Friday, October 27, 2006

St Scholastica to Field A Football Team; If NDSU can almost beat the Gophers, why not the Saints?

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My Mom's sister, Sister Ann Edward Scanlon, O.S.B., [the names of my grandparents] was the last nun to be president of the College of St Scholastica. She became "emeritus" in 1967. I spent a little time with her when she took a sabbatical and traveled through Europe for a year and I escorted her around a bit of Bavaria at that time. I was in the Army and had not looked forward to that "escort duty."

It turned out to be a marvelous weekend when we visited some of the same places that Pope Benedict visited last month. That's where her Benedictine order, cloistered in Germany, was founded.

I didn't think at the time to ask her about whether or not she was a Vikings or a Gopher fan, but since she died only a couple of years ago and now her College is starting their own team, she must have secretly worn team colors underneath her habit (normal in those days, not the colors, but the habit).

The College of St. Scholastica will begin fielding a football team in 2008, the school announced Friday. The team will compete in NCAA Division III and the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. St. Scholastica, with an undergraduate enrollment of 1,985, already has 18 varsity sports. The board of trustees approved the move Thursday.

School officials said it will cost about $3.9 million to start a football program, which will include building facilities and hiring a coaching staff. The school will finance the costs through bonding and about $1 million in fundraising, said Patrick Flattery, a vice president for finance. Pioneer Press

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