Saint John's Magazine Summer/Fall 2023

INSIDE

Johnnies Savor Legacy of ‘The Perfect Season’

Magnetic Network Pulls Johnnies Together

Arctic Adventure Links SJU Generations

Features

Saint John’s Alumni Draw on Community Roots to Help Others P. 6

They never crossed paths while they attended Saint John’s University, but Michael Kelly ’20, Emmanuel Fale ’17 and Ryan Wold ’13 credit the Johnnie network’s magnetic ability as the force that pulled them together to form U Link, an organization devoted to uplifting and empowering higher-risk youth.

Johnnies Celebrate 20 Years of Perfect Memories P. 10

A virtual Hollywood script of incredible moments occurred during the 14-0 Saint John’s football team’s 2003 season that was highlighted by Coach John Gagliardi’s record 409th triumph, his team’s excellence and rousing rallies, and finally an unimaginable upset and a national championship. Two decades later, players, coaches and fans will gather to celebrate those memories and the team’s induction into SJU’s J-Club Athletic Hall of Honor.

Arctic Canoe Adventure Spans Generations of Johnnies P. 26

Although their experiences at Saint John’s were separated by nearly six decades, Bob O’Hara ’63 and Zach Fritz ’19 share their love of exploration of the Arctic wilderness. As Fritz approaches his 2,700-mile trip of a lifetime, he’s collaborating with O’Hara to prepare for the epic trek.

SAINT JOHN’S MAGAZINE

is the alumni magazine of Saint John’s University. It is published twice a year, in the spring and fall, by the SJU Office of Institutional Advancement.

EDITOR

Dave DeLand

ddeland@csbsju.edu

320-363-3013

CREATIVE DIRECTOR/DESIGNER

Lori Gnahn

CONTRIBUTORS

Kevin Allenspach

Rob Culligan ’82

Dana Drazenovich

Joe Eiden ’10

Fr. Eric Hollas, OSB

Ryan Klinkner ’04

Frank Rajkowski

PHOTOGRAPHY/VIDEOGRAPHY

Ali Beste ’19

Thomas O’Laughlin ’13

Jason Wachter

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVIST

Peggy Landwehr Roske ’77

EDITOR EMERITUS

† Lee A. Hanley ’58

ADDRESS CHANGES

Ruth Athmann

Saint John’s University P.O. Box 7222 Collegeville, MN 56321 rathmann@csbsju.edu

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©2023 Saint John’s University

President Brian Bruess President Brian Bruess

Inspirations from ‘The Perfect Season’

Twenty years can seem like the blink of an eye.

This fall we mark the 20th anniversary of the legendary 2003 season when the Saint John’s University football team made John Gagliardi the winningest coach in college football. It was a season punctuated by winning the national championship, a feat no one thought possible.

That incredible, improbable season for Johnnie football was the type of story that would have been rejected by Hollywood. It was far too outlandish. And yet it became real, over and over again that fall of ’03, in the most dramatic and unlikely of ways.

For the players, coaches, students and fans who experienced “The Perfect Season,” it will forever be remembered as something that changed lives and legacies. As we celebrate those stories two decades later, we will do so in fine fashion with the 2003 football team being inducted into the Saint John’s J-Club Athletic Hall of Honor.

Of course, the 2003 season and its dynamic unfolding was about much more than football. According to those who were here to witness it, “The Perfect Season” served as inspiration for our campuses — stimulating the belief and sensibility that anything is possible! Indeed, it is. Today, in 2023, such a mindset is most welcomed and embraced as we steer toward a bright future for our campuses and students.

strategically leaning hard on what it means to combine innovation with cooperation; perseverance with moral leadership; faithful, contemporary talent with over 1,500 years of Benedictine wisdom; forward-facing vision with homage fully paid to our values ever ancient, ever new.

It is only with such synergy and mindset that we will and can confront the challenges we face – many of the same hurdles that colleges and universities across the nation are also facing.

Fortunately, we have a substantial advantage.

In the spirit of Strong Integration, Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s are working together in a way that no one else in higher education has yet been brave or innovative enough to do. By doing so,

It’s because we are embracing a type of togetherness that was more than certainly improbable two and more decades ago. In fact, it would still be beyond the imagination today if our ever-faithful founders, our Common Boards, and our faculty and staff hadn’t been willing to share in each other an inspiring volume of faith and trust.

Indeed, it’s an exciting new season for CSB and SJU. We need you, our fans and cheerleaders. Our faithful supporters. Our trustworthy alums with your endless talents, wisdom, strengths and insights. As always, we welcome you to come home and to help us celebrate the past with an eye toward lessons for the future – and I don’t just mean on the gridiron. Although lessons there, as all good coaches know, are lessons everywhere.

Go Johnnies!

The lessons of 2003 remind us that when we combine talent and perseverance with leadership and faith, we can produce results that might astound the world.

Gratitude Generosity The Roger and Irma Scherer Family Legacy

Saint Benedict believed that you should run while you have the Light of Life. Our parents believed that, too. They led an adventurous, fulfilling life together driven in large part by gratitude and generosity, which created an inherent, innate sense of joy.

their careers and for each other.”

“The Scherer family legacy at Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s is impressive and it spans generations,” commented Brian Bruess, President of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. “Not only did Roger and Irma attend our colleges, but many other family members did as well.”

This includes:

• Sons Kris ’87 and Mark ’90 (and his son Andrew ’22 and daughter Claudia ’25);

By Rob Culligan ’82

Roger Scherer ’58 and Irma Gentilini ’58 met at Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s. While there, Roger made the “best decision in his life” proposing to Irma. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Over the course of their long marriage, they lived life to the fullest, and they instilled in their family a deep sense of generosity.

“My parents were generous to a fault with their family, friends, church and their favorite educational institutions, most notably Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s,” said their son Mark.

“Their generosity was born from a very strong sense of gratitude,” he added, “for a healthy, cohesive family, for many friends, for travel opportunities, for

• Roger’s sister Donna Zitur ’53 and her husband Bob Zitur ’51 (and their children Mary ’79, Amy ’82, Joan ’84, Tim ’86 and John ’87); his sister Jean Wagener ’61 and her husband Paul Wagener ’60; and Roger’s brother Gary’s daughter, Carrie ’93.

• Irma’s brother, Peter Gentilini.

Now that’s a family legacy!

Roger graduated from Saint John’s with a degree in Government. While at SJU, Roger was one of the founders of the Young Republicans. He later graduated from William Mitchell College of Law in 1964. Roger served in the Minnesota legislature from 1966-1971. He was an SJU Regent from 1988-1997, served on the National Alumni Board, and contributed as an Alumni Class Agent and a reunion year volunteer.

Irma graduated with a degree in English. While at Saint Benedict, Irma was the All-College President. She was the co-chair of the alumnae campaign effort of Phase II of the Campaign for the Future in the mid-1990s. Irma has also been active with BenildeSt. Margaret’s High School and St. Alphonsus Parish and Parish school.

Irma and Roger Scherer (front row) celebrate a Christmas gathering with members of their extended family, many of whom have followed their path to Saint John’s and Saint Benedict.

– Mark Scherer ’90

Over the years, Roger and Irma have generously supported numerous projects at Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s. Naturally, they were regular supporters of the annual funds at both institutions. In addition, when their daughter Lisa passed away unexpectedly at a very young age, her godfather, Mike Scherer ’67 and his wife Sue, and Roger and Irma and their children, established the Lisa Scherer Scholarship Fund at the College of Saint Benedict.

In 2003, they decided to expand their support of student scholarships by establishing the Roger and Irma Scherer Scholarship Fund at both Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict.

In their later years, as they became involved and better acquainted with other parts of Saint John’s, Roger and Irma provided support for Saint John’s Abbey, the School of Theology and Seminary, the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, and the Immokalee Scholarship Program.

When Roger passed away in 2022, the family stepped forward to continue and perpetuate this support, making

generous donations to the Lisa Scherer Scholarship Fund and the Roger and Irma Scherer Scholarship Fund, as well as to the Immokalee Scholarship Fund, the Forever Fund at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, and to the School of Theology and Seminary.

Over the course of their lifetimes and through estate giving, Roger and Irma have donated over $1 million to Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s.

“Our family is tremendously proud of our parents and their generous support of Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s over the years,” commented Rachael Scherer, a board member of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at Saint John’s.

“It is a beautiful expression of the Scherer family’s longstanding and deep connection to these Benedictine institutions, and a wonderful way to memorialize and honor our father and mother.”

Roger Scherer (center) jots down notes at an Alumni Board meeting in October 1974. In addition to his financial support of Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s, Roger served as an SJU Regent from 1988-97 and contributed on the Alumni Board and as an Alumni Class Agent and reunion year volunteer.

The Legacy of an Extraordinary Life

Eulogy by Fr. Eric Hollas, OSB

A husband, a brother, father, grandfather, business and civic leader, mentor – those currently exhaust the hats that Roger Scherer wore. By any measure, he was an extraordinary man.

Roger would be the first to admit his debt to so many people, to so many institutions, that buttressed his life and created him as a loving human being.

In this brief moment, I want to cite two schools in particular that mattered deeply to Roger, and the same was true in reverse. De La Salle High School and Saint John’s University were two places where Roger discovered himself.

By dint of hard work and academic dedication, Roger managed to graduate in only five years from De La Salle. A car accident and a broken neck figured into that computation.

But at De La Salle, I have to imagine that Roger learned the importance of confronting challenge with grit and self-determination.

Roger had similar kinds of experiences at Saint John’s University. On the first day of school, Roger’s father drove Roger up to Saint John’s, met with Fr. Walter, and asked if his son could go to school here. So in the course of one morning, Roger applied for college, was accepted for college, and went off to his first classes. Saint John’s was then and is now the model of efficiency.

He had an experience similar to that with the holy family. Because there was no room for him at the inn, Roger ended up renting a room in the basement of a bar in St. Joe, which

many students thought was as close to heaven as you could get. While many students may think that’s still a great deal, Roger showed his preference by switching to dorm life at the beginning of sophomore year.

I won’t try to summarize Roger’s résumé. It suffices to say that it was impressive, hard to beat. But what’s really important is not his résumé, but the legacy that he leaves behind. It’s a legacy of love, of service and of support for others.

I was touched in a conversation I had with Roger when he told me about his Zoom visits with his grandchildren during the pandemic. His goal was to

teach them about the importance of philanthropy, and of helping those who need help.

But Roger was more than just a great teacher. He followed the advice of Saint Francis in his teaching: Preach always. If necessary, use words.

Roger didn’t need words. But the call to serve was a message he wanted to instill in the people about whom he cared a great deal – family first, friends second, and anyone else who cared to listen.

A couple of weeks before Roger’s passing, he came to the groundbreaking of the new woodworking building at Saint John’s Abbey. He knew it would be his last visit, and this visit was important both to him and to all of us who knew that Roger was coming. We waited for him, and I was lucky to have a few words before he finally went back to the Cities.

I was glad that we could say goodbye, but I‘m glad too that Roger said goodbye to so many that day and to so many in the days that followed.

To Irma and to Roger’s family, all of us extend our sympathies as well as our gratitude. Thank you for sharing Roger with us.

Because of you, Roger has enriched the lives of so many people. The Lord has blessed us through Roger. And we celebrate his life and his legacy today.

May he rest in peace, at least for a few minutes. Because I’m fully confident that within a day or two, Roger will be busy reorganizing Heaven and making Jerusalem a fitting destination for us all.

To Irma and to Roger’s family, all of us extend our sympathies as well as our gratitude. Thank you for sharing Roger with us.

MAGNETIC NETWORK PULLS JOHNNIES

Saint John’s Alumni Draw on

Community Roots,

Form U Link to Empower Higher-Risk Youth

By Dana Drazenovich

Where you find one Johnnie leading a positive charge in his community, you’ll likely find another. And another.

Michael Kelly ’20, Emmanuel Fale ’17 and Ryan Wold ’13 recently experienced the Johnnie network’s magnetic ability to pull together Saint John’s University alumni before they even realized they were plugging into it.

They didn’t cross paths in Collegeville, but the core values they honed at Saint John’s — leadership, personal development, service to others — drew

all three to U Link, a fast-growing nonprofit organization devoted to uplifting and empowering higher-risk youth in the Twin Cities and Duluth.

“I think the overall thing we do have in common is that we all really appreciate community and we take pride in that, in establishing it and maintaining it, and I think it’s a really easy thing to do with other Johnnies,” said Kelly, University of Minnesota School of Medicine Class of 2025 and U Link co-president.

“That’s why we naturally come together, I think.”

Wold agreed. “I felt like we didn’t have to say we’re committed to the same things. That was just kind of embedded, understood, based on how we’re spending our time and the types of challenges we take on.”

U Link provides mentorship and educational workshops for youth who have experienced homelessness, foster care, human trafficking and the juvenile justice system and also supports community organizations that work with those youth.

“This is something I’ve been wanting to do ever since being in foster care,” said

TOGETHER

Kelly, who entered the foster system in Duluth when he was 15.

He launched U Link as MD Link when he started medical school in fall 2021.

“I reached out to a couple of friends I made in school, and by September we had an idea of what we wanted to do, and that was to use our backgrounds to help vulnerable youth in our community.”

He realized he would need help leading the organization to its full potential and found his counterpart in fellow medical student Fale.

“Not much came to fruition up until I met Emmanuel. I actually didn’t know Emmanuel too well – I mean, to an extent, maybe a month or two – before I asked him to be the co-president of the organization. I just trusted him,” Kelly said.

“He seemed like a wonderful leader. He had passion for uplifting people ...

“And it turns out he’s a Johnnie.”

Wold, meanwhile, was developing a mentor program management software platform called Tablmakr when the Minneapolis Star Tribune published a

story about U Link and Kelly in June 2022.

“Part of my vision for the platform was to help basically anyone who’s doing something awesome,” Wold said.

“I just feel like we have similar values, energy, commitment to doing things, starting things. When I read about him, I knew right away we would connect and it would be a good fit.”

Wold offered to let U Link pilot Tablmakr, Kelly explained.

“And we found out he’s a Johnnie too.”

(From left) Emmanuel Fale ’17, Michael Kelly ’20 and Ryan Wold ’13 joined together through their background at Saint John’s to create U Link, a non-profit organization devoted to uplifting and empowering higher-risk youth in the Twin Cities and Duluth.

“At this point, I knew it was no coincidence that three Johnnies had come together to form a fruitful connection. This was the power of the Johnnie network that so many of us hear about and cherish.”

The connection elevated both.

