a UUN sort of quickie
Dear Div-III Aficionados —
I’ve taken a leave of absence from the UUN in recent weeks…first was disappointment of not making the playoffs; then a trip to California over Thanksgiving; then a full schedule of events and funerals; and finally, a bout of the 24-hour flu I’m just emerging from.
So the purpose of this quickie update is to alert maybe 15-20 people who usually show up about our annual group viewing of the Stagg Bowl, crowning the 2023 Champs of Div-III. Of course, I have to alert everyone, so if you are interested in this game, it will be televised on ESPNU this Friday at 7 PM Eastern, 6 PM Central.
Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, Salem, VA Friday night, December 15,— North Central College versus Cortland College
For those in the Twin Cities who’d like to be with some Johnnies and Bennies viewing this final game of the season, please join us the Park Tavern, 3401 Louisiana Avenue So., St. Louis Park, MN, beginning around 5:30 PM in the Party Room, right inside the main entrance.
2023 DIVISION III FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
https://d2o2figo6ddd0g.cloudfront.net/3/y/ahv4hd07etgsrh/2023-football-bracket.pdf
Highlights
Four teams were selected for the at-large spots: Coe; Wheaton; UW-Whitewater; and Union. SJU, of course, was passed by despite our high “strength of schedule” rating; the reason given by the Div-III selection committee is they looked at our “entire body of work” and found it wanting, e.g., getting whomped by UW-Whitewater; almost getting beat by a lower-ranked Augsburg; and actually losing to a lesser Gustavus team.
Despite my initial disappointment, as time passes I am comfortable with the committee’s decision. Ours was not a typical strong SJU team; we suffered too many ups and downs, and this was made all the more blatant given the amount of starters returning, mostly seniors and, one would think, team leaders who would help keep the team on an even keel. But it’s all water under the bridge now; we’ll start fresh next August with some new players who have been champing at the bit to show what they can do.
Results:
- Coe was beaten by Aurora in the first game on November 18.
- Wheaton survived the first week and faced Whitewater on November 25. UWW won in a surprisingly close game 49-42.
- Whitewater made the third week, the Quarterfinals, where they faced Wartburg and lost a close one to the Warthogs 31-28.
- Union lost to Johns Hopkins 39-17 in the second week.
In the meantime, at the top of the bracket, both UW-La Crosse and North Central crushed their early opponents and met in the Quarterfinals, where North Central won 55-42. In the semi-finals North Central faced Wartburg, winning in a close game that many think was the REAL Stagg Bowl—the score was NC 34 - Warthogs 27. On the other side of the bracket, Cortland defeated Randolph-Macon 49-14 to make the championship game.
One final comment. The MIAC was pretty much dissed in the playoffs. It was bad enough St. John’s was snubbed and a couple lesser teams given the at-large invite, but even worse was matching Bethel against Whitewater in the first game. Those games usually match a power team meeting a conference leader from vastly weaker conferences. Apparently the selection committee doesn’t hold the MIAC is very high esteem.
In the most satisfying loss in the playoffs, Mount Union was upset by Alma 24-20 in the second week. How sweet that was. Let Mt. Onion cry themselves this year. Unfortunately Alma met Cortland in the Quarterfinals and lost 58-41.
Who the heck is Cortland?
Their official name is SUNY Cortland, standing for State University of New York at Cortland. It’s located in the central part of what we call “Upstate New York.” It appears to be surrounded by parts of the Allegheny and Catskill Mountains, which in turn are part of the Appalachian Mountains that run in the U.S. from New Hampshire down to West Virginia and Georgia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_University_of_New_York_at_Cortland
The school was founded in 1868 as the Cortland Normal School. It continued to grow and, in 1941, was renamed Cortland State Teachers College. Finally, in 1961, the college was renamed as the State University of New York College at Cortland. That being a mouthful, it finally changed to State University of New York at Cortland…still as lot of words.
Today, approximately 6,800 students are pursuing degrees within the college's three academic divisions—arts and sciences, education and professional studies. Twenty-eight academic departments with a faculty of more than 600 offer the SUNY Cortland student body 50 majors and 38 minors from which to choose, plus 33 graduate majors and four certificates of advanced study.
View of Cortland, NY from the south.
