100-year anniversary of Tommie-Johnnie football

September 26, 2001
1901 Game is Recalled as Teams Prepare for Saturday Tussle

By GENE McGIVERN
St. Thomas Sports Info. Director

St. John's and St. Thomas football games rarely need extra hype. But there will be added hoopla Saturday Sept. 29 in Collegeville when the 2001 edition of one of Minnesota's best athletic rivalries is played.

This fall marks the 100th anniversary of the first football game between Minnesota's two most prominent Catholic universities. On Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 28, 1901, the institutions met in football for the first time at the old Lexington Park in St. Paul. St. John's won 16-6 to cap an unbeaten inaugural season.

That spirit showed in that 1901 game will be on display again this Saturday at a jam-packed Clemens Field. Kickoff is at 1 p.m., with tickets on sale at the gate for $7 for adults and $5 for students. A standing-room crowd of nearly 10,000 is expected.

Looking Back
The 1901 Tommie team had 18 football players from a student body of 230 -- today's team has 95 players from an undergraduate population of 5,416. UST's tuition was $25 per semester or $100 per semester for those living on campus, including laundry services and meals. The spring semester started Feb. 1 and didn't end until the third Tuesday in June.

The official school catalogue included the following interesting passages about the St. Thomas of that era:

---"The College is situated midway between St. Paul and Minneapolis and within a few blocks of street-car lines... students can go to or from the College in a short times, either on bicycles or street cars...

---(the location is) Merriam Park, a beautiful suburb of St. Paul; its population is larger than that of some towns; it has a parish church and a resident pastor...

---the College is located near the banks of the Mississippi River in the most picturesque of the interurban districts, within a few miles of the Minnehaha Falls and of Fort Snelling. The seclusion and the beauty of the College grounds foster studious habits, good morals and the refinement in the students; while at the same time the proximity of the Twin Cities, with their innumerable marks of educational and mercantile progress, serves to awaken and quicken their intellectual faculties."

The Tommies' coach was Harry Conway, who taught Mathematics and English.

Ignatius O'Shaughnessy played for that 1901 Johnnie team and had a game-best 76 yards rushing in the win over the Tommies. O'Shaughnessy would later be removed from school for a rules violation. He transferred to St. Thomas and played on successive Tommie football teams, serving as the 1905 team captain. He later worked at the college, and later after making a fortune in the oil business, he became one of the school's great benefactors. O'Shaughnessy, who died in 1973 at age 88, donated millions to St. Thomas, Notre Dame and St. Catherine, and he has several buildings on the those college campuses named in his honor.

Media Reports:
Newspaper accounts of that first game were written in the lively prose that marked early 20th century journalism. Like this Nov. 25, 1901 account in the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

---"St. Thomas College of St. Paul and St. John's University of Collegeville will play at Lexington Park at 10:30 Thursday morning. This is the first of annual games between these colleges. Both teams have many alumni in the Twin Cities. There is considerable rivalry between these colleges, and a hot scrimmage is expected. St. John's is reported to being the heavier aggregation, but St. Thomas expects to win out by fast work."

The post-game accounts were equaly entertaining:
Here's the Pioneer Press story:

---"St. John's wins by fast work/St. Thomas defeated in an exciting game/Visitors put up a spirited constest and do much of their work in the locals' field/St. John's misses all three of its goals, but wins by making touchdowns

---"The teams averaged about the same in weight, but the excellent team work of the visitors won for them the victory... Throughout the game both teams were weak on defensive play and strong on the offensive... The home team (UST) was weakened by the loss of a couple of its best players, who had been disabled in previous games and in practice... The strangers (SJU) showed their aggressiveness in the way they pushed their men and made end runs for considerable gains."

Here's the account written by the St. Paul Daily Globe:

---"Collegeville team ends season with unbroken record/ The football team of St. John's college of Collegeville yesterday completed a series of winning games at Lexington Park by defeating St. Thomas college 16 to 6... The game was one of the hardest fought and most closely contested matches that has been played by any team but the (University of Minnesota) eleven this year... It was sheer hard football throughout with no brilliant end runs, no glowing grand stand plays, but just hard determined football from start to finish. The St. Thomas boys went onto the gridiron with the firm determination of lowering the colors of the unconquered team, and (St. John's was) equally determined to keep up their record of unbroken victories for the season. The local boys were up against great odds in the matter of weight, the visitors outweighing them 20 pounds to the man. In spite of that every inch of ground gained by the St. John's warriors was hard fought and well earned. It was the kind of game that teams play when they know that nothing but football, pure and simple, will avail. The men behind the line could not get by the ends on either side and the only spectacular play of the day was a long punt by (John) Gleason of St. Thomas. A large crowd witnessed the game."

A St. Cloud Journal Press post-game report seems to document the first "trash-talking" in the colorful football rivalry, as the winning Johnnies said their previous games vs. St. Cloud High school teams were more challenging than the Tommie game.

---"St. John's University football team victorious over St. Thomas College/score was 16 to 6: St. Thomas almost failed to score at all/There is joy at St. John's and justly too for the hardy football warriors have returned from St. Paul with the scalps of St. Thomas' football eleven dangling from their belts. St. John's won the game by a score of 16-6, St. Thomas not scoring until the last few minutes of play. It is said that the tiny St. Paul college boys prior to the game were humming "When Renben Comes to Town" but changed their very soon to "We're Up Against the Real Thing Now" and after the game Chopin's Funeral March was used in returning to their dormitories. The teams were quite evenly matched but St. John's had football energy (their opponents couldn't match). Houska, O'Shaughnessy and Kilty are mentioned by the city papers as being stars for St. John's. A message from St. John's Friday to the Journal Press said the (SJU) college boys found St. Cloud (high schools) a harder proposition than St. Thomas, and everybody knows what (the Johnnies) did to St. Cloud highs on two occasions this season."


The Series
Saturday's clash marks the 70th meeting between the schools, who played occasionally from 1901 to 1933 but have played every year since 1940. The Johnnies lead the all-time series 40-28-1, with wins in seven of the last eight games. SJU also has won five in a row in Collegeville, where the Tommies last won in 1986.

Since 49-year head coach John Gagliardi started at St. John's in 1953, the Johnnies are 34-14 in the series. Frank Deig went 4-1 vs. Gagliardi in the 1950s and remains the only Tommie head football coach of the seven Gagliardi has faced to post a winning record vs. St. John's.

Battle for 475
Both St. Thomas and St. John's come into Saturday with 474 football wins in school history -- second only to the Minnesota Gophers among all Minnesota universities and colleges. The Tommies, in their 97th official varsity season of football, are 474-298-34 (.609), while the Johnnies are 474-210-24 (.686) in 91 seasons.

"Quest for the Holy Grail"
As part of the 100-year anniversary, the St. Thomas All College Council has teamed with the St. John's Student Senate to create a traveling trophy to be presented to the winning team. This 4-foot high trophy resembles a cup and will be known as "The Holy Grail," playing off the Catholic nature of the two schools. The schools hope to bill the annual football meeting as the "Quest for the Holy Grail." The trophy will reside for one year at whichever school wins that year's football game.

More Links
For more on the St. Thomas-St. John's athletic rivalry, look here: see 1999 UST Alumni Magazine story here

St. John's football homepage:
see SJU preview page

St. Cloud Times Wednesday story:
see Frank Rajkowski's 9-26-01 story in St. Cloud Times here

Star Tribune Friday story by Jay Weiner:
see Star Tribune story here

Associated Press column by Dave Campbell:
see AP column on Tommie-Johnnie rivalry