“I asked a lot of questions about how to develop my software, but I also helped them develop clarity about the programs that they run – more how to actually create the mentor programs, what the work flow looked like, how many people,” Wold said.

With the integration of Wold’s humane technology, U Link was poised to grow exponentially.

A Positive Force

U Link has expanded from the School of Medicine to nine post-undergraduate professional schools on the U of M’s Twin Cities campus — hence the name change from MD Link — and now has well over 100 volunteers, about 25 student coordinators, plus 10 directors working with diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. It has built partnerships with a variety of other local organizations that serve vulnerable youth, and its network continues to grow.

Another U Link cohort operates at the University of Minnesota-Duluth with the same mission, vision and values.

“There are a lot of foster youth, homeless youth … the most vulnerable people in our community who do not have stable lives,” Kelly said.

According to St. Paul-based Wilder Research’s 2018 Minnesota Homeless Study, “An estimated 13,300 Minnesota youth on their own experience homelessness over the course of a year.”

In 2022, 11,235 children and young adults in Minnesota who could not safely stay at home experienced foster or group-home care, the Minnesota Department of Human Services reported in May.

Kelly and Fale set up a process to ensure mentors are carefully vetted and get extensive training.

“We’ve done a lot of problem solving to make this a successful organization,”

U Link operates on a simple mission: “Meet the youth where they’re at and help them become the best version of themselves, whatever that means to them,” Kelly said.

That might mean going bowling or golfing.

It might mean helping them locate their birth certificate or apply for their driver’s license.

It might mean introducing them to higher education options.

“The main thing is just showing people the different resources that are available to them because the mind can’t imagine what it doesn’t know is possible or what it doesn’t know exists,” said Fale, an aspiring cardiologist who also founded and co-leads the Black Doctors Association.

“And so when you begin to show people the different possibilities or the different things that exist that are available to them, they can begin to think beyond their current situation.

“That was done for me, so that’s part of the reason why I wanted to do it for others as well.”

The mentors benefit, too.

“It’s exposing student (volunteers) to some really harsh realities of some people who didn’t really get dealt the best hand in life,” Kelly said.

Kelly said. “It’s a slower process than we like, but you know what? We’re making everything as functional and neat as we have to before we start working with community members.”

A Magnetic Pull

At first glance, the trio seems to have little in common.

Kelly grew up in Duluth, Wold in Brooklyn Park. Fale divided his youth between the St. Cloud area and Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Kelly and Fale are studying to become MDs. Wold is a doctor of philosophy and full-time Workforce Development Product Owner at the State of Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Wold double majored in political science and philosophy. Kelly was the first CSB and SJU student to graduate with an individualized major in neuroscience. Fale transferred to Gannon University in Pennsylvania in 2016 and earned his degree in biomedical engineering. But they have a mutual appreciation for the power of both sides of a mentor relationship.

“I feel as though I have to do this, not only because I like to do it or I love to do it, but because it was done for me at one point,” said Fale, who holds a medical

If you can get the right people together with the right skills and right passions, you can make a difference in the world.

student internship at Stanford University. “And if I didn’t have my mentors when I was growing up, if I didn’t have people guiding me along the way and helping me figure out what all is available to me, I definitely would not be at the point that I am right now.”

Kelly knows firsthand how valuable extra support can be for kids living with instability.

“I think a lot of things aligned for me, and I was very lucky to be able to attend college and now attend medical school,” he said.

“I received a lot of help, so I feel an obligation to help others.”

Wold earned his doctorate in Rhetoric and Scientific & Technical Communication at the U of M, wrote his dissertation about technologies used to facilitate mentorship programs and won a $75,000 grant from the John DePodesta Education Innovation Fellowship Program to create Tablmakr.

“I’m just a big believer that a 30-minute conversation with a mentor can change the trajectory of your life, and I wanted to facilitate that for more people.”

A Saint John’s Start

Kelly, Fale and Wold did Saint John’s differently, but Collegeville made clear contributions to their success – and U Link’s.

Grit.

Fale, for example, balanced a math and biology double major while serving as the St. Cloud NAACP chapter’s youth coordinator and playing defensive back for Johnnie football.

“It taught me a lot of work ethic and dedication and determination, especially with the football team … .”

Optional workouts and activities weren’t optional for him.

“If you wanted to play, or you wanted to contribute to the team somehow, you had to do those things, so you had to hold yourself accountable.”

Growth.

Kelly came to Collegeville on the Frey Family First Generation Scholarship.

“Getting the scholarship that allowed me to attend Saint John’s without the financial stress really helped me focus on the most important parts of education – learning and community,” he said.

He jumped on the opportunities Saint John’s offered him, traveling to a variety of countries for study and service, leading Adventure Trips for the Peer Resource Program and, most directly influential on U Link, contributing to the creation of the First-Generation Organization.

“Sharing resource, sharing stories, being part of a close-knit community that allowed us to speak about our troubles as first-gen college students – I think it helped uplift and empower students who didn’t have the resources maybe some students had.

“I learned how to create a sustainable, successful organization on a smaller

scale at Saint John’s to help vulnerable people in our community.”

Guidance.

Wold’s campus involvement included everything from Johnnie hockey to Campus Ministry, plus programs like the McNeely Center’s Eric Rego Big Idea competition.

“The concept of mentorship was important when I was at Saint John’s. A couple of monks were mentors, and some professors,” he said. “At critical points in my life, I found myself reaching out to Johnnie mentors about job opportunities, things like that.”

Kelly, Fale and Wold each have an impressive résumé filled with achievements, awards and volunteer efforts, and their combined experiences are reflected in U Link’s impact and success.

“If you can get the right people together with the right skills and right passions, you can make a difference in the world, even if it’s on a small scale,” Kelly said.

If you’re a Johnnie, you don’t have to look very far.

Dana Drazenovich is a former journalist and public relations practitioner who teaches Communication at CSB and SJU.

Johnnies Celebrate Impact of Magical 2003 Season

By Dave DeLand

Remember “The Perfect Season” and its blockbuster Hollywood script that you couldn’t envision if you tried?

Remember the unique septuagenarian who became the winningest coach in college football history, capping that magical undefeated season by sealing his fourth national championship 40 years after winning his first one?

Remember the coast-to-coast media attention, the record crowds, the bobblehead dolls, the maroon overcoat and the trip to the White House?

Remember the pivotal plays and late rallies in come-from-behind victories against premier rivals that ignited their fans and their campus and their followers across the country?

Remember the magical playoff run, capped by three spectacular championship-game touchdowns that turned the tide against a prohibitive favorite and enabled David to topple Goliath?

Remember a season filled with technicolor moments that against all odds went exactly right?

Remember it all? Anyone associated with Saint John’s University – the football players and coaches, the alumni and fans, the media and spectators and admirers who couldn’t believe what they were seeing in 2003 – will never forget.

“It’s obviously a great memory, something that I take pride in being part of. As you get farther away

chronologically and mentally from the beautiful bubble Saint John’s is and the beautiful experience that football year was, this brings me back,” said Blake Elliott ’03, whose spectacular playing contributions and emotional personal narrative were dramatic elements of “The Perfect Season.”

Gary Fasching ’81, former SJU player, defensive line coach of the 2003

“The stars were aligned that year for us. Everything fell into place. You could try to recreate that, and you’d never be able to do it” said

team and a six-time MIAC Coach of the Year selection since succeeding legendary head coach John Gagliardi in 2013.

“With the 409 game, the way it was done, and winning the national championship against Mt. Union, I don’t think you could argue that it wasn’t the greatest championship story and the hardest to do,” added Jim Gagliardi ’89, offensive coordinator for his father’s coaching staff in 2003 and now SJU’s director of sports marketing. “It just turned it into a complete Cinderella story.”

It was a magical year that changed Saint John’s, changed its history, changed lives and changed legacies. And on the 20th anniversary of that epic 2003 season, it all still seems fresh – and will seem even fresher Oct. 14 when the team is inducted into the Saint John’s J-Club Athletic Hall of Honor.

“I cannot believe it’s been 20 years. It

feels like we were just doing it,” said Ryan Keating ’03, starting quarterback of the 2003 team. “It’s a big part of a lot of our stories going forward into our personal and professional lives.”

“It’s something that sticks with you,” added Charlie Carr ’03, punter for the 2003 team and a member of the Saint John’s radio broadcast crew for most of the ensuing 20 years. “It was pretty special for all of us who were involved in it.”

SETTING THE STAGE

“The Perfect Season” didn’t exactly come out of nowhere.

Saint John’s won national championships in 1963, 1965 and 1976, and reached the semifinals or title game of the NCAA Division III playoffs eight times in a 15-year span between 19892003.

But this season was special literally before it even began. The Johnnies were ranked No. 1 in the preseason national

poll, and their talented roster included key players like Elliott, Keating and linebacker Cam McCambridge ’03 who had one more year of eligibility because of previous injuries and medical redshirts.

“People would say, ‘Why are you going back?’ Well, YEAH I’m going back. I’ve got the rest of my life to go work,” said Keating, who broke his right arm in the third game of the Johnnies’ 2002 season.

“If you get the opportunity to play another year of football with your friends, I think most people would say yes,” McCambridge said. “Saint John’s had an embarrassment of riches. We almost had an overload of talent.”

Nine Division III All-Americans played on the 2003 team, which narrowly lost in the national semifinals at Trinity (Texas) the previous year.

“We realized we could have been there in 2002, and we didn’t do it. We had sort of the last hurrah with that group,”

RYAN KEATING ’03

Keating transferred to SJU from the University of Minnesota in 2000 and played both basketball and football. He took over the starting job at quarterback in 2001, then was injured early in the 2002 season. He returned in 2003, throwing for 3,171 yards and 30 touchdowns (SJU career totals: 6,734 yards, 68 touchdowns). He is director of sales at Advanced Imaging Solutions in Minnetonka, where he lives with his wife and their three children (13, 11 and 9).

“It was a veteran group. We did a really good job keeping our composure no matter what situation we found ourselves in.”

BLAKE ELLIOTT ’03

A wide receiver, Elliott is widely considered as the greatest player in SJU history. A four-year starter, he was a three-time All-America pick and was twice named MIAC Player of the Year. He was the 2003 winner of the Gagliardi Trophy. Elliott, who went on to play with the Minnesota Vikings, holds numerous school records including career receiving yards (4,826) and touchdown receptions (63). He has gone on to build a professional career operating adult foster care facilities. He and his wife reside in Minneapolis with their four children, ages 13 (twins), 12 and 4.

“I just think back on how special it was to play football at Saint John’s with a group of people you really cared about. Now, 20 years later, so many of those people are still a big part of my life.”

Fasching said. “We had the best player in the country (Elliott). We had a shutdown defense. And you’ve got to have a little bit of luck and keep everybody healthy.”

The Johnnies also had emotional incentive: Elliott’s younger brother Adam was seriously injured in an auto accident in May 2003.

“It changed his life forever, unfortunately. It changed my life and my family’s life forever,” said Elliott, who has dedicated his professional

career to operating adult foster care facilities. “But it absolutely has motivated me and inspired me from a vocational standpoint to do something that I really love and care about every day of my life and will for the rest of my years.”

Most national attention, however, was focused on John Gagliardi’s impending milestone. Gagliardi began his 55th season as a college football head coach with 400 career victories. With nine more, he could surpass Grambling State

University Hall of Fame coach Eddie Robinson and become the winningest coach in college football history, at any level of competition.

But Gagliardi didn’t like thinking nine games ahead – or even one.

“What he didn’t like was the recordbreaking stuff overshadowing the accomplishments of that team. It never was him to look ahead, but people forced that on him,” Jim Gagliardi said. Said Carr: “I don’t ever remember him talking about that win record. I don’t ever remember him saying much about it afterward. It was all about the guys on the team and getting the best out of everybody.”

Added McCambridge: “I think he would have been annoyed if I went to him and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to win this for you.’ He’d have been, ‘No –we’re winning it for the team.’ That’s just the way he was.”

In early August, just before the Johnnies began practice sessions, Gagliardi had

LEE CLINTSMAN ’05

A wide receiver, Clintsman had 49 catches for 733 yards and eight touchdowns lining up opposite Blake Elliott in 2003. The 2004 AllMIAC selection still ranks in the top 10 in program history in career receiving yards (2,241), receptions (140) and touchdown catches (26). He is now a pediatric anesthetist at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. He and his wife reside in the Dallas area with their two sons, ages 10 and 8.

“I just remember the energy that team had. It was such a great atmosphere. There was a feeling that we could be giant-killers if we wanted to.”

JED RIEGELMAN ’04

A wide receiver, Riegelman was a key contributor in 2001-03. He had 16 catches for 253 yards and two touchdowns in 2003. He was also a three-time All-MIAC baseball selection. After 20 years in banking, he recently took a new job in the finance department at Riedell Skates in Red Wing. He and his wife reside in Eagan with their 7-year-old twins.

“When you’re part of a team that wins a national championship, that never goes away. Even now, people will hear I played football at Saint John’s and ask me if I was part of that team.”

Blake Elliott (2) breaks loose from Mt. Union defenders on his way to a pivotal 51-yard touchdown run in Saint John’s 24-6 victory over the heavily favored Raiders in the Stagg Bowl Dec. 20, 2003.

a chat with a cheeky St. Cloud Times columnist (full disclosure: it was me).

At the start of the conversation, it was suggested that all Gagliardi had to do was run the table:

• When he won his eighth straight game of the season – at arch-rival St. Thomas on Nov. 1, Gagliardi’s 77th birthday – he would tie Robinson’s record with his 408th career win.

• Gagliardi then would earn his record 409th career victory the following Saturday, Nov. 8, by beating formidable Bethel – the No. 2 pick in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference preseason poll – in front of a record crowd and a national audience at Clemens Stadium.

“Ah, geez,” Gagliardi said, rolling his eyes. “That’s all? Win nine straight games? How can you write that?” But that’s exactly what happened – and then some.

AN AUSPICIOUS START

It became immediately evident that the 2003 Johnnies were a special team. “That’s exactly what it was. That sounds corny, but it was magical,” Keating said. “A lot of personalities let it be loose and fun. It was an absolute blast.”

The Johnnies opened the season with

a 74-7 romp over Hamline, then beat traditional powerhouse Wisconsin-Eau Claire 24-10 and were off to the races.

“We were pretty stacked at every position. I think our kids thought we had a chance to do something really special, and we did,” Fasching said.

Added Jim Gagliardi: “We couldn’t have had a better group. That was part of the story – you had the leadership of guys like Blake and Ryan.

“That group had an incredible demeanor. They could kid around with my dad – this group was never all-business. They were always laughing and hollering, but when it came down to getting ready, they were ready.”

