant his separatist views. USA Today told Tolbert’s story in 2018 on the 50th anniversary of the night she challenged the once and future champ. Tolbert died six months later at 78.

-Erik Brady ’76

To support the beloved Father Bosch, Canisius celebrated Father O’Bosch Day every year on St. Patrick’s Day, to raise money for his missionary work. Most memorable was the corned beef and cabbage luncheon hosted by Biology Professor A. Allan Alexander, PhD, which was cooked and served in a biology lab. Getting a stool at a lab table for the popular meal was as difficult as securing a seat at a five-star restaurant.

Bosch Hall under construction in 1968

Against all odds, and over many years of grit and determination, Father Bosch was ultimately responsible for the construction of medical facilities, access to fresh water and improved sanitation in Sipocot. Most important, his efforts prevented more children from contracting leprosy.

Father Bosch died in 1986.

Muhammad Ali

Sharon Tolbert ’68 Rev. Raymond G. Bosch assists with serving the daily children’s meal at Bicol Sanitarium in the Philippines.

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Members of the Canisius community sell cookies for 10 cents to help raise money in support of Father Bosch’s missionary work in a leper colony.

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1968

1968

HUBERT HUMPHREY’S OVERTURE TO STUDENTS

A COLLECTIVE VOICE

Canisius College made an exception to its long-standing policy of prohibiting political candidates to speak on campus, when it welcomed the Hon. Hubert H. Humphrey in September 1968.

College governance was changing rapidly in the 1960s. At Canisius, newly hired lay faculty began to replace Jesuits in the classroom and lay professionals were appointed to the Board of Trustees. Until this time, faculty participation in the administration of the college was mainly advisory in nature.

The United States vice president was politicking as the Democratic nominee for president when he appeared before a standing-room audience in the student center auditorium. When introducing Humphrey, Canisius President Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ, described the visit as “a tremendous educational experience” and indicated Canisius’ intentions to invite “other political giants to campus … to give everyone equal time.”

A Faculty Senate was formed in October 1968 in an attempt to provide more influence in determining the academic curriculum and enhancing faculty welfare. John T. Kilbridge, PhD, professor of education, was the first chair of the 19-person Faculty Senate and the main work was formulating the constitution, and gaining responsibility and control of the core curriculum. I, Joseph F. Bieron ’59, PhD, an assistant professor of chemistry, was chair of the Senate in the 1969-70 academic year as it mediated the college’s delicate position between supporting student protests against the Vietnam War and the faculty position of maintaining uninterrupted classes. During the year, a new core curriculum with fewer philosophy and religious studies courses was proposed, and it was fully implemented in September 1971. In two years, the Faculty Senate emerged as the focus of faculty participation in the academic and administrative life of the college.

Upon taking the stage, Humphrey humorously suggested that “should his aspirations for the highest office not succeed,” he would be happy to present to Father Demske “whatever credentials I have as a teacher of political science.”

Humphrey then offered more thoughtful commentary on the role of the student generation in the American political scene and society.

Addressing the audience inside as well as a handful of protesters outside, he described the growing student interest in public affairs as one of the most encouraging developments of the century.

Humphrey later answered questions from the panel of student leaders moderating the discussion: William C. Lyons ’69, president of the student government; Kenneth P. Service ’69, editor of The Griffin; and Carol A. (Rysz) Wysocki ’69, president of Di Gamma Alpha.

The Faculty Senate has since become an integral part of the administration and academic life of the college. The issues have changed as current activities involve budget allocations to faculty welfare, assessment measures in courses, and concern for student rights and welfare. As innovative technologies in teaching and increasing government regulations present new challenges, the Faculty Senate continues to be the collective voice of the faculty.

Humphrey lost his presidential bid to Republican nominee Richard Nixon and returned to his earlier role as a U.S. senator for Minnesota.

He also returned to Canisius. In March 1976, the Political Science Association invited Humphrey back to campus to deliver a lecture titled “American Politics.”

-Joseph F. Bieron ’59, PhD

Canisius students and faculty greet Vice President Hubert Humphrey with much fanfare in September 1968, when the Democratic nominee for president spoke before a standing-room-only crowd in the student center.

1969 The Hon. Charles S. Desmond ’17 is named chair of the Canisius College Board of Trustees. He is one of seven laymen appointed to the Board in 1969, marking the first time the laity served in such positions. Jesuits on the Board numbered five.

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Student leaders moderate a panel discussion with Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Pictured (l-r) Mike Vogel ’71, Hon. Charles Desmond ’17, Canisius President James M. Demske ’47, SJ, and panelists David Goss ’70, Bill Lyons ’67, Carol Rysz ’69, Ken Service ’69 and History Professor Dan Starr ’58, PhD.

Hon. Charles S. Desmond ’17 82

1969 A PLACE TO PLAY

The long wait for a campus athletic facility ended in September 1969 when Canisius opened a $2.5 million physical education complex.

Housed on the eight-acre property at Main Street and Delavan Avenue, the building included three full-sized basketball courts, a swimming pool, gymnastics area, weight room and administrative offices. It also accommodated a triad of newcomers: archery, karate and ballet.

The gym was used sparingly – if at all – for athletic games, since Canisius intended the building to be used primarily for physical education. In fact, the first basketball game wasn’t played in the building until 1976.

Canisius rededicated the physical education complex as the Koessler Athletic Center in 1971, in recognition of a $1 million gift made by J. Walter Koessler ’22 on behalf of his company, Greater Buffalo Press. Today, it is home to the Athletic Department and most of the college’s sports teams.

J. Walter Koessler ’22: A Staunch Supporter of Canisius Sports The Koessler Athletic Center is suitably named in recognition of J. Walter Koessler ’22, an outstanding Canisius athlete and one of the college’s staunchest supporters. The Sports Hall of Fame honoree earned a total of nine varsity letters playing football, basketball and baseball for Canisius.

1969 Canisius marks the beginning of its centenary anniversary on September 4, 1969 with a commemorative flag raising ceremony (above). Carrying the college’s colors were Student Government President Peter J. Maguire ’70 and President Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ. They are pictured flanked by members of the Canisius ROTC.

Koessler was working as a reporter for the Buffalo CourierExpress after graduation when he saw a niche business opportunity. With $1,000 in savings and financial backing from two friends, Koessler launched Greater Buffalo Press.

At first, the new company printed community newspapers on a flatbed press housed in a garage at Hertel and Starin avenues.

But Greater Buffalo Press grew to become the world’s largest printer of Sunday comics and one of Buffalo’s largest familyowned corporations.

J. Walter Koessler ’22 (left) turns over the first spade of earth at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Koessler Athletic Center. He is joined by Rev. Timothy Dineen, SJ, faculty moderator for athletics, and Canisius President Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ.

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Canisius was a major beneficiary of Koessler’s success. He became a significant contributor to the college and its sports programs. Even after his passing in December 1969, J. Walter Koessler’s legacy lives on through the surviving Koessler family members.

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Canisius College celebrates the beginning of its centenary year in September 1969 with a campuswide Mass, held on the steps of Christ the King Chapel.

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1970 SPREADING THE JOY A legendary and beloved figure at Canisius, Rev. Paul J. Dugan, SJ, was known on campus simply as “Doogs.” In his official capacity as moderator of athletics, he tended to the spiritual needs of student-athletes but he provided guidance, support, compassion, laughter and joy to everyone he met.

Father Dugan came to Canisius in 1970. A true Griffs fan, Doogs may indeed hold the record for attending the most Golden Griffin basketball games. He logged countless hours and frequent flyer miles on the road with student-athletes as well.

If not at a game, Father Dugan made a point to be wherever students were. While most Canisius Jesuits lived in Loyola Hall, he called Frisch Hall home, to be available to first-year students whom he affectionately called his flock.

In attendance for Cardinal Wojtyla’s visit to Canisius were (l-r) Rev. Edward B. Gillen, SJ, assistant to the president for planning; Msgr.

Rev. Joseph E. Stelmach, chair of the executive committee of the Permanent Chair of Polish Culture; Rev. Edward F. Maloney, SJ, executive vice president of Canisius; Karol Cardinal Wojtyla; Henry J. Osinski ’35, and President Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ.

Doogs was also a fixture at spring break in the 70s and 80s. He headed south with students to Daytona and Ft. Lauderdale where he served lunch on the beach and celebrated Holy Week and Easter Mass for the spring breakers.

To honor his devotion to Canisius students, Eastwood Hall was renamed Dugan Hall at the request of the Carl J. Montante ’64, HON ’04 family after their historic $5.1 million gift to the college.

In 2000, Father Dugan was enshrined into the Canisius Sports Hall of Fame. He died in May 2019.

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1970

Nearly a decade before becoming Pope John Paul II, Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, then archbishop of Krakow, Poland (above), visits Canisius as part of a 14-city tour of the United States.

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education grants full accreditation to Canisius’ teacher education program, making the college one of two private liberal arts colleges in New York State to be designated.

The National Summer Youth Sports Program awards Canisius a $25,222 grant to launch a six-week physical fitness program for disadvantaged children in the city of Buffalo.

Approximately 265 neighborhood children between the ages of 10 and 18 participated in the summer program the first year. That number doubled over the next decade and the program continued for several more.

During his stay in the Queen City, in September 1969, Cardinal Wojtyla met briefly, over coffee, with Canisius faculty and administrators.

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Rev. Paul J. Dugan, SJ, moderator of athletics (right), is believed to hold the record for attending the most Golden Griffin basketball games. He is pictured here with A. Allan Alexander, PhD, biology professor and athletic trainer.

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1972 A GAME CHANGER

Health Science Building

1971 The days of creaking staircases, crowded labs, poor lighting and obsolete equipment ends in spring 1971 when professors and students in the Biology and Psychology departments move into the college’s new Health Science Building. Located at the corner of Delavan and Jefferson avenues, the modernized facilities were the former home of the New York Telephone Company, which operated in the building until 1968 when Canisius purchased the property.

1971 Classics Professor David B. Dietz ’57, PhD, rallies the college in fall 1971 to form a hockey team. The Ice Griffs started as a club sport.

Within two years, the team joined its first conference and by 1976, had claimed two conference titles.

1971 Canisius announces that the Centennial Campaign surpassed its goal by nearly $86,000, raising $5,435,966.

The passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act proved to be a game changer for female athletes at Canisius and across the country.

Ironically, the law signed by President Richard Nixon in June 1972 makes no mention of sports. “If it did, it probably wouldn’t have passed,” recalled Title IX expert Gail F. Maloney, PhD, in a 2011 Canisius Magazine article.

But Title IX did prohibit sex discrimination in educational programs and activities and female athletes took note, questioning why their male counterparts received sports scholarships, uniforms, travel arrangements and locker rooms, and they did not. The simple answer came down to dollars, so Congress built in a six-year compliance period to afford schools time to revise budgets and generate revenue.

“I spent half my time working on budgets,” recalls Daniel P. Starr ’58, HON ’18, PhD, whose tenure as athletic director began just as the financial complexities of Title IX were playing out at college campuses nationwide. As Starr searched for new financing to support intercollegiate sports for women, creative fundraising became the lifeblood for female teams. The women sold hot dogs, candy and t-shirts and hosted raffles. Coaches organized community clinics and camps to supplement expenses for uniforms and equipment, and to hire referees and umpires.

Even in the face of financial hurdles, female athletes came into their own. The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was formed and did for women’s sports what the NCAA did for men’s. It governed collegiate athletics, administrated national championships and gained corporate sponsors. In the years following Title IX’s passage, AIAW membership grew to more than 600 institutions, and the number of coaching and athletic administrative opportunities for women grew with it. Eventually, the NCAA put the AIAW out of business but several silver linings materialized at 2001 Main Street.

The women’s athletic program vaulted from Division II to Division I. The move helped Canisius recruit better and brighter student-athletes, and grow the women’s athletic programs to include soccer, swimming, softball, volleyball, indoor and outdoor track and field and cross country.

1972 Bob MacKinnon ’50, MS ’62 (left), picks up 142 wins before ending the longest tenure in college history as head coach of the men’s basketball team. He coached for 13 years at Canisius.

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Evening the Score Helping women to even the score in collegiate sports – well before the passage of Title IX – was a young new Canisius educator named Ellen O. Conley, PhD. Hired in 1970 to teach in the newly established Physical Education Department, Conley was one of only a few female faculty members at the predominantly all-male college. Yet her students proved to be a liberated, progressive and vocal generation of women. So when Conley learned that a small group of them wanted to form a competitive basketball team, she led the charge.

Ellen O. Conley, PhD

That team became the first intercollegiate sport for women at Canisius.

Gymnastics and volleyball soon followed. But in this pre-Title IX era, women’s teams did not fall under the Athletic Department. To provide some organizational structure, Conley and her counterparts from other schools established the Women’s Athletic Association. They scheduled competitions, coached female teams and even drove players to and from games. In addition to moderating the Women’s Athletic Association at Canisius, Conley coached the volleyball team and maintained a full-time teaching schedule.

