When Jim Platten was growing up in the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul in the 1960s, his dream was to one day become a priest.
He attended St. Therese Elementary School and served as an altar boy in his local parish.
"I was even named altar boy of the year in the Diocese of St. Paul by the Knights of Columbus," he recalled.
By the time he was 13, the then-eighth grader was ready to take the next step in his journey, which he assumed would mean enrolling at Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary, located on the shores of Lake Johanna just north of St. Paul (where the University of Northwestern now sits).
So he applied.
"And I was waiting and waiting and waiting and I never got my acceptance letter," Platten said. "Then one day my mom showed up at school to tell me the archbishop at the time had decided I couldn't go to Nazareth Hall. My parents adopted me when I was around a year, and there was a 16th Century Canon Law that said an illegitimate child couldn't be a priest."
Platten was devastated, but his mother Mary Jane refused to give up.
"She called the director of vocations at Crosier Seminary (in Onamia), but he wasn't there," Platten said. "But the guy who held that role at Saint John's Prep was named Fr. Arnold Weber. When my mom called him and explained the situation, he said he was going to go talk to the Abbot at the time (Baldwin Dworschak) and call us back. Baldwin said something to the effect of that was the craziest thing he'd ever heard. So he told Arnold to drive down and give me the entrance exam, and if I passed, I could enroll.
"So Arnold got in his car and drove down Highway 10 to our house. We were living over by the Ford Plant. He gave me the entrance exam. I took it at the kitchen table while he was in the living room talking to my parents about Saint John's because we'd never even heard of the place. When I was done, he came in, put the sheet over the paper and told me I'd done really well and I was accepted. I asked him what that meant and he told me I'd have to live up here, which was a bit of a curve ball. He left me with two postcards of the place – one of the dormitory and one of the Prep School itself. That was all I knew about the place. But I decided to come."
And while he changed his mind about the priesthood during high school, Platten remained at the Prep School into his junior year. He went back to St. Paul and graduated from Highland Park, then returned to Collegeville and enrolled at SJU – graduating in 1974. He has gone on to a long and successful career in health care and has continued to remain involved with his alma mater through the years, including serving on the alumni board from 2008 to the present.
"I'm a person who continues to feel the need to pay back," Platten said. "Arnold Weber went out of his way to help me out when he didn't need to, and this community accepted me and took me in. I grew up on this campus, and when I look at the young men who are on this campus today, I see amazing individuals. I feel blessed to be part of this place."
Platten's love for SJU has translated into a fierce devotion to Johnnie sports, including volunteering in the equipment room for the football team and other programs for well over 25 years now. Putting in thousands of hours – all for the love of the institution and the joy he's taken from forming connections with multiple generations of Johnnie athletes.
"Jim Platten is the epitome of a Saint John's guy," SJU football coach
Gary Fasching '81 said. "He's filled various roles throughout his life that have strongly connected him to Saint John's. Whether serving as Alumni Board president to volunteering in the equipment room, he lives out the Benedictine values that he cares deeply about.
"If there's a function going on at Saint John's, there's a good chance Jim will be there. One of my measuring sticks in determining the impact an individual has on a team or an organization is 'have they made a difference?' It's without question that Jim Platten has made a big difference at Saint John's. From students to coaches to alumni, Jim has made it his life passion to give more than he receives."
"Jim Platten bleeds Johnnie Red," head basketball coach Pat McKenzie '04 added. "His contributions to St. John's are only outweighed by his love for it. Very few people embrace and live out the Benedictine values more fully than Jim. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know or work with him have experienced that in our interactions. His impact can be felt and seen throughout our institution, and I firmly believe we are all better for it."
Platten said he would not have been able to do all he has without the support of his wife Barb, his daughter Shannon and her family (Santos, Alaina, KJ and Laila).
"Barb has often been another mom to a lot of the student-athletes when they are at our house," he said. "And KJ has been an awesome helper with the laundry – having locker numbers in his head and knowing where to put things."
The athletes Platten has formed connections with over the years say they have benefitted from his friendship, as well as from his guidance and assistance as they have pursued their professional and personal aspirations.
"He's meant the world to me," said former SJU running back Zack Sundly '17 (
right). "He was one of the people who really helped me get my foot in the door when it came to medicine, which was an important boost to my professional career. But he's also a close friend. He's someone I can reach out to with anything. You know he genuinely cares about you and your happiness. He'd give you the shirt off his own back if he thought that's what it would take to get you to a better place."
Of course, no discussion of Platten would be complete without discussing his unique sense of 'fashion.' Check the sideline at any Johnnie football game – home or away and in any weather condition. He'll be the guy wearing his trademark cargo shorts.
It's yet another way he pitches in to the team's success.
"(Legendary longtime head football coach) John Gagliardi was a superstitious guy," Platten said. "One day he asked me why I was always wearing shorts, even when it was freezing out. I told him it was because I believed wearing shorts helped us win games. He told me 'Don't ever stop.' And I haven't."
Nor has he stopped being there whenever the athletes need him.
"I refer to the equipment room as Switzerland," he said. "There are no coaches in there. You can just come in and do a data dump. You can talk about life or what you want to do in the future. I just really enjoy being around these guys. I'm grateful I'm able to hopefully play a role in their lives."