With its defense allowing just 10.6 points per game, and wide receiver Elliott and quarterback Keating leading a versatile, explosive offense, Saint John’s won its first seven games by an average of 36 points, all of them by at least two touchdowns. John Gagliardi’s focus was week-to-week, and never on

ISAAC FLENNER ’04

A tight end, Flenner played a key role in 2002-04, including in 2003 when he made 22 catches and started most of the season at tight end. He has worked for 18 years at Stearns Bank in St. Cloud, where he is director of equipment finance and small business lending. He and his wife reside in Sartell with their three children, ages 9, 7 and 3.

“There was a tremendous amount of pride and determination to carry forward the unrivaled tradition of SJU football through past football alumni, John, the coaching staff and the entire SJU community.”

JAKE THEIS ’05

A running back, Theis led SJU in rushing with 862 yards and eight touchdowns in 2003. That included a 14-yard touchdown run as time expired in the first half to give the Johnnies a 7-6 lead over Mount Union in the Stagg Bowl.

He didn’t return for his senior season because of lingering knee issues. He is a radiologist at Minneapolis Veterans Administration Hospital. Theis and his wife live in Bloomington with their three children (14, 12 and 10).

“What I remember most is just the camaraderie we had on that team. It was such a close-knit group of guys.”

John Gagliardi earned his recordbreaking 409th career victory Nov. 8, 2003 at Clemens Stadium. St. Cloud Times reporters Frank Rajkowski (left) and Dave DeLand look on.

the approaching 409 milestone.

“I don’t ever remember him saying a word about it,” Fasching said. “The players knew what was at stake. I don’t think John ever thought about that – or if he did he certainly didn’t let it on to anybody.”

And then came birthday week.

THE 408 NAIL-BITER

John Gagliardi hated mentions of his birthday – especially this one, and not because he was turning 77.

“He didn’t want anything to do with his birthday,” Jim Gagliardi said. “My gift to him was to NOT tell him ‘happy birthday’ and keep other people away from him about it.”

Still, local, state and national media attention focused on Nov. 1, when with a victory at St. Thomas John Gagliardi would tie Robinson’s record of 408. Even though the Tommies were the Johnnies’ biggest rival, this was a trap

was 2-6 and struggling through a poor season, but the Tommies would have enjoyed nothing more than to spoil the party for the Johnnies, who might have been looking ahead to 409, at home, the following week.

“They’re a good enough team to beat us if we don’t play well,” Jim Gagliardi

Said Fasching: “I remember the intensity of the game – not only because it was St. Thomas, but we knew that it was to tie the record. It was so tense on the sideline.

“But I remember this – and this was where John was just amazing – in the locker room at halftime he’s calm.

JOSH NELSON ’04

A running back, Nelson rushed for 791 yards and eight touchdowns in 2003 while catching 41 passes for 492 yards and seven touchdowns. His 5-yard touchdown catch with 2:03 remaining against Bethel was the game-winner in head coach John Gagliardi’s record-breaking 409th career victory. He also had four touchdowns against RPI in the national semifinals. He is an account executive with Salesforce and lives in Foreston with his wife and their three children (19, 17, 10).

“When you think about it 20 years later, the word magical comes to mind. It’s just incredible the way all the stars aligned.”

JASON GOOD ’06

Good transferred to SJU prior to the 2003 season and earned a starting job at running back, seeing action in 11 games. In 2004 he moved to the defensive line, earning All-MIAC honors twice and All-American distinction once. These days, he is president of Excelsior Investors, a company that handles investment consulting and financial advisory. He and his wife reside in Deephaven and have two daughters in fourth and fifth grade.

“So many things have to go right to make a season like that happen. It was just an incredible experience to be part of.”

“The message going out is ‘hey, we’ve just got to make plays here.’ Instead of giving some rah-rah speech, he was very collected.”

Saint John’s led only 7-6 at halftime and trailed 12-7 early in the fourth quarter when the Tommies, faced with punting from deep in their own end zone, opted to avoid kicking the ball to the dangerous Elliott. They took a safety instead, cutting their lead to 129, and punted.

That turned out to be a mistake. Saint John’s moved the ball into field goal range for kicker Brandon Keller ’05, whose 11 field goals that season set a school record. His 20-yard kick tied the game at 12-12 with 3:16 left.

Saint John’s cornerback Mike Zauhar ’06 then recovered the Tommies’ fumble on the ensuing play, and the Johnnies drove down the sloppy field to give Keller another opportunity. He drilled a 35-yard field goal with 8 seconds left.

“When you can earn the trust of John Gagliardi as a placekicker,” Carr said, “that’s pretty special.”

Saint John’s had a 15-12 win. Gagliardi

had tied Robinson’s record with his 408th career victory, on his birthday.

The following week would be even tougher.

MAROON-CLAD MILESTONE

An NCAA Division III record crowd of 13,107 gathered at Clemens

LUKE SCHUMACHER ’07

Schumacher transferred to SJU prior to the 2003 season and earned a starting spot at offensive tackle. He ended up starting 2003-05, moving to offensive guard as a junior.

He is a certified registered nurse anesthetist at Grand Itasca Clinic and Hospital in Grand Rapids where he has worked 5½ years. Prior to that, he worked in the Duluth area. He and his wife have two boys, ages 7 and 4.

“That was a really special group to be part of. We all had that goal and desire to be the best and I think that really brought us together.”

BRIAN MATHIASEN ’05

An offensive guard, Mathiasen started for three years (2003-05) and earned All-MIAC honors as a senior. He also played baseball for SJU. He is the son of former SJU All-American Lyle Mathiasen, and older brother Jason played for the Johnnies. Brian is senior vice president of business banking at American Heritage Bank in St. Cloud, where he lives with his wife, 12-year-old twin daughters and a 6-year-old son.

“When I think back on that season, it’s not so much about the games we won. It’s more about the off-the-field stuff. Those are the things that stand out the most to me.”

John Gagliardi (right) was joined during the celebration at Clemens Stadium after his 409th career victory Nov. 8, 2003 with family members: his wife Peggy (center), his son/assistant coach Jim Gagliardi ’89 (left) and grandson Vinny ’24 (far left).

Stadium Nov. 8 to see the Johnnies face undefeated Bethel for the MIAC championship, and to see Gagliardi face national attention in his quest for the record.

Temperature at game time was 18 degrees. Gagliardi, notoriously averse to the cold, wore his preferred downstuffed maroon overcoat that looked like it had been rejected at Goodwill. “He looked like he came out of the barn. His boots were open. He had an old jacket on that didn’t match anything,” said Tom Stock, then Saint John’s athletic marketing director, later athletic director (2006-16) and now senior development officer.

“But that stuff wasn’t important to John,” Stock said. “It was mentoring young men and winning football games. It was his passion. The brand didn’t matter to him – he WAS the brand.”

“It’s still in his office,” Fasching said of the overcoat, which Gagliardi’s wife

Peggy unsuccessfully tried to ship to the College Football Hall of Fame. “It was down, and he always talked about how warm that jacket was.”

So was the game. But in face of all that, Gagliardi was stoically calm.

Saint John’s trailed three times in the back-and-forth game. The Johnnies led 19-14 at the half thanks to three

Keating touchdown passes, two of them to Elliott. They trailed 20-19 going into the fourth quarter, then took a 22-20 lead on a Keller field goal with 12:25 left.

Bethel regained a 26-22 lead with 4:57 left on a short touchdown run by quarterback Scott Kirchoff, who broke his collarbone on the play and had to be carted off the field.

JUSTIN CASS ’04

An offensive guard, Cass earned All-MIAC and All-American honors as a senior in 2003. He is now vice president of global partnerships for Submer, a manufacturer of liquid immersion cooling systems. He and his wife live in Eden Prairie with their two boys, ages 5 and 2.

“I feel lucky that the timing worked out and we were able to put an exclamation point on thousands of other people’s work over decades of effort.”

JIM DILEY ’05

Diley took over the starting job at center as a junior in 2003, then went on to earn All-MIAC honors as a senior. He attended law school and practiced law for several years. In 2009, he and three others – including 2003 SJU teammate Ryan Petz ’05 and fellow Johnnie grad Brian Hoffman ’05 – founded Fulton Beer, which has grown into one of Minnesota’s most successful microbreweries. Diley is chief operating officer. He and his wife live in Edina and have two children (6 and 4).

“My wife Elizabeth (’05 CSB) bought me my first beer kit when we were dating. We made what may have been the worst-tasting first batch ever. But I discovered a passion of mine in brewing beer and building a business.”

Cam McCambridge (left) and Blake Elliott both came back for a final season to play for John Gagliardi in 2003 and were rewarded with the Johnnies’ memorable national championship.

But the ensuing kickoff went to Elliott, who returned it 50 yards to the Bethel 40. Eight plays later, from the Bethel 5-yard line, Keating threw a swing pass into the left flat to running back Josh Nelson ’04, who dove into the end zone with 2:03 left for a 29-26 lead.

Bethel’s backup quarterback was sacked on the ensuing play by Johnnies defensive end Jeremy Hood ’04 and fumbled. Defensive tackle Ryan Weinandt ’04 recovered the ball at the Bethel 21, and the Johnnies ran out the clock.

“You grow a lot from being tested,” Elliott said. “The battle scars we had, both that year and the years prior, really allowed us to be comfortable in close games.”

Saint John’s had the MIAC title.

Gagliardi had the record.

The Johnnies had achieved another milestone. And there were more to come.

A WHITE HOUSE INVITATION

Saint John’s closed the regular season Nov. 15 with a 50-0 win over Crown College, which meant nothing in the conference standings but quite a lot elsewhere.

The victory clinched a regional No. 1 seed in the Division III playoffs and gave the Johnnies a bye in the first round. That meant they didn’t play until Nov. 29, which enabled Gagliardi to accept an invitation he otherwise probably wouldn’t have.

“He would not have done it if we didn’t have the off-week. But right when we beat Crown, we knew we’re the No. 1 seed,” said Jim Gagliardi, who joined his father on the trip to the White House in Washington, D.C., to meet President George W. Bush on Nov. 17.

It was a one-day, in-and-out affair, which is a lot for a 77-year-old.

Gagliardi loved it.

“We saw nothing that any visitor would ever see in Washington, but we saw everything that nobody sees,” said Jim

MATT NELSON ’06

An offensive tackle, Nelson broke into the starting lineup in 2003. He was All-MIAC three times (2003-05) and All-American following his senior season in 2005. He attended law school at the University of St. Thomas where he graduated in the top 5 percent of his class. Since 2012, he has practiced personal injury law at Nelson Personal Injury Attorneys in St. Cloud. He and his wife live in Maple Grove and have three children, ages 16, 6 and 3.

“I hope Saint John’s fans can forgive me for going to St. Thomas (for law school).”

JEREMY HOOD ’04

A defensive end, Hood had 71 tackles, 20 tackles-for-loss and 14 sacks in 2003. He was a three-time All-American whose 41 career sacks remain an SJU record. He teaches world history and social studies at Rogers High School, where he is also an assistant football coach and has coached basketball, baseball and track. He and his wife are parents of three children, ages 13, 11 and 8.

“I got so much out of playing for John (Gagliardi). I use him as an example all the time when I’m talking to our kids, and I’ve tried to emulate his leadership style.”

John Gagliardi (left) was invited to meet President George W. Bush in a special visit to the White House in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 17, 2003.

Gagliardi, who joined his dad as they walked through the front door of the White House and met President Bush.

“He enjoyed it so much,” said Jim, whose dad sat in Abraham Lincoln’s chair. “My dad was not a real political guy, but he loved history.

“It was just incredible. Those were times he wished he could have shared it with more people. It was magnificent.”

Then it was back to Collegeville, and back to business.

Saint John’s had reached the national playoff semifinals or final in each of the previous three seasons. The Johnnies lost the 2000 Stagg Bowl to prohibitive favorite Mt. Union, falling 10-7 when the Raiders kicked the winning field goal on the final play of the game.

The Johnnies lost 35-14 to Mt. Union in the 2001 semifinals. They also lost in the 2002 semifinals, falling 41-34 at Trinity in a game in which they fell behind by 21 points in the first half, rallied to tie the score and then lost

on a late touchdown.

But 2003 was different. Saint John’s pulled away to beat St. Norbert 38-13 Nov. 29 … came from behind in the fourth quarter to beat Linfield 31-25 Dec. 6 … and broke a halftime tie to thump Rensselaer 38-10 Dec. 13.

That left one huge obstacle: powerhouse Mt. Union Dec. 20 at the Stagg Bowl in Salem, Virginia.

DAVID VS. GOLIATH

Dynastic Mt. Union had won three consecutive national championships (the only one that was close was against Saint John’s in 2000) and six of the previous seven. The Raiders averaged 50 points a game and had won 55 in a row, including 66-0 in the semifinals against a Bridgewater team touted for having the best defense in Division III football.

“I knew how good they were. I knew they were huge, the total machine,” McCambridge said. “But we’re a really

good defense.”

Saint John’s defenders gathered in a hotel room the night before the game to watch film of Mt. Union’s offense –quietly at first, and then not.

Said Fasching: “I remember sitting there with those guys and Cam, after we were done watching, said, ‘They’re

MATT DARLING ’04

A defensive lineman, Darling had 38 tackles during the 2003 season. After beginning his career as a linebacker at St. Cloud State, he became a multi-year starter at SJU. Darling teaches fifth grade at Sartell’s Riverview Intermediate School. He was an assistant football coach at Sartell for 11 seasons and six at Saint John’s and now is back at Sartell as an assistant. He and his wife live in Sartell with their four girls (15, 12, 9, 3).

“I’m just so grateful to have been part of that team. It’s something no one can ever take away from us.”

Not everyone agreed. As the Johnnies walked onto the Salem Stadium field before the game, ESPN’s pregame predictions were being broadcast over the speakers.

“We’re hearing all these picks: 55-7. 63-0. 35-7 was the closest one,” Jim Gagliardi said.

“I didn’t hear it,” Keating said, “but if you’re looking at it from the outside

RYAN WEINANDT ’04

A defensive lineman, Weinandt was a force in the middle on the 2003 SJU defensive line. He recorded 66 tackles, including 10 for a loss and 4.5 sacks while winning the Mike Stam Award as the MIAC’s top lineman and earning All-American honors. He is entering his 20th season as head football coach at Dassel-Cokato High School and is principal at Dassel Elementary School. His team won a Class 3A state title in 2021. He and his wife are the parents of four children, ages 14, 12, 10 and 8.