She served 40 years at the college and rose to the rank of vice president for student affairs. With the Athletic Department under her purview, women’s programs grew immensely, from one to 10. Conley’s leadership earned her a place in the Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.

In the early, post-Title IX days, the college couldn’t afford to purchase uniforms for women so they wore jerseys recycled from women’s club teams.

The jersey pictured (left) had numbers printed on the back but the New York State Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women required player numbers to appear on the front, as well.

To comply, Ellen Conley used masking tape.

Below: Canisius’ all-time leader in career wins, Head Coach Sister Maria Pares, holds court with the 1982-83 women’s basketball team.

Girls Just Want to Play Sports Heidi (Volo) Nuchereno ’74 (below) wasn’t looking to overthrow the male establishment of collegiate sports. She just wanted to play varsity tennis at Canisius. The problem was Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) rules prohibited her, citing male only eligibility rules.

In order for Nuchereno to qualify, the ECAC would have to change the wording of the rules from “any male student” to “any student.”

Canisius Athletic Director Robert MacKinnon ’50, MS ’62, fought hard to get the ECAC to let Nuchereno play. He even took his plea to the organization’s Albany offices in spring 1971. MacKinnon returned, however, unconvinced his appeal would lead to change.

But Nuchereno was one of many women around the country whose desire to play sports eventually brought about change in the monolithic rules of the ECAC and subsequent NCAA. In spring 1972, following the passage of Title IX, the ECAC altered its eligibility rules to allow women to compete in varsity status in open competition with men. The change enabled Nuchereno to compete on the court her junior and senior years at Canisius. She was the only female on the team of six.

When You Wish Upon a Starr One of the college’s most influential and visionary athletic directors, Daniel P. “Doc” Starr ’58, HON ’18, PhD, first came to campus as a student in the 1950s. He joined the teaching ranks as a professor of history in 1962 and spent nearly five decades making his own history at Canisius.

The professor turned athletic director in 1974 and grew the college’s small, men’s-only program to encompass 21 varsity sports. He played a key role in the Griffs’ jump to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in 1989 and aggressively added female teams to the department’s varsity roster following the passage of Title IX. At the helm during one of the greatest three-year runs in men’s basketball history, Starr made the call to hire John Beilein in 1992.

Beilein coached the Golden Griffins to two berths in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), including a final four spot in 1995 at Madison Square Garden. The Griffs won the 1994 MAAC regular season championship, the 1996 MAAC Tournament title and earned an appearance in the 1996 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament – the first for Canisius since 1957.

When he retired in 2000, Starr was the second-longest tenured NCAA Division I athletic director in the country. MAAC Commissioner Rich Ensor summed it up best when he told the overflowing crowd that gathered to honor Starr, “Dan reminds us of why we got into this business. He always thinks about the athletes.”

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1972

Cynthia L. Skrzycki ’76 (right) becomes the first woman at Canisius to study military science under the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC).

ACADEMIA’S “A” TEAM

I always liked the idea of a military uniform. At Canisius, there were male-only ROTC cadets who wore them and, to everyone’s surprise, including my own, I joined them. I had a uniform of my own, except it was a skirt.

As extracurricular activities go, debate teams tend to keep a low profile. Except when they make national headlines.

Such was the case for Canisius in spring 1972 when college senior Terrance R. McKnight was named the top debater in the country.

McKnight placed first in a field of 108 debaters at the National Debate Tournament in Salt Lake City, UT.

As far as I can tell, I was the first woman at the college who studied military science, learned mapping skills, brushed up on my marksmanship skills, and was shipped out on a bus to Fort Bragg, NC, in summer 1974, for a close-up at what was required of Army trainees.

He and his teammate, sophomore Mary Grace Diehl, also placed first in the National Debate Tournament of Champions held that spring at Illinois State University. It was the fourth consecutive time the Canisius Debate Team finished among the top 10 in the National Tournament. In 1970, the debate team of David J. Goss ’70 and David L. Wagner ’71 took home first place in the tournament.

I ask myself now, as then, “What was I doing?”

I thought I was fulfilling several needs and meeting certain goals.

I believed in the Women’s Movement and I was passionate about equality. This commitment was a way to take steps toward breaking down barriers, as we now say.

McKnight and Diehl both made good using their debate skills. The pair went on to Harvard Law School. McKnight died in 2014 but practiced for more than 20 years, during which time he received pro bono awards for his representation of the indigent. Diehl recently retired following a successful career as a U.S. bankruptcy judge for the Bankruptcy Court in the Northern District of Georgia.

So why not add women to the corps, where enrollment was mandatory for males up until 1968. I could march as well as these guys; I had classes with them; I was learning the same skills. I also needed the money and a potential job.

I was living off student loans and three part-time jobs so a monthly stipend, the possibility of a full scholarship, plus the promise of being commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army upon graduation seemed like a life raft to me.

In 1973, I took British literature along with two military science classes.

That was followed by two military science labs, small unit operations, and military geography and topology.

I liked the academic work. The rest I considered a test. And I thought any future assignment should involve writing skills because of my experience in journalism at Canisius. These skills should not be wasted on some other assignment, likely behind a desk taking inventory of some item.

1973

Terrance R. McKnight ’72

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Mary Grace Diehl ’74

Larry Fogle (above) leads the nation in scoring. The 6-foot-5 forward for the men’s basketball team averaged 33.4 points per game during the 1973-74 season. That same year, he netted the program’s single-game scoring record with 55 points against Saint Peter’s.

The matchup proved to be the highest scoring game in Canisius history. The Griffs won 129-109.

But this was the Army. It made the decisions and the assignments.

When I figured it out, I bailed out, which was allowed before the third year. I was an example of a failed experiment in training women for the military.

By the time I graduated, women had entered the service academies. In 1982, Christina Celentani became the first woman, in the 31 years of ROTC history on campus, to become corps commander.

“I believed in the Women’s Movement and I was passionate about equality. This commitment was a way to take steps toward breaking down barriers, as we now say.”

1974 The 32nd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus convenes in Rome, in December 1974, to take up the challenges of contemporary change. The closing decree proclaimed that the modern mission of the Society “was to be the service of faith, of which the promotion of justice was an absolute requirement.” The decree became an animating force behind all Jesuit apostolic works, including higher education.

Still, it wasn’t until 2015 that many women got what they had been fighting for: A place at the front line in ground combat positions.

Thank goodness there are now 1.3 million active duty women who make up 16 percent of the total force.

-Cynthia L. Skrzycki ’76 94

Canisius students take advantage of cancelled classes during the blizzard by enjoying the snow piles outside the former St. Vincent de Paul Rectory.

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1976

Canisius fields its first Division III varsity football team in a quarter century. The Griffs posted winning seasons in five of its six years under the direction of Coach Bill Brooks, including a 41-0 win over Duquesne in the team’s first game as a varsity program. Canisius also laid claim to local football supremacy by knocking off the University at Buffalo three times in a four-year span.

Canisius hosts a celebration on the January 15 birthdate of Martin Luther King Jr. to commemorate the leader of the Civil Rights Movement. More than 400 people attended.

Canisius discontinued the football program in 2002.

1974

Canisius Archivist Rev. J. Clayton Murray, SJ, steps outside of Loyola Hall to check out the snowdrifts left behind by the Blizzard of 1977.

1976 Canisius initiates a Cassette Studies Program to accommodate those individuals interested in earning college credits but unable to attend classes on campus.

Women’s gymnastics, led by Carol E. (Reynolds) Goldsmith ’78, MS ’84, Denise H. (Tenney) Wiesner ’77 and Kathryn J. (Alevras) Nardini ’77, wins four straight New York State championship titles and ranks as high as sixth, nationally, at the women’s college championships.

1977 THE BLIZZARD OF ’77: A STORM FOR THE AGES

Nick Macarchuk

1977 Nick Macarchuk is named head coach of men’s basketball and goes on to become the winningest coach in school history with 149 wins over a 10-year span.

A city known for challenging winters recorded the weather event of the century on January 28, 1977. The storm against which all other Western New York storms are measured hit on a Friday and shuttered Canisius for 10 days, forcing the cancellation of classes, the rescheduling of athletic contests and ultimately the postponement of commencement in May. The National Weather Service tallied snowfall as high as eight feet and drifts up to 40 feet, the result of wind gusts that peaked at 70 miles per hour.

Valiant efforts on the part of the facilities team, public safety, campus ministry and residence hall personnel did much to tide the college over during the storm. Some 30 students who remained on campus during the weather crisis accompanied the Canisius Jesuits in a snowy trek up Main Street to Sisters Hospital, where the group helped in the kitchen and laundry rooms.

Post-storm, the Koessler Athletic Center playing field saw the greatest damage as city crews piled snow there in an effort to clear the streets. The weight of the blizzard cleanup left the field in need of $52,000 in repairs. Federal disaster aid was provided.

Denise Tenney ’77 (left), Kathryn Alevras ’77 (right), Carol Reynolds ’78 (back)

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1979 THE OLD GATE THAT WAS NEWGATE

A piece of the world’s most famous prison found a permanent home outside Bouwhuis Library in September 1979 when a gate from the death cells of London’s Newgate Prison was donated to Canisius College.

The 1,800-pound door was the last through which prison inmates walked before being executed for their crimes. Many inmates included Jesuit priests who, during the late 1600s, were punished for plotting to overthrow the Anglican church of England.

The gate found its way to Buffalo in 1903 by way of George More, of G.E. More Clothing. He purchased the artifact at auction in 1902 and hung it in an alleyway alongside his Eagle Street store until 1960, when Western New York Savings Bank purchased the property. With no place to display it, the bank stored the artifact in a closet where it remained for two decades until its existence came to the attention of the Buffalo chapter of the Dickens Fellowship.

The gate was of great interest and importance to this literary group, as Newgate Prison is a frequent setting for scenes in Dickens’ novels.

Fellowship members immediately began to search for an appropriate place to display the treasured piece. The Canisius College library proved most fitting.

1978 THE RAT PACKS ’EM IN The long awaited Canisius College rathskeller (above) hosts a grand opening in the old residents dining hall at the start of the fall 1978 semester.

The opening featured Monday Night Football, which was broadcast on an expansive five-foot screen. Beer on tap included Budweiser and Genesee Light, which sold for 45 cents and 40 cents, respectively. Imported brews included Heineken, Molson Golden and Labatt, that ranged from 75 cents to $1.25 a bottle. Wine was available at 75 cents a glass.

The new on-campus “rat,” as it became known, catered primarily to dormies. College commuters often preferred the selections and prices further up north on Main Street at Slombas Tavern, home of the “Bionic Beer.”

1978 Canisius moves into the computer age, digitizing 200,000 student records for the first time. The software upgrade automated access to academic transcripts.

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Richard A. Shick, PhD

A Formative Deanship Associate Professor of Finance Richard A. Shick, PhD, relinquished his full-time teaching position in 1979 to assume the deanship of the School of Business Administration. His 23-year tenure is the longest and perhaps most formative in Canisius history.

Shick elevated the business school to become one of the best in the nation.

He initiated new undergraduate and graduate programs (nine, in all), revamped an already rigorous curriculum and increased faculty resources, ultimately securing accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). At the time, Canisius was one of only five schools of its kind in the country to receive this recognition.

Under Shick’s deanship, the business school also secured a multimilliondollar endowment from Richard J. Wehle, president and CEO of Wehle Electric Co. In gratitude, Canisius renamed the school after its benefactor and became one of the first among its Jesuit school counterparts to have an endowed business program.

Shick can similarly be credited with integrating the business school with the fabric of the Western New York community. He formalized the business school internship program, increased membership to the Business Advisory Council and improved its level of involvement in decision-making.

Shick stepped down from the top post in 2002 only to return in 2013.

He went back to the classroom in 2016 and continues to teach today.

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1980-1993

1980 KENNEDY MAKES A CAMPAIGN STOP

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Of course, Jesuit education existed centuries before it arrived in Buffalo at 2001 Main Street. And certainly, it’s continually adapted to changing circumstances and times: An education appropriate to a 17th century Spaniard, an 18th century Frenchman or a 19th century Englishman would not be appropriate to a 20th century American.

But for as long as Jesuit education has adapted, it too has remained constant in its pursuit of academic excellence.

A diverse faculty and the search for truth are equally important pieces of the whole equation. And as the troubled times of the late 1960s and early 1970s gave way to a new decade at Canisius, both teaching and learning were taken to greater heights as the college aggressively began to grow its academic programs and build a distinct brand of excellence.

1980 Sears, Roebuck & Co., located at the corner of Main Street and Jefferson Avenue, closes after 50 years of doing business.

Despite its ideal location adjacent to the Canisius campus and rumors of a $1 asking price for the property, college administrators deemed the 300,000 square feet of space “not advisable for purchase.” In fact, the expansive space was more than the college needed at the time or could afford to maintain.

