Joe Mucha '66 had a standout career in two sports at Saint John's University during the early-to-mid-1960s.
But even all these years later, he still isn't able to pick a favorite.
"The honest answer is that when I was in that season, that was the sport I liked best," Mucha said. "And I think that's the attitude you have to take if you're really going to be able to pull off being a two-sport athlete."
Mucha did more than just pull it off.
The Montgomery, Minn., native excelled on both the football field and basketball court.
As a football player, he was part of the first two national titles in school history – in 1963 and '65. As a senior, he played a key role as a two-way starter in 1965 and hauled in a 52-yard touchdown pass to help the Johnnies blank Linfield (Ore.) 33-0 in that season's NAIA national championship game in Augusta, Ga. (
L to R: Dennis Sharkey, Mucha and Larry Hergott pose following the 1965 championship game).
In basketball, he was a four-year starter at center who, as a senior in 1965-66, became just the second Saint John's player to earn All-America honors. That was the same season in which he led the MIAC in scoring with an average of 24.6 points per game.
Star on the court
But Mucha had already built a reputation on the court long before that, breaking into the starting lineup as a freshman under then-head coach Ed Hasbrouck.
Initially, his calling card was his rebounding.
As a sophomore in 1963 (just off the football team's victory over Prairie View A&M in the NAIA national title game), he had 13 rebounds in the first half alone in a game against Parsons College of Iowa at a holiday tournament in Fargo, N.D.
"My first two years, I hardly ever got the ball in the offense we were running," Mucha said. "I used to joke that the only way I was going to get the ball in my hands was to intercept one of our own in-bound passes. So I focused on rebounding and I got pretty good at it.
"I felt like I owned a piece of geography on that floor. It was my land and nobody was going to mess with me there. People say I played like a tight end. Which is what I was, I guess."
However, with the arrival of new head coach
Jim Smith prior to the 1964-65 season, Mucha began to be featured more as a scorer. And the team's fortunes started to improve.
"Joe and several other basketball players interviewed (wife) Adrienne and I during the Easter break (in 1964)," Smith remembers. "There were no other students on campus. I was very impressed by the quality of the players, but had no idea if they could play the kind of basketball I wanted.
"But that meeting was a huge factor in my choosing Saint John's."
Although the Johnnies finished in eighth place in the MIAC during Smith's first season – matching their finish the year before – the team soared all the way to third during Mucha's senior season in 1965-66 (
below, Mucha is #43), beginning a build that would culminate in the program's first conference title in 1968-69.
Mucha played a big part in making that happen.
"Joe was a major part of the basketball foundation you see in our program today," Smith said.
Though Mucha joined the team late because of football his senior year, he took over once he got there – scoring 30 points or more four times against MIAC opponents.
"Special tribute has to go to Joe Mucha,"
The Record reported at season's end. "Joe's final season at Saint John's was a measure of how much he wanted to play for a winner. Unlike many two sport men, Joe was equally at home on either the gridiron or the hardwood, and any rating of MIAC centers would have to have him near the top."
Smith went on to win 786 games before retiring as the winningest basketball coach at any level in Minnesota college history following the 2014-15 season. Meanwhile, Mucha's football coach –
John Gagliardi – won four national titles in all and compiled 489 career victories before retiring in 2012 – making him the winningest coach at any level in college football history. Both former coaches were inducted into the J-Club Hall of Honor during the 2018-19 academic year.
"I learned so much from both of them," Mucha said. "They both believed in me and I owe both of them so much. But I owe Saint John's so much more. (Gagliardi) said I shouldn't come to Saint John's just to play football. I should come to get a great education. And that's what happened. Saint John's opened up so many possibilities in my life."
Paying it forward
Which is why Mucha has made giving back such a high priority in the years since his graduation. After leaving Collegeville, he spent three years in the U.S. Army stationed in Okinawa. Then he went on to get his master's degree from the University of Minnesota.
He embarked on a distinguished career in the corporate world, including serving as the longtime Vice President of Human Resources for General Mills. But he also served as the SJU Alumni Association's president (1997-98) and on the SJU Board of Regents (2000-09), then rejoined the school's board of trustees in 2012, serving three years as chair. He has remained there ever since.
He has served as vice-chair of several capital campaigns and headed the search committee tasked with selecting Gagliardi's replacement following the legendary coach's retirement.
But the memories of what he accomplished as an athlete remain strong, even after more than a half-century has past.
"I think the thing I'm most proud of is being part of teams, and playing with teammates, that helped take Johnnie athletics to another level," Mucha said. "Winning those national championships in football was a huge deal that meant so much to the school. And, in basketball, we were the doormat of the conference my first two years there. But when Jim arrived, we got things going in the right direction.
"Those teams really helped set the stage for what sports at Saint John's would become."