“I love it here. (Dassel) is such a great community.”

not going to move the ball on us. We’re going to beat ’em.’

why WOULDN’T you think that? They had won all those games in a row, and they had destroyed everyone. No one scores on them. They outweigh us by 50 pounds per lineman. They have AllAmericans everywhere, and they’re Mt. Union.”

Meanwhile, perhaps the best player in the country – the Johnnies’ Elliott –was hampered by a pulled hamstring. But Saint John’s defense stopped Mt. Union on four of five first-half

possessions, and the Johnnies trailed only 6-0 when they got the ball at their own 27-yard line with 4:02 left in the half.

Saint John’s drove to the Mt. Union 14, with time for one more play. Instead of the expected pass to Elliott lined up on the right side, Keating lateraled the ball to running back Jake Theis ’05 on the left side.

Theis followed a block, bowled over a

Mt. Union defensive back at the 2 and plunged into the end zone as the half expired with the only second-quarter touchdown the Raiders allowed all season. Keller’s extra point gave Saint John’s a stunning 7-6 halftime lead.

“Jake just runs him over and scores,” Jim Gagliardi said. “That certainly was a momentum-changing play.”

More followed. Saint John’s defense was even better in the second half, stopping

DAMIEN DUMONCEAUX ’05

A defensive lineman, Dumonceaux had 78 tackles in 2003, including 11 for a loss and eight sacks. He earned All-MIAC honors twice and was named All-American in 2005, when he was named D3football. com’s defensive player of the year. He is in his 18th season as an assistant coach at SJU, serving as defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator. He and his wife are the parents of one boy.

“I don’t think I realized exactly how special what we accomplished that season was until I became a coach myself. It’s a huge accomplishment and one I’m really proud of.”

JAMIE STEFFENSMEIER ’06

An outside linebacker, Steffensmeier transferred to SJU from North Dakota State prior to the 2003 season – joining his brother Tony, a defensive back, on the Johnnies’ roster. He led the team in tackles with 121, including 11.5 for a loss, and earned All-MIAC honors for the first of three times. He was commissioned as a Naval officer after graduation and is a commander stationed in Coronado, California. He and his wife are parents of two boys (8 and 6).

“I still experience a lot of the team atmosphere that was instilled in me during my time at Saint John’s.”

Saint John’s defensive lineman Ryan Weinandt (77) carries teammate Blake Elliott off the field at the Stagg Bowl in Salem, Virginia Dec. 20, 2003.

all six Mt. Union drives – three with interceptions. The Johnnies held the Raiders to 286 total yards, only 91 rushing.

Saint John’s added a Keller field goal on a third-quarter drive that should have been a touchdown. Elliott made a spectacular catch in the back of the end zone but was incorrectly ruled out of bounds, even though replays showed he got both feet down inbounds.

Still, the Johnnies led 10-6 going into the fourth quarter – the first time Mt. Union had trailed in the fourth quarter of a Stagg Bowl. What followed were two more lightning bolts:

• Elliott, often lining up in the backfield because of his injury, took a handoff and immediately was hit behind the line of scrimmage. He spun off to the right, found an opening and outraced the defense –sore hamstring and all – for a 51-yard touchdown run and a 17-6 lead with 13:11 left to play.

“It’s not like Mt. Union is slow. And Blake’s got half a leg, and he’s pulling away from them,” Keating said. “It’s insane. You just can’t draw it up.”

Said McCambridge: “That was typical Blake. You think ‘He’s not going to do that’ – and then he did it.”

• Desperate to close the gap, Mt. Union on its following possession drove to the Saint John’s 1-yard line. But McCambridge and Jeremy Goltz ’04 stuffed the Raiders’ run on first down, and Cole Deibele ’04 and Paul Gans ’05 stuffed another run on second down.

On third down, Raiders quarterback Jesse Burghardt opted for a pass toward the right corner of the end zone. Zauhar (above) jumped the route, intercepted the pass at the goal line and raced 100 yards down the sideline for the longest touchdown in Stagg Bowl history and a 24-6 lead with 9:02 left.

Interceptions by Nick Thielman ’04

CAM MCCAMBRIDGE ’03

A linebacker, McCambridge ranked second on the team with 115 tackles in 2003, 10 for a loss. The three-time All-American pick’s 372 career tackles remain the most in school history. He’s currently a sales associate at Edina Realty, a company he’s worked at the past 19 years. He and his wife reside in St. Louis Park and have three children, ages 10, 8 and 6.

“My Dad worked in real estate when I was growing up. I thought I might as well get my real estate license. I felt so natural doing it that it became my life’s work.”

PAUL GANS ’05

A linebacker, Gans ranked third on the team with tackles in 2003 with 102 and tied for the team lead with six interceptions. That included four in a 63-9 win over Augsburg, tying a school record. He went on to earn All-MIAC honors in 2004. He works alongside fellow Johnnies to support individuals with disabilities. He and his wife live in Edina with two sons (9 and 7).

“I'd love to say it was fate, but I think was more than that. It was refusing to give up. It was believing in each other. And of course, it was John.”

and Deibele ended Mt. Union’s last two possessions. Keating kneeled on the Johnnies’ final play, and “The Perfect Season” was complete.

“As the clock starts ticking down, the sense of euphoria that you feel after all the hard work you’ve put in – it’s the greatest feeling in the world,” Fasching said. “You have a sense of ‘Holy cow, what did we just do?’ ”

A MEMORY FOR THE AGES

John Gagliardi’s reaction? Remarkably stoic.

“I never saw him change, from when I was a player until his last game as coach. He approached it all the same way, which to me is just amazing,” Fasching said.

Said Stock: “Who wins national championships 40 years apart? That’s when it really hits home how special it was. The game had changed. John kept up with the changes. He was innovative

and made the most out of the talent he had.”

It was a season that made a lasting impact at Saint John’s, on and off the field.

“You look at what the football game day has become out there – a lot of that started with that ’03 season,” said Carr, referring to tailgating, overflow crowds, the expanded student section, games at Target Field and Allianz Field and ESPN’s Collegeville presence.

Said Fasching: “Winning a national championship unites a college campus – not just students, but faculty, administration, everybody. They all take great pride in that. It creates a buzz that you normally wouldn’t have.”

Added Elliott: “Sports had a really significant role in the college experience. Having success in that sport just develops this confidence that I think you can take into your studies and you can take into the real world.”

October’s J-Club Hall of Honor

induction may be the first gathering in two decades for a lot of team members. But for all of them, “The Perfect Season” is ALWAYS going to feel fresh.

“It’s a family thing that we’re proud of. It was a dream scenario. And it came true,” Keating said.

Said Fasching: “I’m hoping that all those guys will come back and make it NOT the last time. That’s a pretty special group. It’s a memory that you’ll never forget.”

Added Elliott: “It’s exciting for me because it just brings me back from a mental and memory standpoint to some of the best times of my life.

“The Saint John’s community has given so much, and to be able to pay that back – with ‘The Perfect Season’ and John breaking the record and the national championship – it’s maybe the most special aspect of it.

“We’re able to share a really cool experience. We just didn’t want it to end.”

MIKE ZAUHAR ’06

A cornerback, Zauhar had 46 tackles and four interceptions in 2003. That included a 100-yard return for a touchdown against Mount Union in the national championship game, tied for the longest interception return in program history. He is a chiropractor in his hometown and volunteers as a coach for youth sports teams for his two children (9 and 7), as well as serving as a board member of the Brainerd Sports Boosters Club. He and his family reside in Baxter.

“We had such a staunch defense that year. It was because of the pressure our defense was getting up front.”

NICK THIELMAN ’04

A cornerback, Thielman had seven tackles and an interception in the win over Mt. Union in the national championship game despite having been hospitalized with the flu the night before. He works as an advisor to startups and digital health companies. He resides in South Minneapolis and is a parent of two children, ages 12 and 9.

“I’m really grateful to (team doctor) Steven Mulawka, (athletic director) Fr. Tim Backous and the coaches for helping me get on the field for the game. I recovered and found a way to make it happen.”

Gagliardi, SJU Lessons Propelled 2003 Standouts Into Coaching

By Frank Rajkowski

Ask Ryan Weinandt ’04 what he remembers most about John Gagliardi and he’ll tell you it’s the passion and joy the legendary former Saint John’s University football coach brought to his job – qualities he says were still evident in the early 2000s, when Gagliardi had already been practicing his craft for well over five decades.

“Some people coach because they like being the coach,” said Weinandt, the starting nose tackle on the 2003 team that helped Gagliardi pass Eddie Robinson as the winningest coach in college football history and delivered his fourth national championship.

“John coached because he loved coaching. There’s a difference there. He wasn’t just a figurehead, even after how long he’d been coaching and all

the success he’d had. He was still very hands-on. He really loved what he was doing and that showed through.”

That passion proved infectious for Weinandt, who got into the field himself after graduation and is in his 20th season as the head coach at Dassel-Cokato (Minnesota) High School, where he led his team to a Class 3A state title in 2021 and a runner-up finish in 2019.

Weinandt wasn’t alone among his teammates on the 2003 roster. In fact, the entire starting defensive line on that team went on to coaching careers.

All-American defensive end Jeremy Hood ’04 – who remains the program’s all-time leader in sacks with 41 – is an assistant coach at Rogers (Minnesota) High School, where he also teaches

world history and social studies.

Defensive tackle Matt Darling ’04 was an assistant coach at Sartell (Minnesota) High School for 11 seasons, then spent five seasons as an assistant at Saint John’s before returning to Sartell – the district in which he has taught for 18 years – as a defensive assistant in 2021.

Fellow defensive tackle Damien Dumonceaux ’05 is in his 18th season at SJU, where he coaches the defensive line and serves as recruiting coordinator – the same role current head coach Gary Fasching ’81 held for 17 seasons before he succeeded Gagliardi after the icon’s retirement following the 2012 season.

“John showed people a different way of doing this, and that rubbed off on a lot of those who played for him over the

JEREMY GOLTZ ’04

A safety, Goltz had 59 tackles and tied for the team lead with six interceptions. He was an All-MIAC pick during his time at SJU, and his 16 career interceptions tie for first in school history. Goltz works as an SBA commercial banking officer at Magnifi Financial in Paynesville. He and his wife are the parents of three children, a 12-year-old boy and twin 9-year-old girls.

“What I took away most from the 2003 season was how nice it was to be playing with a group of unselfish guys. Everyone was working together as a team and doing their jobs.”

COLE DEIBELE ’04

A safety, Deibele had 61 tackles and five interceptions in 2003, earning All-MIAC honors. Since 2005, he has been at Monticello High School, where he teaches ninth grade civics and serves as head baseball coach and defensive coordinator for the football team. He and his wife have three boys, ages 14, 12 and 8.

“My dad was the head football coach and an assistant baseball coach in Sleepy Eye when I was growing up, and coaching was always something I wanted to be part of myself. I’ve been lucky enough to get the chance to do that.”

years – including guys like Gary and (longtime defensive coordinator) Jerry Haugen ’76,” said Dumonceaux, who went on to be named an All-American in 2005 – the same season he won the Mike Stam Award as the MIAC’s top lineman and was named Football Gazette’s defensive lineman of the year and D3football.com’s defensive player of the year. “Even today, Saint John’s football is different from a lot of programs and that’s because of the legacy John built here over all those years.”

Beyond the defensive line, Cole Deibele ’04 – a starting strong safety on the

2003 team – has been at Monticello (Minnesota) High School since 2005. He is the school’s head baseball coach, the defensive coordinator for the football team and teaches ninth-grade civics.

“The biggest thing I took away from playing for John, and being around Jerry and Gary and the other coaches, is that it doesn’t always have to be pretty,” Deibele said. “You just have to get the job done.”

Darling said being part of the 2003 team fueled his love for football and his desire to stay involved with the game after graduation.

“I still have the ‘Perfect Season’ article hanging in my classroom,” he said. “To accomplish what we did that season is really the pinnacle of what you work for as a Division III athlete.”

Hood said it was apparent even then that coaching might lie in the future for he and several of his teammates.

“We were all pretty smart defensive players and we loved the game,” Hood said. “I can remember Ryan spending hours and hours in Gary’s office watching film before practice. We all wanted to do what we could to get better.”

Weinandt said those lessons remain at the core of his own coaching philosophy.

“There’s not a day that goes by when I’m on a football field that I’m not drawing from something I learned when I was at Saint John’s,” he said. “I learned so many things being around John, Jerry and Gary, and I try to pass them along to my own players.”

BRANDON KELLER ’05

Keller handled kicking duties for the Johnnies from 2001-04. His 11 field goals in 2003 tied for the most by an SJU kicker in program history. That included a game-winning 35-yarder with 8 seconds left in a 15-12 win at St. Thomas. He works for Border States as a market manager. He and his wife live in Bismarck, North Dakota, with their children ages 11, 10, 8 and 6.

“Certain stories are just meant to be written. With every passing game that year, we all had a feeling this was something that was meant to end in a special way.”

CHARLIE CARR ’03

Carr handled punting duties for the Johnnies from 2000-03. In 2003 season he averaged 35.2 yards per kick. He teaches seventh grade social studies in Wayzata and has long been the sideline reporter on SJU radio broadcasts. He and his wife live in Maple Grove with their four children, ages 16, 13, 11 and 8.

“I grew up hearing about the 1976 team, and for a kid growing up in Central Minnesota, Saint John’s games were larger than life. To be part of that run in 2003, and cap it all off with a national title, was even more amazing.”

(From left) Damien Dumonceaux, Matt Darling, Cole Deibele and Ryan Weinandt were all defensive mainstays of the 2003 Johnnies, and all have gone on to coaching careers at the college or high school level.

IN SIGHT

Magic Moment in ‘The Perfect Season’

With a record crowd of 13,107 watching on an 18-degree day and Saint John’s trailing Bethel 2622 in the closing minutes of the Nov. 8, 2003 game at Clemens Stadium, Johnnies quarterback Ryan Keating (#7) spotted running back Josh Nelson (#32) swinging open out of the backfield. Nelson caught Keating’s pass and plunged into the left corner of the end zone with 2:03 left to play, giving Saint John’s a 29-26 victory and clinching John Gagliardi’s 409th collegiate coaching victory – the most in college football history.

Photo by Mike Bauer

Love of Canoeing the

Arctic North

Spans Generations for 2 Johnnies

By Kevin Allenspach

Bob O’Hara ’63 has spent more than 60 years accumulating knowledge of a wilderness few others have seen. Zach Fritz ’19 is tapping that resource in preparation for a 4-month, 2,700-mile trip of a lifetime. Together, they’re collaborating on ‘The Route Less Traveled.’