Need changed almost a generation later, when the building again went up for sale. Canisius purchased the property, operating as BlueCross BlueShield, and the adjoining parking ramp, from the Uniland Partnership of Delaware LP for $18.5 million. Today, it operates as Science Hall.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Edward M. Kennedy summons support of Canisius students during a campaign stop on campus, ahead of the March 1980 New York State primaries.

After a warm welcome by an overflow crowd of 700, the Massachusetts senator spoke about the economic and foreign policy differences between him and his incumbent challenger, President Jimmy Carter. Kennedy received his most rousing ovation on the subject of higher education in America. “Helping young people to get an education is an investment in our country,” declared the senator.

The Richard J. Wehle School of Business, the Frank G. Raichle Pre-Law Center and the George Schreiner Pre-Medical Center were all born during this era, largely with support from Western New York’s most prominent business, medical and legal professionals. Their endorsements of Canisius provided the resources necessary to further the college’s holistic approach to education by enriching the learning experiences for students so that they could pursue professional careers and lead meaningful intellectual lives.

By the start of the new decade, Canisius thought of excellence pervasively, raising not only the academic bar but that of its facilities. The Campaign for the Eighties enabled improvements to the residents dining hall and the rathskeller, the modernization of the library and the completion of the Richard J. Wehle Technology Center.

Though substantial at the time and an improvement to a campus on the verge of looking dowdy, these capital projects proved to be a precursor to an eventual multimillion-dollar, first-class facilities facelift to the college’s physical plant.

U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy

1980 A photo of the original Sears, Roebuck & Co. building at the corner of Main Street and Jefferson Avenue in the 1930s.

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The Canisius Board of Trustees approves vote to raise hockey from a club to a Division III sport.

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1980

1981

SOFTBALL SUCCESS, RIGHT OFF THE BAT

COURTING GREATNESS

As Canisius athletics rolls into the 80s, fans of the Griffs are no longer just concerned with men’s basketball. Women’s basketball was becoming a force following the college’s recruitment of Sister Maria Pares.

The Canisius softball program’s first season of varsity competition started in spring 1980 when the Golden Griffins went 5-9 under Head Coach Mike Rappl ’77, MS ’80. From there, Rappl built the softball program into one of the most dominant teams in Canisius’ athletic history. The Blue and Gold won multiple Big 4 and ECAC Division I softball championships before the program joined the MAAC in spring 1990.

Head Coach Mike Rappl ’77, MS ’80, is pictured (top, left) with one of his early softball teams.

The team posted a remarkable 77-18 record over three seasons and in 1983, scored 28 wins to advance to the NCAA Division II quarterfinals. That team, behind the brilliant play of Gina Castelli ’86, Kara Haun-Rehbaum ’84, Deborah A. (Sontag) Laux ’85 and Mary Anne Achramovitch ’84, ranked as high as No. 8 in the nation.

Under Rappl, the Griffs recorded 14 straight seasons with 20 or more wins from 1989-02, along with eight 30-win seasons and 22 straight winning campaigns stretching from 1981-2002.

The first coach in MAAC history to win 800 career games, the Canisius graduate went on to compile a career record of 831-526-2, with 330 of those victories coming against MAAC rivals. Rappl also led Canisius to 13 MAAC regular season titles, 12 MAAC Tournament championships and 11 trips to the NCAA Division I Softball Tournament.

Rappl retired from the game in 2014 but his legacy is enshrined in the college’s Sports Hall of Fame, the Western New York Softball Hall of Fame and the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.

1981 A LEGAL LEGACY

1981 The Canisius community hosts a prayer service to mark the January 20 release of 52 American diplomats and citizens held for 444 days during the Iran Hostage Crisis.

President James M. Demske ’47, SJ, led administration, faculty, staff and students in a moment of silence followed by the singing of “God Bless America.”

Time has not distorted the original intentions of the Frank G. Raichle Pre-Law Center, established at Canisius in spring 1981.

Nearly four decades after its namesake endowed the program, the center continues to provide pre-professional counseling, advisement and coursework that enriches students’ understanding of the role of law in American society. Their education is fostered further via the prestigious Raichle Lecture Series, which has brought six U.S. Supreme Court justices to campus, as well as then U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and then U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Rudolph W. Giuliani.

The Raichle Pre-Law Center at Canisius was one of the first of its kind in the country.

Frank G. Raichle: A Special Prosecutor Frank G. Raichle HON ’68 practiced law in Buffalo for 65 years and was regarded as one of the best trial lawyers in New York State. He argued countless cases throughout his career but came to prominence in the 1930s when the governor appointed him a special prosecutor in a payroll-padding scandal that rocked Buffalo’s City Hall. Raichle’s investigation led to the convictions of more than a dozen city employees.

Though he never attended class at Canisius, Raichle developed an affinity for the college and in particular its Jesuit principles, values and spirit during his decade-long tenure on the Board of Trustees. He endowed the Raichle Pre-Law Center at Canisius with the idea it would impart those Jesuit values on generations of future lawyers.

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1981 Canisius renames the former residents dining hall-turned-rathskeller to Palisano Pavilion (right) in honor of Harriet and Vincent H. “Jim” Palisano.

The couple provided a lifetime endowment for the upkeep and adaptation of the two-story, 21,000-square-foot pavilion, which sits between Bosch and Frisch Halls and was built in 1968.

1982

General Bass (top, left) took over a struggling women’s tennis team in 1983 and led the program to a 127-66 overall record in 14 years.

Canisius sophomore Christina (Celentani) Mortel ’85 becomes ROTC corps commander, making her the first female to attain such a rank in the 31-year history of the military science program at the college.

Celentani earned the assignment as a result of high evaluations for her performance as company commander, platoon leader, platoon sergeant and executive officer of her company. She held the position for one year and commanded 105 cadets.

1983 NOTHING GENERAL ABOUT HIM As his name suggests, General G. Bass ’50 was a leader.

Rev. Paul Dugan, SJ, (affectionately known as “Father Cafeteria”) catches up with a group of students in the newly renamed Palisano Pavilion.

He initially made a name for himself when he graduated from the college in 1950 – becoming one of the first African-American men to graduate. Bass made history at alma mater again in 1983 when he took over a struggling women’s tennis team.

Over the next 14 years, he led the program to a 127-66 overall record, which included 10 consecutive winning campaigns, nine years with at least 10 wins and three third-place finishes in the MAAC. General Bass earned induction into the Canisius Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.

A New Name Brings New Life to Rathskeller The Palisano name was renowned in Buffalo throughout much of the 20th century.

After immigrating from Italy in the early 1900s, Vincent Palisano, known more familiarly as “Jim,” founded a small motor truck delivery business at a time when horse and wagon were the main mode for transportation service.

Palisano started the business outfitting a single, small coupe with a grocery box on the back. With ambition, acumen and hard work, he grew the business into what eventually became Boss Linco Lines, the largest trucking firm in Upstate New York. Under Palisano’s leadership, the business steadily diversified into the package industry, household moving and freight operations, and by the time he retired in 1965, Boss Linco was a multimillion-dollar company providing full transportation services throughout several states.

Harriet Palisano, wife of Jim Palisano and trustee of the Palisano Foundation, and President Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ, prepare to unveil a plaque renaming the residents dining hall the Palisano Pavilion.

Palisano poured his wealth from Boss Linco back into the community he called home. The Vincent H. Palisano Foundation he established originally provided financial assistance to “ambitious youths in need” at the college level. The foundation has since expanded its philanthropy to provide scholarships for secondary school students, cancer research, and support for projects and organizations in Western New York.

1984 GRIDDERS SHOW GRIT Canisius football garnered the attention of Sports Illustrated in 1984 when the magazine placed the Griffs 10th in pre-season rankings among Division III schools.

Under the leadership of Head Coach Tom R. Hersey MS ’69, the team recruited some of the finest athletes to play at Canisius. The squad included Mike G. Panepinto ’88, MS ’98, who ran into the record books with a career total of 3,416 rushing yards. Tom Doctor ’87 landed a pro tryout with the Buffalo Bills as the best Griffs linebacker. Cornerback-turned-quarterback Marty P. Hurley ’91, MBA ’98 became a two-time All-American. And Mike J. McCarthy ’94 shattered the school’s passing records, connecting with Jeff O’Brien ’90, MS ’94 and Ken P. Abbarno ’88.

Over a nine-year period, the Griffs posted eight winning seasons, which made Hersey the winningest coach in program history.

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1984

1984

TIPPED FOR THE NIT TOURNAMENT

CRASH LANDING

A twin-engine airplane crash-lands just outside Bagen Hall in the early morning hours of Saturday, September 15, 1984. The pilot, Retired Air Force Col. James Murray Jr., 51, survived the accident but suffered broken legs and a head injury.

Coach Nick Macarchuk guides men’s basketball to a 20-10 mark in the regular season and the team’s first post-season appearance in 22 years with an invite to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

According to Federal Aviation Administration officials, Murray was flying from Muskegon, MI to Syracuse, NY when he lost power in one engine and then the other. He attempted an emergency landing on Main Street near Jefferson Avenue but clipped several light standards and power poles on his descent, which caused him to lose control and crash the plane just inches shy of Bagen Hall.

The Griffs ultimately bowed to Nebraska, 79-66, but went on to win 106 games over a four-year period behind the spectacular play of Sugar Ray Hall ’85 and the low post dominance of future NBA center Michael F. Smrek ’85.

Nick Macarchuk

1985 Buffalo’s $530 million Light Rail Rapid Transit System opens for service in April 1985 with two of the largest stations located on the Canisius campus. The 6.4-mile subway line, able to carry passengers from Memorial Auditorium to the University at Buffalo Main Street campus, includes a stop at the Delavan College Station at the south end of the Canisius campus and another at the Humboldt Hospital Station, at the north end.

Left: An artist’s rendering of the Delavan College Station, viewed from Forest Lawn Cemetery

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1986

1988

The inimitable Robert J. Butler, PhD, professor of English, becomes the first official director of the All-College Honors program and institutes the basic design it retains to this day.

Butler developed a new, more flexible curriculum accompanied by a broad range of co-curricular and extracurricular activities, including trips to local, regional and cultural sites. He also led strong efforts to recruit talented high school students and to provide honors students with special housing in Bosch and George Martin Halls.

Thomas W. Maulucci Jr. ’88

Thomas W. Maulucci Jr. ’88 becomes the first Canisius College student awarded a coveted J. William Fulbright Scholarship. Named for the late U.S. Senator from Arkansas, the Fulbright is the U.S. government’s premier scholarship program, designed to foster mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchanges.

Maulucci used his Fulbright to study relations between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc countries at the University of Saarlandes in Sarrbrücken, Germany. At the conclusion of his 10-month Fulbright study, Maulucci went on to earn his PhD in history from Yale University.

He is currently a professor of history at American International College in Springfield, MA.

Under Butler’s guidance, enrollment in the AllCollege Honors program rose to 250 students in nearly 10 years, all while retaining high academic standards.

1988 The All-College Honors Class of 1989 was the first honors class to graduate under renowned program director Robert J. Butler, PhD. Pictured (l-r): Susan Benzo, Susan Ponzi, Nancy Pula, Molly McCarthy, Patty Bubar, Cindy Ptak, Kelly Carrigg, Cathy Kurek, Kelly Wood, Mark Lozo, Robert Hassett, Mark Bock, Tim Stevens, Cathy Harrington and Wendy Gorski. Bob Butler is pictured behind the students.

1986 The entire athletic program (except football) is upgraded to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I.

1987 A newly renovated student center dining facility is renamed the Peter Gust Economou Dining Hall in appreciation of a substantial gift from the loyal Canisius friend and internationally known restaurateur (right).

The Canisius College Campaign for the Eighties surpasses its goal of $32 million through annual, capital and deferred donations. The success of the fundraising initiative, launched in 1980, helped finance several capital projects on campus including that of the residence halls, the Horan-O’Donnell Science Building, the Peter Gust Economou Dining Hall, the Richard J. Wehle Technology Center and the reconstruction of the Rev. Andrew L. Bouwhuis, SJ, Library.

A Courtly Host Anyone who’s ever delighted in dining at Buffalo’s former Park Lane Restaurant is sure to recall its courtly host and manager Peter Gust Economou. His flair for European savoir-faire included hand kisses for his female patrons, a ready smile, a refined nod to the gentlemen and the most fashionable of clothing.

Economou became an accomplished chef and a student of the restaurant business while working as a steward on the steampowered yacht of Ellsworth Statler, founder of the Statler Hotel chain, which originated in Buffalo. He left Statler’s employ in 1926 for the position of manager of the Park Lane, where he established a reputation as a restaurateur of consummate taste and sophistication.

