COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Though a talented golfer on the state junior circuit, Joe Parise never played the sport at the prep level.

The Virginia, Minn. native, who was considering a career in the priesthood, attended high school at Crosier Seminary in Onamia, which did not offer the sport.

But he made an immediate impact at the college level during his freshman season at Saint John's University in the spring of 1969. 

Though Parise (left) began play at that year's MIAC tournament as the Johnnies' No. 5 golfer, he fired a score of 76 during the first 18 holes of play at Braemar Golf Course in Edina on May 2 to tie for the tournament lead.

Then, when play picked back up in Coon Rapids on May 8, he again shot an 18-hole score of 76 and finished with a total of 152 to claim medalist honors.

"Terry Haws, who I loved, was our head coach," Parise said. "But he was also the head wrestling coach and an assistant coach in football. So golf wasn't his main focus. It was really the older guys on the team who decided who'd be playing where. I was the only freshman on the team, so I was the baby. That's why I was the fifth man. 

"I didn't care. I was just grateful to be playing. But during that final round in Coon Rapids, they paired everyone by score. So that ended up being the first time I'd played No. 1 the entire season. Being in that group really pushed me."

Parise's team, meanwhile, made up a nine-stroke deficit in the second round to finish with a final score of 819 and capture the first conference title in program history – edging second-place Macalester, which finished with a score of 820.

SJU did not win another title until 30 years later (1999), but has now won 15 in all.

"That was completely unexpected," Parise recalls. "We didn't even go into that second day thinking about whether we had a chance to win. But John Bonifaci played really well. He finished only (seven) strokes behind me. Joe Nett (who finished with a score of 165) played great. We made up a lot of ground."

Led by Parise, who essentially wrapped up medalist honors when he sank a 75-foot putt for a deuce on the par-three 13th hole, making up three strokes on the eventual runner-up – fellow freshman Tim Hultquist of Macalester, who'd won the Minnesota state high school title as a senior at Anoka the year before.

Hultquist – who was inducted into Macalester's Hall of Fame in 2013 – finished with a two-round total of 155. He and Parise played even the rest of the way, making that three-shot swing crucial.

"I think that really broke his spirit," recalls Parise, who sank a 58-foot putt earlier in the tournament. "He wasn't able to come back."

Parise, who had already reconsidered the priesthood as a career choice by the time he arrived at SJU, went on to finish in the top 10 at the conference meet in each of the next three seasons.

A stint in the army followed, then law school and a long career as a public defender in the Moorhead (Minn.) area before his retirement in 2013.

He's also remained an avid golfer over the decades and has even worked part-time at a public course in Moorhead in recent years.

"I still play three-or-four times a week, but not very well," he said with a laugh. "My handicap keeps going up the older I get."

2014 (10 years ago)
The SJU rugby club team defeated New England College 37-25 on April 27 in Glendale, Colo. to capture its second-straight small college national title.

Senior fullback Joe Thompson was named tournament MVP. 

2004 (20 years ago)
Fresh off winning his fourth national title the fall before, SJU head football coach John Gagliardi was inducted into the Colorado College Hall of Fame in a ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Gagliardi was a 1949 graduate of the school.

1994 (30 years ago)
Chris Palmer belted a grand slam as the SJU baseball team posted a wild 16-12 victory over Division II St. Cloud State in nonconference action on May 2 at Dick Putz Field.