From Christopher Columbus to Sir Walter Raleigh and from Jacques Cousteau to Neil Armstrong, explorers through history have found inspiration and insight in their forbearers to expand horizons and discover what previously was beyond the scope of human knowledge.

The relationship between Bob O’Hara ’63 and Zach Fritz ’19 may never be quite that famous, but the same spirit

lives within them.

O’Hara grew up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, during the mid-1950s. When many other kids were captivated by “Lassie” and “The Lone Ranger” on the revolutionary invention of television, he learned to camp and canoe in the Boy Scouts. In the summer of 1959, just before he enrolled at Saint John’s University, he and three high school friends set out to tour the

western half of Superior National Forest – a region that only a year earlier was named the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

The experience sparked future adventures. Summers while he was in college, O’Hara worked as a forklift driver in a warehouse. He told his foreman that school started a couple of weeks early to leave time for annual excursions.

After graduating with a degree in natural science, he sought work as a teacher. But from 1964-2023, every year except one – 1968, because he was in grad school – included a trip by canoe to sleep in a tent in some faraway vista, often above the tundra line. Even after his 82nd birthday, he continues to traverse the rivers and trails of the north.

If only he could be young again, like Fritz. Zach, 26, started canoeing with his father Troy ’88, as well as his uncles and grandfather in 2001 at age 4. Annually, they ventured from St. Cloud to a family cabin in Big Falls, Minnesota, and Zach’s scope grew larger as a participant and later program director with Les Voyageurs, Inc., an organization that provides 16- to

18-year-olds with outdoor leadership experience via 30-day expeditions into remote regions of central Canada.

Along the way, the younger Fritz became aware of O’Hara. They met for the first time several years ago at the Far North Symposium, an annual gathering of the top canoeing enthusiasts in the region that dates to 1970. O’Hara, always good for a slide show or presentation, has been running the event for two decades. He invited Fritz to speak about Les Voyageurs, and they’ve become muse and apprentice – routinely communicating by email, phone and personal visits.

Now these two Johnnies, separated by a generation of experience, are collaborating on the greatest canoe expedition either can comprehend.

(Left) Bob O’Hara ’63 has been paddling the Arctic north for more than 50 years. His adventures occasionally include navigating ice floes that often dwarf his canoe. (Below) Zach Fritz ’19 has explored deep into Canada on many occasions, but never as ambitiously as a four-month, 2,700-mile trip he’s planning (with O’Hara’s help) for 2024.

In the spring of 2024, Zach will embark on four-month odyssey that will cover more than 2,700 miles from his cabin through Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut to the Arctic Ocean.

Bob, who has paddled nearly three dozen rivers throughout Canada and Alaska and is the first non-Indigenous person to descend the Arrowsmith and Quoich rivers in Nunavut, has helped determine Zach’s route, what he’ll pack and how he’ll prepare for the encounter.

“He’s going to do the trip we all wanted to have, but we all got stuck in a job,” said O’Hara, who taught high school and middle school biology for 37 years. “Very few people ever get a trip like this. You’ve got to do it when you’re young. You can’t do it when you’re old. So, I’m happy to help him out, because it would’ve been nice if someone could’ve helped me out when I was his age.”

Fritz feels a sense of honor to caretake knowledge from O’Hara and retell

it someday – maybe to someone who hasn’t even been born yet.

“He’s a paddling icon to me,” Fritz said. “I was naturally drawn to wanting to get in touch with him and learn what I could, hear his stories. He’s a great resource.

“I can go to him with my ideas that might seem crazy and he can tell me whether they’re good or not. He educates me and tells me the do’s and don’ts. It helps to have that connection and you want to pass that link to the next generation.”

SJU Fostered ‘Mythical Figure’

O’Hara has been called “the dean of Minnesota Arctic paddlers” by a longtime wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, and a “mythical figure” by a spokesperson for the Friends of the Boundary Waters. One of 3,500 members of The Explorers Club, which is headquartered in New York and includes leading figures in all fields of exploration, Bob also is in Midwest

Mountaineering’s Minnesota Explorers Hall of Fame.

For all his travels, he found his true north – a base camp for life – at Saint John’s. He and the university became so intertwined, he’s figured it in his estate plan.

“I came to Saint John’s because my parents often drove right through on their way to Long Prairie to see my grandparents, and we had a cabin in Osakis,” said Bob, who graduated from Benilde High School in the days before it combined with Saint Margaret’s. “Fr. Hilary Thimmesh was from Osakis, and Fr. Gunther Rolfson was the kindest guy in the world. Saint John’s is one of the most beautiful places on earth and, as a student, I spent a lot of time in the arboretum.”

He didn’t have a car, which was perhaps a good thing because Fr. Daniel Durken was dean of men and was always hunting students who had cars on campus – which was against regulations.

“We called him ‘Lurkin’ Durken, the

O’Hara was the first non-Indigenous person to descend the Arrowsmith and Quoich rivers in Nunavut. He’s one of 3,500 members of The Explorers Club, an elite group of some of the world’s most renowned adventurers.

Even though he knows much of the territory like the back of his hand, a map is never far from O’Hara’s lap as he navigates the wilderness above the Arctic tree line.

More

sneakin’ deacon,’ ” O’Hara recalled. “A lot of guys paid a farmer to store their car in his yard. I didn’t miss much because we were in classes six days a week then. We didn’t have all the trails they have now, but I was always in the woods for one biology experiment or another, and I’d go snowshoeing in the winter. When I graduated, I gave my snowshoes

to Father (Don) Talafous.”

As a senior, Bob had one mode of transportation: a canoe. And he wasn’t parting with that. His first teaching job was back at Benilde. He later moved to Golden Valley, then Robbinsdale, coaching track and cross-country skiing along the way. But from 1972-90 he was laid off every spring. That led to adventures on the Caniapiscau River to the Labrador Sea north of Quebec, and the Lockhart River in the Northwest Territories. He continued through the 1980s and ’90s until he retired from

teaching in 2000.

“I love teaching and I love kids, but being in school is like being in jail,” O’Hara said. “Everything runs by the bell, and you get 22 minutes to have lunch. You’ve got to be in certain places at certain times. Up north, I’m totally free. So, I went to the Arctic every summer. I’d be burned out in June and fired up in August. It worked well for me.”

Discovering What Lies Beyond

In 1967, when O’Hara was the same age Zach is now, Bob was part of an expedition that would expand his horizons and change his life.

Recreating a portion of Eric Sevareid’s journey as told in Canoeing with the Cree, published in 1935, O’Hara and six others canoed from the north end

of Lake Winnipeg to Hudson Bay. It would include his most dangerous episode in what’s now more than six decades of canoeing.

Paddling Gods River, snowmelt-fueled rapids capsized his canoe just ahead of a waterfall. He maintained a grip on his partner and their canoe, then over they went. All three disappeared in the roaring foam and ultimately washed up on a sandbar, amazingly unhurt. Satellite telephone communication was still more than four decades away, and even an injury that might be routine in the Boundary Waters could be deadly in the Arctic north, where you could go for weeks without seeing another human.

“We didn’t know anything about whitewater or polar bears,” Bob said.

“That’s how you have to be in life. Sometimes you’ve got to have some luck

than 50 years separate their experience at Saint John’s for Bob O’Hara (left) and Zach Fritz. O’Hara has found a kindred spirit in Fritz, to whom he has willed his library of books about canoeing. They are too far apart in age for O’Hara to tackle the trip with Fritz, but O’Hara’s planning and guidance will be key to the Fritz making what both consider the trip of a lifetime.

and some ignorance.”

Ultimately, they paddled 500 miles to York Factory, a fur trading post established in 1684 that still contains a wooden structure from 1831 –the oldest building on Canadian permafrost.

insects but saw fox, muskox and wolves in a treeless environment. When Bob returned home, he learned Apollo 11 had landed on the Moon.

On trips for more than 50 years thereafter, he kept paddling his canoe, 35 strokes per minute, 55 minutes an hour. He has paddled Victoria Island, the farthest north he’s ever been, at Latitude 72 north.

he arrived at Collegeville, he went on a 52-day trip along the Coppermine River, which stretches through Nunavut to the Arctic Ocean.

“I realized how much north there is from where I had been before, and I fell in love with it,” he said. “I didn’t realize until then how much of a difference these trips made in my life. You connect lakes and rivers to make a route. Sometimes the water might be there. Sometimes it’s not, depending on the weather. There are a lot of unknowns.

“At that age in your life, it’s a big thing to go off like that. You’re not connected with your parents and can’t ask them for help when there’s a tough portage. It boils down to you and the people you may or may not have known very well when you left. You have to work together, and it can get emotional.

“The biggest thing you realize is that what you’re fighting against most often is in your own head,” he added. “A lot of times your mind wants to quit something a lot sooner than your body. That has a lot of application to your

discovered we weren’t very far north. Everything was still north of us. I came home and read some magazines and it looked like, ‘I could do that.’ So, I wrote some letters and found I could rent canoes from the Hudson Bay Company. Then I found a bush pilot in Yellowknife that had a plane that was fabric-covered and out we went.”

That was in July of 1969, when he and three others navigated the Thelon River through Nunavut to Baker Lake – an Inuit settlement more than 1,300 miles north of Minneapolis. Along the way, they battled biting and swarming

South of there in 2008, Bob and five fellow canoeists paid a total of $18,000 to be dropped off and picked up by plane so they could travel the Hood River, his favorite trip. In 2012, he paddled across Finland. In 2013 and 2014, he went to Alaska to experience the Noatak and Colville rivers. And in 2015, at the age of 74, he traveled the Seal River from Manitoba to Hudson Bay.

Young Explorer Steers Following Older Alum

About that same time, Zach had his own epiphany after his senior year at St. Cloud Cathedral High School. Before

“We thought that was the end of the world,” O’Hara said. “For me, it was just the beginning. I

Fritz has carried a flag – the same as O’Hara – on Arctic trips to Hudson Bay, Great Slave Lake and the Nastapoka River.

This map shows the route O’Hara and Fritz settled on for Fritz’s trip with fellow explorer, Taylor Rau. They will cover more than 2,400 miles by canoe and on foot in four months.

career, your profession or whatever you do in life.”

Fritz majored in environmental science, though he admits to often procrastinating homework in favor of pondering Google Earth to dream about future adventures. He guided every summer while in college and subsequently traveled to Hudson Bay, the Great Slave Lake of the Northwest Territory and the Nastapoka River in northern Quebec.

“After graduation, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but I knew I could always go to work,” Fritz said. “I can only do this kind of stuff when I have the chance, and that’s now.”

O’Hara helped him come up with the plan for what Fritz is calling “The Route Less Paddled.” It includes many of the waterways O’Hara once traveled. Together, they’ve spent hours looking at paper maps, talking about equipment – and how it is far different O’Hara’s early days compared to what Fritz will use – discussing the flora, fauna and geological landscapes in the wild, much as explorers did hundreds of years before them.

Unique Friends Bond Decades Apart

O’Hara’s last wilderness expedition was in 2017, on the Kokolik River in Alaska. He has since scaled back his exploration because he doesn’t trust his body anymore to meet such a challenge. That just means he goes for weeks at a stretch to the Boundary Waters, where fellow canoeists (and help) isn’t as far away. That left Fritz with the task of finding a travel partner. Fortunately, a fellow former Les Voyageurs guide – Taylor Rau, a Sauk Rapids resident who is finishing a construction management degree – is just crazy enough to go. They’ll leave next May in a 17-foot Prospector canoe, loaded with tents, packs, tundra tarps (essentially a bug

net in which you can sit) and what food they can carry.

They expect to re-supply three or four times before returning in late August or early September. It’s impossible to be more exact, considering they expect to be occasionally windbound and stalled. However, any delays might balance out considering sunlight will be available almost around the clock at their latitude. They might paddle from midnight to 5 a.m. when the wind is lightest.

They’ll carry satellite phones and beacons that will notify friends and

and Great Slave Lake. It would be poignant if they are in the Northwest Territories at the same time.

“If you sit home because you’re afraid of things, you’ll just die in your chair,” O’Hara said.

As for Fritz, he plans to leave Les Voyageurs so he can take the time for his four-month journey. He knows he’ll be looking for a new job in the fall of 2024. Like O’Hara, he lives to teach people about the outdoors, and that might hold his eventual future.

family of their progress or allow them to send help, if necessary.

If space allows, Fritz might pack a book by Sigurd Olson, an inspiration to him and O’Hara, who keeps a volume autographed by the legendary outdoors writer in his century-old house, in a room-sized library that rivals any source on canoeing and traveling the far north. O’Hara has willed those materials to Fritz when the time comes. But that might not be anytime soon. O’Hara’s grandmother lived to be 109 and he has aunts and uncles who remained active into their 90s. Next year, as Fritz paddles north, O’Hara might mark the occasion with a return to Yellowknife

“I’m not exactly sure what that looks like,” Fritz said. “I would have a hard time sitting at a desk all the time. But I don’t feel worried. Parks have naturalists, and I’m confident there will be something for me to do. Until then, I just want to enjoy this trip. It will give me plenty of time to think about what comes next.

“It’s going to be interesting what we find. In the wild or even within ourselves.”

JOHNNIE SPORTS

J-Club Hall of Honor Induction Set for Oct. 14

The first Johnnie to win the Gagliardi Trophy … a Major League Baseball draftee … perhaps the greatest tennis player in school history … and numerous national and conference champions, both team and individual. Those are just some of the accomplishments this year’s distinguished class of inductees into the Saint John’s University J-Club Hall of Honor achieved during their careers in Collegeville.

It marks the fourth full class to enter the Hall, which was started in 2018 when legendary longtime head coaches John Gagliardi and Jim Smith were honored as the first two inductees in separate ceremonies. The first full class was inducted in the fall of 2019, then after a one-year pause brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the second full class was inducted in 2021. The third followed last year.

“We’re just so lucky that we continue to have such a strong group of candidates to choose from as we put this event together each year,” said Dan Murphy ’05, the new J-Club president. “You see that in this year’s class with guys like Chris Palmer, who was our first Gagliardi Trophy winner, and Jon Dold, who was drafted (by the Cincinnati Reds). You have a guy like (distance runner) Chris Erichsen, who was an All-American in three sports.

“Then to be able to honor someone like (the late former SJU head wrestling coach) Terry Haws, whose time at SJU was short but who had a tremendous impact. He joins his son Pat, who is already in the Hall of Honor. There are a lot of cool cross-family dynamics like that. Darwin Dumonceaux (the 1999 NCAA Division III national champion in the shot put) is part of this year’s class, and you can’t tell the story of

SJU athletics without including the Dumonceaux family – from their dad (Robert) through the accomplishments of his sons.