Both Economou’s name and that of his restaurant soon loomed large in the international food and restaurant business. His global reputation extended as far as Buckingham Palace which, in 1953, invited Economou to help plan state banquets for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

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1989

1989

MULTIMILLION DOLLAR GIFT BENEFITS BUSINESS SCHOOL

CANISIUS ENTERS THE MAAC

Canisius becomes one of the first mid-sized colleges in the country to have an endowed business school following a nearly $2 million donation from Richard J. Wehle, president and chief executive officer of the Wehle Electric Company of Buffalo.

A new era in Canisius athletics begins when eight of the college’s teams enter competition in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).

Canisius was accepted into the MAAC along with Little Three rival Niagara University, Siena College and Loyola of Maryland. The three schools joined MAAC members Fairfield, Fordham, Holy Cross, Iona, LaSalle, Manhattan, St. Peter’s and Army.

The gift marked the largest single donation to the college at the time. In gratitude, the Canisius Board of Trustees renamed the School of Business Administration, the Richard J. Wehle School of Business.

The Canisius teams invited to join the MAAC were men’s and women’s basketball, cross country and tennis, volleyball and men’s soccer.

1990 Yolanda King calls upon Canisius students to keep her father’s dream alive during a January 26 visit to the college, commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.

Business with Purpose Richard J. Wehle HON ’85 didn’t attend Canisius. Born in Rochester, NY, he was a product of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School and the Bliss Electrical School in Maryland.

After college, he went to work for the company his father founded, Wehle Electric Co. Inc., and later moved to work at the business’ Buffalo operation as general manager and president.

Under Wehle’s leadership, the company – familiar to most Buffalonians for its large red whale logo followed by the letter E – grew to become the largest independent electrical wholesaler in New York State.

At the same time Wehle was expanding the business, he was deepening his relationship with Canisius College. The prominent Buffalo businessman had a high regard for the Catholic education provided at 2001 Main Street and, in particular, the graduates of the business school. He “wanted to do something” to ensure that excellence continued well into the future.

His multimillion-dollar gift to the college in 1989 achieved that, though Wehle already had a distinguished history of contribution to Canisius. Two years prior, he provided the funds that made possible the completion of the Wehle Technology Center (left), formerly the Main-Eastwood Facility.

Richard J. Wehle died in August 1989.

The daughter of the civil rights leader spoke about a new generation of young people whom she described as “too laid back about the struggle for racial equality because they weren’t alive at the time of (her) father.” King then encouraged students to study history, stating “It’s important for young people to know where we have come from as a nation, because those who do not know their past are doomed to repeat it.”

Yolanda King (center) is joined on stage by Lillie Wiley ’91, of the Afro-American Society, and Vincent Roux ’90, president of USA, during the college’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.

1989 Canisius football plays on campus for the first time in 52 years to commemorate the opening of the Demske Sports Complex. Named after Canisius President Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ, the outdoor athletic field had synthetic turf, gave the football team a home and brought softball, baseball and both soccer teams back to campus. The Demske Sports Complex also became the future home of the college’s two lacrosse programs.

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1991

Heather M. (Whalen) Appenheimer ’92 (below, front) breezes to victory in the nationally renowned All-Catholic Cross Country Meet held in September 1990 at the University of Notre Dame. The education/English major turned in a course record time of 17:54.6 for 5,000 meters.

SHAPING THE FUTURE OF PRE-MED The college’s strong tradition of educating students in the sciences is more firmly cemented in February 1991 with the opening of the Dr. George E. Schreiner ’43 Pre-Medical Center at Canisius.

Whalen went on to become a two-time MAAC champion and was inducted into the Canisius Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.

Heather M. Whalen ’92

Established by the internationally renowned nephrologist and 1943 alumnus, the Schreiner Pre-Medical Center was an innovative concept for its time and remains so today, as it trains and supports Canisius students by way of professional advisement, a distinguished seminar series and scholarship assistance. In latter years, the center developed a Health Science Advisory and Recommendation Committee, comprised of medical professionals, deans and department chairs. This committee has become a national model for medical school recommendation procedures.

A Pioneer in Health and Education George E. Schreiner ’43, HON ’73, MD, built the Georgetown School of Medicine into a world center for the study and treatment of kidney disease during his 36-year career. But it’s at Canisius where this pioneering scientist made his start.

1991 The academic mace (left) is carried for the first time at commencement ceremonies in May 1991. Created by craftsmen at Kittinger Furniture in Buffalo, the highly ornamented wood staff was presented as a gift to Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ, on the anniversary of his 25th year as Canisius president.

The mace is traditionally carried before official academic ceremonies such as graduation, honors convocation and presidential inaugurations, and serves as a visible sign that a formal session is being called to order.

The staff is constructed of cherry wood, as is the emblematic Griffin that sits atop the standard. The mythological mascot is stylized with the body and paws of a lion and the wings of an eagle. Surrounding the staff below the Griffin standard is a commemorative brass ring.

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His intellectual curiosity and deep respect for the Jesuits guided him through Canisius, where he excelled in debate and drama.

He later earned his MD from Georgetown University School of Medicine and so began a remarkable medical career.

Schreiner became a ground-breaking clinical researcher in the use of the artificial kidney. He spearheaded the legislation that led to the federal government’s support of dialysis and kidney transplants through Medicare. As president of the National Kidney Foundation, the organization established the Uniform Donor Card, which enables individuals to give legal permission for donation of their organs after their deaths.

Schreiner once recalled that his time at 2001 Main Street taught him how society’s health is inextricably linked to the quality of education received by medical professionals. He made a lifetime of contributions to Canisius towards the enrichment of premedical education.

He and his wife funded the George E. and Joanne B. Schreiner Scholarship Fund to aid pre-medical graduates who attend Georgetown Medical School. He also established the Schreiner Family Pre-Medical Scholarship Fund at Canisius and a number of other scholarships for students in the names of his children.

George E. Schreiner died in April 2012.

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1991 Mary Beth E. (Riley) Metcalf ’91 accepts the NCAA’s inaugural Woman of the Year Award in October 1991.

The award recognizes the athletic and academic achievements of an outstanding young intercollegiate female athlete, as well as accomplishments in the areas of community service and leadership.

Despite a battle against Hodgkin’s Disease during her undergraduate years, Riley became a multi-letter winner in cross country, and indoor and outdoor track. She also set three school records and was named to the MAAC All-Academic team for three consecutive semesters.

Riley is a 2001 inductee to the Canisius College Sports Hall of Fame.

Mary Beth E. Riley ’91

1992

1992

The Rev. Andrew L. Bouwhuis, SJ, Library converts more than one million card catalog entries into online records for the launch of “CanDo.” The new online catalog made library resources searchable and accessible through any computer that could access the campus network.

Western New York native John Beilein (right) accepts his first Division I position as head coach of men’s basketball for Canisius College.

1992 Canisius names Joan Connell, PhD vice president for academic affairs.

Her appointment made Connell the first woman and the first non-Jesuit in Canisius history to hold the position.

The Griffs Roar Back Under Beilein There were glory days in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as excitement in the 1980s. But the Canisius men’s basketball program has never won more games in any three-year stretch than in the 1990s under John Beilein who arrived in 1992 and led a renaissance on Main Street.

The rebirth actually started at the 1993 MAAC Tournament with a quarterfinal upset of Iona on a last-second basket by Dana “Binky” Johnson ’94. The two-point victory was a signature game that marked a turnaround after a string of losing seasons. In time, Johnson, Craig Wise ’95, Micheal Meeks ’96, Darrell Barley ’96 and Javone “Bam” Moore ’97 all joined Beilein as members of the Sports Hall of Fame.

Canisius put together a school-record 16-game winning streak in 1993-94 en route to a 22-win season, the program’s first MAAC regular season title and a bid to the NIT. It set the stage for one of the most dramatic seasons in school history: In 1994-95, a 35-game march that stretched from coast to coast started with a pre-season NIT upset of Penn at the iconic Palestra and ended on the hallowed hardwood of Madison Square Garden.

1993 A VISIT OF PRESIDENTIAL PROPORTIONS Former President Jimmy Carter delivered a poignant lecture on the social condition of the United States during a March 1993 visit to Canisius.

Speaking at the invitation of the William H. Fitzpatrick Lecture Series, Carter opened his remarks recalling his initial encounter with the Queen City. “The first crisis I faced as president,” he said, “was a horrible storm that affected all of Buffalo back in January 1977.”

The crowd of 1,500 laughed as the president shared his story but the tone turned more somber as Carter went on to discuss issues of poverty, illiteracy and drug abuse in the U.S. In closing, he encouraged Canisius students, faculty and friends to “break out of the ivory tower” and set an example by reaching out to those in need.

Canisius went on to defeat teams from 10 different conferences, including its first win at St. Bonaventure in 52 years, and beat six NCAA Tournament teams on the road. The most prominent of those was a 72-69 win at No. 13 Cincinnati, a game that saw the Griffs roar back from a 20-point second half deficit to beat a ranked team for the first time since 1967.

The season reached a climax in the NIT when the Griffs dumped Seton Hall, won at Bradley on a Wise putback at the buzzer and then overwhelmed Washington State before a roaring sellout crowd in the Aud that stormed the court at the final buzzer and danced to Sinatra’s “New York, New York.” Losses to Virginia Tech and Penn State in the Garden put no damper on the 21-14 campaign.

Beilein’s crew went 62-32 in the three years and the 1995-96 season culminated in a three-game “One for the Thumb” run through the MAAC Tournament that landed the Griffs’ first NCAA Tournament bid since 1957. It came even though Barley was sidelined with a broken thumb suffered in practice the week before. An NCAA loss to Utah in Dallas left the final record at 19-11.

In 1996-97, Canisius went 17-12 and finished a win shy of back-to-back NCAA appearances, losing to Fairfield in the MAAC final.

Beilein, who moved on to Richmond, West Virginia, Michigan and now the Cleveland Cavaliers, finished his Canisius career with an 89-62 record in five seasons.

Joan Connell, PhD

The college inducted him into the Sports Hall of Fame in September 2019.

-Mike Harrington ’87

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Above: Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Jerome L. Neuner, PhD, greets former President Jimmy Carter in advance of his lecture.

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1993-2009

1993

RAISING THE BAR

WIRED FOR THE FUTURE

The concept of the World Wide Web was quickly taking shape at this time in history. The information revolution triggered a decade of rapid-fire technology advances that permeated every possible industry, including higher education, as the first cohort of Internet-savvy high school students entered college.

The Greek word metanoia refers to a fundamental change in the mind.

Canisius experienced a metanoia during this era of its history. Alumni, students, faculty, staff, family and friends came to view 2001 Main Street in a brand new way.

Here at Canisius, the demand for state-of-the-art learning environments was met with a 17-month, $22 million infusion that created more than 50 technology classrooms and computer labs in Old Main and Lyons Hall.

They saw Canisius as a residential institution, not a commuter school.

They viewed Canisius as an increasingly academically selective school.

And they considered Canisius a premier regional college in the Northeast. In the greater Buffalo community, Canisius became the toast of the town. A place seen as progressive, results-oriented and above all, committed to quality.

So much of this metanoia was attributed to the efforts of the college’s newest president, Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, SJ, who grew Canisius in extraordinary ways.

During his tenure, Canisius completed a total of 24 capital projects over the course of 17 years at a price tag of nearly $150 million.

Nearly half of that investment included the renovation or construction of eight residence hall projects to meet the increasing demand by students for on-campus living. Canisius also restored and renovated Old Main, Mount Saint Joseph High School, the Richard E. Winter ’42 Student Center and the former St. Vincent de Paul Church.

For certain, the physical transformation of Canisius was dramatic.

It was paralleled by a spiritual rebirth.

Around this time in history, questions arose among Jesuit leadership about what it meant to be a Catholic, Jesuit university in 21st century America. Canisius made clear its position early on: The college would maintain allegiance to its Catholic and Jesuit identity but it would not come at the expense of its mission as an American university.

“The search for truth would go on at Canisius,” declared Father Cooke, “But it goes on within the context of a college that is authentically Catholic and authentically Jesuit.”

Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, SJ

1993 A unanimous vote by the Canisius Board of Trustees confirms Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, SJ, as the 23rd president of the college. Father Cooke began work in an official capacity on July 1. His first order of business was the formulation of a strategic plan for what Canisius should look like in 20 years.

1994 HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL Terry Anderson stressed the importance of college students in the war for universal human rights during a visit to Canisius College on March 9, 1994.

The Batavia native and former Middle East bureau chief for the Associated Press spent nearly seven years in the captivity of Muslim extremists who kidnapped him off the streets of Beirut, Lebanon.

“Never, ever believe that you personally can’t make a difference,” Anderson told an audience of students. “It’s the young people who lead us. It will be individual men and women like you who will prove me right in my optimism … that our world will continue to get better.”

Anderson spoke at Canisius as part of the college’s International Fest, a week-long series of special events.

A Legacy of Leadership Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, SJ, came to Canisius in 1993 with a reverence for the college’s tradition. He also arrived with a focused approach on discipline, drive and quality.

