News & Links Ryan Klinkner, SJU Director of Athletic Communications and Frank Rajkowski, SJU Writer/Video Producer

Ten Johnnies to join J-Club Hall of Honor

J-Club Hall of Honor | Event Registration

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Ten individuals will be inducted into Saint John's University's J-Club Hall of Honor on Saturday, Sept. 27, as part of Homecoming festivities.

The dinner and enshrinement ceremony begins at 5:15 p.m. in Guild Hall (Old Gym). A Homecoming Celebration social will take place outside the venue following SJU's football game against Augsburg in Clemens Stadium prior to the dinner and program. 

Registration is $75 per person before Sept. 21 ($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. – Register to Attend

Each member of the Hall of Honor class will be highlighted in the weeks leading up to their induction with stories and videos on gojohnnies.com, beginning with the first inductee on Monday, Aug. 25. This year's class was selected by a vote of the J-Club's board of directors, who considered nominations that can be made by any club member.

Founded in 1959, the J-Club is a dues-based booster organization of former Johnnie student-athletes, parents and fans, and plays a key role in supporting SJU varsity programs, intramurals and club sports. 

Those honored (listed alphabetically) include: 

-Bob Alpers '82: The Johnnies' longtime golf coach who was a 2010 inductee into the Golf Coaches' Association of America Hall of Fame, Alpers (Burnsville, Minn.) led the program to 13 MIAC titles, 20 NCAA Tournament appearances and a pair of NCAA Division III national championships in 29 seasons. He also spent 20 years as an assistant basketball coach and served as an assistant for the Johnnies' baseball and soccer teams. Alpers served as SJU's athletic director for nine years, leading a department that collected 19 regular-season conference titles, five playoff championships and 20 NCAA appearances during his tenure. He was also a standout basketball player for the Johnnies, earning All-MIAC and team MVP honors in his senior season in 1981-82. 

-Jerry Haugen '76: A fixture at SJU for the past 52 years, Haugen (Robbinsdale, Minn./Armstrong) spent 48 of those years as the Johnnies' head baseball coach in the spring and their football defensive coordinator in the fall. He collected a 916-736-5 (.554) record as head baseball coach and the Johnnies registered a 421-99-5 (.807) mark in football. Haugen finished his career as just the 27th baseball coach in Division III history to reach the 900-win mark and helped lead SJU football to a pair of national titles in 1976 and 2003. He also spent four years as SJU's head ice hockey coach and eight seasons as an assistant basketball coach. Haugen has been part of 37 MIAC championship squads and made 43 national tournament appearances in his more than half a century in Collegeville. A standout football and baseball player for the Johnnies, he earned All-MIAC honors in football in 1975. His record of 15 career regular-season interceptions still sits atop the SJU record books.

-Bernie Kukar '62: Kukar (Gilbert, Minn.) was an All-MIAC performer in football and basketball for the Johnnies who went on to become an NFL referee for 22 seasons from 1984 to 2005 and was selected to officiate Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999 and Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002. He was also an alternate in Super Bowl XXX in 1996. Kukar ended his basketball career fourth in program history with 1,389 career points (is now 10th). On the gridiron, Kukar still owns the Johnnies' record for the longest punt return – 95 yards vs. Concordia-Moorhead in the 1961 Homecoming game.

-Patrick Lilly '79: SJU soccer's first All-American in 1976, Lilly went on to earn All-MIAC and all-district honors as a junior in 1977 and again as a senior in 1978. The Johnnies compiled a 34-14-11 record with two trips to the NAIA Tournament during his career. The Robbinsdale (Minn.) Armstrong High School graduate joins his older brother Mike '78, a Johnnie soccer All-American in 1977 and 2022 inductee, as the first pair of brothers in the J-Club Hall of Honor.

-Craig Muyres '64: Muyres (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) was a two-sport star at SJU. As the Johnnies' quarterback, who also started at safety on the defensive side of the ball, Muyres led SJU to a 19-0 record as a junior and senior, and directed the program to its first national title in 1963. He was also a two-time All-MIAC pick in basketball and finished his career fifth in program history with 1,344 points (is now 12th).

-Ken Roering '64: A talented receiver, Roering (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) earned a rare starting spot as a freshman in the fall of 1960, then continued to excel as a sophomore. From there, he went on to earn All-MIAC and All-America honors the next two years. Roering led the Johnnies in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns all four seasons from 1960-63, totaling 63 receptions for 1,100 yards (17.5 avg.) and 19 touchdowns. As a senior in 1963, he played a major role in leading the Johnnies to that season's NAIA national title, hauling in an 18-yard touchdown reception as SJU upset Prairie View A&M (Texas) in the national championship game.

-Todd Schlorf '90: A three-time All-American in tennis - twice in doubles competition and once in singles - Schlorf (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) led SJU to its first and only Division III tournament in 1990. He was the MIAC's individual champion as a freshman (1987) and senior (1990), and a three-time NCAA participant. Schlorf turned down the national invitation as a freshman. He compiled an 80-11 singles record and a 49-10 doubles mark in doubles in known matches.

