Timeline

Fr. William Wood, S.J. announces that participation in the Regiment will become optional. The Xavier prints its final issue.

Eight months before giving his landmark “Men for Others” address in Valencia, Spain, Pedro Arrupe, S.J., then Superior General of the Society of Jesus, visited Xavier to celebrate its 125th anniversary.

Before a Thanksgiving Mass celebrated by Terence Cardinal Cooke on November 12, 1972, members of the Regiment formed an honor guard as various dignitaries, including Fr. Arrupe, processed in the Church of St. Francis Xavier. The Review reported that Fr. Arrupe “grinned and said that when he saw the Regiment he felt for the first time in his life that he was really a general.” 

The Xavier Hall of Fame is founded with an event in the gym on October 28. Fr. Paul Cassidy, S.J. serves as master of ceremonies as 66 members are inducted.

On February 26, Colonel Donald Cook, USMC ’52 is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while interned as a Prisoner of War by the Viet Cong in the Republic of Vietnam.” The medal is presented to his family by Secretary of the Navy Edward Hidalgo ’29. At that year’s Commencement, held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on June 5, Secretary Hidalgo addresses the graduates and salutes Colonel Cook.

On the Mall in Washington, D.C., the Xavier rugby team wins its first of its four national championships in a 7-6 victory over Highland High School of Utah. National titles follow in 1993, 2007, and 2010.

President Ronald Reagan nominates Antonin Scalia ‘53 to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. The first Italian-American justice, Scalia is confirmed by the Senate, 98-0, in September. At his swearing-in ceremony on September 26, he thanks his teachers at Xavier High School.

The Board of Trustees is formed. This governing body, consisting of Jesuits and laypeople, is charged with helping Xavier remain competitive, financially stable, and capable of addressing the educational and fiscal challenges it faces.

Xavier is named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the United States Department of Education.

The Kairos retreat is introduced under the direction of headmaster Terry Baum, S.J.

On December 3, 1996, the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, students, faculty, alumni, and dignitaries begin celebrations to mark Xavier’s 150th anniversary.

Xavier establishes the Companions of St. Francis Xavier Service Program.

Ten Sons of Xavier—John Ryan ’74, Edmund McNally ’78, Christopher Hanley ’84, Michael Andrews ’85, John Farrell ’87, Jimmy Riches ’89, Matthew Burke ’91, Sean Lugano ’91, James Coyle ’93, and Charlie Heeran ’96—and dozens of family members and friends perish during the September 11 terrorist attacks. A New York Times cover story about Xavier's grief and resilience notes that 1,500 people packed the Church of St. Francis Xavier to remember the dead in late September: "A police officer outside, a Xavier alumnus, closed the street to traffic. Then, with a megaphone, he led the crowd in a chorus of the school's fight song: 'Maroon and blue, we'll see you through.'"