When you walk in the Bradley Gym at Saint Xavier High School the Rams’ pride and history will be on full display.

Eleven banners depicting sports and team championships and activities in the history of the school from 1925 until 2017 are now hanging above the stage in the gym. They were on display during a public ceremony Tuesday that was attended by current students plus former coaches and players.

 

School Principal Shawn Augustine explained the project spearheaded in part by alumni member Dan Zoeller, began to

take shape this past fall. “In the month of October we started looking at what way can we give back to everyone that’s been through here, whether it’s been in academic, athletic activity whatever that may be.” The end result…the championship banners.

Several former athletes, students and coaches were in attendance. One of them was Sonny Ehm, who quarterbacked the 1959 CLC League championship football team. He remembers those years. “It was a running game then so we had three backs in eight-man football that could run. That was a distinct advantage. There wasn’t a whole lot of throwing, but there was a lot of running.

Former girls volleyball and basketball standout Leslie ( Wahle ) Goodwin was a part of the Saint Xavier Rams volleyball team that finished second in the One-A State Tournament in 1988 in western Kansas. “Our principal at the time, Bill Orth, when we made it to state he let us ride in his RV all the way out there. It was the most fun. ” Wahle added on a more serious note, “Seriously, going out there, the experience of doing something that Saint X hadn’t done in volleyball. It was really exciting.” She was also a key player on the team that finished fourth at state in her senior year at Saint X.

Among the former coaches in attendance were girls basketball coach Roger Diekman, boys basketball coach Dennis Throne, and boys basketball coach Ben Meseke. Throne was the head coach for the Rams when they knocked off top seeded Bennington in the Regional finals at the Bradley Gym. “What I remember about that game particularly, we never led until just the final seconds. Tim Lueke came down and hit a shot. Bennington player just kind of panicked and drove to the baseline, and we hemmed him in, he threw up a prayer and it missed.”

Current students at Saint Xavier were also in attendance for the ceremony on Tuesday afternoon at the Bradley Gym.