Banquet Registration

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Twelve individuals and one team will be inducted into Saint John's University's J-Club Hall of Honor on Homecoming Saturday, Oct. 5.

Each member of the Hall of Honor class will be highlighted in the weeks leading up to their enshrinement in a ceremony scheduled for Guild Hall (Old Gym). The event begins with a 5 p.m. social and 5:45 dinner and program following the Johnnies' Homecoming football game against Augsburg in Clemens Stadium.

Registration is $75 per person through Sept. 21 ($100 per person after) and includes dinner and beverages. All proceeds go to the J-Club to support SJU athletics.

Those honored (listed alphabetically) include: 

-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.

-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 will be awarded the J-Club Distinguished Service Award. 

A longtime supporter of Johnnie athletics and member of the J-Club, Arth served as player-coach for the SJU tennis team as a sophomore, junior and senior. One of the first students Jim Smith met when visiting SJU (to interview) for the vacant basketball coach position, Arth assisted the program as a student manager, student coach and athletic trainer. 

Visible at most, if not all, SJU home athletic events, Theisen taught physics at SJU for 47 years and was named professor emeritus upon his retirement in 2005. He is a former SJU faculty representative to the MIAC and continues as treasurer of the J-Club. He is the namesake of the SJU athletic department's annual student-athlete award, which has been handed out since 2013.

The Hall of Honor inducted two legendary SJU coaches as its charter members during the 2018-19 academic year. Football coach John Gagliardi was inducted last September. College football's all-time wins leader with 489, Gagliardi won four national titles at SJU (1963, 1965, 1976 and 2003) and made the 2000 national title game. He was inducted shortly before his passing on Oct. 7 at the age of 91. 

Long-time basketball coach Jim Smith entered the Hall of Honor with a ceremony on Feb. 6, 2019. The winningest collegiate basketball coach on any level in Minnesota, Smith retired in March 2015 following 51 seasons at SJU with a 786-556 career record (.586).