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10 Johnnies, ‘68 Cross Country Team to join J-Club Hall of Honor

J-Club Hall of Honor | Event Registration

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Ten individuals and the 1968 cross country team will be inducted into Saint John's University's J-Club Hall of Honor on Saturday, Oct. 17, as part of Homecoming festivities.

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. – 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 Wednesday, Sept. 9. 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: 

-Dave Arnold '73: A four-year starter at wide receiver, Arnold (Janesville, Minn.) was a three-time All-MIAC selection. He ended his SJU career with 118 receptions for 2,038 yards and 32 touchdowns - all of which were school records at the time. His best season came in 1971, when he caught 11 touchdown passes and earned NAIA All-District 13 honors as the Johnnies claimed the MIAC title. His speed also came in handy on the track, where he was a key part of Johnnie teams that won four-straight MIAC outdoor team championships.

-Clinton Dammann '08: The Saint John's golf team won back-to-back NCAA Division III national championships in 2007 and 2008, and Dammann had a big hand in making that happen. He was a two-time All-MIAC performer - finishing eighth at the conference meet as a freshman in the fall of 2004 and sixth as a junior in the fall of 2006. But his collegiate career was really defined by four amazing days in May in the spring of his junior year. That was when Dammann (Glencoe, Minn./Glencoe-Silver Lake) caught fire, shooting a four-round score of 287 to earn medalist honors at the Division III national meet in Fishers, Ind. His performance helped lead the Johnnies to the first team national championship in program history. He was again a key part of the team that repeated as national champions the following year in Georgia. 

-Bob Hanson '79: Hanson (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) made an immediate impact in goal for the Saint John's hockey team, seizing the starting job as a freshman during the 1975-76 season. That set the stage for a stellar collegiate career in which the four-year starter earned All-MIAC honors three times. As a junior, Hanson averaged 33 saves per game and became the first Johnnie hockey player to be named an All-American. He repeated that feat as a senior the following season when he set single-season school records with 887 saves and 1,610 minutes played - marks that still stand today. His 2,769 career saves are also a program record.

-Jim Holmes '69: A two-sport star at SJU, Holmes (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward's) was a three-year starter on the Johnnie basketball team and a three-time national qualifier in track and field. He led SJU in rebounding, earned All-MIAC honors and helped bring home the first MIAC title in program history as a senior in 1968-69. Holmes was an All-American with a fifth-place finish in the high jump as a junior in 1969. He won three conference titles in that event and was an impressive decathlete as well, finishing ninth overall at the NAIA national meet in 1969 - the first year that event was sponsored. 

-Don Kluk '71: Kluk (Pine City, Minn.) won MIAC titles in the 120-yard hurdles during all four of his seasons in Collegeville and added a conference title in the 440-yard hurdles as a junior in 1970 - the same season in which the Johnnies captured their first MIAC team title in 12 years. He was a four-time All-American, including his senior season when he finished third overall in the 120-yard hurdles at the 1971 NCAA College Division national meet in Sacramento, Calif. As a junior the year before, he finished sixth in the event at both the NAIA and NCAA national meets. 

-John Newman '99: A two-time MIAC champion and three-time national qualifier, Newman (Mayer, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) finished third in the country at 167 pounds as a sophomore during the 1996-97 season, then went on to win at 174 pounds as a senior in 1998-99 - making him the first Johnnie wrestler to capture a national title since 1972. In the championship match that year, Newman dramatically beat longtime rival Jim Peterson of Augsburg by a 2-1 decision in double overtime. Newman still owns the program record for takedowns with 336 over his four-year career.

