Extracurriculars & Campus MinistryThe Senior Retreat For the most part, the issues of the separation of the schools or of the Korean War did not impact the students, who continued to focus on the day-to-day routine of classes, their extracurricular activities, their spiritual growth and their social lives. The three-day senior retreat continued to be…

By Brian Hasset ’58 Playing football for Coach Pat Malley ’49 was like being a warrior in fealty to a resourceful and determined Celtic chieftain. Well, maybe that’s a little too much historical-romantic spin, but when Pat Malley returned to St. Ignatius in 1956, where his father had coached and he had been team captain,…

By John Horgan Spiritus Magis gave three paragraphs to Fred LaCour ’56, but the book didn’t tell the whole story of this gifted athlete. That was left to John Horgan, whose story appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal on Jan. 2 this year. Fred LaCour. The name is all but forgotten today. But he is…

Basketball in the New Gym In November 1950, SI students finally enjoyed a gym after 25 years of fundraising. Construction began in March 1950, with money coming from all sources, including a “till that bulged with greenbacks from the play” and the generous donations of parents and local businesses. The money was not enough to…

In the June 6, 1957, Inside SI, editor Dan Flynn ’57 paid tribute to outgoing principal, Fr. Robert Leonard, SJ, who had come to SI in 1951 as its vice principal and dean of discipline and who had served as principal starting in 1954. Flynn wrote that students came to respect Fr. Leonard. “For one thing,…

To mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of St. Ignatius College, USF and St. Ignatius High School held a centennial week in October 1955. SI celebrated a solemn Mass on October 13 sung at St. Ignatius Church by Fr. William Tobin, SJ, with a sermon delivered by Fr. Charles Casassa, SJ ’28, then president…

Laurence Yep ’66, the author of Dragonwings and dozens of other books, wrote about Fr. Becker in his autobiography, The Lost Garden. Here is an excerpt from his book: “In my senior year, we had Father Becker who taught us English by having us imitate the various writers and various forms. We had to write poems in the…

By Brian Hassett ’59 In 1958, when Fr. John Becker came to teach English at St. Ignatius, I was a senior. The focus of Senior English was writing, a discipline with which I had mixed success. The teaching style of the new teacher would be crucial. I had never been able to write well under…

In 1958, a young Jesuit came to SI and stayed for 20 years. Fr. John Becker, SJ, was a remarkable English teacher and Inside SI moderator known for his propensity for punning, his highly structured curriculum that became the department standard and his manner of inspiring students. Over the years, a number of Ignatians who now write…

Fr. Spohn wasn’t the only great teacher at SI. Another favorite of many students was Warren White, who taught at the Stanyan Street campus between 1948 and 1955. He was also the originator and first moderator ofInside SI and the director of numerous plays. White attended USF and spent three years in the service before returning…