Quickly, word spread from his Bagen Hall office of “a new Canisius,” one that would be a prominent player in Western New York and aspired to be among the premier regional colleges in the Northeast.

Many people doubted Father Cooke but he wouldn’t back down. Instead, Father Cooke forged ahead with a $30 million goal for the college’s Imagine Canisius campaign, which was not only achieved but surpassed by $8.8 million.

Father Cooke next turned his attention to the faculty and building it in stature and pride. He provided professors with the resources needed to focus on scholarship and creative teaching initiatives, and supported the recruitment of the best young educators who could introduce new undergraduate and graduate majors in emerging fields.

Father Cooke then raised the college’s admissions standards. At the same time, he saw the importance of attracting residential students from beyond Western New York in order for Canisius to grow and prosper.

Quality – academic and otherwise – became a point of distinction for Canisius and its leader many times over.

In 2001, The Buffalo News ranked Father Cooke the second most influential civic leader in Western New York and recognized him as one of the region’s Outstanding Citizens. The News also named Canisius the second most influential institution, overall, in terms of positive impact in the community.

“Never, ever believe that you personally can’t make a difference.”

Terry Anderson 115

“Father Cooke taught us a great lesson,” recalled the late Joseph J. Castiglia ’55, HON ’94 at Father Cooke’s retirement. “He taught us that it’s ok to think in big terms; that Canisius no longer has to manage to avoid failure but can plan for success.”

Father Cooke died in June 2017.

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1994

1995

A SCHOOL FOR EDUCATION

FABRIC OF REMEMBRANCE

The Canisius College Board of Trustees approved the addition of a third academic division in December 1994. The new School of Education and Human Services encompassed the areas of teaching, counseling, physical education and sports medicine. A fifth program area, health and human services, soon followed.

The onset of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) and its progression into a full-blown epidemic reached the United States in 1995 when it became the leading cause of death for Americans, ages 25-44. As the medical community hurried to treat and prevent this new and unknown virus, educational awareness and understanding became a focal point in communities across the country.

Canisius was front and center of this public health campaign in March that same year when the AIDS Memorial Quilt (right) was unfolded in the Koessler Athletic Center for a three-day viewing. Brought to campus by a cohort of concerned students and faculty, the AIDS quilt stretched the length of 16 football fields and was comprised of more than 28,000, 3’x6’ panels, each designed by a friend, family member or partner of a deceased AIDS patient.

The School of Education and Human Services had previously been part of the College of Arts and Sciences but was made into a separate academic division when it outgrew its space. Katherine E. Keough, EdD, was named founding dean of the newly established academic division, which she described as having a “liberal arts core” balanced with “professional and semi-professional” career training.

Due to its size, only a portion of the quilt (600 panels) could be in residence at Canisius. Still, it served as a powerful, visual reminder of the devastating impact of the virus which, at the time, was too often defined by fear, stigma and ignorance.

Keough resigned from Canisius in 1996 to become the first female president of St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY.

An estimated 5,000 people viewed the quilt during the three-day display at Canisius, including more than 800 local elementary and high school students.

Katherine E. Keough, EdD

1994 The U.S. Department of Education awards Canisius a five year, $1.1 million grant to establish Talent Search.

The program provided more than 650 high school students from the city of Buffalo with academic support, financial aid information and other types of assistance, all aimed at encouraging students to finish high school and pursue a college education.

1995 Canisius College becomes the epicenter of media hype on May 25, 1995, following a 3.1 earthquake.

Only minimal damage was reported but the tremor shook neighborhoods just north of campus, near the Main Street-Bailey Avenue intersection and made a familiar face out of Rev. James J. Ruddick, SJ, who appeared on all the local news channels. A professor of physics, Father Ruddick was director of the Braun Seismograph Station at Canisius from 1974 until his death in March 2007.

The college appointed Lilly A. Adams-Dudley ’72, MS ’85, director of the Talent Search program.

She served in that position and as associate dean of the Office of Canisius’ Opportunity Programs for Education (COPE) for 43 years, up until her retirement from the college in December 2018.

Right: Members of the COPE Office gather around their leader, Lilly Adams-Dudley ’72, MS ’85 (seated). Pictured (standing, l-r): Simone Mitchell-Peterson MSEd ’93; Jean Buczak, administrative associate; Viola Gonzalez MS ’90, counselor; and Clarence A. Northman, assistant director of COPE. 117

Rev. James J. Ruddick, SJ 118

1996

Right: Buffalo Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. meets his inaugural scholarship recipients.

RESIDENCE HALL RENAISSANCE

By the 1996-97 academic year, the number of first-year resident students at Canisius surpassed their commuter counterparts – a first for the college. The shift forced leadership to reassess housing options and set in motion nearly a decade of residence hall construction and renovation projects aimed at providing students with the modern amenities of home.

1995 The owner of the four-time AFC champions, the Buffalo Bills, visits Canisius in June 1995 to permanently endow a $500,000 sports scholarship.

The Village Townhouses, located across from the main campus, was a $7 million new-build complex, which consisted of nine, tri-level buildings with four- and five-person units for more than 230 Canisius students.

The Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Sports Scholarship annually awards four student-athletes, from Western New York or southern Ontario, who are in good academic standing and play a college-level varsity sport.

Canisius followed the Village Townhouse construction with an $11 million renovation of the college’s two original residence halls, Bosch and Frisch. In addition to new windows, new carpeting and furnishings, the overhaul added more bathrooms, kitchen accommodations and more shared living spaces for nearly 500 students.

At the time of Wilson’s gift, it was one of the 10 largest scholarship endowments in college history and has since benefited nearly 100 student-athletes.

Village Townhouses

Soon after, in 1999, Canisius breathed new life into a neighborhood landmark.

The college purchased, renovated and then rededicated the former St. Vincent de Paul Parish rectory on Eastwood Place to George Martin Hall. Named for George M. Martin ’42, HON ’88, the house accommodated students in the All-College Honors Program.

1996

Later that year, the swing of a wrecking ball to the Delavan Avenue Armory made way for the newly constructed Delavan Townhouses. Due to the size of the $15.5 million project, it was completed in two phases: The first phase included 196 new beds and opened to students in fall 2001. Phase 2 included 130 additional beds and was ready for students in fall 2002.

Canisius unveils a seven-foot statue of St. Peter Canisius in the center of campus. The clay sculpture of the college’s patron saint is cast in bonded bronze and rests upon a four-foot base in the quad. It was presented to Canisius by the classes of 1994 and 1995, as a combined senior gift.

Crafted and carved by local sculptor Larry W. Griffis III, such a statue would have cost $25,000 but Griffis charged students less than half of that.

G R O W I N G R E S I D E N T P O P U L AT I O N

The statue of St. Peter Canisius is dedicated to Rev. James M. Demske ’47, SJ, president of Canisius from 1966-93.

George Martin Hall

1993 Resident: Commuter:

46% 54%

1997 Resident: Commuter:

51.2% 48.8%

2003

Sculptor Larry W. Griffis III stands alongside the St. Peter Canisius statue

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Resident: Commuter:

60.2% 39.8%

RESIDENT

COMMUTER

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1998

1997

EMPOWERING PROFESSORS

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) announces it will form an ice hockey league. Only three member institutions had existing programs. One of those was Canisius, which became a founding member of the league that began play in 1998-99.

A $1.5 million gift from the John R. Oishei Foundation gives rise to the Peter Canisius Distinguished Teaching Professors Program (formerly the Oishei Teaching Professors Program) in 1998.

The initiative provided the college’s best faculty with the resources to create innovative programs aimed at enhancing undergraduate teaching. Faculty members were chosen through a competitive grant process.

The Oishei Foundation was established by John R. Oishei, former president of the Trico Corporation in Buffalo.

1998

1998 NEW REC CENTER GIVES CASUAL ATHLETES A PLACE TO PLAY The opening of a new recreation center in September 1998 gave casual athletes a home of their own at Canisius.

The college constructed the 21,000-square-foot facility strictly for non-team students who previously had to play ball in the middle school gym at Mount Saint Joseph Academy, since varsity and club team practices kept the Koessler Athletic Center at capacity.

The new rec center housed double the gym area as the Koessler, and floor designs that made the space easily convertible for use as three tennis courts or two full and two half basketball courts or three volleyball courts.

The recreation center bears the name Patrick P. Lee HON ’99, whose gift of $500,000 moved the $1 million project from dream to design to reality.

Difference Maker: Patrick P. Lee Patrick P. Lee HON ’99 first learned about the importance of giving back from his grandmother who “took him to Mass every day” when he was a child and “always found a way to help others less fortunate.”

The memory of his grandmother remains with Lee and led him to become one of Western New York’s most benevolent philanthropists. Canisius is fortunate to be a longtime beneficiary of Lee’s generosity.

In addition to his donation toward the construction of the Patrick P. Lee Student Recreation Center, the former chair and CEO of the worldwide conglomerate International Motion Control Inc. made a $2 million unrestricted gift to A Legacy of Leadership: The Campaign for Canisius College. He most recently established the Lee Foundation Scholarship at Canisius, which supports students who study finance, computer science, mathematics, statistics or physics.

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A SUPERIOR VISIT

Difference Maker: Richard E. Winter

In a voice rich with the accent of St. Peter Canisius’ homeland in the Netherlands, Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, superior general of the Society of Jesus, delivered a rare address to the Canisius community during an October 26 visit.

The main gathering place for students received a major facelift in 1997 courtesy of a $2.25 million gift from Richard E. Winter ’42. Canisius renamed the student center after Winter in recognition of his gift, which was then the largest in the college’s history. A portion of the gift also supported the establishment of the Richard E. Winter ’42 Scholarship.

Father Kolvenbach was on a tour of Jesuit communities in the Northeast United States and Canada when he stopped at Canisius. He spoke during a mid-afternoon luncheon and expressed his gratitude to those 100 faculty, staff, alumni and benefactors in attendance for helping to nurture the minds and hearts of the next generation of young men and women.

Richard Winter worked for the family business, Winter Brothers Pepsi-Cola, while he studied at Canisius. One always knew when he was on campus, as Winter drove a flatbed truck and often made his Pepsi deliveries to local businesses in between classes.

After graduation, Winter purchased his own Pepsi franchise in Ogdensburg and relocated.

He died in January 2004.

Canisius President Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, SJ, introduces Father Kolvenbach (right) to (l-r) Mohammed Hadid ’00 and Aziz Salhab ’98 at a reception held in honor of the superior general.

“Your work is one of discovering and communicating truth and knowledge,” Father Kolvenbach declared. “You must do this constantly and courageously … wherever one finds truth, one also finds God.” Father Kolvenbach’s visit was his first to Canisius and his second to Buffalo.

1999 LIVING THE MISSION Responding to a call from Superior General Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, which urged Jesuit universities to “develop students whose hearts are touched by direct, personal involvement with innocent suffering,” Campus Ministry offered its first international serviceimmersion trip in 1999.

Project Mexico saw 15 students and two campus ministers travel to Mexico City for two weeks. The Canisius contingent spent their mornings visiting at the homes of Mother Teresa of Calcutta for the mentally and physically disabled. The group helped feed those who could not feed themselves and “simply reached out our hands to them in friendship, smiled with them, listened to them, and were just present,” recalled Sister Patricia Brady, SSMN, former director of the Center for Service Learning, who organized the inaugural immersion trip.

The group spent afternoons working at a Day Camp developed by students in advance of the trip. More than 200 children attended on the first day and the remaining weeks.

What began in spring 1999 with a single international service-immersion trip is now a burgeoning service program at Canisius.

Sister Patricia Brady, SSMN, (center) visits with women from the homes of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

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1999 A FACILITIES FACELIFT A fleet of construction equipment outfitted with a flock of yellow hard hats converged at Canisius in 1999 for the start of several, massive, state-of-the-art building makeovers.

James F. ’56, HON ’98 and Judith Lyons

The $25 million campus modernization project saw the conversion of Mount Saint Joseph High School into Lyons Hall, the new gateway to Canisius and home to the college’s Admissions Office. The four-story, neo-Gothic building houses the departments of Communication Studies, Digital Media Arts, Fine Arts, Political Science and Alumni Engagement. Lyons Hall is named for James F. ’56, HON ’98 and Judith Lyons, whose multimillion-dollar gift to Canisius was one of the largest for its time.

Difference Makers: James & Judith Lyons The Lyons lineage at Canisius dates back to 1911, with the freshman arrival of Edward J. Lyons. The family name lives on today etched in Lyons Hall. Canisius renamed the former Mount Saint Joseph High School in 2000, in gratitude to James F. ’56, HON ’98 and Judith Lyons for their multimillion-dollar gift to Canisius.

Construction continued across the street where the former St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church was being transformed from a 1926 Byzantine-Lombardic architectural landmark into a multi-use performing arts facility. Equipped with state-ofthe-art acoustics, a professional stage and sound system, and seating for up to 530 people, the newly renovated facility was made possible, in part, by a generous $1.5 million gift from Carl ’64, HON ’04 and Carol Montante. It opened in 2000 as the Montante Cultural Center.

