BASKETBALL
A friend of the Glory Days website, Bernie Hannigan, provided the photo to your right and the
school building photo at the top of this page via his copy of the 1968 St. Vincent de Paul Yearbook, The Medallion".
The article states that St. Vincent de Paul had succeeded in finishing their fourth straight winning season that year.
If you have any frther information on the St. Vincent de Paul basketball program, please contact us.
1967-68 14 - 4 Coach Fr. James Seghers
1974-75 Coach Doug
Bruno
MEMORIES
**From Carmen Maurgeri:
"We had wrestling and soccer. The school was small so I lettered 4 times
in both of these sports. Even though we were small and a very religious school – we had some great standouts in all
three of these sports.
"My freshman year (75) Doug Bruno was our Athletic Director. I think he
was there for all of 3 days and then went off to coach under Ray Meyer at DePaul."
**From Phil Cahill:
"My name is Phil Cahill and I am a 1976 graduate of St. Vincent de Paul. I played basketball
for Doug Bruno (head women's basketball coach at DePaul University
and coach for the USA women's basketball team at the world games) and
he is still a close friend of mine. Doug coached the entire 1975 season at St. Vincent.
"The school, at the time I was there, competed in soccer, wrestling, tennis, and basketball. All students
lived on campus and were permitted to go home on the occasional weekend. When on campus each student had a "job" to attend
to daily. The weekends spent on campus found the students performing "work orders" on Saturday
mornings. Work orders included assignments like washing and waxing dormitory floors, cleaning the shower areas,
dry mopping and wet mopping the gymnasium.
"The gymnasium was built in an old aircraft hanger that was leftover from the Fournier Institute. The playing
surface was actually raised up slightly off of the concrete floor that existed below. At each end of the gym were huge garage
doors.
"Study hall was mandatory each night after dinner,
with night and morning prayers. Intramural sports were popular and the
"Class Series" (seniors vs. juniors, and sophs. versus frosh, and so on) were always interesting. In basketball during
the mid-70's, St. Vincent's competed against St. Joseph Seminary, St. Charles Boromeo, Elgin Academy among others, and
faired relatively well.
"As I come across other information I will pass it along. Great site. I am always looking for information
about St. Vincent and was surprised I found it at your site."
**From John (Big John or B.J.) Milner:
"I attended St. Vincent's in the 60's and would have been in the class of 1968. After punching in
the subject, up comes the picture of the main building at the seminary. When I scrolled further, I was more than amazed
to see the photo of the basketball team. I enlarged the picture as best I could (I am not really a big computer user,
and almost never use the internet), and was immediately flooded with memories of my time at St. Vincent's. I certainly recognized
most of the guys in the picture, and even though I could not really read their names, I pretty much knew who was who. These
guys were all in my class!
"Of course I remembered Fr. Seghers. His nickname, almost all priests and most of the kids
were given nicknames, was Jet, or sometimes Jimmy Jet. His first name was James and the nickname, if I remember correctly,
came from the way he signed his initials that he put on the frequent notices he attached on the dormitory bulletin board.
"Another priest who often left us notes was Fr. O'Brien. His nickname was R-job.
This too from his initials; R.J. O'b.. Richard J. O'Brien. My own nickname was Big John. Here I am almost
60 years old, I couldn't tell you what I had for breakfast today, but I know the nicknames of some people from over 40 years
ago.
"My two years at St. Vincent's were just the best times any kid could have ever had. It was like having
a couple of hundred brothers. I vividly remember all of the buildings and the great priests and fellow seminarians. The
only reason I left was because I knew I really wasn't going to be a priest and I figured I was missing something better
by not going to a regular high school (GIRLS!!) Now I am a grandfather and realize that I could have at least stayed
on the full four years, had a great time, and not missed out on anything.
"In the internet posting you asked for info on the seminary. I don't think there was any team names
or anything. When I was there, I don't even think we played too many other schools in any sports. We did have a
great basketball team that would play some other seminaries and I remember once we hosted a baseball game against, I think,
Brother Rice High School.
"What I do know is that the schools' colors were blue and white. We had a school song that mentioned
those colors but I don't remember all the words. The school's motto was "Prompt, Exact, and Cheerful." All
of the students from Sophomore year on up wore a patch on the front of our
blazer, (received after enduring something called "patch day," the details of which I still feel duty bound to keep secret)
that had the motto spread out in a circle over the school emblem. This was in Latin, "Celeritas, Diligentia, Hilaritas." My
Latin is rusty, but I think that is correct.
"The song had part that said "...glory to the blue, honor to the white...prompt, exact and cheerful, we
hail St. Vincent de Paul."
"Anyway, I don't know who this note will reach. I hope it reaches someone. The internet article
credited the photo as coming from a Bernie Hannigan who had the picture in his yearbook (what I wouldn't
give to see that yearbook!). I didn't know a Bernie Hannigan but we (class of '68) had a Bernie
O"Malley. Bernard J. O"Malley, I still remember the laundry tags sown on all your underwear. I
this is going to him, Hi Bernie. As I remember, we just called you "O"Malley."
"As I said, I'm not much of an internet user but I will absolutely keep checking my e-mails to see if I
have gotten any reply to this. And if anyone out there remembers me from St. Vincent's, I would love to hear from you. You
were all a great part of my life and I wish you all the best."
**From Joseph Roland:
"I just came across the page for school on your website. Very interesting history. Thank you so much for
collecting it all. I attended St. Vincent dePaul Seminary from August of 1989 through May of 1991, when the school closed.
I happen to have yearbooks for the school from 1986-1992. Since I was there when the school closed, I did happen to walk away
with one or two knick-knacks - one of which is the front elevation blueprint for the administration building (the "A" Building,
as we called it). It was a beautiful little building.
**From Al Jaglowski:
"I was looking for some information for an affirmation letter for my grandson's
Confirmation and came across an old photo from my days at a retreat at St. Vince de Paul Seminary in Lemont, Illinois.
I saw on your website that you were asking for information, so I have attached the photo for your use.
I am in the 2nd row, the 2nd from the right and Michael Hermes is the 3rd from right in 2nd row & would go
to Quigley, also."
