I was excited to read that the St. Ignatius Girls' Water Polo Team won the state championship this year...and the boy's team came in 4th in the state. I don't know the team members, nor have I ever coached any water sport, but my involvement with St. Ignatius, including coaching, has generated a keen interest in how the Wolfpack is doing. I read one statement that said this is the first state team championship that St. Ignatius has ever captured, and I would guess this is so. Prior to 1963, we didn't even participate in the Illinois state association.
At a pep rally this spring, not only were the water polo teams' achievements acknowledged, but it was noted that this year, Ignatius teams had earned 9 conference championships, 4 state regional titles, 6 state sectional titles and a state championship. This is a vast difference from when I was a new teacher and coach 50+ years ago.
Certainly we strived to field championship teams back in the early '60's, and indeed, there were individual athletes who excelled. Tom O’Hara, class of ’60, was favored to win the one-mile race at the ‘64 Olympics. The Sheehan brothers achieved great success in the state in tennis, and Don and Fred Hogan were outstanding in their respective sports. In team sports, we’ve had many fine athletes who have distinguished themselves in college and beyond. I was privileged to have coached several outstanding athletes. But athletics at Ignatius has (or should I say "had"?) always taken a back-seat to academics. After all, the Jesuits were the intelligentsia of the Church. (Don’t tell the Dominicans that I said that.)
I was prompted by this year’s athletic achievements to drag out the old 1963 yearbook and do a little unofficial research. Needless to say, there have been a lot of changes at the school since '63. We are now coed, the building and grounds have increased in both size and quality, the size of the student body is larger and far more diverse, and there are far fewer priests and scholastics than in the early ’60’s.
In the ‘63 yearbook, there were 8 sports pictured. They were football, cross country, basketball, swimming, bowling, tennis, golf and track-and-field. (Interestingly, chess was included in the athletic portion of the book, but I didn‘t count it as one of the 8. No offense intended.) Baseball was not among the sports shown, but, actually, we fielded a baseball team in the spring of '63 right after football was dropped . In order to compare, I reviewed the present-day athletic
section of the Ignatius website, and I noted 22 different sports. The boys’ and girls’ teams for the same sport are counted as just one; e.g., girls’ basketball and boys’ basketball were counted as a single sport. Ignatius now offers not only the 8 that were on the ‘63 list, but also such sports as field hockey, la cross, rugby, crew, and, of course, soccer as well as many others.
It should be noted that now several of the sports are classified as “club” sports. These are sports that are not sanctioned by the IHSA, and the cost of participating in the sport is passed on to the athletes' families.
The frosting on our year was that senior Jack Keelan won the state championship in cross country and set the state record for the two-mile run in track. A truly remarkable achievement.
In a somewhat humorous vein, Ignatius had a cheer to soften the blow of being bested by our opponents which drove Fr. Brad Schaeffer up the proverbial wall when he was principal. It went: "That's all right; that's OK. You're gonna work for us someday.". Father felt it was arrogant. I don't know why.
After this year, that cheer can be laid to rest.
Congratulations to all of the fine athletes and their coaches. Go, Wolfpack!
