Just as the St. Mary’s University of today is the outgrowth of St. Mary’s Institute – the Marianists’ pioneer effort to meet San Antonio’s educational needs – so, too, has the St. Mary’s University Alumni Association evolved to meet the needs of the school and its alumni.

At the turn of the 20th century, downtown’s St. Mary’s College alumni offered to assist the good brothers in planning the Golden Jubilee of Marianist education in Texas. St. Louis College – the “Woodlawn campus” – had been open less than 10 years, so St. Mary’s grads took the lead in orchestrating the celebration.

The St. Mary’s College Alumni Association grew out of a committee formed to organize that landmark 50th anniversary observance. San Antonio Postmaster George G. Clifford became the first regularly elected president on June 1, 1902; however, the Hon. Joseph A. Ryan who was appointed Jubilee General Chairman in 1901 is generally recognized as the association’s founding president.

Association members in those early years were largely involved in commencement exercises of both St. Mary’s and St. Louis College graduates. Officers occupied places of importance on stage, dispensing awards to students who had excelled in their studies.

Early records indicate alumni met annually, and one such meeting may well have been the origin of Oyster Bake. Brother Gene Gittinger, S.M. (1899-1983), recalled that after the 1916 meeting “a select group stayed over to discuss ways to make the yearly alumni session distinctive.” Someone suggested importing Gulf Coast oysters to liven up the meeting. Beer would enhance that lively atmosphere; pretzels were thrown into the mix, and voila! The Jan. 13, 1917, meeting record indicates oysters were served, thus beginning an alumni tradition that thrives 85 years later.

Interestingly, it wasn’t until 1928 when Brother Gene’s sibling Frank C. Gittinger (SMC ’13) was elected, that a St. Mary’s graduate served as president of the alumni group. Until then, community leaders and fathers of enrolled students held that position. As was tradition with many old San Antonio families, the Gittingers long supported St. Mary’s. Frank’s brother Leonard Sr. (SMC ’11) was association president in 1936 and, in 1972, his son Leonard Jr. (B.B.A., J.D. ’55) held that same office. Frank took a second turn as president in 1952.

Socializing has always been a high priority to association members. The Rattler, in its Feb. 1, 1925 issue states, “[Dues] collections during 1924 amounted to $1,100.00 for the 278 members. The largest part of this accumulation was spent for amusement for the general membership.” At the forefront of alumni concern, too, was providing scholarship assistance to students. That same Rattler article confirms, “The Alumni Annual Prize to the lucky Graduate of the Academy, is a scholarship to the College.”

To recognize another milestone in 1927 – the Marianists’ Diamond Jubilee – the association established the St. Mary’s College Building and Extension Fund that raised funds for the construction of Alumni Gym.

At first, the Alumni Association was composed of men who had received a secondary education at either St. Mary’s or St. Louis College. With the addition of bachelor’s degree programs in 1923, it was inevitable that St. Mary’s University alums – the first of whom graduated in 1927 – would want to participate. Hence, a Degree Club was started that year with membership limited to University graduates.

To better reflect changes taking place, the organization was renamed the Ex-Students Association in 1938 and included former students who had attended any of the San Antonio Marianist institutions. Further reorganization took place in 1950 when four categories of membership were established: St. Mary’s College, St. Louis College and St. Mary’s Academy exes; female University exes; ex-students of Arts and Sciences at St. Mary’s University; and law school alumni.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Ex-Students Association experimented with numerous organizational structures. One venture involved dividing San Antonio into several local chapters. President Robert Rosow (B.S.C. ’45) helped organize what was briefly known as the International Association of St. Mary’s Clubs. Annual distinguished alumni awards were introduced in 1960 and, in 1963, the organization took on its new – and current – name: the St. Mary’s University Alumni Association.

For many years, until St. Mary’s institutionalized an annual fund program in the mid-1970s, it fell to the association to raise such funds for the University. Rosow was a tireless fund-raiser as were many of his successors, including 1965 President Dan Traugott (B.A. ’42) whose daughter, Jan “Pony” Traugott Karam (B.B.A. ’72), would become the organization’s third female president 35 years later, and 1969 President Al J. Notzon III (B.A. ’60), who, like Rosow, would go on to serve more than two decades on the St. Mary’s Board of Trustees.

Les Tschoepe (B.S.C. ’43), 1970 association president, recalls the fund-raising challenge. “Our alumni saw what the big schools were doing,” he says. As Alumni Annual Fund Chairman in the late 1960s, Tschoepe remembers working closely with alumni and students to get them involved in association activities – fund raising and otherwise – including Sports Night, the Great Teachers Program, the Oyster Bake and more.

In 1971, the association adopted a new constitution and bylaws and on Feb. 21, 1973, the current Charter of the St. Mary’s University Alumni Association was filed with the state.

For decades the organization had intermittently given scholarships to students, awards based entirely on the association’s limited funds. But the leadership felt a responsibility to make permanent and enhance those awards. So, in 1976, President Henrietta “Hank” Montagna (B.A. ’63) – the association’s first female leader – announced the Alumni Scholarship Endowment Fund with an initial gift of $40,000. One scholarship was awarded that year. Today the fund exceeds $6 million and more than 80 students are awarded scholarships annually.