“An event like this connects not just former teammates, but generations of

the J-Club to be used for its support of SJU student-athletes.

“We’ve been really pleased with how the Hall of Honor has grown,” Murphy said.

alumni. And that’s what Saint John’s is really about – connecting alumni across generations.”

The Hall’s physical space is located in the main entrance to Warner Palaestra. It includes a touchscreen kiosk featuring videos and biographical information on all the past inductees, as well as videos of past induction ceremonies.

This year’s class of 10 individuals and one team will be inducted at a dinner and ceremony Oct. 14 in Guild Hall following the Johnnies’ Homecoming football game against Carleton at 1 p.m. at Clemens Stadium. There will be a Homecoming celebration social outside Guild Hall until 5 p.m. and the dinner and induction program will begin at 5:15 p.m.

Registration for the induction banquet is $75 per person before Oct. 8 and $100 afterward. You can register at sjualum.com/events. All proceeds go to

The full list of 2024 inductees:

• Lou Adderley ’55

Tennis and Wrestling

• Paul Bernabei ’69

Basketball

• Jon Dold ’94

Baseball

• Darwin Dumonceaux ’99

Track and Field and Football

• Chris Erichsen ’08

Cross Country and Track and Field

• Terry Haws

Head wrestling coach and assistant football coach

• Tom Kubinski ’86

Swimming and Diving

• Matt McGovern ’01

Golf

• Chris Palmer ’96

Football and Baseball

• 2003 SJU football team

• Fr. Dunstan Tucker ’25

J-Club Distinguished Service Award

BASEBALL

Saint John’s tied for second in the MIAC with a 14-6 record (2316 overall). The Johnnies made their 13th consecutive appearance in the MIAC Tournament. First baseman Max Nyrop ’23 was named to the All-Region 9 second team by both the American Baseball Coaches' Association and D3baseball.com, while relief pitcher Jack Haring ’23 earned third-team honors from D3baseball. com. Owen Dauk ’23 received ABCA Region 9 All-Defensive team recognition. Haring, Nyrop, third baseman Joe Becker ’24, pitcher Wyatt Rudolf ’23, outfielder Jack Schleper ’24 and relief pitcher Evan Soeffker ’26 collected AllMIAC honors.

BASKETBALL

SJU (17-10, 13-7 MIAC) finished second in the conference and reached the MIAC Playoff championship game for the fourth straight tournament. Wing Ryan Thissen ’24 was named to the D3hoops.com All-Region 9 third team after earning All-MIAC honors with post Mitchell Plombon ’23. Thissen led the MIAC in assist/turnover ratio and was second in free-throw percentage. Plombon led the MIAC in shooting percentage.

Thissen earned CSC Academic AllAmerica first-team honors and collected his second consecutive MIAC Elite 22 Award. Wing Connor Schwob ’24, guard Kooper Vaughn ’25 and post Ethan Youso ’24 joined Thissen as CSC Academic All-District.

SJU finished fifth out of 43 teams May 16-19 at the NCAA Division III Championship in Nicholasville, Kentucky. The top-10 finish was the Johnnies' 11th in 20 appearances at nationals. Sam Berger ’24 earned PING All-America honorable mention distinction. Berger, Thomas Gutzmer ’23 Nate Loxtercamp ’24 and Blake Schuler ’24 earned PING AllRegion 6 honors.

HOCKEY

The Johnnie hockey team finished third in the MIAC with a 9-5-2 record (13-10-3 overall) and made its fifth consecutive appearance in the MIAC Playoffs. Defenseman Mason Campbell ’26 was one of 18 studentathletes named to the All-USCHO Rookie first team and was joined on the All-MIAC list by forward Lewis Crosby ’24, forward Nick Michel ’23 and two-year captain Auggie Moore ’23 Moore and defenseman Jack Olsen ’24 also earned CSC Academic All-District accolades.

SWIMMING & DIVING

Saint John’s finished second out of six teams at the MIAC Championships for the second straight season. A trio of divers – Jack Grabinski ’23, Eli Grabinski ’25 and Connor Reed ’23 – competed at the NCAA Regional in Chicago. Eli was named MIAC Diver of the Year after he won the 3-meter dive and took second to his brother Jack on the 1-meter board at the MIAC Championships. Liam Noble ’25 was SJU’s other MIAC champion (100-yard backstroke).

TENNIS

SJU finished fifth in the MIAC and made its ninth MIAC Playoff appearance in the last 11 seasons, advancing to the semifinals. Ian Aadland ’24 and Wil McDowell ’23 earned All-MIAC honors in doubles competition. Aadland and the Fischer triplets – Hunter ’23, Peyton ’23 and Will ’23 – earned CSC Academic All-District honors.

INDOOR TRACK & FIELD

SJU finished second out of 11 teams at the MIAC Indoor Championships. Joe Charbonneau ’24 qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the pole vault. He was named the MIAC Indoor Field Athlete of the Year. Zach Schaffer ’25 won the Johnnies’ other MIAC championship in the long jump and Carter Grove ’24 earned the MIAC Elite 22 Award.

OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD

SJU won its second consecutive outdoor title at the MIAC Championships. Kevin Arthur ’23 repeated as conference champion in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, as well as a member of the Johnnies’ 4x100-meter relay team (Emanuel Popoca ’25, Brady Labine ’22 and Caden Wheeler ’26), en route to earning his second-straight MIAC Athlete of the Year honor. Charbonneau (pole vault), Schaffer (long jump), Nathan Clausing ’23 (800 meters), Brett Hague ’23 (javelin) and the 4x800-meter relay (Riley Berg ’23, Owen Montreuil ‘26, Nick St. Peter ’26 and Grove) were SJU’s other conference champions.

WRESTLING

Ben Gilbertson ’24 (184 lbs.), D.J. Myles ’25 (197 lbs.) and Logan Thorsten ’25 (157 lbs.) won matches at the Upper Midwest Regional.

Inauguration Celebrates Bruess, CSB and SJU Flourishing Together

By Dave DeLand

The first day that Brian Bruess officially served in his new position as the inaugural joint president of Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict was July 1, 2022, approaching 15 months ago.

That was by design. By waiting to formally celebrate that fact, Bruess had more than a year to confirm what he initially felt.

“Listening to the community during the first weeks and even before I started, there was such a palpable love of the places in our graduates and the faculty and staff and sponsors,” said Bruess, who began acclimating to Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s weeks before his official starting date.

“I observed even though we were navigating some pretty challenging times, there was a sense of unity and belief in the places that was really stunning.”

Those core beliefs will be reflected in the theme of Bruess’s official Inauguration Sept. 22.

“Strong Integration is essentially trying

It starts at 10 a.m. with Mass at Sacred Heart Chapel at Saint Benedict, followed immediately with lunch at CSB.

Inauguration at Saint John’s Abbey and University Church begins at 2 p.m., with the Saint John’s reception to immediately follow.

to do exactly what Brian is articulating with the message of the Inauguration, which is ‘Together We Flourish’,” said LeAnne Stewart, CSB ’87 and chair of the SJU and CSB Common Boards.

“The Inauguration is interesting in that okay, the guy has been around for more than a year. What are you waiting for?” Stewart said. “The idea of him being able to have had a year at the schools and get his head around who the schools are, what Strong Integration is and what some of the opportunities to flourish are, I think, is useful.”

It certainly has been for Bruess, who over the past 15 months has become more acclimated to and further enamored of what he joined.

The ground-breaking joint president has learned he was working with exactly what he hoped for: two outstanding institutions and historical partners that are coming even closer together.

“It’s my assessment that never in the history of our time has the world needed Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s graduates more than they do now,” Bruess said.

Said Stewart: “To me, it’s validating what we all thought as trustees that we inherently knew. Now it’s making it all a reality.”

In fitting with the Strong Integration theme, Inauguration will blend the best of both schools.

“We want the Inauguration to foreshadow and illustrate and illuminate what integration means, what together means,” Bruess said. With that as the focus, Inauguration promises to be more of a celebration of the institutions than their first joint president.

“He doesn’t want this Inauguration to be about him – he wants it to be about the schools, and I think that’s important,” Stewart said.

“There’s no denying the fact that it’s the Inauguration of the first joint president of the schools. There’s an element that this is, whether we want it to be or not.

“But it’s not about Brian Bruess. It’s about our two schools working together to be the very best that we can be, and providing our students the absolute best experience that they can have.”

Bruess couldn’t have put it any better. Even 15 months ago. Visit

Kosic Williams Wiger

Kosic, Wiger, Williams Earn Entrepreneur Honors

Seizing opportunities, demonstrating innovation and leadership and applying the Benedictine values central to both the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University in the workplace and in their own lives are the criteria that go into the selection of the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards presented annually by the Donald McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship at CSB and SJU. The 2023 winners certainly meet and exceed those standards.

The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University Entrepreneur of the Year Awards “recognize the achievements of a Johnnie and a Bennie who best exemplify the ideals of entrepreneurship by starting and successfully managing one or more businesses in a way that demonstrates notable entrepreneurial characteristics and achievements while practicing Benedictine values in the workplace and in their lives.”

The 2023 SJU winner is Dusan Kosic ’07, a co-owner and managing partner of HTEC Group, a software engineering and digital product development company founded in Belgrade, Serbia and now headquartered

in San Francisco. In early 2022, the company secured $140 million from investment firm Brighton Park Capital in an equity deal to accelerate its global expansion.

Kosic grew up in grew up in Banja Luka, Bosnia and received a Whalen Family Foundation scholarship to attend college at SJU. His company was founded by a small team in 2008 – one-year after Kosic graduated from SJU. He currently serves on the executive committee of the SJU BosniaHerzegovina Alumni Chapter and lives in Belgrade with his wife Maja and their children Mila, Stefan and Marko.

The 2023 CSB winner is Shannon Wiger ’04, the owner of Shannon Wiger and Company Design and Development and the director of business development at the Moss and Barnett law firm in St. Cloud.

She has played a key role in reimagining and preserving historical spaces, including such Central Minnesota projects as the Davidson Opera House and First National Bank buildings in downtown St. Cloud and the historic Frank Timmers Saloon building in St. Joseph.

The CSB and SJU Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award “recognizes the achievements and qualities of a Johnnie or Bennie who best exemplifies the ideals of social entrepreneurship by starting and successfully managing one or more ventures that enrich humanity or address a social issue in a way that demonstrates notable entrepreneurial characteristics and achievements while practicing Benedictine values in the workplace and in their lives.”

This year’s winner is Paul Williams ’84, the former deputy mayor of St. Paul who is now the president and CEO of Project for Pride in Living, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit serving lower-income families and individuals through job training and by providing affordable housing.

Williams has served or is serving on a number of boards and councils including the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the St. Paul Port Authority and the Minnesota Ballpark Authority.

The trio will be honored in a ceremony Oct. 23 at the Metropolitan Club in Golden Valley, Minnesota.

Saint John’s Abbey Organ Builders Look to the Future

Saint John’s Abbey Woodworking and Pasi Organ Builders were both looking toward the future, trying to figure out how best to ensure their time-honored handmade crafts were passed down to ensuing generations.

It only made sense to join forces and work toward that common goal.

The Work of Our Hands Project, a capital campaign of Saint John’s Abbey that has led to the construction of a $12.3 million, 30,000-square foot facility, is scheduled to open this fall.

The monks of Saint John’s Abbey formally approved construction in 2022. Once finished, the new Abbey Woodshop will become the home for not just Abbey Woodworking, but for a new organ building workshop that will build pipe organs and help to train the next generation of organ builders.

Organ builder Martin Pasi is among a small group of world-renowned builders who specialize in building traditionally informed mechanical action organs. He is shifting his base of operations from Roy, Washington to the new facility in Collegeville, which also will feature workspace for Abbey artisans like acclaimed painter Fr. Jerome Tupa, OSB, and others.

The tradition and work of Pasi Organ Builders will soon join Abbey Woodworking under a new banner: Saint John’s Abbey Organ Builders.

“We’ve been in (our current) building since 1903,” said Fr. Lew Grobe, OSB, Abbey Woodworking director. “In the interest of safety, efficiency and to facilitate additional space, a new woodshop has been our dream for quite some time. But we never quite got enough momentum to get one built.”

The momentum changed when Pasi came to Collegeville to install the expansion of the pipe organ in the Saint John’s Abbey and University Church, which was completed in 2020. This project added nearly 3,000 new pipes to the original instrument. The majority of these pipes were made at Pasi’s shop in Washington, but a number of the larger wooden pipes were constructed in Collegeville by Abbey Woodworking.

“I was there for seven months installing the organ, giving me time to learn about the area and get acquainted with Saint John’s,” said Pasi, who emigrated to the U.S. from Austria in 1981 and started his own company in 1990. “I got to know some of the monks and learned of their dream to build a new woodshop.

“I thought it over for a few days and it hit me that this would also be a wonderful and ideal place for organ building. I’m past retirement age, and I had already been wondering about what to do with all my stuff and my knowledge. It’s always been a dream of mine to have a facility where you can help educate the next generation of organ builders.”

Pasi pitched the idea of combining the art of organ building with the work of Abbey Woodworking, and the idea of the shared facility took root.

“Other monasteries might not have the ability take on the risk of doing something like this, but if you look at The Saint John’s Bible, Hill Museum and Manuscript Library or Minnesota Public Radio, Saint John’s has long been an incubator for such projects,” Grobe said, “a place to give birth to these kinds of ideas and nurture them out into the world.”

Pasi and the new team move to Central Minnesota this September to begin work on Saint John’s Abbey Organ Builders Opus 1, a large new organ for a Catholic church in Kansas – a project that will occupy the next two years.

Pottery Kiln’s Reconstruction Project Prepares for the Future

By Dave DeLand

As it turns out, the 17th firing of The Saint John’s Pottery’s Johanna Kiln will also in a way be its first.

And as the kiln’s summer-long first chamber reconstruction project draws to a close, it also turns out that the firing may be accompanied by a horse with a backward-facing rider.

“It’ll be another Hatsugama firing – ‘Hatsu’ means ‘one’,” said Richard Bresnahan ’76, Saint John’s University’s Artist-in-Residence and director of The Saint John’s Pottery. “Even though the Johanna Kiln is going to have its 17th firing in 2024, the rebuild of the first chamber will have its first.

“Usually on a first firing I make something symbolic of a person riding on a horse backwards. The horse is going forward, but the rider has no idea where they are going.”

