Was it the day women were first admitted to the College? Or the first time a Nobel Prize was bestowed upon a graduate? What about the morning the president of the United States arrived to speak at Commencement? These are just three of the moments that Holy Cross Magazine, the College’s alumni quarterly publication, selected to include in its “Top 25 Moments in Holy Cross History” feature.
The Spring 2012 issue, which landed in mailboxes the last week in March, outlines 25 moments that brought about meaningful change or significant honor to the College. With the help of Rev. Anthony Kuzniewski, S.J., history professor and author of "Thy Honored Name," a history of Holy Cross from its beginning days to the early 1990s, the magazine shares details about these important milestones through short articles and archival photos.
As the editorial team had hoped, the response from the magazine's 40,000-plus readers has been swift.
“We’re getting five times the amount of email we normally do after an issue comes out,” says Editor Suzanne Morrissey. “It’s great, because the feedback — darts and laurels alike — is going to be presented in a follow-up feature in the Summer issue, which comes out mid-July.” Morrissey says there is enough fodder for a dozen more features based on conversations stemming from the Top 25 article.
Along with the main list of moments, the story features a Top 25 Sports Moments list, which includes the men’s ice hockey sudden-death overtime upset over Minnesota in the 2006 NCAA tournament, as well as the July 1928 Olympic gold medal that Jim Quinn ’28 took in track and field in Amsterdam.
“We’ve already heard that we missed the boat by not including the College’s Patriot League men’s basketball titles,” Morrissey notes. “As anyone can imagine, it was tough to whittle all the memorable moments that Holy Cross athletes have given us down to just 25.”
Readers have a chance to vote for the No. 1 moments from each list, and to write in moments they feel should have made the cut.
The top 25 story also has a compelling Web Exclusive companion piece that took shape as the magazine team researched the feature: The photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking in the Fieldhouse in 1962 led to conversations with Steve Bashwiner ’63 and Jerry King ’63, who were responsible for driving Dr. and Mrs. King to and from campus for the event. Each man had a moving experience the night they met the civil rights icon, and they shared their memories in a web exclusive called “The Night I Met Dr. King.”
