COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - A pair of brothers led the way as the Saint John's University basketball team prepared to tip off the 1935-36 season 90 years ago.
 
Guard Earl Meinz was the Johnnies' captain. He was coming off a season when he'd finished second in the MIAC in scoring with 102 points. Younger brother Barney, meanwhile, had turned heads as a freshman and was ready to start his sophomore season at forward.
 
"Captain Earl Meinz is a player with a decidedly unorthodox style of play, but the fact that he was second-high scorer in the conference and the choice of the St. Paul Pioneer Press for a position (on) their second all-state team proves that the lettermen entrusted their destiny to the leadership of a capable man," The Record wrote as it described the siblings from St. Cloud Cathedral High School in its preseason preview.
 
"Barney, the junior member of the Meinz duo, plays forward and excels in push-shots from either hand. He can be depended upon to find the hoop several times in any game."
 
That's just what happened when SJU opened its season at St. Cloud Teachers College (now St. Cloud State) on Dec. 6. 
 
"In the first quarter, (Barney) Meinz was the scoring threat with an offensive formation designed to bring him in for the short tosses to the hoop," wrote the St. Cloud Times of a 37-29 Johnnies' win in which Barney led all scorers with 12 points.
 
SJU went on to defeat St. Cloud 35-31 in a rematch a week later at home in Collegeville. Earl finished that game with six points and was again the Johnnies' leading scorer much of the season until a late surge by sophomore Vedie Himsl caught him for the top spot.
 
Still, Earl ranked second on the squad with 62 points and Barney was third with 58. Unfortunately, after the 2-0 start, SJU slumped – finishing the year just 5-14 overall. 
 
Earl and Barney though , who also played other sports for the Johnnies, each went on to bigger things.
 
After serving in the U.S. Army in North Africa, Italy and Germany and earning a Purple Heart during World War II, Earl opened a law office in St. Cloud. He was appointed a judge in 1946 and served on the bench until his untimely death at just 46 following a battle with illness in December 1960.
 
"That the people of Stearns County have lost (through the) death of Judge Earl J. Meinz, a true friend, a kind, willing, generous, honest and most efficient official, who (only) ever had the best interest of the people at heart," read a resolution of condolence from the Stearns County Board of Commissioners following his passing.
 
Barney served as an instructor pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during the war and remained in the service afterward – retiring in 1969 as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. According to his obituary, he also joined his father at First American National Bank in St. Cloud in 1945 and rose up through the ranks there, eventually serving as president until his retirement in April 1973.
 
He continued serving on the bank's board of directors until 1985 and remained active in a number of different civic organizations until his death at age 84 in December 2001.

20 years ago (2005)
The Johnnie hockey team swept Saint Mary's 7-3 and 4-1 in a weekend series in Winona Dec. 9-10. The victories extended SJU's winning streak to seven games after a 1-1-2 start.
 
The Johnnies won two more games after the holiday break to run the winning streak to nine.

30 years ago (1994)
Junior Phil Steger won three events as the SJU swim team edged St. Thomas 48-47 in a back-and-forth MIAC dual meet on Dec 9 in St. Paul. It was the Johnnies' final competition before the holiday break.

100 years ago (1925)
Future SJU coach and athletic director George Durenberger earned the first of what would be three-straight selections to the All-MIAC football team.

"When Coach (Eugene) Aldrich called together the 1924 squad for the first practice, he was confronted by a husky individual who – when asked what position he played – answered 'I don't know. I've never been under a coach.' This was a rather inauspicious beginning for the person who, a little more than a year later, was placed on the all-conference eleven," The Record wrote of the news.