By Dewey Terrill
JC Post
Saint Xavier High School alumni and students were able to renew acquaintances and enjoy basketball Saturday night at the Bradley Gym. The occasion was the second Alumni Game, and the first one since 2014.
There was a co-ed basketball game preceded by tours of the school, mass, and a chili feed. In the basketball game the Blue Team defeated the White City team 54-41, although the real focus of the evening was the camaraderie and fun playing basketball and not the score.
Lyn Jones, Brad Shelton and Dennis Throne were the honorary coaches. That meant sitting together on the bench and enjoying the game, which consisted of two halves…one 20 minutes and the other 30 minutes long. Jones, who just retired from Saint Xavier School last year put his role in perspective with a humorous observation. “Well I didn’t do much coaching. Like a good coach is supposed to I turned it over to my assistants.”
Shelton enjoyed his return to where he coached and taught from 1996 until 2000. “I didn’t tell much to the players. Us coaches kind of joked around a little bit. Strategy-wise there wasn’t much strategy. Just sit back and relax and enjoy the ride.” One thing that was different from a normal game is that all the coaches sat together on the white ( the winning ) team bench. Shelton also had a humorous comment. “Well that’s where they told us to go, but I guess all these coaching minds got us a W though, huh? Today Shelton is a baseball coach at Tonganoxie High School.
Throne arrived at Saint Xavier in 1985 and taught and coached at the school until 1992. “I had a good
experience here. I had some pretty good athletes. They can say what they want about coaching. Coaching is overrated when you’ve got good athletes. I was just blessed to have some good kids.” Today Throne is a girls golf and girls basketball coach at Council Grove High School. He plans to retire from those coaching jobs after this school year. He retired from teaching six years ago.
Dan Zoeller worked to coordinate the event. While the attendance was not as high as it was in 2014, there were still a good turnout. “It’s always good when a lot of the alumni come back and we’re able to get the current students to play against us alumni and show them how we used to play back in the 2000 era, how good we used to be.” The basketball game consisted of players of all ages from junior high to alumni dating back to 1962.
Saint Xavier School Principal Shawn Augustine enjoyed bringing people back to the school for this event. Some funds were also raised for the school through raffles, donations and a chili feed. He noted that the Saint Xavier Foundation also offered to provide some matching funds.
Just a few of the players in the basketball game included Jeff, Joshua and Jacob Keating, Melissa Simanko, Tyler Engstrom, David Smith, Thane Kramer, Kristel Jahnke, Dan Zoeller, Grace Richardson, Tony Reese, Gerald Woydziak, Teresa Woydziak, Steven Matthews, Patrick Beavers, Kevin Campbell, Audrey Lichtensteiger, Lauryn Peterson, Clifford Crites III, Jacob Copas, Heston jahnke, Simon Engelhardt, John Wanek, Chris Hesard, Debra Woydziak, Chris Heard, Keon Jackson, Adam Whitaker, Michael Rominger, Andrew Schwanke, Thaine Kramer, Judy Lienemann, DJ Shin, Cameron Augustine, Brady Sexton-Snow, Damon Smith, Landon Berry, Tamia Stamper, Gracie Lichtensteiger, Jacob Berry, Steven Wahle and Bob Wahle.
