University of St. Thomas Athletics
Throwback Thursday: University timeline, part 1
8/13/2020 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
Next month marks the 135th anniversary of St. Thomas' founding and its first year of classes, back in 1885.
Our university still has its main campus on the same plot of land in St. Paul where it welcomed those first students. The first Tommies enrolled at a time where our country had just 38 states, with President Grover Cleveland in his first year in the White House.
As St. Thomas has grown and evolved on so many fronts, it has stayed true to its original mission of education.
When looking at old photos you recognize familiar campus landmarks still at the core of our identity. At the same time, you see the dramatic change and progress leading to today's status as a regional university and soon-to-be Division I institution.
For those of us who think history is cool, let's enjoy a quick stroll down memory lane as we revisit significant St. Thomas moments.
Today's Throwback Thursday lists key memories from the first 99 years through 1984 -- part two next week will showcase the explosion of progress over the last 35 years:
University of St. Thomas and Athletics Timeline (1885 to 1984)
1885: Founded on current St. Paul site by Archbishop John Ireland; high school, college and seminary students
1890-1902: Held intramural and informal intercollegiate sports contests in baseball and football
1894: St. Paul Seminary established through a gift from James J. Hill
1901: First Tommie-Johnnie football game played at St. Paul's Lexington Park on Thanksgiving Day
1903: Had its first formal varsity sports teams with (first AD hired in 1910, Msnr. John Dunphy)
1905: I.A. O'Shaughnessy is football team captain; after highly successful management career in oil business becomes lead donor to many building projects at St. Thomas and Notre Dame
1911: First athletic field with track constructed on site of current stadium (east-west direction)
1914: Armory indoor recreation facility opens on campus to assist sports teams and military drill practice
1915: First traditional academic degrees (B.A.) awarded to graduates of regular baccalaureate program
1916: School accredited by North Central Association of Colleges
1917: The Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas opens
1920: Joins newly-formed Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
1922: Military training became optional for college students
1928: University of Notre Dame leaders (Order of Holy Cross) start brief period of running the college; Irish AD Knute Rockne visits campus and is given the honorary title of "Supervisor of Athletics"
1929: Notre Dame leaders consider two plans to build a large-scale stadium on campus -- including a higher-priced indoor domed stadium -- with hopes the school can get invited to membership in a larger conference like the Big Ten. The stock-market crash in the fall of that year halts fundraising appeals just as they are starting. The plan never moves forward when St. Paul Diocese leaders take back control of the college a few years later.
1930: Lights added to outdoor football field, first night game in Twin Cities history held
1931: First Mr. Tommy (now Tommie of the Year) award given
1931: Aquinas Hall administration building opens
1936: Debate team (Robert Sheran/Abraham Kaplan) wins national championship sponsored by Pi Kappa Delta
1939: O'Shaughnessy Hall opens on campus with pool, gym, locker rooms, offices, classroom space
1946: Post-war student boom includes top athletes; four 1946 baseball team members sign pro contracts
1948: O'Shaughnessy Stadium opens on campus with permanent seating
1949: The 1948 football team plays in Jan. 1, 1949 Cigar Bowl in Tampa, Fla.; five players from that team were later offered pro football contracts
1959: O'Shaughnessy Library opens
1960: Murray Hall opens as a student center
1965: St. Thomas Military Academy leaves campus, moves to Mendota Heights
1966: Rev. Terrence Murphy starts dynamic 25-year run as college president
1967: Steve Fritz enrolls as freshman basketball player, starts 50-year run on campus as student-athlete, coach and athletics director
1968: Ex-St. Thomas All-America football player Frank Mach takes over as athletics director
1974: MBA degree program established
1974: First induction class of St. Thomas Athletics Hall of Fame
1975: Mark Dienhart wins first NCAA individual national championship (shot put)
1977: College admits first female students after 91 years as all-male institution
1977: William Mitchell School of Law moves east, leaves 2100 Summit address; St. Thomas purchases building
1980: Tom Feely, who coached more than 1,000 basketball and baseball games with the college qand acedmy teams, retires as basketball coach after 26 seasons and 417 victories, replaced by Steve Fritz
1981: Women's Cross Country wins first national team title in school history (AIAW); Coach Joe Sweeney's program adds four NCAA team titles later in the decade
1981: Schoenecker Arena and Coughlan Fieldhouse open on campus
1981: Deb Thometz (cross country) becomes school's first female individual national champion
1982: Athletics begins transition from NAIA to NCAA Division III membership
1984: Tommie men's and women's cross country teams celebrate their sweeps of the NCAA Division III team championships on the same day in Ohio. Current St. Thomas women's head coach Joe Sweeney saw his team edge favored UW-La Crosse. Current Purple men's CC coach Pete Wareham placed third in the 1984 men's race to lead the Tommie victory over runner-up North Central (Ill.).
