J-Club Hall of Honor | Event Registration

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Dominant.
 
That's the word anyone who saw him play uses to describe Jim Wagner on the football field.
 
The All-American defensive lineman wreaked havoc on opposing quarterbacks during his time at Saint John's, finishing with 39 career sacks – a total that still ranks second in school history.
 
The Royalton High School graduate – who grew up one of nine children on a Morrison County farm– was a two-time All-American and a three-time All-MIAC selection who earned the Mike Stam Award as the conference's top lineman during the 1993 season.
 
"Every year, he got better and better," recalled fellow defensive lineman Steve O'Toole, himself an All-American as a senior in 1991 and a mentor to Wagner, who broke into the starting lineup for the first time that season after missing most of his freshman year with a knee injury in 1990.
 
"He always had the physical tools. I never saw anyone that was able to handle him. And the more experienced he got, the more dominant he became."
 
"He was unbelievably strong," added longtime Johnnie defensive coordinator Jerry Haugen. "He just controlled guys with his physical ability. He wasn't huge in stature when you looked at him in street clothes. But when he put those pads on, he was such an imposing presence."

"Ask me about a lot of names I played against during my time in the MIAC and I'm not going to remember much about them," former St. Thomas quarterback Tom Stallings said. "But throw out his name and I'm definitely going to call you back. He was in a league of his own. It's been 33 years now, but I remember first-hand how dominant a player he was. He was one of those guys who could single-handedly change the course of a game."

Yet despite all the success he achieved, Wagner never allowed himself to become complacent. 


 
"I was a small-town kid, and coming into Saint John's, I didn't have the same accomplishments of some of the guys coming out of the Twin Cities," he said. "I was all-conference in high school. But all-conference at Royalton doesn't maybe have the same clout as all-conference at Minnetonka, at least when it comes to the advance perception people have of you. So I knew I had to work as hard as I could to prove myself right away.
 
"And with every opportunity I was given, I tried hard not to take it for granted. I wanted to make sure I kept doing whatever it was that got me that spot, and that I kept working even harder to keep it. Because we had so many talented players coming in every year. There was always competition, which made us all better."
 
Wagner did turn heads his freshman season until suffering cartilage damage in his knee that required arthroscopic surgery and sidelined him for the remainder of the season. That would prove advantageous a few years later (more on that to come).
 
But at the time it was frustrating for the newcomer just starting to make his mark.
 
"I was trying to establish myself and that slowed the process down," he said. "It was hard, but all I could do was focus on coming back stronger than ever."
 
He did just that in 1991, earning a starting spot on a team that advanced all the way to the NCAA Division III semifinals. That fall, he shared the defensive huddle with players like O'Toole, fellow All-MIAC defensive lineman Matt Winston and defensive back Denis McDonough, who'd go on to serve as White House Chief of Staff under President Barack Obama and Secretary of Veterans Affairs under President Joe Biden.
 
"The biggest thing I learned from those guys was to play without fear," Wagner said. "I remember playing Wisconsin-La Crosse in the Metrodome in the second round of the playoffs that year. They were the defending national champions, and I remember Steve O'Toole telling me how big they'd be but not to be nervous or intimated by that. I really looked up to guys like he and Denis. They treated me like I belonged there, and with their support, I got more confident each and every game.
 
"That plane ride out to Dayton (Ohio) in the semifinals was the first time I'd ever been in a big plane like that. It was a real eye-opener for me."
 
Wagner continued to improve in 1992, earning All-MIAC honors for the first time and anchoring a defense that led the league by allowing just 88 yards rushing and 110 yards passing per game. But a 15-12 loss at St. Thomas, and an 18-18 tie with Concordia in the regular-season finale, meant SJU tied with Carleton (a team the Johnnies defeated 70-7) for first place in the MIAC standings. 
 
Because the Knights hadn't been to the postseason as recently as SJU, they earned the conference's automatic playoff bid.
 
"That season was one of those deals where I think we all walked away feeling unfulfilled," Wagner said. "I know it motivated me a lot to come into the next year ready to lay it all on the line. There wasn't going to be any holding me back."
 