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We continue to be grateful to the underwriters of this season’s UUN — the 1976 Championship team. I am also personally moved by all the readers/friends who either sent in money (all returned at this juncture) to help with the new charges, or all those who offered to do so in person. Thank you all.
I am exploring another manner of publishing next year, simplifying production and limiting readership. But not to worry; the UUN is always available at https://www.unofficialundergroundnews.com/
In fact, this website is where you must go to update your email address or to place new readers on it. Please don’t ask me to add people to the list; do it yourself at this site.
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From Dave Steil ’64, recently moved to Cold Spring, MN
Rob, we are back in Minnesota living in Cold Spring. Tonight I attended the CSB/SJU holiday reception at the Bad Habit Brewing Co. in St Joe. Probably 70 to 80 alumni attended. I was easily the oldest class represented. The next oldest was class of 73. Met Dr. Bruess and had a good conversation with him, especially as we had a common connection to St. Norbert. It was good to make connection with a number of alumni. Found that several also lived in Cold Spring, I plan to be more active now that we are back and will do what I can to represent the Class of 64. — Dave
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From a number of readers discussing the obituary for Brad Johannes (or Brice as he was commonly known).
Here is the obituary for Brice.What decent person he was in our limited interactions. A tremendous loss for the Johnnie and Johannes families.
https://epilogg.com/obituary/bradley-a-johannes-minneapolis-mn-usa-10462
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From John Diffley ’64, Stewartville, MN —
Bob, I see by this AM’s Strib that Bob Praus ‘62 passed away - a rather extensive obit. I knew Bob from when he was at DeLaSalle. I had a cousin at De who who a classmate and teammate of his along with Bob Gavin and several other fellows. Bob was a good football player who always “just missed the big win.” When he was at De, Cretin would beat them by a narrow margin and later at SJU he was a year too early for Gag’s first undefeated season. He must have been afflicted with Alzheimer’s as that was a listed memorial. That ‘62 class had some nice fellows - for some reason l knew a lot of them from having relatives as their classmates in the Twin Cities Catholic high schools and, oddly enough, a lot of them tried Nazareth Hall for their first year of college - weren’t they all checking out their “vocations” and got the hell out of there after one year and usually on to St Thomas. I waited too long on that one, well at least l didn’t go to the Summit Ave vo-tech.
Merry Christmas to you and Chris if l don’t communicate with you before the 25th. Let’s hope no one passes until after the 1st. — John
https://www.startribune.com/obituaries/detail/0000475445/
P.S. In last Sunday’s AM’s StarTrib in the Minnesota section there is a rather lengthy covering of the MN-13 story which ends with a bow to the Abbey. Even Capone and his Italian goons couldn’t muscle their way into that scene.
https://www.startribune.com/prohibition-moonshine-minnesota-farmers-stearns-county/600325358/
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From Dan McDermott ’84, Plymouth, MN —
Thank you, Bob, for another entertaining season of the UUN! Never pedantic, always insightful, sometimes irreverent...that's what makes it worth the price!
It's the thread that weaves us together, whether on campus for the game or traveling in Arizona. We appreciate you - well, I do… — Dan
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Latest update from our special Ben Bartch reporter, Pete Hill ’78, Fernandina Beach, FL —
Thinking Ben Bartch might finish his NFlL career on the Jaguar’s practice squad, I wasn’t paying attention and missed the news late last month that Ben was picked up as backup left guard by the Super Bowl contending, San Francisco 49ers!!
His number, 78, did not change. In the game today, he was just playing on the PAT and field goal units, but he was playing…
Anybody you know interested in buying a #78, never worn, Ben Bartch Jaguar’s jersey?! ;-) — Pete
P.S. How does the NCAA get away with making top ranked, defending D3 National Champion, North Central, play two games on the road to get to the Stagg Bowl?!
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Best wishes to you all…Perhaps I’ll get out a final issue after the Stagg Bowl, but in the meantime, please check in on the Johnnies Basketball team. They are going bonkers, looking balanced, great bench, unselfish, and deadly on their shooting. After two early losses they have pulled off seven straight wins. They are really fun to watch:
https://gojohnnies.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
R.L. Wicker ’60/’64, St. Paul, MN