J-Club Hall of Honor | Event Registration

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Ask former teammates and coaches about Jimmy Holmes and they rave about his incredible athleticism – the kind that made him a three-year starter at Saint John's in basketball and a three-time national qualifier in track and field.

But their memories of the man nicknamed 'Homer' aren't confined to his athletic successes. They also have plenty of stories about his unique talents and adventures away from the court and track.

Holmes was, all delightedly agree, one of the most colorful individuals they've ever encountered.

"He was free spirt," recalled Tim Muller, a teammate in both basketball and track and field. "He was his own man."

"He was one of a kind," echoed Michael Dady, who often backed up Holmes at forward during the 1968-69 season when the latter led the Johnnies in rebounding, earned all-conference honors and helped his team bring home the first MIAC title in program history.

"There are a lot of stories there."

Like the time legendary head coach Jim Smith called his players together in the basement of the old gymnasium (now known as Guild Hall) as a packed house waited for tip-off upstairs on a cold mid-winter Central Minnesota evening.

Holmes, however, was nowhere to be found.

"He had a pre-game ritual where he had to brush his teeth," Smith recalls with a laugh. "The team was all together in the small, cramped training room we used downstairs but we couldn't find Jimmy anywhere.

"It turned out he'd forgotten his toothbrush and he'd run all the way across campus – wearing his uniform – to his dorm room. Mind you, this is in the middle of winter with snow everywhere. But he had to get those teeth brushed."



Holmes, though, made it back in time to contribute in his usual stellar fashion. During his senior season, he averaged 11.9 points and 10 rebounds per game as SJU finished 20-9, defeated Winona State for the NAIA District 13 title and advanced to the NAIA national tournament in Kansas City for the first time.

There, the Johnnies fell 78-76 to Henderson (Ark.) State in the final seconds of a first-round matchup.

"That was such an unselfish team," Holmes recalled. "We had three players who were unanimous all-conference picks – Paul Bernabei, Tim Muller and me. If you look at the numbers, Paul averaged 14.1 points per game, I averaged 11.9 and Tim averaged 9.9.

"But Jerry Barney averaged 10.2, Tom Grudnowski averaged 9.8, Joe Weber averaged 8.3. It was such a balanced group and that's why we had the success we did."

Holmes had perhaps his two finest games that season in his team's matchups with MIAC archrival St. Thomas. In the first meeting in Collegeville, he finished with 24 points and 14 rebounds – including one in which Smith said he reached heights he'd never seen from a player on the basketball court.

Bernabei afterward estimated Holmes – who finished the night a perfect 9-for-9 from the field and 6-for-6 at the free throw line – had his knees above Bernabei's hands when he hauled in the basketball.

"Jim Holmes was the difference," legendary Tommies coach Tom Feely told the St. Cloud Times after the 76-68 Johnnies' victory.

The following month, Holmes was at it again – recording 23 points and 12 rebounds as SJU won 70-68 – its first win at St. Thomas in over 20 years. Those totals were even more impressive when you consider Holmes played the final 13:28 with four fouls.

"That was the first time in the history of the school we'd beaten St. Thomas twice in one season," Holmes recalled. "Those games were always so fun to be part of. The atmosphere was just amazing in those days."

Smith said Holmes was never lacking in confidence when he stepped on the court.

"I remember we were in Chicago to play Loyola, who was a (large school) national power back then," recalled Smith, who preceded Holmes at St. Edward High School in Elgin, Illinois – the school from which they both graduated. "They played a game the night before they played us and we went down to Chicago Stadium to watch. They had a really talented player named Corky Bell (who went on to be drafted by the NBA's Chicago Bulls). 

"From what I was told, after the game, Jimmy went down to talk to him. He said 'I'm Jimmy Holmes from Saint John's. You don't know me now. But you will after tomorrow night.' He was just a confident individual and he had such amazing athletic ability. He could do just about anything physically. He was one of the best jumpers I ever saw."

That leaping ability came in even handier in track and field where he was a three-time MIAC champion in the high jump. He also qualified for nationals three times in the event, earning All-American honors with a fifth-place finish in 1968.

The following season, he did double duty – qualifying for the NAIA national meet in the high jump and in the decathlon in the first year that event was sponsored.

Holmes finished ninth overall with a score of 6,101.

"He was one of the best natural athletes we've ever had on this campus," said Smith, the head track and field coach in those days as well.

Those skills also translated to volleyball, where he was a key part of an intramural team that went undefeated until the final game of his senior year, and ping pong, where he was a campus champion.

He also had a prowess for pool and was the guy on campus selected to face legendary world champion Willie Mosconi when the billiards legend made a stop on campus for an exhibition in the fall of 1968.

Holmes made quite an impression on the man who had legendary battles with Minnesota Fats, taking him down to the wire before an enthusiastic crowd in Guild Hall following a Johnnie football game.

"I got to drive him back to his hotel in downtown St. Cloud afterward," Holmes remembered. "He wrote a slip for me that said, 'To the next world champion, from Willie Masconi.' That was really exciting. I idolized him."

Holmes was also an accomplished singer and musician. In the summer of 1968, he toured Europe with the Centennial Chapel Choir of Dallas, Texas. He also played guitar as part of a two-man duo, performing folk and bossa nova numbers in downtown St. Cloud nightspots like the Matador and Red Carpet.

"I'd never played guitar until I came to Saint John's, but within a month-and-a-half of getting there, (famed folksinger) Judy Collins appeared on campus," he said. "She played for two hours by herself to a packed gym and I was mesmerized."

So Holmes took it upon himself to learn to play, assisted by his fellow second-floor Benet Hall resident Chris Weber, who eventually transferred to the University of Minnesota and went on to open The Podium, a widely known guitar shop in Dinkytown near the U of M campus.

It was Weber who played a key role in setting up the Minneapolis sessions that rounded out Bob Dylan's acclaimed 1975 album "Blood on the Tracks."

"The first song I ever learned was a Bobby Dylan song – 'She Belongs to Me' – but I plagiarized from everyone," Holmes said. "I learned how to finger pick before I even learned how to strum."

Holmes is still playing today, but in 1972, the guy all his teammates recall being the sharpest dresser on campus joined his father in the men's clothing business.

Jimmy Holmes Clothing is still going strong in the Northfield Square Mall in Bourbonnais, Ill.

"The mall we're in has 24 stores now," he said. "There were about 80 six years ago. The pandemic was tough on some of the retail places. But we've been here almost 55 years and we're still going strong.

"My health was always pretty good until last year. That's when I got an angiogram that showed blockage. I was scheduled to go in for a triple bypass, but they made it a quadruple. They threw in an extra one as a bonus. I guess I caught a sale."

But Holmes said he's now back on his feet. He still keeps in contact with many of his SJU teammates and even played guitar at the funeral when Smith's wife Adrienne passed away in 2023.

"I really look back on my time at Saint John's fondly," he said. "I had a lot of amazing experiences there and met a lot of great people."

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. 

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