Meanwhile, Old Main became new again as this centerpiece to Jesuit education underwent a $12 million renovation - the first top-to-bottom improvement since the building’s 1912 construction. Renovation work rid the building of dimlylit and dated rooms. Enhanced lighting, air conditioning, comfortable adult-sized desks and furniture, and breakout lounges for faculty and students were added. The multimillion-dollar project also provided for a two-story atrium that opened onto the Koessler Plaza and provided a seamless entry to the quad.

The biggest overhaul, however, was not something easily seen. Instead it sat between the walls and above the ceilings of classrooms and corridors and consisted of a network of cabling needed to power the classrooms of tomorrow.

In all, the new Old Main housed an impressive array of 50 technology classrooms designed to meet the demand of a new century.

Right: A $12 million renovation, completed in 2001, made Old Main new again and wired the classrooms for the future.

A past chair of the Canisius Board of Trustees, James Lyons’ professional achievements turned out different from what he envisioned as a child. (He didn’t end up playing for the New York Yankees.) Still Lyons’ Canisius education and Harvard MBA positioned him for a diverse career within some of the nation’s most profitable corporations.

Built in 1908, the former Mount Saint Joseph High School was acquired by Canisius in 1988, underwent a $9.7 million overhaul in 1999 and was dedicated as Lyons Hall in 2000.

Lyons held leadership roles at GHK Partners, an equity fund management firm; American Medical International, a $2.1 billion healthcare corporation; and Harry Gray Associates, a management consulting and investment company. At the time of his gift, Lyons was president and CEO of GenRad, a software and electronics firm ranked among the top 25 corporations on the New York Stock Exchange.

Carl J. ’64, HON ’04 and Carol Montante

Difference Makers: Carl & Carol Montante Carl J. Montante ’64, HON ’04, has been at the forefront of revitalization efforts in downtown Buffalo since he formed Uniland Development Company in 1976. The company remains among the region’s largest developers of office and industrial space today.

Carl and his wife, Carol, have played a similarly integral part of the college’s development. The couple contributed $1.5 million to Canisius in 1998 for the renovation of the former St. Vincent de Paul Church, which the college later dedicated as the Montante Cultural Center. The renovation project has since won several awards for historic preservation and restoration.

In 2006, the former chair of the Board of Trustees and his family made a $5.1 million gift to Canisius for the creation of an interdisciplinary science center. The gift is the largest received in Canisius history.

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1999

1999

The rich architecture and diverse buildings that make up the Queen City come alive in a colorful new coffee table book titled Classic Buffalo: A Heritage of Distinguished Architecture, published by Canisius College Press.

A full 46 percent of the fall 1999 incoming class reports a high school average of 90 or higher. In 1994, only 20 percent of the incoming class had a high school average of 90 or above.

2000 The college embarks on a new millennium with a new look, publishing the inaugural issue of Canisius Magazine. The fullcolor, high-gloss publication replaced the Canisius Chronicle, a newspaper tabloid, which had been mailed to alumni, family and friends of the college since 1970.

Appropriately, this first issue of Canisius Magazine focused on the future and enlisted the insight of college faculty to predict what was to come in their fields, including government, education, literature, arts, religion, science and technology.

Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, SJ

Above: The Imagine Canisius campaign comes to a historic conclusion. Pictured (l-r): Lillian Levey MS ’67, HON ’03, James McNicholas ’68, MS ’97, Hugh Neeson ’55, John J. Hurley ’78, Campaign Chair R. Carlos Carballada ’56, HON ’81 and his wife, Virginia, Jerry Castiglia ’55, HON ’94, Martin M. Breen ’52 and Chet Pawenska ’52.

2000 IMAGINE CANISIUS Imagine Canisius, the largest capital campaign in the college’s 130-year history, concluded June 30, 2000, with $38.8 million raised, surpassing the goal by $8.8 million.

Highlights of the campaign included 13 gifts of $1 million or more to Canisius. The campaign also attracted 65 gifts of $100,000 or more and saw the creation of 95 new endowed scholarships and the enhancement of several existing scholarships.

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2000 Safety and security in and around the Canisius community are enhanced when New York State grants peace officer status to the college’s public safety officers. Peace officers have the same authority as police officers with the exception of being able to serve a warrant. They are restricted to their own geographical jurisdiction. The Canisius Public Safety Department was the first private security organization in New York to receive peace officer status.

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2001

2002

AMERICA IN MOURNING

HOME SWEET HOME

“There are no great speeches prepared for occasions like this.”

Canisius bested its reputation for ingenious and farsighted investment – in the college and community – when it launched the Employer Assisted Housing (EAH) program in summer 2002.

Such were the words Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, SJ, delivered to the Canisius community during an impromptu gathering in the hours that followed the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In noticeable distress, Father Cooke prayed for “acceptance of students and citizens from other cultures during this time of fear and paranoia.”

In the days that followed, Canisius provided support to students, faculty and staff by way of counselors. Together with Campus Ministry Director Rev. John Bucki, SJ, students held a candlelight vigil. The Office of Student Affairs organized a community forum with a panel of professors who had expertise in the areas of terrorism and tolerance. They spoke and answered questions. Every year since the attacks, Canisius hands out American flags to the campus community as a remembrance of those who lost their lives and in tribute to the heroic efforts of survivors.

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Right: Associate Professor of Philosophy Michael Forest, PhD, pictured with his wife, Amy Beckley-Forest, and their two children, was among the first of Canisius employees to take advantage of the EAH program.

The first of its kind in Western New York, the forgivable loan program assists employees with closing costs and down payments on homes near the college’s central Buffalo campus. The amounts of the grants are tied to the value of the homes purchased (the college awards up to $7,000) and are forgiven over a period of five years if the employee remains with Canisius.

The Canisius community gathers in Christ the King Chapel to pray for those who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Developed by then Vice President for College Relations John J. Hurley, the EAH program proved to be a win-win-win: The employee benefit helped Canisius attract and retain top faculty, particularly in an increasingly competitive college recruitment market. In turn, the city of Buffalo gained good, loyal neighbors. The program also prompted other local colleges to set up similar programs, further improving Buffalo and Western New York.

2001 The college’s Golden Griffin mascot debuts a muchneeded makeover in fall 2001, along with a new name.

After weeks of online and ballot voting, students selected “Petey” as the official name of their school spirit talisman.

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2002

Academic Excellence

A GAME PLAN FOR ATHLETICS

Between fall 2001 and 2003, Canisius added 28 full-time professors to the teaching roster, shrinking the student-faculty ratio to 14:1.

Canisius College made a strategic albeit difficult decision in 2002 to realign the Athletic Department and discontinue eight NCAA Division I varsity sport programs. The sports eliminated were football, men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track, men’s and women’s tennis, and the rifle team.

Canisius also broke new ground by introducing first-class academic programs and elevating those already available to students. Among them, the Urban Leadership Learning Community (ULLC), the Golden Griffin Fund and the Peter Canisius Distinguished Teaching Professors Program.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on October 31, the decision to concentrate the college’s resources in a smaller number of varsity sports was less about cost-cutting and more about developing a consistently competitive, higher-quality intercollegiate sports program. It also came with an iron-clad promise from President Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, SJ, that all budgets from discontinued sports would be reallocated to the remaining sports and that those reallocated funds, plus additional amounts, would be used to hire full-time coaches for as many sports as possible. The development of state-of-the-art athletic facilities would remain a priority in the capital budget process.

By the 2005-06 academic year, Canisius began to realize the benefits of the realignment.

Discovery, Discernment and Drive An Urban Leadership Learning Community Thanks to a generous gift from The William G. McGowan Foundation, the inaugural class of McGowan Learning Community Scholars began at Canisius in fall 2000.

The scholarship program, known today as the Urban Leadership Learning Community (ULLC), supports underrepresented students from Western New York who excel academically and demonstrate exceptional leadership skills but are not financially able to pursue a private, undergraduate education.

In keeping with the Jesuit mission of being men and women for others, the ULLC program stresses a collaborative learning classroom, which enables students to learn from and teach one another. Students are also required to complete leadership workshops in the fields of science, art and culture, business and economics, and politics and government. To broaden awareness of their roles in the wider world, ULLC students are encouraged to participate in the college’s study abroad program.

Combined, these ULLC opportunities shape the region’s next generation of leaders who go on to promote diversity and inclusiveness on campus, in their careers and the communities where they live.

To date, nearly 200 students have graduated from the ULLC program, which was established by Emeritus Professors of English Kenneth M. Sroka ’65, PhD and E. Roger Stephenson, PhD. It continues today under the direction of Michael Forest, PhD, associate professor of philosophy.

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The All-College Honors Program advanced to even higher levels of academic excellence in 2006, when it came under new leadership by Bruce J. Dierenfield, PhD, of the History Department.

Dierenfield revamped the honors curriculum, instituted a luncheon series with community leaders and introduced a mentorship program for students.

Under his purview, new thought-provoking courses were also introduced, and opportunities for student research, study abroad and service work were initiated. He expanded scholarly travel to include the annual Jesuit honors conference and further enhanced the program’s sense of community by arranging for honors students to live on the same floor in Eastwood Hall.

Investing in Students A share of Wall Street made its way to Main Street in October 2003 with the launch of the Golden Griffin Fund (GGF) at Canisius. The student-run investment fund gives future financiers the opportunity to test their stock market acumen by using real money to make real investments.

Established with an initial investment of $100,000 from the college’s endowment and $100,000 from an outside investor, the GGF program operates out of a newly created financial markets lab and requires students to research, create and manage portfolio holdings (stocks); analyze and recommend companies to add to the portfolio; and to grow the fund through the solicitation of new investors.

Since it launched, the GGF has grown the fund to approximately $530,000.

The brainchild behind the GGF was Nelson D. Civello ’67, HON ’17, a retired president of Dain Rauscher’s Fixed Income Capital Markets Group and former chair of The Bond Market Association, who served as director of the GGF for several years.

Athletic teams have since won 46 conference or regional championships and a total of 73 student-athletes have won conference player or rookie of the year awards, highlighted by a program-record 10 in 2017-18. In the 10 years prior to 2005-06, Canisius won 24 player or rookie of the year awards, combined.

2002 Canisius’ softball program, under the leadership of Head Coach Mike Rappl, continues its dominance as the Blue and Gold score six MAAC Tournament crowns starting in 2002 through 2009.

The 2008 team won a program-record 39 games and is the last Canisius team to win an NCAA Tournament.

2003 ON THE RISE SAT scores among incoming students climb to the highest level in a decade, from 958 (1993) to 1108 (2003).

The double-digit percent increase was attributed to the administration’s decision to raise admission standards, increase the college’s applicant pool outside Western New York and New York State, and to make Canisius more affordable to the best and brightest students via merit-based aid and scholarship assistance.

By the time Canisius President Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, SJ, retired in 2009, SAT scores had reached 1118.

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2005

The college’s commitment to improve economic development in the region takes a bold step forward in December 2003, with the creation of the Women’s Business Center at Canisius.

A NEW HOME IN EASTWOOD HALL With the snip of a ceremonial blue and gold ribbon on September 1, 2005, Canisius formally opened the doors to the college’s newest residence, Eastwood Hall.

Funded by a five-year, $750,000 grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the center provides practical and educational opportunities for female entrepreneurs and small business owners who want to launch new ventures in the city of Buffalo.

The $19 million, seven-story, 104,000-square-foot structure served as the new home to 270 first-year and sophomore students. It also brought the combined residence hall occupancy to 1,599 students – or about half of the college’s full-time undergraduate student population. A decade earlier, only 843 resident students lived on campus.

In 2006, Canisius renamed Eastwood Hall to Dugan Residence Hall in honor of Rev. Paul J. Dugan, SJ, moderator of athletics. The naming opportunity was the result of Carl J. ’64, HON ’04 and Carol Montante’s $5.1 million gift to the college.

2009 As coffee shops become part of the academic culture on college campuses, Canisius opts to open a new, fullservice Tim Hortons coffee chain on the main level of the Rev. Andrew L. Bouwhuis, SJ, Library.

Dugan Residence Hall

Tim Hortons was the first national franchise to come to campus and created 30 counter and food service positions at the college, more than half of which were filled by students.

2004 OVERCOMING AUTISM

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Children with Asperger’s Syndrome receive new hope when Canisius launches Connections in summer 2004.

The six-week summer program was established by Christopher Lopata, PsyD and Marcus L. Thomeer, PhD, to treat and research the high-functioning form of autism, often characterized by a lack of social skills, an inability to recognize emotions in others and narrow, often obsessive interests.

2005

Within five years of initiating Connections, Canisius introduced the Institute for Autism Research (IAR) which, today, operates as an interdisciplinary collaborative research center dedicated to understanding autism and related developmental disorders in order to enhance the lives of those affected and their families.

