RIP Father John

I just learned that Father John passed away this morning at the abbey in Latrobe. Our younger readers probably don't know Father John Murtha, who was President of BC from 1996-99. The Class of '01 had Father John for two years and Father Jude for two years. You always knew Father John was around, because you could hear him cough about once every minute.

Having only been at BC for three years, Father John seemed to "get it." I remember during my sophomore year, when he called a special meeting with our class after lunch because only 10-or-so sophomores had stayed with football from freshmen year. I remember when we got a day off for beating #4-ranked Bradwell in '97 and getting a half-day for only losing to Northside by 18 points in '98.

I think Father John's understanding of BC is best summed up by a story Chris "Killer" Koncul '98 told me once. Chris got his nickname as a junior, from an incident at the '97 region quarterfinal basketball game. Other than '10 and '03, that was the last year that the Cadets challenged for a state playoff berth. BC lost to Statesboro in OT (it may have even been 2OT), ending their season. The game was played at Jenkins and the Stateboro players were allegedly taunting the BC students after the game. Killer didn't like that and landed a right cross on one of the Stateboro players. He was immediately arrested by the security at the game. The follwoing week, Chris had to pay a visit to Father John's office and meet with the administration about his actions. His butt was chewed pretty severely by all present, including Father John. After the meeting Father John excused Miss Burke and Coach Cannon, but kept Chris in his office. After Burke and Cannon had left the office, he asked Chris, "Did you get a good shot in on him?"