*J-Club Distinguished Service Award Recipient
It was athletics that first drew Thom Woodward to Saint John's University.
Football, specifically.
"I was an impressionable sophomore in high school in Central New Jersey in the fall of 1963 when I picked up a copy of
The Sporting News and read that Saint John's in Minnesota had won a (NAIA) national championship," Woodward recalls. "Then, as a senior in 1965, I read in
The Sporting News that they'd won it again.
"I thought maybe I'd be able to play small-college football out there. I discussed it with my parents and they were OK with it. So I enrolled. The first day I saw the campus was the start of football practice my freshman year (in 1966)."
Woodward played for the Johnnies for two seasons. He has been involved with SJU athletics in some form or fashion almost ever since.
He worked as an aspiring sportswriter at the
St. Cloud Times, and in New Jersey and Illinois, for a few years after his graduation in 1970. But in 1973, he returned to his alma mater as the school's news service director, overseeing SJU sports information. It was in that capacity that Woodward followed the SJU football team on the road during the run to the 1976 Division III national title.
"Lee Hanley, who had been the chief public information officer and editor of the
Saint John's Magazine, had gotten some new assignments," Woodward said. "So they needed someone to come in and pick up the public information role."
Woodward moved on to a position in institutional advancement in 1980, serving as director of alumni relations and taking a leading role with the J-Club as secretary. With approval from the J-Club board, membership went beyond former Johnnie student-athletes to include alumni, parents and friends; marketing featured J-Club lapel pins, luggage tags and clothing as well as the traditional pass for two to home athletic contests.
The staff administrator coordinating J-Club activities, Woodward was on the point in establishing the Gagliardi Trophy in 1993. The award is named in honor of legendary former Johnnies head football coach John Gagliardi and presented annually to the most outstanding football player in NCAA Division III. It was sponsored by Jostens for many years before Stearns Bank came aboard as the sponsor last season.
"As John was approaching his 300th victory (which came during the 1993 season), Gary Eustice, a former Johnnie football player who was the president of the J-Club at the time, asked why there wasn't a player of the year award in Division III," Woodward said. "So we thought why not create one and have John's name attached to it. The way the stars all aligned was amazing. At the time, Jostens was looking for a way to get their name out to Division III colleges. So they came on board as a presenting sponsor.
"Then I called (John's friend and legendary former Minnesota Vikings head coach) Bud Grant and asked him if he'd be on the committee to help us select the winner because we didn't want the J-Club to be the judge and jury. He said yes, which allowed me to drop his name with other people who all came aboard. We presented the first award to Mount Union quarterback (Jim Ballard) in 1993, the first year the Stagg Bowl was played in Salem, Va., and we've been doing it ever since."
Woodward also designed the SJU No. 1 logo used for more than 20 years on printed programs, playing fields and uniforms.
"I never intended it to be braggadocios," he said. "It was meant to be a reminder that Johnnies should strive to be number one – to be the best student, best athlete, best son, best husband and father, best employee and employer, and best citizen."
In addition to his role in institutional advancement, from which he retired in 2010, Woodward was an assistant baseball coach at SJU for 18 seasons – the last several on a volunteer basis. He also served as the program's recruiting coordinator for several years.
He stepped away in 2023, though he still helps in various capacities. Christened "Woody Way," the corridor leading from the new Johnnie baseball clubhouse directly into the home dugout is in recognition of his tenure with the team and donations he and his wife Jeanne have made (
right).
