J-Club Hall of Honor | Event Registration

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - It's a record that has stood for over 56 years.
 
But after crossing the finish line in the 120-yard hurdle finals at the 1971 NCAA College Division national meet in Sacramento, Don Kluk didn't think he'd run very well at all.
 
"I was lined up against Rodney Milburn (from Southern University), who went on to win the Olympic gold medal (in the 110-meter hurdles) in Munich the following year," Kluk recalled. "There was another guy from North Carolina Central (Ron Draper), who was running sub-14 seconds as well. 
 
"Those two finished first and second," he continued. "I was behind them so I didn't know how fast I was going. I also hit a hurdle. So I really didn't feel like I had my best race."
 
Yet Kluk finished in a time of 14 seconds even, setting a school record that remains intact today (the 110-meter format is now used collegiately, but even with that change, Kluk's time still stands through the 2026 season). 
 
"I had no idea I'd run as fast as I did," he said. "If I'd run a clean race, I feel like I could have gone sub-14. But it was still a great way to end my college career."
 
A career in which he earned All-American honors four times and won MIAC titles in the 120 hurdles four straight years. He also claimed a conference title in the 440 hurdles as a junior in 1970 – the same season in which the Johnnies captured their first MIAC team title in 12 years – and placed second in the event the following year, even after pulling a muscle.
 
"He was so dominant in his event that it raised the whole team's feeling about what they were capable of," said Kluk's teammate Chuck Ceronsky, a two-time track and field All-American in the steeplechase himself. 
 
"Not that any other hurdler thought they could run as fast as Don. No one could do that. But when you have someone who is so dominant and so incredible, it inspires everyone else to take their performances to another level as well."


 
Kluk, though, drew his inspiration from another hurdler – his brother Tony, who ran at SJU in the early 1960s.
 
"He's five years older than me and I kind of followed in his shadow," said Kluk, one of seven children who grew up on the family farm. "He was the oldest child and set quite a path for us – athletically and academically. 
 
"The first time I ran the hurdles, I was a freshman in high school. It went pretty well, though I wasn't blazing any new trails by any means. As a sophomore, I got closer to the times my brother had been running. Then, as a junior, I surpassed them. By the time I was a senior in 1967, I was winning all my races against the competition we were facing."
 
But the competition got tougher when he qualified for the state meet that season. Kluk finished second overall in the 120 hurdles in a time of 14.6, just a tenth-of-a-second slower than champion Bob Palmer of St. Paul Park.
 
Palmer went on to run at MIAC archrival Macalester, meaning he and Kluk would cross paths collegiately – with different results.
 
"Losing to him (at the state meet) gave me something to shoot for," Kluk said with a chuckle. "All I can say is he never beat me again."
 
Nor did anyone else in the MIAC for four years running. 
 
"He was such a tough competitor," said then-SJU head coach Jim Smith. "He dominated in the high hurdles. It's why we decided to convert him to the intermediate hurdles as well."
 
Not that Kluk was excited about that prospect initially.
 
"(The 440) is a much longer race and I never trusted myself at that distance," Kluk said. "I didn't have a lot of confidence about doing it. But both Jim and Chuck said they thought I could help the team. So I gave it a shot."
 
The result was a conference title in the event in 1970, making Kluk a double champion. That performance helped the Johnnies finally snap Macalester's 11-season run as MIAC champions. 
 
SJU finished the meet with 71.5 points, 7.5 ahead of the second-place Scots.
 
"When it comes to sporting events I've had the chance to be part of, the conference meet that season is at the very top," Kluk said. "Macalester had been so dominant in MIAC track and field. To be able to beat them was very satisfying.
 
"I can still remember making that trip around the track holding the trophy with my teammates. It was a spectacular moment."
 
Kluk went on to finish sixth in the 120 hurdles at both the NAIA and NCAA College Division national meets that season, earning All-American status at each. He added a fourth-place finish at the NAIA indoor national meet as a senior the following year, then helped the Johnnies repeat as MIAC outdoor champions.
 
That set the stage for his record-breaking run at the NCAA national meet in Sacramento.
 
"I felt good going into that race," he said. "The weather was good. I knew I wasn't going to be able to compete against Milburn. He had a gear I didn't. I could stick with him to the first hurdle, maybe the second if I was lucky. After that, he pulled away.
 
"But I still felt like I had the potential to do pretty well."
 
Yet Kluk – who spent two decades in the Air Force after graduating from SJU, then flew for Airborne Express until retiring in 2009 – never imagined the record he set that day would still be standing all these years later.
 
"It's pretty unbelievable," said Kluk, a father of three children with his wife Carol (a 1972 CSB graduate). "At the time, all you're trying to do is run the best time you can. You don't think about setting a record or how long it might last.
 
"But it's a nice feeling to know you did something that has held up for that long."

2026 Hall of Honor Class 
The 2026 class will be inducted into the Saint John's University J-Club Hall of Honor in a ceremony scheduled for Homecoming Saturday – Oct. 17 - in Guild Hall (Old Gym). 

The dinner and enshrinement ceremony begins at 5 p.m. in Guild Hall (Old Gym). A Homecoming Celebration social will again take place outside the venue from 4-5 p.m. following SJU's football game against Concordia in Clemens Stadium prior to the dinner and program. 

Registration is $75 per person before Oct. 11 ($100 per person after) and includes dinner and beverages. Children ages 6-12 are $35 and those ages six-and-under are free. All proceeds go to the J-Club to support SJU athletics.

To register to attend, click here. 

-2006 J-Club Hall of Honor Class: Jim Wagner '94
-2026 J-Club Hall of Honor Class: Dr. Bob Dumonceaux '61
-2026 J-Club Hall of Honor Class: Clinton Dammann '08
-2026 J-Club Hall of Honor Class: Jim Holmes '69
-2026 J-Club Hall of Honor Class: Dave Arnold '73
-2026 J-Club Hall of Honor Class: 2026 J-Club Hall of Honor Class: Fr. Otto Weber, OSB '57
-2026 J-Club Hall of Honor Class: 1968 Cross Country Team
-10 Johnnies to Join J-Club Hall of Honor on Sept. 27