St. John's Univeristy has been part of my life since elementary school, whether I realized it or not. There were the priests coming over to say mass at 9 AM each Sunday. There were the catechism filmstrips produced by SJU. So when I was booted/taken out of Marist College (see Marist) the place that I wanted to go was St. John's. So there I was in September 1968. Little did know that it would be like being back in high school: no dormitories, no car, and living with my parents. Pretty soon I was hoping that I was in the armed forces, at the height of the Vietnam War! There ware not too many pleasant memories of college from these years. It helped to sour my memory of St. John's, even if it would not have been any better at Queens College, Pace College, or St. Francis College.
I finally got out in June 1971 and was in the Air Force the following month. I would come back to visit every chance that I got until 1975 when I was a civilian again. My parents wanted me to go to graduate school, but I said no. I hated it the first time around. But when my girlfirend went back to Ireland in April 1976, I said why not, since there isn't much else to do now. So on July 12, 1976 I was back after 5 years. When I walked into the classroom in St. Augustine Hall I saw a pretty Irish American lady sitting in the front. It turns out that she was a former music teacher, and I was a music lover. I hoped to take her out, but another guy beat me to it. However, you can read the entire story here: how we met. Remember to sign the guestbook.
Later we would go back to SJU for basketball games until we moved to where we live now, in Islip. Time did not permit us to go every year, since 40 miles is a long trip. I also got a bit ticked off at St. John's for various reasons, despite a 25 year reunion in 1996 and being photographed with Coach Lou Carnesecca..
In 1998 and 1999 we went with the SJU Alumni to games at Yankee Stadium and at Shea Stadium. At Shea we met in the Diamond Club and got to meet pitcher John Franco, another alumnus.
In 1999 the school built its first dormitories ever, and they are quite nice. Too bad that they were not built 40 years earlier. Oh, well. It's great to see people walking around campus at all hours. When the Long Island Campus opened at Oakdale in 2000 the 3 of us went to functions there. In 2001 we went to an alumni weekend at the main campus and enjoyed the barbecue. 2 years later the story above (How We Met) was in the Alumni Quarterly.
While I did not play sports while attending SJU, I am now an avid baseball fan. When the opportunity came to play in an alumni varsity game in October 2003, I jumped at the chance. I got to play with guys who made it to the minor leagues. My experience was playing softball for my employer. However, I had enough fun to do it again in 2004. My wife (the pretty Irish American lady above) and my daughter formed my fan club.
In February 2005 I was laid off from my firm after nearly 11 years. The first place that I went to once I recovered from the shock was the St. John's Career Center. They helped me with my resume, interview skills, and how to introduce myself to prospective employers. They were also a great morale booster.
On June 10, 2006 we went to another Alumni Weekend, since it's 35 years since the first graduation. The barbeque was great, and I enjoyed the wine tasting afterwards.
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