-Josh Sherlin '05: Sherlin (Glenwood, Minn./Minnewaska Area) was a two-time MIAC champion and All-American golfer in 2004 and 2005 who helped lead the Johnnies to the Division III national meet in all four of his seasons in Collegeville. SJU finished eighth nationally in 2002, third in 2003, 13th in 2004 and sixth in 2005. He ended his career third in program history with a 75.4 average in 97 career rounds (is now 17th), while his 73.4 average in 26 rounds during the 2003-04 season was tied for SJU's second-best (is now tied for fifth). Sherlin finished in the top five in nearly half of his events (20 of 45) and still owns the program's lowest score – a 7-under par 65 – recorded on Sept. 8, 2003 at the Bemidji Town and Country Club (Bemidji State Invitational).

-Brian Smith '83: The first national champion in SJU track and field history, Smith (Bayard, Iowa) won the 5,000-meter run in 1983. In all, he was a three-time All-American and seven-time All-MIAC performer across track and field and cross country. Smith finished third in the 10,000 meters at the 1981 MIAC meet. He then placed second in the 10,000 and first in the 5,000 the following year before going on to a second-place finish in the 5,000 at the NCAA Division III national meet. That set the stage for the spring of 1983 when he won the 1,500 and finished second in the 5,000 at the conference championships before winning the national title. Smith closed out his collegiate career with a third-place finish at the Division III national cross country meet in the fall of 1983 - a particularly impressive feat for someone who did not compete in the sport before enrolling at SJU.

Jim Platten '74 will be awarded J-Club Distinguished Service Award. For well over 25 years, the alum and longtime SJU supporter has volunteered in the equipment room, helping out with the football team and other programs. Along the way, he has been a friend, resource and mentor to multiple generations of Johnnie student-athletes. Platten's lifelong devotion to Saint John's began when he was accepted into Saint John's Prep as a 13-year-old. He's been a member of the alumni board from 2008 to the present and is a past board president. He's also long been a fixture on the football sideline home or away, always wearing his trademark shorts regardless of the temperature or conditions.

The Hall of Honor's previous six classes are listed below:

2024: 1978-79 basketball team; Rick Bell '83 (baseball and football); Chuck Ceronsky '70 (cross country and track and field); Stacy Christensen '76 (hockey); Al Eisele '58 (baseball); Ernie England '81 (football); Mike Fahey '75 (J-Club Distinguished Service Award); Bill Laliberte '70 (football, hockey and track and field); Dick Matchinsky '57 (basketball); Tim Miles '76 (cross country and track and field coach); Nathan Proshek '04 (golf); Luke Vestrum '03 (swimming and diving); Thom Woodward '70 (J-Club Distinguished Service Award).

2023: 2003 SJU football team; Lou Adderley '55 (tennis and wrestling); Paul Bernabei '69 (basketball); Jon Dold '94 (baseball); Darwin Dumonceaux '99 (track and field); Chris Erichsen '08 (cross country and track and field); Terry Haws (coach); Tom Kubinski '86 (swimming and diving); Matt McGovern '01 (golf); Chris Palmer '96 (football and baseball); Fr. Dunstan Tucker (J-Club Distinguished Service Award).

2022: 1976 SJU football team; Minga Batsukh '11 (wrestling); Troy Bigalke '01 (basketball); Fred Cremer '67 (football); Matt Erredge '99 (hockey); Jon Habben '79 (swimming and diving); Dave Lamm '68 (track and field); Mike Lilly '78 (soccer); Cyril Paul '59 (track and field); Tim Schmitz '78 (football); Br. Mark Kelly (J-Club Distinguished Service Award).

2021: 1965 SJU football team; John Deters '92 (swimming and diving); George Durenberger '28 (athlete, athletic director); Chuck Froehle '57 (football); Jim Gathje '86 (cross country, track and field); Vedie Himsl '38 (baseball); Jim Lehman, Sr. '56 (football); Terry Leiendecker '84 (soccer);  Joe Mucha '66 (basketball and football); Jeff Norman '78 (football and baseball); Joe Schoolmeesters '09  (golf); Gary Svendsen '72 (wrestling); Vic Moore '72 (J-Club Distinguished Service Award).

2019: 1963 SJU football team; John Cragg '71 (cross country and track and field); Blake Elliott '03 (football); Adam Hanna '07 (hockey); Pat Haws '72 (soccer and swimming and diving head coach); John McDowell '64 (football); John "Blood McNally '24 (football, basketball, baseball, track and field); Sammy Schmitz '03 (golf); Bill Sexton '55 (basketball); Frank Wachlarowicz '79 (basketball); Matt Zelen '99 (swimming and diving); Tom Arth '66 and Fr. Wilfred Theisen '52 (J-Club Distinguished Service Award).

2018: John Gagliardi (football coach); Jim Smith (basketball coach).