Seattle University. Athletics Dept.

The Seattle University Athletic Department scrapbooks contain the news clippings, pressbooks, photographs and telegrams during years of regional and national recognition for the Chieftain basketball team. The scrapbooks for 1950-1959 showcased Johnny and Eddie O'Brien, and Elgin Baylor, while recording Seattle University's rise to national attention, culminating in the NIT tournament of 1958. Female athletes Patricia Lesser (golf) and Janet Hopps (tennis) also received prominent news coverage. A second sequence of scrapbooks, 1970-1975, highlight men's basketball teams with scattered coverage of tennis and baseball.

These administrative records from the Seattle University Athletic Department were transferred to the library in 2004 and represent a collection of materials lacking in topical depth with significant chronological gaps. Materials are scattered across forty years (1946-1987) with files that include: budgets (1956-60; 1980), correspondence (1956-1958; 1979-80), Athletic Board Minutes (1966), Connolly Center Building Fund (1967), Connolly Center Building Dedication (1969), Memorial Gymnasium (1946), news clipping and telegrams (1950-51), Tomahawk Club brochure (1979-80), intramural athletic program brochures (1979-80). The most significant historical reports are those related to Seattle University's transition from NCAA Division One sports to NAIA membership (1980).

This historical collection of student athlete records compiled by the Seattle University Athletic Department and transferred to the library in 2004, highlights selected players in sports programs from 1948 to 1999. The contents of Individual player files vary and may include one or more of the following: a brief sport biography, game statistics, photographs, and news clippings. The majority of records, six linear feet, cover men's basketball. High profile players include Chieftain basketball All-Stars John and Ed O'Brien, Earl Spangler, Plummer Lott, Joe Pehanick, Elgin Baylor (NBA Hall of Fame), Eddie Miles, Tom Workman, Tom Little, Frank Oleynick, Jawann Oldham, and Clint Richardson. Women's basketball covers the 1970-1980's teams and includes Jane "CJ" Sealey, Sue Turina, and Sue Stimac. Minimal photographs and records cover golf and tennis stars Patricia Lesser and Tom Gorman. This collection includes only a few of the fine athletes and teams that brought regional and national recognition to Seattle University from 1950 to 1999.

Although the Jesuits of Seattle College (1898-1948) promoted athletics among their primarily male students whom, no doubt, won accolades, this eclectic collection contains little from that period. This collection of trophies and awards begins with baseball in 1947 and basketball in 1948, soon reflecting acclaim for the men's teams, including the 1950's basketball stars Johnny and Eddie O'Brien. The 1958 trip to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) brought Seattle University basketball into the national spotlight. In the following decades, Seattle University legacy athletes rose to national prominence, including Elgin Baylor (NBA Hall of Fame), Eddie Miles, golf professional Patricia Lesser, and internationally ranked Davis Cup tennis team captain Tom Gorman. In the 1970's and 1980's following Title IX, more women athletes such as Sue Stimac impacted Seattle University women's basketball. A significant achievement in the university's athletic history was the success of the 1997 NAIA national men's soccer championship under coach Pete Fewing. Since 2010, Seattle University has competed in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) of NCAA Division 1 basketball.