That 17th/first firing will take place Oct. 11-19, 2024, the target date that Bresnahan and his staff have been focused on since last spring when they began to rebuild the kiln’s worn, allimportant first chamber.

“The arch was sliding off about an eighth of an inch a firing. The last fivesix firings, it’s been slowly moving so slightly,” Bresnahan said. The erosion beneath the kiln stemmed from an unforeseen problem.

“They moved Joe Hall and moved the building over there 33 years ago, but when we dug in to build the foundation for the Johanna Kiln we hit a dump,” Bresnahan said. “It’s the old rubble

dump they would push material into. That’s what this whole county road is based on, just material from construction in the 1920s.

“There’s old snus jars. There’s old rubble brick. We had to dig that material out and put in eight feet of six-inch engineered lifts of washed mason sand before we could set the pads down to do the concrete pouring.”

The first chamber itself then needed a combination of refurbishing, replacement and reinforcement.

“We took the arch off in May, cleaned all the bricks and took the inner walls down all the way to the firebox. That’s about 7½ feet – we really took it down,” said Bresnahan, whose team also cleaned and recycled every special foundry brick, ordered 3,200-degree super-duty fire brick to put down by the firebox and upgraded insulation.

“The whole structure was set up to be a 150-year kiln, three to four generations of potters and sculptors that will be able to use the kiln,” Bresnahan said. “All these former apprentices will be firing a kiln that’s going to hold out. We’ve got to have things for students of the future.”

And now as the project draws to a close, The Saint John’s Pottery staff can start focusing on the meticulous process of loading the kiln for the next firing. It should be an adventure.

“On the first firing, you have no idea what things are going to turn out like,” Bresnahan said. “That’ll be the interesting thing about the 17th firing of the Johanna Kiln – the old part of Johanna is still firing beautifully, but this front chamber is going to have a whole new firing feeling.”

Saint John’s Artist-in-Residence Richard Bresnahan ’76 (left), work study student Vince Kaluza ’27 and apprentice Luke Kiefer work to rebuild the first chamber of the Johanna Kiln as part of the summer-long project.

Flynn’s Innovative Career Recognized with Basten Award

Mark Flynn ’78 has drawn inspiration from both his college football coach John Gagliardi and his business mentor Bill Campbell. And his efforts in carrying on both of their legacies is partly why he has been named this year’s recipient of the Bob Basten Award.

The award is bestowed annually upon a former Johnnie football player who demonstrates outstanding leadership traits, actively engages with the community and alma mater, exhibits fair play beyond the football field and upholds a strong commitment to excellence.

Gagliardi was head coach for 60 seasons at Saint John's University, winning four national titles and finishing his career with 489 career victories – the most of any head coach in college football history. Campbell was a major influence on such heavy hitters as Apple’s Steve Jobs, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Google’s Eric Schmidt while serving as CEO of Intuit and Board Chair at Columbia University.

Flynn said both were innovators who saw the broader potential of football. “They recognized it was a beautiful game to be enjoyed,” Flynn said. “But they also saw that it could be a platform to position players to do great things with the rest of their lives.”

Flynn was a member of the 1976 Division III national championship squad at SJU, then showcased his skills as a standout linebacker during his

senior season the following year. His critical interception in the final minute preserved a 25-20 Homecoming victory over St. Thomas

He then embarked on a successful professional journey where he put into practice the values of innovation, integrity and leadership. He spent 15 years in investment banking before establishing Trilogy Capital Partners LLC, a private investment firm based in Menlo Park, California. Subsequently, he served as president and board member of GSV Capital, a late-stage venture capital firm. In 2017, he founded MWF Advisors to continue his work with entrepreneurs in building growth companies.

Throughout his career, Flynn remained committed to nurturing future talent, mentoring young entrepreneurs and giving back to the community.

Campbell’s commitment to some of those same ideals is reflected through the William V. Campbell Trophy, which is named in his honor and has been presented annually since 1990 to the player at any level of college football who most exemplifies success

on the field, in the classroom and in the community.

Flynn coached an eighth-grade football team for 15 seasons alongside Campbell, and served with him on corporate boards. Since Campbell’s death in 2016, Flynn has played a leading role in preserving his legacy, including organizing the Campbell Trophy Summit.

The annual event, hosted at Stanford, welcomes former nominees for the award and gathers around 300 former college football players for three days of learning from renowned leaders like Condoleezza Rice, Admiral Bill McRaven and Steve Young.

For the past 20 years, Saint John’s has led the country in nominating players for the Campbell Trophy, often referred to as the “Academic Heisman,” and has had four finalists, most recently AllAmerican defensive lineman Michael Wozniak in 2022.

“Leadership values are instilled in everything you do at Saint John’s,” Flynn said. “That’s what the Campbell Trophy is about as well – excellence on and off the field.”

A 1984 graduate of the Harvard Business School, Flynn is a former member of the SJU Board of Regents, served as chair of the endowment Committee and founded the SJU Private Investment Fund.

The Basten Award is named in honor of Bob Basten ’82, who went to training camp with the Minnesota Vikings before embarking on a successful career as a business executive. He died in 2012 after a decades-long battle with ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Flynn was scheduled to be presented with the honor at halftime of SJU’s season opener against Trinity University (Texas) Sept. 2 at Clemens Stadium.

Milestones

1955 Jim Collison recently published his third article on aphantasia – the no-mind’s eye condition that affects 3 percent of the population and leaves them unable to visualize in the mind when their eyes are closed – on the aphantasia.com website at aphantasia.com/article/ stories/imagery-to-heal-orimprove-performance/. At age 90, Collison is still active in writing projects and recently taught his first crash class on Living Moments meditation to clients of two homeless shelters in Mason City, Iowa. His book Simply How to Meditate was the first to include guidance for persons with aphantasia on how to improve their meditation.

1961 Jim Nussbaum has published the book Significance: A Lifetime of Learning, Earning and Love. The broker and founder of Kentwood Real Estate in Denver, Colorado, Nussbaum chronicled in the book best practices that have enabled him to close over 2,800 real estate transactions and $1.3 billion in sales. The book is oriented toward realtors, but is also relevant for people with no connection to real estate.

1966 Tim Delmont has published the book Everyday Dad: A Memoir About Single Parenting. It’s the story of his first 10 years as a single parent of his 10-weekold daughter and 5-year-old son, following the unexpected

death of his wife at age 33. Delmont shares his mistakes and joys as a fully engaged father and the lessons learned from his unpredictable, life-changing experience. His book is available as a paperback, e-book and audiobook from Amazon and independent bookstores, and Delmont will be a presenting author at the Saint John’s Bookstore Oct. 14 on Homecoming weekend.

1973 Mark Reps has released his 13th book of his Zeb Hanks: Small Town Sheriff series. Titled Native Revenge, it revolves around Hanks’ investigation into a double murder and his discovery that his own family is being targeted by the killers.

1981 Tim Herwig has released his book The Long Way Home, which explores the landscape of the rural Midwest and the people who live there. Herwig sought deep spiritual connections far from the small towns and townspeople in which we lived in order to share among ourselves the wisdom and authenticity we hoped to have discovered. The quiet vastness of the Midwest landscape afforded Herwig deeper insights into his own troubles, most especially the sexual abuse he suffered in high school. Herwig’s book is available on Amazon, Bookshop.

org, or your local bookstore.

1982 Tom Gottwalt was awarded the Tax Executives Institute Minnesota chapter’s Meritorious Service Award in April. The award is given annually to a member whose outstanding service and leadership have

enhanced the effectiveness, reputation and success of the Minnesota chapter. The award recognized Gottwalt’s steady leadership in several key areas during his career as a tax professional in the Twin Cities, including service on several committees and on the chapter’s board. His welcoming attitude and networking skills were particularly noted, and are another example of the renowned Benedictine virtue of hospitality manifesting itself in the professional sphere.

1983 Chuck Wyant has been promoted to president and chief operating officer at Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Lenexa, Kansas. Wyant was a member of the founding leadership team for Heartland, joining the company in 2017 as vice president and general manager. He has more than 30 years of experience in the CocaCola bottling system, all of that time in the Midwest.

1988 Dr. Kurt Schwieters was presented with the 2023 Caduceus Award by CentraCare Health System May 18 at its annual St. Cloud award ceremony. The Caduceus Award is presented to a physician who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and humanitarian and/or charitable medical efforts in their community.

1991 Bill Olson has been elected as the new president of the Saint John’s University Alumni Association. During his twoyear term, Olson will participate as a member of the Board of Trustees, lead nine active committees, represent alums at numerous functions and collaborate on activities with

Helios, formerly vice president Finance – Business Unit CFO for International & Shared Services at Polaris, succeeded retiring CFO Tricia L. Fulton and became a member of Helios’ executive leadership team on Aug. 9.

Mike Berndt has been honored with the American Psychological Association 2023 TOPSS Charles T. BlairBroeker Excellent in Teaching

critical flow creation and industrial solutions. Emmerich will lead the overall strategy and execution of the company’s global information technology organization across technology operations, infrastructure, applications and information security. Previously, he served in various leadership positions at Polaris, including CIO and vice president.

2000 Todd Lotzer was selected as the winner of this year’s U.S. Small Business Administration Michigan District Office’s

the College of Saint Benedict alumnae board director. Olson and his wife Rebecca (Petrik CSB ’91) live in Rosemount and have three adult children. He has completed all 16 Lake Wobegon Trail Marathons and qualified for the Boston Marathon after 20 years of attempts.

1998 Sean Bagan has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer of Helios Technologies, Inc., a global leader in highly engineered motion control and electronic controls technology for diverse end markets.

Award. The St. Cloud Apollo High School teacher has taught psychology to juniors and seniors at the school for 25 years. Matt Emmerich has been appointed as senior vice president and chief information officer of Ingersoll Rand Inc. a global provider of mission-

Small Business Person of the Year award. Lotzer owns Prime Packaging Solutions, a full-service solutions-oriented packaging company based in Livonoa, Michigan and Louisville, Kentucky. Lotzer’s company weathered a UAW strike, the COVID-19 pandemic and the automotive chip shortage to grow Prime by more than 40 percent. He contributes his time and money throughout his community to enrich schools and other nonprofit entities.

2002 Brian Ragatz was named as the new president of St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, effective July 1. Ragatz, who has a bachelor’s degree in social science with a

minor in secondary education from Saint John’s and a master’s degree in education administration from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, has previously served as principal of St. Odilia, St. Thomas More and Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic schools.

2009 Marty Walsh was recognized in an April 25 story in Minnesota Public Radio News about his efforts to lead a volunteer effort to establish the Minnesota Driftless Hiking Trail. The 100-mile trail will extend from Chatfield to the southernmost tip of the Mississippi River in Minnesota, and the trail – modeled after the Superior Hiking Trail that weaves together state and private land – will put the Driftless Region into the spotlight.

2016 Chad Christenson, founder and president of Forester Boats, is expanding the pontoon boat manufacturing business he launched in Hill City, Minnesota, in 2018. Forester Boats’ new manufacturing facility is located in Georgetown, Georgia, bringing nearly 50 jobs and economic development to one of the poorest and least populated counties in the state.

Marriages

2003 Marsha (Miller ’03) to Brian Lahr, June ’23

2012 Kim to Michael McCarty, Feb. ’23

2014 Melissa (Pinkowski ’14) to Brett (Anderson ’14) Anderski, Sept. ’22

Anna to Alex Forster, May ’23

2015 Megan (Favorite ’15) to Nick Johnson, Sept. ’22

Ashleigh (Walter ’15) to Patrick Sullivan, Jan. ’23

2016 Sarah (Dobesh ’17) to Logan Hershey, Dec. ’22

Anne (Ruelle ’18) to Zach Hnath, Oct. ’22

2017 Taryn (Kranick ’18) to Lucas Glomb, Nov. ’22

Paiten (Schreiner ’17) to Morgan Rask, Oct. ’22

2018 Rachel (Nelson ’17) to Steven Bezdichek

Pfahning, Dec. ’22

Jackaline (Heise-Fisher ’17) to Jacob Braun, Oct. ’22

Jenna (Degen ’19) to Logan Davis, Nov. ’22

Rachel (Ogren ’18) to Timothy Larson, Dec. ’22

2019 Bailey to Tommy Auger, Feb. ’23

Allison (Ware ’19) to Zachary Pias, Dec. ’22

Brianna (Griffin ’20) to Max Stevens, June ’23

Births

2004 Jami & Eric Crawford, boy, Leo, Oct. ’21

2006 Lisa (Wagner ’09) & Jason Vievering, boy, Jonah, June ’23

2007 Kelly & Patrick Wicker, boy, Austen, Jan. ’23

2008 Carly (Andresen ’08) & Ryan Snee, girl, Violet, Dec. ’22

2008 Kari & Patrick Sweetman, girl, Maxine, Dec. ’22

2011 Katya (Karaz ’11) & Andrew Enzler, girl, Ingrid, Dec. ’22

Sarah (Taylor ’12) & Matthew Meyer, boy, Nolan, Oct. ’22

Sarah (Taylor ’12) & Matthew Meyer, boy, Caleb, Oct. ’20

Caitlin (Schnettler ’11) & Brian Skluzacek, girl, Quinn, March ’23

2012 Kristine & Jared Blitvich, boy, William, Feb. ’23

2012 Caitlin & David Crowley, boy, Johnny, Feb. ’23

Maggie (Burgart ’12) & Danny Elenz, boy, Miles, Dec. ’22

Alyssa (Sinner ’12) & Josh Meuwissen, girl, Melody, June ’23

Mackenzie (Ludowese ’08) & Connor Rooney, girl, Tully, Jan. ’23

2013 Theresa (Powell ’13) & Stephen Middlebrook, boy, Leo, Dec. ’22

2014 Amy (Kiminski ’14) & Tim Baebenroth, boy, Everett, April ’23

Sami & Joe Hodapp, girl, Lucy, March ’23

Shelby & Mike Peters, boy, Brooks, March ’23

Sarah (Torchia ’14) & Cody TorchiaLynch, girl, Alma, Oct. ’22

2015 Katharine (Hamand ’15) & Christopher Dirkes, girl, Lenna, June ’23

Emily (Gebhart ’15) & Spencer Hanson, girl, Zoe, June ’22

Anna (Schaefer ’15) & Desmond

McKeown, girl, Josephine “Josie”, Feb. ’23

Jenny (Kretschmer ’15) & John Terseck, boy, Calvin, March ’23

2016 Alicia (Evenson ’16) & Josh Bungum, boy, Maverick, April ’23

2017 Vanessa (Voigt ’17) & Paul Kohner, girl, Zoey, Jan. ’23

Deaths

1942 Elna Beckwith, spouse of deceased, Owen, June ’23

1949 Wim Ibes, father of Wim ’85, John ’88, April ’23

Leo Michel, May ’21

Hubert Theissen, MD, father of Gregory ’78, George ’79 and David ’80, Mar. ’23

1950 Dorrence DeCock, Sept. ’22

1951 John Hyneman, May ’23

Bob Obermiller, March ’ 23

Jim Sifferle, father of Bill ’89 and Greg 92, May ’23

Mary Ann Stenzel, spouse of deceased

Joe and mother of Joe ’79, James ’85, May ’23

Tom Vecchi, April ’23

1952 Henry “Hank” Chirhart, March ’23

Carmelle Dowdle, spouse of Charles, Jan. ’23

Greg Esch, Feb. ’ 23

CLASS NOTES

1952 Elizabeth Harthman, spouse of deceased, Edgar, Dec. ’22

Bert Hartinger, March ’22

Ardell Plantenberg, spouse of deceased, Jerome, April ’23

1953 Irene Casey, spouse of deceased, Robert, Jan. ’23

Wayne Freund, June ’23

John Lahr, brother of deceased, Tom ’50, May ’23

John Litchy, Aug. ’21

Jerome Mountain, May ’ 23

Ramona Tauer, spouse of deceased, Cletus, March ’23

1954 David Vinck, June ’23

1955 Richard Hardes, July ’23

Roman Hondl, March ’23

Colleen Lilly, spouse of deceased, LeRoy, mother of Patrick ’79, Dan ’84, deceased son, Michael ’78, May ’23

