COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Saint John's was a charter member when the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was formed in 1920.
 
But it wasn't until six years later that the Johnnies got around to sending a tennis team to compete at the conference championships. And while SJU sent four athletes to the MIAC track and field meet in both 1921 and '22 (including the legendary John 'Blood' McNally), the school went unrepresented in that sport for the next three seasons as well.
 
In the spring of 1926, though, the athletic department resolved to make sure the Johnnies fielded squads when the MIAC meets were held in each sport on May 22 at Hamline. 
 
That led to an open call being placed in the May 6 edition of The Record seeking athletes willing and able to represent the Cardinal and Blue.
 
"A track meet will be held here on the campus and the six men with the highest number of points will represent St. John's in the conference meet," the newspaper wrote. "To give all those students who intend to try out for the tennis team an opportunity to show their wares, a tennis tournament will (also) be staged and the team will be picked from the group that participates.
 
"With this method, every student will have something to work for. Each and every student – whether in college or in high school (at Saint John's Prep) – with track or tennis aspirations should make it his business to come out when the call is given.
 
"If the right kind of spirit prevails, St. John's will be represented by a strong track team, and there is no reason why it shouldn't. If the school is not represented by a strong team on May 22, it will not be because there is no material, but because there is no ambition."
 
The writers need not have worried as ambitious Johnnie athletes indeed stepped forward. 
 
But according to "Scoreboard: A History of Athletics at Saint John's University," the school was still unable to provide coaching in the hurdles and any of the field events. 
 
So it was a small squad of runners who carried the SJU banner into competition at Hamline. 
 
That meant the Johnnies failed to place at the meet, which was won for the first time by Gustavus Adolphus. The Gusties – led by standout sprinter and thrower Frank Oestreich – finished with a score of 51.5, edging second-place Macalester which finished with 48. Hamline placed third with 43 and St. Olaf was fourth with 20.5.
 
Leading the way for SJU was baseball player Harold Lien, who placed fourth in the 100-yard dash – an event won by Oestreich in a time of 10.2 seconds. Both Scoreboard and accounts of the meet in The Record list Austin Quinn as finishing fourth in the 220, though the story on the competition that ran in the May 23 edition of The Minneapolis Sunday Tribune listed a Hamline runner in the No. 4 spot.
 
According to The Record account, Roman Niedzielski was "right on the heels of the first man in the 440, but as the runners were rounding the first curve, he was spiked. As a result of the injury he was forced to concede his position to another man and had to drop back to sixth place."
 
Norbert Schoenecker, meanwhile, failed to place in two distance events.
 
"Schoenecker ran in the half mile and mile but was up against the greatest field of distance runners ever assembled at a conference track meet," The Record reported. "It was 'Schoene's' first official start in distance running, but with more experience and a better stride he should be copping first place regularly."
 
On the tennis court, SJU freshman George Clifford turned in a strong showing, advancing all the way to the semifinals where he was defeated by senior Harold Martinson of St. Olaf. Martinson went on to defeat teammate Leslie Holt for the singles championship. 
 
The doubles team of Donald Blake and Walter Miller also reached the semifinals before losing to the eventual championship team from St. Olaf, which was anchored by Martinson.
 
"Clifford fought his way to the semifinals, which was quite an achievement considering the fact that it was his first appearance in intercollegiate tennis competition," The Record reported.
 
Clifford, though, proved a quick learner – coming back to win the MIAC singles title in 1927, giving SJU its first foothold on the conference tennis scene.
 
"He was amazingly fast and quick, almost instinctive in his reaction to playing situations," Scoreboard wrote of the Alexandria native who went on to a long career as a physician in his hometown. 

"He had a strong backhand and was endowed with an uncanny sense of anticipation in knowing when to rush to the net for the kill or when to lie back on the baselines. As described by a 'knowledgeable observer,' he played a conservative game, keeping the ball in play and forcing his opponent to err."

10 years ago (2016)
The team of senior Jack Hansen and sophomore Tim Larson won 9-7 at No. 1 doubles to lead the SJU tennis team past Macalester 6-3 in the MIAC quarterfinals on May 4 at the CSB tennis courts in St. Joseph.

1976 (50 years ago)
Senior Tim Miles – who went on to a long career as SJU's head cross country and track and field coach – won the six-mile in a time of 30 minutes, 6.4 seconds and placed second in the 3,000-meter run (9:31) to lead the Johnnies to a second-place finish at the MIAC track and field meet held at Macalester May 7-8.

1966 (60 years ago)
By a vote of 8-0, the MIAC faculty athletic representatives voted to eliminate spring football practice at conference schools. Spring football was eliminated at the NCAA Division III level overall in the early 1970s, but those restrictions began easing in the early 2000s.

In 2006, the MIAC voted to allow for the return of a limited spring practice period.

1936 (90 years ago)
Vedie Himsl struck out five and allowed just seven hits, but the Johnnie baseball team fell 2-1 to the University of Minnesota on May 12 in Minneapolis.

1916 (110 years ago)
Frank Mondloch had a pair of home runs and pitched eight innings as the SJU baseball team opened Minnesota-Dakota Conference play with a 9-8 win over St. Olaf.