COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - During his time on stage Saturday night, former Johnnie golf great Clinton Dammann was asked what he gained during the years he spent at Saint John's.
 
"Stories and relationships," Dammann said. "And some of the relationships I formed here are still my best friends now. Those relationships are invaluable, and the stories that come along with them are forever."
 
Plenty such stories were told during Saturday's annual SJU J-Club dinner and induction ceremony as Dammann, nine other individuals and one team took their place alongside other Johnnie athletic greats.
 
The event, held in Guild Hall, drew a crowd of around 300 people and served as the capstone to a day of Homecoming festivities on campus. A video highlighting each inductee was played before they joined event emcee Mark Lewandowski, the radio voice of Johnnie athletics, on stage for a short question-and-answer session.
 
In addition to Dammann, this year's list of inductees included:
 
·      Fr. Otto Weber OSB '57 (Wrestling/coaching/administration)
 
·      Dr. Bob Dumonceaux '61 (J-Club Distinguished Service Award)
 
·      James Holmes '69 (Basketball/track and field)
 
·      Don Kluk '71 (Track and field)
 
·      Bob Hanson '79 (Hockey)
 
·      Dave Arnold '73 (Football/track and field)
 
·      Jim Wagner '94 (Football)
 
·      Ryan Roder '97 (Baseball)
 
·      John Newman '99 (Wrestling)
 
·      The 1968 SJU cross country team
 
"It's so cool to hear stories about the impact Saint John's has had on these alums and about all the experiences they had here," J-Club President Dan Murphy '05 said. "To be able to fill a room like Guild Hall for an event like this is really special. 
 
"It highlights the amazing support for Johnnie athletics that exists in the SJU community."
 
The evening was filled with humorous anecdotes, fond remembrances and deep emotions. Wagner, a multi-time All-American defensive lineman, got choked up when he spoke of the impact longtime Johnnies football coach John Gagliardi had on his players.
 
"John always made you feel better after talking to him," he said. "That's something we could all learn from him. If we each tried to make people feel better after we talk to them, the world would be a better place.
 
"You never left his office not feeling better about who you were and what you'd accomplished."
 
Ryan Roder, who in 1997 became the first SJU baseball player to earn All-American honors, asked the crowd to remember accounting and finance professor Warren 'Boz' Bostrom, a huge supporter of Johnnie and College of Saint Benedict athletics, who passed away last fall after battling illness.
 
"Boz did amazing things for these schools," Roder said. "He made accounting cool, which is hard to do. It's hard to fill the void he left. But we as a community can keep standing up not just for student-athletes, but for students here in general. 
 
"We can keep doing what Boz was doing."
 
The Hall of Honor was first established in 2018 with legendary SJU head coaches Gagliardi and Jim Smith as the initial two inductees. A full class has been inducted every year since 2019 (with the exception of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the event to be postponed).
 
"It's nice to see alumni from so many different eras coming back to campus and reuniting with friends and supporters like this," said Adam Herbst '99, SJU's associate vice president of university relations.
 
"To feel the love this community has for them and what they've done for Saint John's."