By Frank Rajkowski, SJU Writer/Video Producer

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Vic Moore may have summed it up best when he addressed those in attendance at the start of the 2019 SJU J-Club Hall of Honor induction ceremony Saturday night (Oct. 5) in Guild Hall.

"Welcome to history being made," the J-Club president said. "We begin to write the book on the story of Johnnies' athletics tonight."

The Hall first became a reality last year. Legendary longtime head coaches John Gagliardi and Jim Smith were named the first two inductees in separate ceremonies. 



Gagliardi – the winningest coach in college football history - was inducted just weeks before his death at age 91 last fall. While Smith – the winningest college basketball coach at any level in Minnesota history – was inducted in a ceremony held this past February.

But Saturday's ceremony marked the enshrinement of the Hall's first full class. And the list of inductees read like a who's who of the school's athletic history.

They were:

•    John Cragg '71: Cragg was a three-time All-American in cross country (1968-70) and a two-time All-American in track and field in the six mile (1969-70). He finished second nationally as a junior and senior at the NCAA (college division) cross country championship, and second both times in the six-mile run. Cragg still holds the SJU record for the 10,000 meters (29:57.8, adjusted from a six-mile time).

•    Blake Elliott '03: Elliott led SJU's football team to the 2003 national championship, earning that year's Gagliardi Trophy honoring Division III's most outstanding player. The wide receiver is a seven-time candidate for the College Football Hall of Fame who still holds 15 of the school's individual records.
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•    Adam Hanna '07: A three-time All-American at goaltender, Hanna won the Sid Watson Award as the top player in NCAA Division III hockey in 2005-06, a year after he earned MIAC Most Valuable Player honors. He collected 51 wins in net, 14 of which were shutouts, in three seasons.

•    Pat Haws '72: Haws spent 37 years at SJU coaching swimming and diving (1973-98) and soccer (1978-09). He is the winningest coach in Minnesota college men's soccer history, guiding the Johnnies to a 341-140-50 (.689) record with seven regular-season conference titles and one MIAC playoff championship. In the pool, his swimmers and divers earned All-America status 40 times, and the team finished in the MIAC's top three 23 of the 25 seasons. He also coached golf and tennis at SJU.

•    John McDowell '64: McDowell was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the ninth round of the 1964 NFL Draft and played three seasons with the Packers, New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals. At SJU, he was a two-time All-American at offensive tackle, helping lead the Johnnies to the 1963 NAIA national championship. McDowell also played basketball and, as a thrower on the Johnnies' track and field team, won the conference title in the discus all four years and twice in the shot put. 

•    John "Blood" McNally '24: McNally played 14 seasons in the National Football League for five different teams. He was a four-time NFL champion, a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963 and was elected to the Green Bay Packers' Hall of Fame in 1970. As a student at SJU, McNally lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track and field. He became SJU's first MIAC champion in track and field in 1921 (high jump). McNally returned to SJU to complete his degree and served as head football coach from 1950-52. 

•    Sammy Schmitz '03: Schmitz is the only four-time All-MIAC, All-Region and All-American player in SJU golf history. He posted four top-eight finishes at the NCAA Championship, including a third-place finish in 2003. Schmitz competed at the 2016 Masters, thanks to a win at the 2015 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship. 

•    Bill Sexton '55: An All-American in 1954, Sexton ended his career as SJU basketball's all-time leading scorer with 1,480 career points, a total that now ranks him fifth. He still owns the program record for points in a game with 49. Sexton is also the namesake of the arena the SJU basketball team plays in today.

•    Frank Wachlarowicz '79: Wachlarowicz is the all-time leading scorer in SJU basketball history with 2,357 points, which also served as Minnesota's collegiate record until late in the 2018-19 season. The point total, like Bill Sexton's marks, are even more impressive considering they both played before the 3-point shot existed. Wachlarowicz was a two-time All-American, including first-team honors in 1979, and a two-time MIAC Most Valuable Player. 

•    Matt Zelen '99: Zelen remains the only Johnnie swimmer to capture a national title, winning the 50-yard freestyle in 1999. A 17-time All-MIAC honoree, Zelen achieved All-America distinction nine times in his collegiate career and went on to compete in the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials.

•    1963 football team: The first of four national championships for legendary head coach John Gagliardi, the Johnnies capped a 10-0 season with a 33-27 win over Prairie View A&M - featuring a roster that included future NFL standouts Otis Taylor and Ken Houston - in that year's NAIA national title game.

•    Tom Arth '66 and Fr. Wilfred Theisen '52, OSB, longtime supporters of athletics at Saint John's, were honored with the J-Club Distinguished Service Award.

The ceremony featured emotional moments, including when Bernie Beckman '64, an All-American member of the 1963 team, spoke of Gagliardi being the key ingredient in the team's victory over Prairie View.

"We had one thing they didn't have," he said. "We had the greatest coach in the history of college football – John Gagliardi."

Haws spoke movingly of his late father Terry Haws, who was an assistant football and head wrestling coach at Saint John's before his untimely passing at the age of 49 in 1972. 

He also expressed gratitude for the honor being bestowed on him.

"I played football on the bench," he said of his own athletic career prior to successfully taking up coaching. "I wrestled on my back and I pole vaulted on the ground. I was probably a better tuba player than I was an athlete. 

"But you let me into this place."

And the inductees praised Saint John's for the role the school played in their success.

"Anybody who wants a great education, and anybody who wants a great life, should come to Saint John's," McDowell told the crowd.