1984 Yearbook
Source URL
Title
1984 Yearbook
Description
THE OAKS
CELEBRATES
50th
PUBLICATION
On a wintry day in 1913, several St. Ambrose College
students were discussing memories of "by-gone college
days and chums" in a smoke-filled dormitory room.
Someone suggested such memories should be compiled
in a yearbook.
Thus a staff was formed, and the first annual at St.
Ambrose, named 'The Ambrosian," was published in 1913.
The editors dedicated the yearbook to their "friend and
president," the Very Rev. William P. Shannahan.
The first "athletic editor" was Thomas Vincent Lawlor,
who was to become a vice president, business manager and
athletic director of St. Ambrose College and later the pastor
of Davenport's Holy Family Parish.
The yearbook contains a front view of the college, consisting primarily of Ambrose Hall as seen from Locust
Street.
The yearbooks were off and running now, but in 1917 the
editors did not bother to list the faculty "because it was so
small."
The Ambrosian of 1918 was dedicated to "the Ambro-
sians who were in the Army and Navy of democracy, fighting to preserve the ideals and institutions of free peoples."
It lists an honor roll of 164 men who had "taken up arms
for the United States."
In 1923, pictures in the Ambrosian covered only four
pages. That year, Gerald A. Lillis, later a priest-professor at
St. Ambrose, was the editor-in-chief.
A full-page portrait of Bishop James Davis of Davenport
was prominent in the 1923 Ambrosian, perhaps because the
college was under the immediate supervision of the bishop.
The college no longer is under such direct supervision.
The book of 222 pages is dedicated, in flowery language,
to Father Aloysius Joseph Schulte, who became the first
president of St. Ambrose at age 23.
The 1923 yearbook records that the basketball team lost
11 of 12 games, but the sports editor was "philosophical
about the losses:
"Why cry over spilt milk? They did their best, and what
more can be asked of any team?
"The majority of the games were played away from home,
on small floors, against much heavier teams, and these
things, along with injuries, greatly handicapped the Saints."
The football varsity under new coach J.C. Loman won
four games and lost three. And the first varsity track team
also lost 11 of a dozen meets.
Total enrollment at the time was 56, and the college
attained four-year status for the first time.
After 1923, the college did not publish a yearbook until
1940, when the publication assumed a new name, "The
Oaks."
The 1940 book also was the first combined annual—
jointly published by the students at Marycrest and St.
Ambrose.
50 Years
— 1984
Marycrest, opened in 1939, remained the women's division of St. Ambrose until 1951. Previously credits were
awarded and degrees conferred through St. Ambrose.
After 1940, the yearbook was not published during the
World War II years. Publication was resumed in 1948.
In 1940, studied portraits of the faculty were in the front
of the book. There were also stylized shots of buildings and
perhaps the first pictures of the new Davis Hall—plus the
students' pictures—individual pictures for seniors and pictures with about 20 people in a group for other classes.
There was a band—regularly there has been a band since
1895. The orchestra in 1940 was a Marycrest-St. Ambrose
unit.
The Marycrest section of the 1940 yearbook contained no
pictures of faculty, only a listing of names.
Marycrest students had about the same listing as did St.
Ambrose students, with individual shots for seniors.
The Marycrest section contained a list of achievements
for each senior, and a statement of her major. Juniors,
sophomores and freshmen were pictured in groups.
The 1973 yearbook proclaimed itself as the last for St.
Ambrose because Marycrest and St. Ambrose were to
merge under the name of Newman College. But before the
project could get off the ground in 1973, the Newman board
of directors disclosed that the merger efforts had been
indefinitely postponed.
In 1983, the staff, with Mark James McPeek of Rogers-
ville, Tenn., as editor, dedicated a 160-page book (Volume
49) to Dr. William J. Bakrow on the 10th anniversary of his
presidency.
In 1984, the St. Ambrose administration has been reviewing the quality, the costs, and the student interest in the
school's two principal student publications, the newspaper
and the yearbook. Some thought is being given to having a
magazine replace the yearbook, and to upgrading the format and quality of the newspaper.
Seventy-one years after the yearbook was first a dream
and then a published reality, St. Ambrose students carry
forward the tradition of creating copy and pictures in a
yearbook which in future years will help students look back
and remember what campus life was like in 1984. The Oaks,
like the buildings, the courses, the people, the traditions
and spirit that make St. Ambrose College, seeks to be more
than a printed record of what was, by imaging and expressing what we might yet be.
Is The Oaks only history to go out with this year's
seniors? Rather, The Oaks should be seen as an ongoing
contributor to the current life of the college, so the students
who remain and incoming freshmen may more easily know
names, faces, events and the "spirit of St. Ambrose." The
Oaks intentionally seeks to be partner in helping to generate student awareness and involvement in St. Ambrose life!
