The Marianists always have had a great interest in St. Mary’s sports, and that interest extends to coaching and athletics administration.

For more than 80 years, these coaches of sport and directors of athletics used their wit, charm, ingenuity and horse sense to move Rattler athletics forward.

In the mid-1920s Brother Tom Treadaway was baseball coach and athletics director. Enthusiastic on the playing field, Treadway’s most notable contribution came later as registrar.

With the 1930s came the era of St. Mary’s football, directed by Mose Simms. A great motivator, his marketing schemes catapulted Rattler football into the national limelight. Collier’s and Life magazines featured full-page spreads on the team and its escapades.

Intercollegiate athletics returned to St. Mary’s after World War II, led by Brothers Bill Siemer and Gene Gittinger. Siemer revived Rattler basketball in 1946 and baseball in 1947.

And, under the leadership of Brother Gittinger, the Texas Catholic Interscholastic League was founded and flourished as a sports organization for Texas Catholic high schools.

At the college level, Siemer and Gittinger were trailblazers in organizing the Big State Conference, of which St. Mary’s was a vital member for more than 35 years.

When Brother Bill retired, Jim Heiser and Mel Barborak became head coaches in basketball and baseball, respectively. English Professor Brother Walter Puckett was given the title of athletics director in 1952.

In the 1960s Elmer Kosub became the first lay athletics director. He spearheaded the improvement of V.J. Keefe Memorial Stadium and, through his involvement in Olympic baseball and the American Association of College Baseball Coaches, St. Mary’s received much favorable recognition. Kosub also oversaw the addition of women’s athletics programs in the 1960s.

From the late 1970s until 1981, Bill Blankenship and Joe Fisher performed the duties of athletics director. Blankenship is remembered for his intelligence and humor, administrative organization, and rapport with coaches.

Buddy Meyer, a four-time All-Big State team member, was named head basketball coach in 1978 and became athletics director two years later. For 20 years he guided Rattler athletics, and St. Mary’s exerted its leadership in the Big State and Heart of Texas conferences.

Meyer was instrumental in forming the Heart of Texas Conference in 1987, and moving St. Mary’s to the NCAA Division II in 1999. His key involvement helped build the Alumni Athletics & Convocation Center where today’s volleyball and basketball teams play.

Charlie Migl stepped into the athletics director job in 2001, just a few short months before he and his baseball team clinched the 2001 NCAA Division II National Championship.

The Gridiron

My four years as a student-athlete at St. Mary’s University opened many doors and helped shape my adult years. My association with the University is strong today, 62 years after graduating. I’ve never forgotten the professors at St. Mary’s and, over the years, I’ve maintained warm relationships with several of them.

While playing football and baseball at St. Mary’s, I formed lifelong friendships with coaches and teammates. Most are now departed. Many died in the great battles of World War II, losing their lives honorably serving their country. St. Mary’s can be proud of her loyal sons.

After graduation many athletes went on to earn doctorates, become teachers and coaches, and achieve notable military ranks. Some became pilots – Lucian Youngblood, a teammate of mine was a Doolittle Raider. And others were successful businessmen. They brought honor to themselves, their families and the University, and I believe the Marianists deserve much credit for molding our adult journey.

St. Mary’s had football from 1916 to 1929 and again from 1935 to 1941. We had two great coaches during my playing days in Frank Bridges and Mose Simms. Each was a professional in his specialty. Our squad played some great teams, among them Rice University, Catholic University, Loyola University, the University of Toledo, Mississippi Southern and the Texas School of Mines (now the University of Texas at El Paso). We also took on a fine, nationally ranked team on the West Coast, the University of San Francisco, who we beat 7-6 at Kezar Stadium in 1939.

It’s unheard of today, but sometimes we played three games in eight days. We would play games when and where we could get them.

Football has changed a lot since then. Most of us played entire games. Soreness and injuries came with the territory. We made do. We used to say, half jokingly, that the team was allowed only one broken nose at a time because we had only one helmet with a makeshift face mask.

We traveled great distances to play. Our team bus, the “Blue Goose,” averaged more than 10,000 miles a season. It was tiresome, but when you’re young you recover quickly. You hear the whistle sound and it’s time to start the contest.

Note: Homer Burkett (B.A. ’40) captained the St. Mary’s Rattler football team in 1939, and is a member of the Athletics Hall of Fame.