The berth followed the Blue and Gold’s 60-59 win over conference rival Marist in the MAAC title game in HSBC Arena in downtown Buffalo.

The Griffs, the No. 15 seed in the Chattanooga Regional, eventually lost to Duke in a first-round game played in North Carolina’s Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, NC.

The women’s basketball team becomes the first Division I women’s basketball program in Western New York to earn a bid to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in 2005.

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2010-Present A N E W B U F FA L O

As the first decade of the 21st century came to a close, the city of Buffalo was attempting to put its Rust Belt roots behind and build a new future for itself. Developments at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Canalside, along the Buffalo River, and everywhere in between became tangible and people started talking about a “New Buffalo.”

Canisius stood poised to capitalize on the renaissance of the region: The college was ideally located - just three subway stops from the burgeoning Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Its signature academic programs made Canisius a hub of critical intellectual capital. And the college’s innovative educational and social initiatives were primed to bring Canisius’ full resources to bear on the present and emerging needs of the region.

Adding to the excitement, the college’s Division I men’s hockey team was about to take up residence at Harborcenter, a more than $200 million sports entertainment complex built by Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula at Canalside on Buffalo’s waterfront.

At the same time, Canisius’ first lay president, John J. Hurley, was inaugurated and initiating thoughtful conversations about faith, justice and leadership within the context of Canisius’ mission as a Catholic and Jesuit university.

Derived from the 32nd General Congregation, which transformed the ministry and identity of the Society of Jesus, the service of faith and promotion of justice became key responsibilities that Canisius College embraced during this era so as to collaborate fully with the Society of Jesus, remain an important apostolic work of the Jesuits and become a great Catholic, Jesuit university.

2010 John J. Hurley becomes the 24th president of Canisius College and the first lay leader in the Jesuit institution’s nearly 140-year history. Appointed following a unanimous vote by the Board of Trustees on October 19, 2009, Hurley assumed the role in an official capacity on July 1, 2010.

Charting the Next Course John. J. Hurley assumed the presidency of Canisius College – his alma mater – with a Jesuit heart. This fervent and active Catholic, true in faith and fidelity, proved eminently qualified to follow in the footsteps of his mentor, Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, SJ, whose vision for Canisius he helped realize.

But there was no time to bask in the glory of inauguration or the positive momentum already underway. Instead, President Hurley went right to work charting Canisius’ next course.

His ‘to-do’ list was ambitious, particularly considering an uncertain economy and a population decline distressing the northeastern United States. Still, President Hurley brought to a successful close A Legacy of Leadership. The comprehensive campaign for Canisius raised a historic $95.5 million for the college - $5.5 million over goal - and secured vital support for scholarships and new academic programs.

New monies raised coupled with wise investment strategies under the Hurley presidency, saw the endowment reach historic proportions. Canisius also doubled its investment in its already strong science program, when President Hurley opened the doors to Science Hall in fall 2013, providing 120,000-square-feet of interdisciplinary space.

Acutely aware of his position as a lay president, Hurley initiated thoughtful campus conversations about Canisius’ mission as a Catholic and Jesuit university in an urban community.

He called upon students, faculty and staff to embrace the college’s role as a contributor to the city’s renaissance and reexamine the ways in which Canisius could bring its resources – intellectual, spiritual, financial – to neighboring communities “so that the problems of the old Buffalo don’t prevent the new Buffalo from realizing its dreams.”

The response to President Hurley’s call was resounding and led to the now emerging New Buffalo Institute (NBI). Dedicated to active collaborations within the college and the larger community, the New Buffalo Institute couples existing educational programming and service with the development of new initiatives to better align Canisius’ efforts with Buffalo’s greatest needs and priorities. Urban education, new Americans, and entrepreneurship and economic development represent a few of the NBI’s strategic areas of focus.

For all that he has achieved, President Hurley continues to keep an ambitious ‘to-do’ list for Canisius. He’ll always think boldly about the future of the college, because “achieving even half of an aggressive goal will almost always be better than achieving all of a safe goal.”

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2011 As the country – and Canisius – begin to see a sharp decline in the number of Jesuits, the college takes steps to not only preserve but enhance its Catholic, Jesuit identity by appointing Rev. Michael F. Tunney, SJ, the first director of mission and identity.

2010

Father Tunney is charged with educating the campus community about the institution’s Catholic, Jesuit identity and mission, and their part in fulfilling it.

A PAPAL TRIBUTE

Canisius College hosts the national exhibit “A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People.” The commemorative tribute to the late pontiff was made possible with support from The Permanent Chair of Polish Culture at Canisius.

Rev. Michael F. Tunney, SJ

2011 Under the game plan of Head Coach Scott Teeter, the women’s lacrosse team scores its first MAAC Championship over top-seeded Fairfield on May 1, 2011. The Golden Griffins defeated the Stags, 13-8, and would go on to win MAAC championships in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.

Right: An image from the “Blessings” exhibit shows Pope John Paul II greeting Rabbi Elio Toaff, chief rabbi of Rome, during his visit to the Synagogue of Rome on April 13, 1986.

2010 FOR SALE: COLLEGEOWNED HOMES President John J. Hurley establishes the latest in a series of college initiatives aimed at promoting homeownership in the neighboring community.

The Hamlin Park Initiative dedicated 10 collegeowned homes for the purpose of renovation and sale to buyers who commit to being owneroccupiers. When sold, the property deeds include a restrictive covenant to ensure that the properties remain owner-occupied for at least 15 years.

Left: Canisius partnered with Belmont Housing Resources for the Hamlin Park Initiative. Pictured (l-r) are: Elizabeth Huckabone, president, Belmont Housing; John J. Hurley, Canisius President; Stephanie Barber, president, Hamlin Park Community and Taxpayers Association; and Michael D. Riegel, vice president for housing development, Belmont Housing.

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2011 Five dollar foot-longs are on the menu as Subway opens in fall 2011. Housed in the Old Main Snack Bar (later renamed Old Main Café), the national franchise is one of several new dining options available to students. Other additions included the pizza and pasta-themed restaurant 2.mato and Au Bon Pain, which served healthy options. Tim Hortons was the first national franchise to open at Canisius on January 12, 2009.

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2011

2012

READY ALL, ROW!

A LEGACY FOR THE LIFE SCIENCES

The call of the coxswain descends upon Canisius in fall 2011 when the college adds women’s rowing to its NCAA Division I sports program, bringing to nine the number of women’s varsity sports at Canisius. The team competes in the MAAC and utilizes the West Side Rowing Club as its base of operations.

Catherine M. Burzik ’72, HON ’15, became the most generous female donor in Canisius’ 142-year history when she contributed a second $1 million gift to the college in May 2012.

Catherine and her husband, Frank, made an initial gift of $1 million in 2008, which they directed toward the renovation of Science Hall and the establishment of the Catherine and Francis Burzik Endowed Scholarship for students who major in mathematics and the sciences.

Burzik similarly divided her 2012 gift between the scholarship fund and unrestricted use at Canisius.

A leader in the life sciences industry, Burzik has been on the cutting edge of innovation since her first job as a software developer for Kodak Clinical Chemistry. She later served as president of Johnson & Johnson’s Ortho-Clinical Diagnosis Division before becoming president of Applied Biosystems, a firm that pioneered the sequencing of the human genome and the measurement of gene expression. Burzik’s storied career has since intersected with even more groundbreaking healthcare technologies. Her contributions to the medical technology industry earned her a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Advanced Medical Technology Association in 2019.

Catherine M. Burzik ’72, HON ’15

2012 BARON RESURRECTS MEN’S BASKETBALL A renewed sense of enthusiasm permeated the Koessler Athletic Center on April 2, 2012 upon word that Canisius hired Head Coach Jim Baron to do what he’s done three times before: resurrect a men’s basketball program.

2011 STARS, STRIPES AND VETERAN STUDENTS Over the course of five years, the number of veteran students triples – at Canisius and across the country – prompting the college to open a new and more comprehensive Office of Veterans Services in fall 2011.

The Division I head coach (right) inherited a Canisius team bolstered then by three quality transfers and a fourth he recruited – his son, Billy Baron. In his brief tenure (Baron retired from the game in 2016), he led the Griffs to 73 total wins, 44 wins in MAAC regular season play and guided the team to three-straight national postseason appearances.

He is the only coach in the program’s 113-year history to take the team to the national postseason in his first three years at the helm.

2012 The men’s lacrosse team (above) takes home its first MAAC championship title since 2008, rallying for a 10-9 victory against Siena College.

Above: Canisius President John J. Hurley joins Lt. Col. Andrew P. Overfield, coordinator of Canisius’ Office of Veterans Services, in cutting the ceremonial ribbon on a new veterans lounge.

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2012 SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH Canisius College opened the doors to the long-anticipated Science Hall in fall 2012. From the dramatic four-story atrium to the luminous new laboratories and interactive science-on-display spaces, the first-class facility was designed to complement the college’s world-class science programs.

The impressive 120,000-square-feet of multidisciplinary space, which included the main and lower levels, enabled the college to start consolidating its science programs under one roof. The departments of Computer Science and Mathematics, the Institute for Autism Research and the Dr. George E. Schreiner ’43 Pre-Medical Center were among the first to take up residence in Science Hall. Physics and information technology soon followed.

2012 GIVE US A C-A-N-I-S-I-U-S

2012 A Legacy of Leadership: The Campaign for Canisius concludes on May 31, 2012, with $95.5 million raised - $5.5 million in excess of the college’s goal.

Canisius C-Block takes home first place in a nationwide spirit contest in spring 2012. Sponsored by the National Association for Campus Activities, the contest’s judges selected the student club’s bonfire as a “Best Campus Tradition.”

2012 IMMERSION EAST SIDE “The East Side of Buffalo is much more than what is reported in the news. It’s full of people who have a shared humanity that we can all embrace.”

Such were the sentiments of Canisius students who participated in the inaugural Immersion East Side program in summer 2012. The unique seminar engages students with surrounding Buffalo neighborhoods and the many cultural, political, economic and religious influences that characterize the city’s East Side.

Students visit government offices; political, educational and community organizations; and AfricanAmerican and immigrant religious institutions with the goal of identifying systemic challenges and considering solutions that engage members and resources of the Canisius community. The program now extends to faculty and staff.

Right: Students participating in Immersion East Side visit Buffalo’s Freedom Wall with contributing artist Edreys Wahjid (back row, third from left). The Freedom Wall celebrates historic and ongoing struggles for political and social equality, and features portraits of 28 notable civil rights leaders from America’s past and present.

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Left: Canisius hockey players accept the Atlantic Hockey Conference trophy from Commissioner Bob DeGregorio Jr. (center). Pictured (l-r) Chris Barrea ’13, Torrey Lindsay ’13, Preston Shupe ’13 and Ben Parker ’13.

2014 Following a dip to $57 million in spring 2009, the Canisius endowment recovers and gains more than 80 percent in five years, reaching $106,113,258 by winter 2014. College officials credit the recordsetting endowment to new money raised and wise strategies employed by the Board of Trustees Investment Advisory Subcommittee.

2014 FACE OFF

After spending years playing home games at Buffalo State College, the Canisius hockey program debuted its new home at Harborcenter on October 31, 2014.

CONFERENCE CHAMPS

The team’s new off-campus facility at the $200 million hockey and entertainment complex followed a joint agreement among the Canisius Athletic Department, Pegula Sports and Entertainment and the Buffalo Sabres, which made Harborcenter’s feature rink the home for the only Division I hockey program in Buffalo. The stateof-the-art complex also serves as the program’s full-time practice facility, giving the Griffs access to the center’s high performance training center and housing the team’s permanent locker room, which includes a student-athlete lounge, a coaches’ suite and the team’s athletic training facility.

The Canisius Athletic Department recorded its most successful year in 2012-13, becoming the first Division I school in Western New York to send three teams to the NCAA Tournament.

The Griffs debuted the new complex during a game against Ohio State before a capacity crowd of nearly 2,000 fans. The Griffs skated to a 3-3 draw with the Buckeyes.

2012-2013

Canisius College Sports Hall of Fame

2015 Canisius’ rich athletic history goes on full display January 25, 2015, when the college unveils its newly renovated Sports Hall of Fame. The 12-month, $200,000 upgrade located in the Koessler Athletic Center houses key moments in Canisius’ athletic history, along with championship rings presented to conference-winning teams and refurbished inductee plaques displayed by induction year.

In addition to women’s lacrosse, the Canisius hockey team entered the post season tournament for the Atlantic Hockey Conference. The Ice Griffs were a decided underdog but six wins later – including a big win over archrival and nationally-ranked Niagara in the semi finals – Canisius was crowned conference champion. The win put the hockey team en route to its first NCAA Tournament. The Griffins played well but bowed out in the first game to top-seeded Quinnipiac by a score of 4-3.