124 The Oaks
CELEBRATES
50th
PUBLICATION
On a wintry day in 1913, several St. Ambrose College
students were discussing memories of "by-gone college
days and chums" in a smoke-filled dormitory room.
Someone suggested such memories should be compiled
in a yearbook.
Thus a staff was formed, and the first annual at St.
Ambrose, named 'The Ambrosian," was published in 1913.
The editors dedicated the yearbook to their "friend and
president," the Very Rev. William P. Shannahan.
The first "athletic editor" was Thomas Vincent Lawlor,
who was to become a vice president, business manager and
athletic director of St. Ambrose College and later the pastor
of Davenport's Holy Family Parish.
The yearbook contains a front view of the college, consisting primarily of Ambrose Hall as seen from Locust
Street.
The yearbooks were off and running now, but in 1917 the
editors did not bother to list the faculty "because it was so
small."
The Ambrosian of 1918 was dedicated to "the Ambro-
sians who were in the Army and Navy of democracy, fighting to preserve the ideals and institutions of free peoples."
It lists an honor roll of 164 men who had "taken up arms
for the United States."
In 1923, pictures in the Ambrosian covered only four
pages. That year, Gerald A. Lillis, later a priest-professor at
St. Ambrose, was the editor-in-chief.
A full-page portrait of Bishop James Davis of Davenport
was prominent in the 1923 Ambrosian, perhaps because the
college was under the immediate supervision of the bishop.
The college no longer is under such direct supervision.
The book of 222 pages is dedicated, in flowery language,
to Father Aloysius Joseph Schulte, who became the first
president of St. Ambrose at age 23.
The 1923 yearbook records that the basketball team lost
11 of 12 games, but the sports editor was "philosophical
about the losses:
"Why cry over spilt milk? They did their best, and what
more can be asked of any team?
"The majority of the games were played away from home,
on small floors, against much heavier teams, and these
things, along with injuries, greatly handicapped the Saints."
The football varsity under new coach J.C. Loman won
four games and lost three. And the first varsity track team
also lost 11 of a dozen meets.
Total enrollment at the time was 56, and the college
attained four-year status for the first time.
After 1923, the college did not publish a yearbook until
1940, when the publication assumed a new name, "The
Oaks."
The 1940 book also was the first combined annual—
jointly published by the students at Marycrest and St.
Ambrose.
50 Years
— 1984
Marycrest, opened in 1939, remained the women's division of St. Ambrose until 1951. Previously credits were
awarded and degrees conferred through St. Ambrose.
After 1940, the yearbook was not published during the
World War II years. Publication was resumed in 1948.
In 1940, studied portraits of the faculty were in the front
of the book. There were also stylized shots of buildings and
perhaps the first pictures of the new Davis Hall—plus the
students' pictures—individual pictures for seniors and pictures with about 20 people in a group for other classes.
There was a band—regularly there has been a band since
1895. The orchestra in 1940 was a Marycrest-St. Ambrose
unit.
The Marycrest section of the 1940 yearbook contained no
pictures of faculty, only a listing of names.
Marycrest students had about the same listing as did St.
Ambrose students, with individual shots for seniors.
The Marycrest section contained a list of achievements
for each senior, and a statement of her major. Juniors,
sophomores and freshmen were pictured in groups.
The 1973 yearbook proclaimed itself as the last for St.
Ambrose because Marycrest and St. Ambrose were to
merge under the name of Newman College. But before the
project could get off the ground in 1973, the Newman board
of directors disclosed that the merger efforts had been
indefinitely postponed.
In 1983, the staff, with Mark James McPeek of Rogers-
ville, Tenn., as editor, dedicated a 160-page book (Volume
49) to Dr. William J. Bakrow on the 10th anniversary of his
presidency.
In 1984, the St. Ambrose administration has been reviewing the quality, the costs, and the student interest in the
school's two principal student publications, the newspaper
and the yearbook. Some thought is being given to having a
magazine replace the yearbook, and to upgrading the format and quality of the newspaper.
Seventy-one years after the yearbook was first a dream
and then a published reality, St. Ambrose students carry
forward the tradition of creating copy and pictures in a
yearbook which in future years will help students look back
and remember what campus life was like in 1984. The Oaks,
like the buildings, the courses, the people, the traditions
and spirit that make St. Ambrose College, seeks to be more
than a printed record of what was, by imaging and expressing what we might yet be.
Is The Oaks only history to go out with this year's
seniors? Rather, The Oaks should be seen as an ongoing
contributor to the current life of the college, so the students
who remain and incoming freshmen may more easily know
names, faces, events and the "spirit of St. Ambrose." The
Oaks intentionally seeks to be partner in helping to generate student awareness and involvement in St. Ambrose life!
124 The Oaks
Publisher
U.S. Yearbook Service, Des Moines, IA
Date
1984
Rights
St. Ambrose University, 518 W. Locust St., Davenport, IA 52803
Identifier
http://cdm16810.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16810coll2/id/6922