Paul Soukup, Sr., May ’23

1956 Ronald Koneczny, July ’23

1957 George Corsiglia, Jan. ’23

James Gephart, May ’23

Iva Lang, spouse of Ron, Dec. ’22

LuVerne Meyer, April ’23

Jean Peloquin, spouse of deceased, John, March ’23

John Peloquin, March ’23

Elliott Rubald, brother of Cy ’68 and deceased, Quintin ’60, April ’23

Larry Wagner, father of Steve ’83, May ’23

1958 Charles Deroux, June ’23

Joyce Ditzler, spouse of Jim, SOT/Sem ’62, April ’23

Robert Hartinger, Feb. ’21

Len Kos, Feb. ’23

Len Mrachek, father of John ’91, March ’23

Neal Olson, father of stepson, Alex Siebenaler ’02, April ’23

Paul Pryor, Feb. ’23

1959 Rev. Allan Bouley, OSB, April ’23

Janet Gacke, spouse of deceased, Dennis, March ’23

Tom Kraft, March ’23

Thomas Love, brother of Charles ’65 and William ’55 and SOT/ Sem’67, March ’23

John O’Fallon, brother of David ’65 and deceased, Mike ’56, April ’23

Ambrose Ramola, March ’23

1960 Richard Breen, father of Tom ’85 and brother of deceased, Donald ’56, May ’23

1960 Donald Ehlen, brother of Charles ’60, deceased brothers, Jerome ’64 and Thomas ’64, May ’23

Joan Gove, spouse of Ray, mother of Brian ’88, March ’22

Sally Lisle, spouse of deceased, Stephen, Jr. and mother of Thomas ’89, July ’23

Patricia Salm, spouse of Mike, Dec. ’22

Patricia Thurk, spouse of Donn, mother Tim ’86, Jan. ’23

1961 Rev. Harold Datzman, OSB, June ’23

Patrick Dockry, April ’23

Otto Jensen, father of Bruce ’90, May ’23

Rosalie Klimisch, spouse of Ken, mother of Alan ’91, April ’23

John Nett, brother of Joe ’71 and deceased brother, Don ’68, July ’23

Dr. Julian Plante, April ’23

Cynthia Schreiner, spouse of Tony, July ’23

Norman Virnig, Feb. ’23

Gordon Watterud, March ’22

1962 Dr. Thomas Gebeck, Sr, father of Tom, Jr. ’89, Feb. ’23

Elizabeth Harthman, spouse of deceased, Edgar, Dec. ’22

S. Angelo Haspert, OSB, Jan. ’23

Frank Knoll, May ’23.

John Riordan, Aug. ’22

Thomas Stein, Feb. ’23

James Webb, June, ’23

1963 Ret. Col. James Clapp, Dec. ’22

Robert Dynan, June, ’23

Dr. Robert Foerster, June, ’21

Virgil Laing, brother of deceased, Jim ’57, Apr. ’23

Richard Rasmussen, brother of Don ’71, Jan. ’23.

1964 Mike Garrity, Feb. ’23

Tom Skoog, father of Greg ’89, July ’23

Wagner Roger, brother of LeMay

Bechtold ’49 and SOT/Sem ’73, Jan. ’23

1965 Richard Knapp, father of Steven ’96, June ’23

Gudron Schmitz, spouse of Peter, mother of Mark ’97, Rev. Michael ’97 and Matthew ’07, Feb. ’23 Mary Yanchar, spouse of deceased, Joseph, April ’23

1966 Jon Gross, Jan. ’23

Ernest Lawrence, April ’23

Terry Layer, brother of Dennis ’61 and Jim ’62, April ’23

1966 Jim Williams, father of Chris ’91, March ’23

1967 Jim Beaudette, Feb. ’23

Janet Beringer, spouse of deceased, Mark, Nov. ’21

Michael Molloy, partner of deceased

Thomas Hilgers, April ’23

1968 Joe Adrian, brother of deceased, John ’57, Herbert M. Jr. ’58, and Anthony ’71, June ’23

Rita Buckley, sister of Br. Alan Reed, OSB, Jan. ’23

Mark Knooihuizen, Feb. ’23

Gary Loosbrock, father of Troy ’93 and brother of Steve ’69 and Mark ’72, May ’23

1969 Tim Casey, July ’23

Judith Kidder, spouse of Larry, March ’23

Mike Pierce, brother of deceased, Steve ’76, July ’22

Carol Thull, spouse of Roman, July ’23

1970 Bruce Campbell, May ’23

Daniel Kelly, Jr., father of Sean 96, brother of Tim ’69 and Terry 78, Feb. ’23

Dave Lisnock, June ’23

Rev. William Martin, Jr., Feb. ’23

Mike Westendorf, Feb. ’23

1971 Rev. William Connell, April ’23

James Dillon, April ’23

Matt Haidinyak, March ’22

Chuck Rowley, May ’23

1972 Jerry Falker, brother of deceased, Steve ’76, July ’23

Richard Michelizzi, March ’22

Rev. Dr. Wayne Stumme, May ’23

1974 Jennifer Cahoy, spouse of Bill, April ’23

1975 Tony Meyer, father of Nicholas ’02, Peter ’06 and brother of Michael ’72, June ’23.

1975 Tom Piekarczyk, Sept. ’22

1977 S. Marietta Crahan, OSB, May ’23

Rev. D. Timothy Grimme, SOT/Sem, Mar. ’23

Tom Mahowald, May ’23

1978 Patsy Christopherson, spouse of Pat, Feb. ’23

Rose Mary Goosens, mother of Edward ’78, Paul ’83 and Robert ’86, brother of Paul Berres ’59 and SOT/Sem ’63, deceased brother, Rev. Peregrin Berres, OSB ’53 and SOT/Sem ’57, Feb. ’23

1979 Bruce Hendricks, May ’23

1981 Edward Germscheid, father of Peter ’81, Paul ’85 and Joe ’87, May ’23

Ida Neary, mother of Brad ’81, May ’23

1982 Kathryn Arndt, SOT/Sem, Jan. ’23

S. Mary Forman, OSB, April ’23.

Fred G. Taccolini, father of Fred, June ’23

1983 Pierre LaFrance, father of Greg, Paul ’84, brother of deceased Eugene ’54 and Albert ’55, July ’23

Mary Jo Skemp, spouse of Charlie, Feb. ’23

1984 Sidney McGee, father of Jon and Tim ’86, March ’23

1987 John Woodward, son of Al ’63, June ’23

1988 Greg Goenner, brother of Brad ’87, April ’23

1989 Scott Kopp, June ’23.

1990 Jim Woford, May ’23

1991 Merlin Roers, brother of Marty ’93, June ’23

1992 Cindy Haider Peterson, spouse of Steve, July ’23

Frederic Hotz, June ’23

Bill Smith, father of Aaron, April ’23

Steve Smith, Feb. ’23

1993 Donald Drever, father of Ross, May ’23

Frank Keeler, Nov. ’23

Taylor Majeres, son of Nate, Oct. ’22

1994 S. Jo Ann Senko, SOT/Sem, Nov. ’22

1995 Joey Christensen, March ’23

Samantha Jennings-Jones, spouse of Jon Libbesmeier, March ’23

Stephen Jeske, Feb. ’22

1997 Janice Skram, mother of Mike, June ’23

1999 Rev. Dennis Bushkofsky, Feb. ’23

2001 Mark Krotzer, brother of Jacob ’00, May ’21

2002 Dick Berendes, father of Chuck and Gabe ’03, April ’23

2007 Mat Eickhoff, son of Tom ’82, May ’23

Welcome to Our Youngest Alums!

Saint John’s University ushered the 166th installment of graduates into its ranks of alumni May 14 when 332 SJU grads and 23 grads of the School of Theology received their diplomas in the Commencement ceremony at the Abbey Church.

“Being a Johnnie is not just about the academic rigor, but also about the relationships we’ve built, the values we live by and the impact we’ve had on the world around us,” said Durran Thompson ’23 in his address to his fellow graduates.

Added Brian Bruess, the joint president of Saint John’s and the College of Saint Benedict: “The unique something you all share is the knowledge that wherever you go and whatever you do, you have forever membership with no expiration date in one incredible, indelible Bennie/Johnnie family.

“It’s a powerful, inspiring thing.”

The most popular majors in the Saint John’s graduating class were global business leadership (80), accounting (58), computer science (26), biology (24) and economics (15).

Becoming Better Companions in the Journey

New Saint John’s cohort groups meet to discuss alignment of Benedictine Values with their everyday lives

By Joe Eiden ’10

It’s the third Thursday of the month, and 10 Johnnies are finding a comfortable space in their homes. They’re grabbing their beverage of choice and flicking on their cameras via Zoom, greeting each other with smiles and pleasantries.

conversations about how to bring the Benedictine tradition and values into our lives and into our world,” said Dick Howard ’72.

Through informal, guided sessions, either in person or virtually, current groups find that the anticipated, regular meeting fosters deep connection. Each conversation explores a topic that is relevant to the group and offers the opportunity for everyone to share thoughts and opinions, struggles and successes relative to the topic.

“The intergenerational element of our cohort group has been a critical element of its success,” said Nick Curtis ’01. “When we come together, it is not uncommon for us to have a collection of Johnnies spanning seven decades.

“Sharing our diverse set of experiences helps us become better fathers, sons, brothers, partners and companions in the journey.”

globe to form or join a cohort group that will meet regularly in person or virtually.

Initially, each cohort will receive startup facilitation assistance from a seasoned cohort practitioner from the Benedictine Way Committee, including guidance from SJU Alumni Chaplain Fr. Tim Backous ’76, OSB. The frequency will be determined by each group, with the time commitment for each session around 90 minutes.

If you are interested in leading or joining a group, contact Joe Eiden at eiden.joe@gmail.com

Joe Eiden is a senior human resources business partner at Datasite, a tech company based in Minneapolis, where he lives with his wife Laura (Kinowski, CSB ’10) and their children Lou (8), Emma (6) and Hattie (4).

But this is not just another conference call or gathering of Johnnies: It is a cohort of men from various backgrounds, careers, family structures, generations and faith communities, all with one common thread: Saint John’s University. The roundtable format discusses the application of Benedictine values to everyday life.

The idea was hatched more than a decade ago by a handful of Johnnie alumni, including Alumni Board members.

“The goal was to have meaningful

This companionship and brotherhood continue for Johnnies well past graduation. Each Johnnie will take his experience as a student out into the world in his own way, and each will have the foundational building blocks of the Benedictine values to guide their lives and change the world for good. These small groups of Johnnies continue to explore ways to turn those values into practices in their lives.

Two SJU Alumni Board committees are partnering to expand the cohort experience for deeper conversations and open the door for Johnnies across the

SJU Organizing Vow Renewal Gathering

If you were married by Fr. Tim Backous, OSB, he would like you to send the date and year of your wedding. He will be inviting as many couples as possible to renew their vows in a festive gathering at Saint John’s. Please send your information to tbackous@csbsju.edu or by text to 320-492-2852. The date of this event has not been set.

Tamm ’04 Uses Foresight to Benefit Future Johnnies

Derek Tamm remembers what it was like for him as a high school senior, wondering if he’d be able to afford Saint John’s University.

“I grew up as a farm kid in Albany, Minnesota,” he recalled. “My family certainly wasn’t affluent by any means, so I was heavily reliant on financial support when I was at Saint John’s. My academics didn’t hurt, but it took the financial resources that were available to me to make being there a reality.

“I was the beneficiary of someone else’s foresight.” Now Tamm, a 2004 graduate who has gone on to a successful career in financial planning, hopes to use his own foresight to assist future Johnnies.

That’s why the managing director at Northwestern Mutual-Minneapolis elected to designate Saint John’s as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, meaning the contributions he’s making today will result in a much larger benefit to the school sometime in the future.

“By doing it this way, I can turn a $500-month contribution into half-a-million of death benefit to the university after I pass away,” Tamm explained. “It’s a way that – without requiring a significant amount of money – that allows you to do something really extraordinary down the line.

“The scope of the liberal arts education there was so comprehensive that it made me a much more wellrounded person,” said Tamm, an economics major.

“I established lasting relationships, not just with my classmates, but with alums. Those relationships have made a big difference to me over the years.

“When they say (SJU) alums pay it forward, that’s a real thing. We’re all part of this community.”

Tamm said his approach may not be right for everyone, but for those seeking a chance to pay it forward in the future it’s something worth looking into.

“Before anyone does anything like this, I’d tell them to make sure they have their own plans in place,” said Tamm, whose wife Melinda owns Ms. Melinda’s Dance Studio in Waite Park. They have two boys ages 8 and 6.

“Like they say on an airplane, make sure you have your own mask on first before assisting others.

“But once you get your own plan on track, and you’re able to start thinking about how you can help, this is one of those ways.”

For more information on ways to LEAVE YOUR LEGACY through Charitable Gift Annuities, or other similar giving tools, please contact the Planned Giving team at 320-363-2116 or visit sjulegacy.org