Fr. Dunstan Tucker '25 made history, both as an athlete and as a longtime coach, faculty member and administrator at Saint John's University.
He also lived history, serving his country as a Naval chaplain in the Pacific during World War II.
Then Tucker wrote history, chronicling the story of Johnnie athletics from the very beginning through the late 1970s in the definitive "
Scoreboard: A History of Athletics at Saint John's University," which he co-wrote with fellow monk Martin Schirber and published in 1979.
"Dunstan was just an outstanding guy," said Jim Smith, the head basketball coach at SJU from 1964-2015. "He did so many things at Saint John's. He's actually the guy who first contacted me about taking the job here. He called our house and asked if I'd be interested in the basketball coaching job. I'd never heard of Saint John's at the time. But he asked me if I'd have any interest in coming up and that set everything in motion."
The son of a grain elevator operator in Tintah, a tiny town in Minnesota's Red River Valley, Tucker (who then went by the first name Joe) arrived at Saint John's as a student in 1920.
"A poet, a philosopher and a mystic, Joe will be known wherever he goes - and to know him is to love him," read the description that accompanied his photo in the 1922 edition of the
Sagatagan yearbook.
Tucker also played baseball, playing a key role on the SJU squads of 1921 and '22, even drawing a tryout offer from a pro scout.
"I told him I was flattered," said Tucker in a Feb. 21, 1958 profile story in the
Minneapolis Star. "But that I was going to study for the priesthood."
Indeed, he entered the Saint John's Benedictine community in 1923 and was ordained in 1929. In 1932, he became chair of the SJU English Department – a role he held through 1952 except when his military duties took him away from campus. He later served as the school's academic dean from 1958-67.
He also became SJU's head baseball coach in 1932, then after a one-year hiatus, took over again from 1934-37. He returned to the post from 1939-43 and 1947-50 before coming out of retirement for one last stint from 1968-71.
Along the way his teams won four conference championships – in 1936, '37, '42 and '69.
"He was gone before I got here," said
Jerry Haugen '76, who played four seasons at SJU before graduating in 1976, then took over the head baseball coaching job in 1978 and has held it ever since.
"But I had the chance to visit with him a few times. He was a really sharp guy. He gave me the book he put together on baseball and a few others – including one on how to play second base by Honus Wagner. I still have a couple of them on my shelf."
The star first baseman on Tucker's early teams was Eugene McCarthy, who went on to serve as one of his assistant coaches before embarking on a political career that led to the U.S. Senate and multiple presidential runs.
"I'm very proud of him," said Tucker of the then-Congressman in the same 1958 Star profile story. "He was an A student, completed four years' work in three years and received his bachelor's degree in English summa cum laude."
Tucker told the
Star he was proud of all his players' accomplishments as athletes, but even more so as people.
"Like most professors, I have little tolerance for the idea of a young man going to school only to play at a sport," said Tucker, a member of the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame. "It's the most expensive way of having a good time I know. I was always proud of my ballplayers – but particularly when they became good professional men."
After stepping down as baseball coach for the final time in 1971, Tucker focused on his role as historian. He co-wrote "
Scoreboard," which remains a vital source for anyone researching the history of Johnnie sports.
"That book was really definitive," said Smith, who just completed work on his own book on the history of the SJU basketball program. "He made sure a lot of names and events didn't get lost in the shuffle of history."
In 1974, Tucker was named the winner of the Walter Reger Award, the highest honor bestowed by the SJU Alumni Association for service to alma mater.
"It is difficult to sum up in a few paragraphs the richness of a life as full as that lived by Fr. Dunstan," read his obituary in the
SJU Alumni Magazine. "He was indeed blessed with many talents which he wished to use to the fullest. But most of all he was Fr. Dunstan the monk, always solicitous about his profession of the monastic life, always seeking God through prayer and reading and gardening."