-Ryan Roder '97: Although Roder (Granville, Iowa) spent only two years at Saint John's, he made quite an impact on the Johnnie baseball program. After transferring from NAIA Benedictine College in Kansas, Roder led SJU in hitting with a .430 batting average as a junior during the 1996 season and boasted a slugging percentage of .639. He led the MIAC with 29 hits in 20 conference matchups and earned all-conference honors. That set the stage for an even more impressive showing as a senior in 1997 when Roder batted .540, which is still the 11th-highest single-season batting average in Division III history. His performance earned him a second-straight spot on the All-MIAC first team, as well as MIAC Most Valuable Player honors and a place on the American Baseball Coaches Association All-America first team - making him the first Johnnie player to earn All-American distinction. Roder finished his two seasons at SJU with a career average of .489, which remains a Division III record to this day.
 
-Jim Wagner '94: Wagner (Royalton, Minn.) 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. He 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. In all, he was a key part of three Johnnie teams that advanced to the Division III semifinals. His 20 sacks during the 1993 season remain a single-season program record. Six-and-a-half of those came in a 69-13 win over St. Thomas, a total that still ranks second-best in school history. 

-Fr. Otto Weber, OSB '57: Wrestling was always a passion for Fr. Otto Weber, OSB (St. Martin, Minn./Saint John's Prep). He won the MIAC title at 147 pounds in 1954 and started as a teacher and staff member at the Prep School in 1961. Weber spent all but one of the next 26 years there, including a stint as head wrestling coach in the 1960s that included a state Catholic scholarship title in 1966. He'd later go on to coach girls track and field, while also working next door at SJU, helping coach wrestling and spending 15 years as coordinator of the university's intramural program. Weber established a summer leadership camp at SJU during the 1960s and later founded a wrestling camp - one of the first of its kind in Minnesota. He also had a big hand in starting a number of other summer sports camps on campus before his death from a heart attack at only age 53 in 1987. His contributions to wrestling were recognized when the Minnesota Chapter of the National Wrestling Coaches Association presented him with a lifetime achievement award in late 2019.

-1968 cross country team: Saint John's won its first MIAC cross country title in 1954. But interest had waned by the late 1950s, leading to a decision to drop the sport following the 1957 season. The program was revived in the mid-1960s, but it was the 1968 Johnnie cross country squad that put it back on the map. Led by standouts like Chuck Ceronsky '70, John Cragg '71, Jeff Brain '71 and Joe Skaja '72, SJU won the MIAC team title at the conference meet - held that year in Collegeville. The victory snapped Macalester's six-year streak as MIAC champions. Four SJU runners finished in the top 10 that day, led by Ceronsky who finished first overall. Brain was third, Cragg was fourth and Skaja finished 10th. Freshman Mike Feneis '72 stepped up to place a surprising 13th, helping the Johnnies begin their own streak of five-consecutive conference crowds. SJU went on to finish eighth at that season's NAIA national meet in Oklahoma City.

Dr. Bob Dumonceaux '61 will be awarded J-Club Distinguished Service Award. After becoming the first wrestler at Foley High School to advance to the state tournament, Dumonceaux continued his career in Collegeville, finishing in the top four in his weight class at the MIAC meet in all four of his collegiate seasons and twice earning runner-up honors. He became student head coach as a senior in 1960-61 and went on to coach the program for five of the next seven seasons - leading the Johnnies to two conference team titles. Dumonceaux became a professor, teaching mathematics for over 50 years. And he headed up the chain gang at Johnnie football games for decades. That gave him a front-row seat as all four of his sons went on to become football standouts at SJU. Youngest son Damien '05 helped lead the Johnnies to the 2003 national title and has become a longtime assistant coach in the program. Son Darwin '99 – a 2023 inductee into the J-Club Hall of Honor – won the Division III outdoor national championship in the discus as a senior in track and field in 1999.

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

2025: Bob Alpers '82 (golf coach); Jerry Haugen '76 (baseball coach, football); Bernie Kukar '62 (basketball); Patrick Lilly '79 (soccer); Craig Muyres '64 (basketball and football); Ken Roering '64 (football); Todd Schlorf '90 (tennis); Josh Sherlin '05 (golf); Brian Smith '83 (cross country and track and field); Jim Platten '74 (J-Club Distinguished Service Award). 

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).