Canisius later secured its first MAAC baseball championship when the Griffs defeated Siena, 12-11, in the conference title game. That victory lifted the season’s win total to 42 (the most in school and MAAC history) and advanced the Griffs to the NCAA Tournament. The team lost, 6-3, to No. 1 North Carolina.

A few years later, in 2015, the baseball program again overpowered Siena to score its second MAAC championship.

And in 2018, the Griffs’ 11-0 win over Monmouth marked the Blue and Gold’s third baseball championship.

2013 The Golden Griffin prevails as the best Catholic school mascot in the country following a fierce online bracket competition hosted by BustedHalo.com, a spirituality web magazine written by and for young adults. The Griffin took down St. Bonaventure’s Wolf in the first round, Boston College’s Eagle in the second, Fordham’s Ram in the semis and Loyola’s Greyhound in the finals.

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Harborcenter

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2015 JOURNEY TO THE HOLY LAND Canisius President John J. Hurley and his wife, Maureen, journeyed to the Holy Land on April 19 as part of a week-long pilgrimage to explore the land of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

President Hurley chronicled the trip in a series of daily reflections for the campus community, which addressed the places and events he visited that shaped Christian faith. Among the places the pilgrimage took them: The Mt. Beatitudes Guest House, near where Jesus spoke the Beatitudes; Cana, the site of the Wedding Feast and Jesus’ first miracle; and Nazareth, the site where the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was to be the Mother of God. The pilgrimage culminated in the holy city of Jerusalem.

President Hurley’s journey was sponsored by America Media, a Jesuit ministry.

2015 LIVE, FROM CANISIUS Canisius teams up with ESPN3 to open the Golden Griffin Sports Broadcast Center in September 2015. The partnership gives students interested in sports broadcast and journalism the opportunity to produce live athletic events for the online streaming service owned by ESPN. In opening the center, Canisius became only the third member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) to offer a full slate of home sporting events on ESPN3.

Adam Zyglis ’04

2015

2015

PULITZER PRIZE-WINNER

FIRST IN FINANCE

Canisius alumnus Adam Zyglis ’04 receives the epitome of journalistic recognition on April 20, 2015, upon receiving a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning.

A five-man team from the Golden Griffin Fund (left) defeated more than 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 865 universities in 70 countries to take home the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute Research Challenge World Championship, on April 25, 2015.

G I V I N G D AY 04 • 2 7 • 2 0 1 6

Zyglis is an editorial cartoonist for The Buffalo News.

He is also nationally syndicated and his work regularly appears in USA Today, The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.

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Brains superseded brawn in this global matchup which challenged teams to research a publicly traded company and write a written report with a buy, sell or hold recommendation. Teams then presented and defended their analysis to a panel of industry professionals who served as judges in the competition.

The world champs of the 2015 Chartered Financial Analyst Institute Research Challenge (l-r): Matthew Coad ’14, MBA ’16, Ryan Zimmer ’15, Stephen Miller ’15, Carl Larsson ’15 and Kevin Monheim ’15

The Golden Griffin Fund team secured the world championship with wins over the University of Florida, Kyiv National Economic University (Ukraine) and Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines), and split a $10,000 cash prize.

2016 On April 27, 2016, Griffs everywhere come together to demonstrate their pride in alma mater by participating in the college’s first-ever Giving Day. The one-day giving campaign secured $223,038 in donations from 1,093 donors.

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2016 High school students entering their junior and senior years take up residence at Canisius from July 5 – 10 for the college’s inaugural Be the Light Youth Theology Institute. The annual six-day experience provides participants with opportunities to deepen their understanding of Catholic theology and philosophy, Jesuit spirituality and values, and the ways these inform responses to issues of justice relevant in the Buffalo area.

2016 Canisius names Buffalo native Reggie Witherspoon the 24th head coach of men’s basketball. Witherspoon signed a five-year contract with the college on May 31, 2016.

Left: The inaugural class of the Be the Light Youth Theology Institute

Reggie Witherspoon

2017 EXCELLENCE WITHIN REACH A multi-year downward trend in college enrollment coupled with New York State’s introduction of Excelsior Scholarships, which offers tuitionfree education at SUNY or CUNY schools, forced a frank re-evaluation of college affordability at Canisius.

The outcome was the launch of Excellence Within Reach in October 2017, a tuition reduction initiative that lowered tuition for full-time undergraduate students by 23 percent – from $34,966 to $27,000 – and lowered residence hall rates by $2,000 a year.

2016 A SYMBOL OF CANISIUS PRIDE LANDS ON CAMPUS A new symbol of Canisius pride took its formal place on campus September 23, 2016, when a 1,500-pound bronze replica of the Golden Griffin landed on Main Street. The majestic mascot found a permanent and prominent nest outside Science Hall and has since been immortalized by students and alumni as a source of luck and a symbol of pride and achievement.

The Golden Griffin statue was made possible by the Undergraduate Student Association, which donated $95,000 toward the commissioning of sculptor Mark Palmerton, co-owner of the Crucible Foundry in Norman, OK. The Griffin stands six feet high and eight feet long. He is made of an oilbased clay and cast in bronze, which can endure for upwards of 12,000 years (an appropriate alloy for a mythological creature that sprang from the human imagination more than 5,000 years ago).

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The move narrowed the gap between the college’s sticker price and what students actually pay after financial aid is applied, making Canisius one of the most affordable four-year private institutions in the Northeast and a more realistic option for potential students from the start.

The Excellence Within Reach initiative yielded benefits within two years, as Canisius saw a 15 percent jump in enrollment by fall 2019.

2017 The Golden Griffin ice hockey team, under the direction of Head Coach Dave Smith, skates into the 2016-17 postseason following a 17-game unbeaten streak to claim its first Atlantic Hockey regular season title.

The team’s success continued into the next year. With new Head Coach Trevor Large in charge, Canisius defeated Niagara, 3-2, in the regular season finale and secured a second place standing in the Atlantic Hockey Conference and a No. 2 seed in the league’s postseason tournament.

2017 IMPROVING URBAN EDUCATION The School of Education and Human Services joins forces with the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education to establish the Center for Urban Education (CUE) at Canisius. Aimed at improving the quality of urban education in the region, CUE initiatives emphasize content knowledge, teacher recruitment and retention, professional development, mentorship and networking opportunities for new and current teaching professionals.

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2019 DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

2018 TEAM EFFORT After a banner athletic year in 2017-18, men’s athletics claimed its first ever Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Commissioner’s Cup. Awarded annually, the Commissioner’s Cup recognizes overall excellence in athletics in the 25 championship athletic events conducted within the MAAC. Three men’s programs won MAAC championships in 2017-18, earning the top spot with 71.5 points:

Fatima Rodriguez Johnson MS ’98 becomes the first associate dean of diversity and inclusion at Canisius College on February 19, 2019. Responsible for programs and services that promote diversity, inclusion, equity and social justice, Johnson works alongside the African-American, Latino/a American, Asian American and Native American (ALANA) Student Center and is chair of the college’s Racial Diversity Team.

Fatima Rodriguez Johnson MS ’98

2019

Men’s lacrosse and baseball earned the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. The lacrosse team’s 10-9 win over Detroit Mercy in the MAAC final stands as the program’s third conference crown and its first since 2012.

Canisius announces plans to convert the ground floor of Palisano Pavilion into a student fitness center for undergraduate and graduate students. The renovated facility will feature an array of cardio machines including treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes and weightlifting equipment. Changing rooms and showers are also in the plans.

Baseball, which earned its 12th straight MAAC Championship appearance, won the league’s baseball title. The Griffs’ 11-0 win over Monmouth marked the Blue and Gold’s third baseball championship since 2013.

For the first time in 24 years, the men’s basketball team scored a share of the 2017-18 MAAC regular-season championship after rolling past Marist, 98-74, in the regular season finale.

The win secured a second-seed spot for the Griffs in the MAAC Tournament, the best conference seeding for the Blue & Gold since 2001.

The new student fitness center is scheduled to open during the 2019-20 academic year.

Left: Architectural renderings of the new student fitness center in Palisano Pavilion

2018 A new generation of student-athletes joins the league of club sports at Canisius, when the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) formally sanctions Esports (electronic sports) as a competitive form of computer gaming.

The newest club sport is housed in the lower level of Palisano Pavilion, in a state-of-the-art Esports lab, outfitted with Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PS4 gaming consoles. Players vie for titles against collegiate opponents that include MAAC rivals Quinnipiac, Siena, Marist and Iona.

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2019

2019

LENDING A HAND

CANISIUS’ CATHOLIC, JESUIT IDENTITY AFFIRMED

When 100 asylum seekers from Africa arrived in June at Buffalo’s Vive Shelter, which is run by Jericho Road, it pushed the city’s refugee facility past its capacity. Canisius stepped up to help.

The college opened one of its residence halls for 13 refugees who resided at Canisius for three weeks before moving into apartments of their own. Sarah Signorino ’04, ’12, MS ’09, the college’s director of mission and identity, organized volunteers from Canisius to bring lunch and dinner for the refugees.

The campus guests represented several African countries, as well as Sri Lanka.

They arrived in Buffalo looking for assistance while seeking asylum in the U.S.

Canisius receives word in September 2019 that Rev. Arturo Sosa, SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, reviewed the college’s Mission Priority Examen and affirmed Canisius as a Catholic, Jesuit institution of higher education.

The Mission Priority Examen process was a robust, year-long review to assist university leadership and the Society of Jesus in ensuring the Catholic, Jesuit mission and identity of the Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States.

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Epilogue As a young boy, my father taught me it was disrespectful to my elders to try to have the last word in every argument. I laugh now, as he obviously did not know he was raising an aspiring lawyer but I have always remembered his advice, even if I did not always heed it.

So, it was with some trepidation that I approached the task of providing the last word in this spectacular commemorative edition of Canisius College Magazine on the occasion of the sesquicentennial of Canisius College. I have undertaken this assignment with respect and humility, acknowledging how difficult it is to reflect in a few words on all that has been, and what a fool’s errand it is to predict all that may be.

Erik Brady’s opening article about the founding of Canisius College by the German Jesuits prompts one to consider: Just what did those Jesuits envision with this new enterprise in the rapidly growing city of Buffalo? Were they thinking of laying a foundation for an institution that would endure for 150 years and beyond?

With the benefit of hindsight, we can conclude that as Jesuits, they were simply pragmatic and perhaps did not give much thought to the long-range future. They may have been solely focused on the task at hand: providing the immigrant population of Buffalo with a solid Catholic, Jesuit education that would prepare their graduates for successful lives in the new Industrial Age. Perhaps, as Jesuits, they were just content to discern God’s will at that moment in time.

The history of Canisius College demonstrates that while the present was critically important, our leaders always seemed to keep at least one eye focused on the future. With a new campus built on Washington Street in downtown Buffalo in 1872, why else would Father Behrens be pursuing land acquisition some 2.7 miles to the north, on Main Street, in 1874? Whatever his rationale, this propitious decision provided the foundation for the college we know today.

The pages of this commemorative magazine contain other stories that reflect great long-term vision by the Jesuits and their collaborators at Canisius College. Father Dobson’s decision to admit women during World War II to help keep the college afloat, set the stage for the full incorporation of women into the

college two decades later. Father Demske’s early adoption of the new model of American Catholic higher education and his work with Judge Charles S. Desmond ’17 and George M. Martin ’42, HON ’88, in creating a new lay-controlled governing structure led Canisius into the modern era. Father Cooke’s determination to stake the college’s future in north-central Buffalo by acquiring property up and down Main Street and moving Canisius decisively toward becoming a largely residential campus transformed the college and the neighborhood.

The Canisius education has evolved from the progymnasium of those first days on Ellicott Street, to the classical curriculum of the mid-20th century dominated by theology and philosophy, to the transformational education marked by experiential learning that we offer today. Yet, Canisius graduates across the decades remain linked by Jesuit ideals: the search for God in all things, a commitment to rigorous academics, sound critical thinking and communication skills, and especially in the last 50 years, the recognition that our service of the Catholic faith must include the promotion of justice in the world.

So, what’s next for Canisius? This is the difficult part of this task, predicting what the tricentennial of Canisius in 2170 might look like at a moment when institutions like the Catholic Church and the American government – considerably older than the college – face existential threats to their foundations, and when other pillars of our democratic society like newspapers are diminishing and even disappearing. We mark this anniversary at a time when the respect and thirst for truth is often in short supply. The pace of change in the world is accelerating and three years is now considered long-range planning.

The answer lies, I think, in the founding inspiration that the college received from the Society of Jesus: Stay attuned to the needs of the world and constantly discern where God may be calling us - in the students we serve, in the education we provide and in the good that we seek to do in the world. Above all, we need to accept and pray, as Ignatius did in the Suscipe, that if we surrender all to God and seek only God’s love and grace, that will be enough for us!

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!

-John J. Hurley President, Canisius College

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C AN I S I U S C O L L E G E | C E L E B R AT I NG

1 50 Y E A R S O F E X C E L L E N C E