Hit the Books. Hit the Ball. Win at Both. At SJU, varsity athletes knock it out of the park in the classroom. By John Rosengren ’86 At first the monks weren’t sure sports were a good idea. They didn’t mind if the lads at the college played them on campus, but they worried that competition against other schools detracted from the college’s primary purpose: learning. One of the main crusaders against intercollegiate athletics in the early 1900s was the university and seminary rector, Alcuin Deutsch, OSB. Today, with sports as ingrained in Saint John’s culture as Johnnie Bread and
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Link buses, it’s difficult to imagine what would have happened if Fr. Alcuin had gotten his way. Yet the academic and athletic success of the 2015 baseball team—particularly that of three decorated players—might have convinced even Fr. Alcuin that sports have become a positive influence on the students of Saint John’s University.