Robert Mason, Ph.D. (B.S. ’68), association president in 1986 and Fiesta Oyster Bake General Chairman in 1985, 1998 and 1999, sees the 1980s as a decade of tremendous growth for the association, especially in leadership, fund raising and alumni support. “One of the most visible areas of growth was the Fiesta Oyster Bake. That alone increased our scholarship contributions from $13,000 in 1981 to $150,000 in 1986.”

Also during the late 1980s, the Alumni Association was reorganized and streamlined, scholarships were expanded to law and graduate students, faculty research grants were given, and representation was gained on the University’s Board of Trustees. “All our assistance to the University occurred because of the great success of the Fiesta Oyster Bake, and that all started with the vision of the Alumni Association leadership,” Mason says.

In the 1990s the organization was a key advocate for building a new athletics center. In 1993, Association President Paul Biever (B.A. ’63) was the first to suggest financial support of the project. “It was obvious St. Mary’s was in need of a facility where larger groups could meet. The time had come, everyone was talking about it, and there was a groundswell among alumni,” he says. Ultimately the Association gave the single largest gift, $3.1 million, to the facility that bears its name – the Alumni Athletics & Convocation Center.

Over the years the association has done more than raise money for scholarships and bricks and mortar. Since the 1970s it has recognized outstanding St. Mary’s faculty at an annual appreciation dinner; Texas and out-of-state chapters began in the 1960s – today the association boasts 12 chapters and affiliates; alumni actively recruit students to St. Mary’s; and the Fiesta Oyster Bake has grown to such proportions – more than 70,000 patrons attended the day and half event in 2001 – that in 1983 Association President Robert Engberg (B.B.A. ’60) initiated a separate Alumni Homecoming Weekend that now draws some 7,000 alumni and friends to campus each spring.

Tied closely to the St. Mary’s family community for more than a century, the Alumni Association has loyally, actively and passionately given its support, serving where and when needed and generously endowing those programs that best benefit their beloved alma mater and her students.

Presidents of the Alumni Association

• 1901 Joseph A. Ryan
• 1902 Dr. George G. Clifford
• 1905 Edward Dwyer
• 1906 James R. Davis
• 1907 Antonio G. Castanola
• 1910 John C. Sullivan
• 1912-14 A.J. Castanola Sr.
• 1916-17 Henry J. Menger
• 1918-19 Herman Bergman
• 1921 A.J. “Tony” Castanola
• 1924-25 Leon Walthall
• 1926-27 Albert Steves Jr.
• 1928-29 Frank C. Gittinger ’13
• 1930 Leo M.J. Dielmann
• 1931 Joseph Lucchese ’14
• 1932-33 Ben Schwegmann Sr.
• 1934-35 William Ruhnke
• 1936-37 L.J. Gittinger Sr. ’11
• 1938-39 Ernest Haby ’28
• 1940 Louis K. Nelson ’31
• 1941-43 Robert E. Seng Sr. ’09
• 1944 Gus P. Menger
• 1945 Sam C. Bennett Sr. ’08
• 1946 Joseph McShane ’39, ’69
• 1947-48 Ernest A Raba Sr. ’34, ’37
• 1949-50 Robert G. Watts ’38
• 1951 A.B. Crosby Sr. ’34
• 1952 Frank C. Gittinger ’13
• 1953 Dr. Leslie Maurer ’22

• 1954-55 Henry Guerra ’40
• 1956-57 Dr. Joseph Doyle Jr.
• 1958-59 George Casseb ’44
• 1960 Robert S. Rosow ’45
• 1961-62 Ted A Cerwin ’48
• 1963-64 Archie S. Brown ’37
• 1965 Dan F. Traugott ’42
• 1966 Patrick J. Fogarty ’48
• 1967 Robert R. Ottis ’51
• 1968 Walter G. Retzloff ’58
• 1969 Al J. Notzon III ’60
• 1970 Leslie W. Tschoepe ’43
• 1971 Joe A. Baller Jr. ’60
• 1972 Leonard J. Gittinger Jr. ’55
• 1973 Frank W. Baker ’48, ’49
• 1974 Frank O. Gebhardt ’52
• 1975 William L. Finto Jr. ’40
• 1976 Henrietta Montagna ’63
• 1977 Alfred V. Rodriguez ’56
• 1978 Charles Ebrom ’52, ’63
• 1979 J.W. “Jim” Allen ’62
• 1980 P. Gus Cardenas ’55, ’62

• 1981 William J. Dodds ’50
• 1982 Lawrence E. Noll ’67, ’72
• 1983 Robert E. Engberg ’60
• 1984 Michael A. Schott ’68
• 1985 James M. Koett ’63
• 1986 Robert L. Mason ’68
• 1987 Diane Abdo ’72
• 1988 Chris Maguire ’67
• 1989 Robert M. McAdams ’65
• 1990 Pony Traugott Karam ’72
• 1991 Louis S. Lecocke Jr. ’72
• 1992 Arthur R. Herrera Jr. ’72
• 1993 Paul K. Biever ’63
• 1994 Patrick N. Klasing ’71
• 1995 W. Mike White ’66
• 1996-98 Jerry A. Boerner ’85
• 1998-00 Michael Reimherr ’67, ’71
• 2000-02 Raymond Rodriguez ’74 n