Bolstered by a switch from nose tackle to defensive tackle, Wagner did indeed reach new heights in 1993. He finished the season with 20 sacks, which remains a single-season school record. Six-and-a-half of those came in a 69-13 win over St. Thomas – a game in which his post-sack celebrations (playing air guitar) are still remembered by many to this day.
 
"That was the first game I'd ever done that," said Wagner, who'd seen O'Toole celebrate sacks by making his upper body slither like a cobra. "But after the 1992 game, we had Tommie fans heckling us and calling us overrated. Then, in 1993, their fans started in on it again in pre-game warm-ups. One of their offensive linemen was taunting me on the first couple of plays – saying I was a lousy player, but not phrasing it that nicely. I remember Erik Klein – one of our linebackers – laughing at him and saying, 'Don't make that guy mad!'
 
"It was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back. The next play I hit their quarterback really hard as he was throwing the ball and I was off to the races. (Legendary head coach) John (Gagliardi) hated (the celebration). He called me into his office the Monday after and I was afraid I was going to get benched. But he just told me to cut it out. And I did. But it's funny how the memory of that one game still lives on. Someone brought it up to me at an event (this past spring). 
 
"It's the only time I ever did something like that, but I still can't live it down," he added with a smile.

The memory of that game, and of Wagner as a player, remains strong among those on the other side of the line of scrimmage as well.

"I'm part of a chat group with around 25 of the guys I played with at St. Thomas and Jim's name has been thrown around often over the years," Stallings said. "He could disrupt the game in so many ways. He was fast, he was strong and there's always a little bit of fear when you know you have to try and block somebody like that."
 
Wagner's dominance helped lead the Johnnies to a 12-1 finish that season. The team advanced all the way to the national semifinals where the Johnnies fell to emerging national power Mount Union (Ohio). Wagner was named conference lineman of the year and earned All-American honors.
 
And that was where he thought his collegiate career would end.
 
"I thought I was done," he said. "But I was still keeping myself in pretty good shape because I was looking into options that might exist to play professionally. That turned out to be lucky."
 
That's because the education major discovered a credit mix-up that meant he needed to return to Collegeville in the fall of 1994 to complete his degree. He initially talked to Gagliardi about helping out on the coaching staff. But remembering his injury four years earlier, Gagliardi and the coaching staff encouraged him to apply for a medical redshirt. 
 
The MIAC ruled he met all the requirements and Wagner returned to record 12 sacks, earn All-American honors for the second year in a row and lead the Johnnies to another berth in the national semifinals where they suffered a heartbreaking 19-16 loss at home to Albion (Mich.).
 
"I felt like I'd already gone through my senior year, so I approached that season with the mindset I was going to let other guys step up," he said. "Whenever the team needed me to step up, I did. But I tried to let the younger guys around me take the leadership role."
 
Wagner went into teaching and coaching after graduation, a career path that eventually led him back to SJU as a member of the coaching staff from 2002 to 2007. That meant he was there for a Division III national title in 2003 and got to help coach All-American defensive end Jeremy Hood, who that season broke Wagner's career school sack record – finishing his own career with 41. 
 
After the play on which he surpassed the mark, he paid tribute to Wagner by playing air guitar.
 
"That, to me, was really a feeling of coming full circle," Wagner said. "It meant a lot for me to be there when (Hood) broke the record, and it was a little gratifying to feel like I'd played a role in helping him get there. He was such a great football player himself. It was fun to have a chance to be around him."
 
Wagner has gone on to further coaching and administrative roles in education. He was most recently the superintendent of the Le Sueur-Henderson School District and served as the high school's head football coach. 
 
But this past summer, he was hired to be the superintendent of the Prior Lake-Savage Area School District in the Twin Cities suburbs.
 
"I've always enjoyed being around kids," said Wagner, whose son is a freshman at SJU this fall. "I like being able to have a hand in helping make sure they don't make the same mistakes myself and others did growing up. If you can teach them that lesson now, it saves them from having to learn it later. Then they can move down the road more quickly and make good things happen for themselves."
 
Wagner, of course, made plenty of good things happen during his own time at SJU.
 
"I was lucky enough to get to be part of some really good teams and I had a lot of fun," he said. "But many of my best memories aren't of a specific play or game. It was discussions we had in the huddle or hanging out with teammates at practice. 
 
"We all respected each other and we all had the same common goal. That's the recipe for success."

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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