St. Xavier's National Championship Football Team Will Be Honored at Assembly

Some political bigwigs want to meet and greet Saint Xavier University’s football big wigs.

State senator Ed Maloney, congressman Dan Lipinski, city alderman Matt O’Shea and state representatives Kelly Burke and Bill Cunningham will join St. Xavier president Christine Wiseman at a special assembly to honor the Cougars’ national championship football team.

The assembly will be at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday (Jan. 17) at Saint Xavier’s Shannon Center, 3700 West 103rd Street.

“It’s going to be one of the greatest afternoons in the history of SXU athletics,” Saint Xavier athletic director Bob Hallberg said in a news release. “We anticipate a large turnout from the community as well as the university faculty, staff and especially students as we celebrate this historic experience.”

St. Xavier defeated Carroll College (Mont.) 24-20 to win the NAIA national championship  on Dec. 17 in Rome, Ga. The win capped a 14-1 season and left the Cougars standing alone at the top of the final NAIA coaches’ poll.

No other team in St. Xavier’s 41-year history of athletics ever has won a national championship in any sport.

The Cougars became the first Illinois college football team to win a national crown since Augustana won the last of its four straight Division II championships in 1986. St. Xavier is the first Chicago school to win a collegiate national football title since the University of Chicago turned the trick in 1913.

SXU’s Mike Feminis recently was named as the NAIA Coach of the Year.