By Frank Rajkowski, SJU Writer/Video Producer

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - When it comes to mentors, Brady Brink '08 had two of the best a basketball player growing up in Minnesota could ask for.

The All-MIAC standout played for legendary former Saint John's University basketball coach Jim Smith during his four seasons in Collegeville from 2004-08. Smith, who retired in 2015 after 51 seasons coaching the Johnnies, ended his career with 786 career victories – the most of any coach at any level in Minnesota college basketball history.

But Brink, a Waconia (Minn.) High School graduate, was also the grandson of prep basketball coaching legend Bob Brink. He died last fall at age 84.

Bob Brink coached for over four decades at Rocori High School in Cold Spring, winning 22 conference championships, making 13 state tournaments and ending his career with 936 victories – the second-most in Minnesota boys basketball history.

"Anytime you can play for a coach that has as much experience as (Smith) had, you're going to learn so much," said Brady, now a regional sales manager for Stryker, a medical equipment manufacturing company, overseeing a territory that includes Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and part of Iowa.

"And my grandfather was coaching me from the first time I was old enough to pick up a basketball. So I learned so much from being around him. Between the two of them, there were a ton of wins and a ton of basketball knowledge. 

"They both had huge impacts on me – not just as a player, but as a person."

The knowledge Brink soaked up from being around both coaches was apparent during his stellar career with the Johnnies. He was named MIAC Sixth Man of the Year as a junior in 2006-07, then earned All-MIAC first-team honors as a senior in 2007-08 when he averaged a team-best 17.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.

During his junior season, SJU finished 21-8 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament, marking the Johnnies' only NCAA appearance between 2001 and 2018. A highlight of that year came 15 years ago this week – on Jan. 17, 2007 – when SJU knocked off archrival St. Thomas 64-59 before a crowd of almost 3,000 fans in a raucous Sexton Arena. 

The Johnnies led the Tommies – ranked No. 3 nationally in Division III – almost the entire way. St. Thomas staged a late rally and seized a 59-58 lead of its own with 1:45 left on the clock, but Tyler Westman '07 put SJU back on top when he hit a huge 3-pointer with just over a minute remaining. Brink put the game away by going 3-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 17 seconds.

The two teams had been tied for first place in the MIAC, but the victory put SJU alone at the top of the conference.

"I just remember it being jam-packed in there that night," said Brink, who finished with 10 points and a team-best nine rebounds. "There was so much energy in that place. That game went back-and-forth down the stretch, but Westman hit a huge shot. Then we got a couple of big stops on defense and hit our foul shots."

For Westman, it was almost a repeat of a home victory over St. Thomas the year before in which he hit a 3-pointer as time expired to send the game to overtime and SJU ended up winning 96-91.

"I just remember we played really well at home against St. Thomas during my time there," said Westman, a two-time All-MIAC pick. "I was just fortunate enough to hit a couple of big shots at the end of those games."

The Tommies got the last laugh, defeating SJU in the regular-season finale and again in the MIAC championship game (both times in St. Paul). But the Johnnies still managed to knock off Loras (Iowa) 85-82 in overtime in the first round of NCAA play before falling 93-76 at Division-III power Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

"We were a close-knit group of guys that year," Brink recalls. "The majority of us still keep in touch. We're all part of a text chain together. We had some wildly talented players, but we also had outstanding senior leadership. There were some guys who had played a lot of minutes, and they really set the tone. We all looked up to them."

"We had really talented players at every position on that team," said Westman, who now works in the trucking business and resides in Eden Prairie, Minn., with his wife and 19-month-old daughter. "We had the Schafers (Craig '07 and Scott '07) inside and Ryan Lieser '08, Matt Ohme '07 and myself to round things out. 

"Then Brady was just starting to come into his own and he turned that sixth-man role into an opportunity to do some really great things."

After graduation, Brink played a season of professional basketball in Germany, then another in Australia. He returned to the U.S. and began working for Stryker in 2010. 

He married former College of Saint Benedict basketball standout Mackenzie O'Neil (now Brink) and the couple currently reside in Byron, Minn. (located just outside Rochester) where they are raising four girls – ages 1, 5, 7 and 9.

"We probably have a couple of future Bennies tucked in there somewhere," he said with a chuckle.

20 years ago (2002) – The SJU football team announced it had added Wisconsin-Whitewater as a non-conference opponent for the 2002 season. The Warhawks, who have since gone on to become one of Division III's premiere programs, were just beginning to build their program up. In the 2002 season, the Warhawks scheduled non-conference games against both SJU and Mount Union (Ohio).

The Johnnies won that game 42-18 on Sept. 21 in Collegeville. The two programs have met in the playoffs four times since then, but have not again played in the regular season. That will change in 2022, however. SJU is scheduled to play host to Whitewater Sept. 10 in Clemens Stadium.

35 years ago (1987) – Phil Johnson '87, the MIAC men's basketball Most Valuable Player the previous season, scored 24 points (12 in each half) as the Johnnies topped St. Thomas 69-55 before a crowd listed at 4,500 on Jan. 21 in the Warner Palaestra.

65 years ago (1957) – In its Jan. 18 edition, The Record informed the SJU campus community of the sad news that sophomore wrestler Fran Bruggman had been killed in a tobogganing accident near his rural St. Joseph, Minn. home at the end of 1956. 

"He was extremely well-liked by both classmates and teachers," the paper wrote. "And was active on campus as a member of the Johnnie wrestling team, the Monogram Club and YCS, besides participating in various intramural sports."

80 years ago (1942) – SJU athletic director George Durenberger '28 announced that physical education would be compulsory for all college students.

"The minimum requirement will be three hours a week but again it is up to the students to decide whether or not they wish a more thorough course," reported The Record. "More about this will be told later, but for the present, enjoy those extra pounds while you are still able."