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Did You Know

• During the 1850s Jaspers came by boat, stagecoach and railroad to attend the new Manhattan College, located in rural Manhattanville, on Broadway and 131 st St.

• In 1865, Brother Jasper’s newly organized band played a dirge as Lincoln’s funeral procession passed by the College. This same Brother Jasper introduced baseball to the College, and was credited in later years with initiating the “seventh-inning stretch.”

• The first Manhattan catalog, published in 1865, stated that “the classical student was required, not only to be able to translate with facility any classic author, whether Greek or Latin… he must also be able to express his ideas orally as well as in writing.”

• Back in the ‘50s, classmates Bill Fickinger and Jim Burke ’55 crashed an after-concert party at the Riverdale home of Maestro Arturo Toscanini and were rewarded for their chutzpah with a glass of champagne and tickets to an upcoming Carnegie Hall concert.

• The Manhattan College Alumni Society is the oldest Catholic Alumni Society in the U.S.

• In 1871, tuition was $300 for 10 months schooling, including board, washing and tuition.

• Harry Radford, class of 1901, was a noted crusader for environmental causes and came to be known as “Adirondack Harry” for his work in preserving the unspoiled beauty of that region.

• Two cousins, Brother Chrysostom John Conlon ’88 and Brother Potamian O’Reilly, were shining stars in the Manhattan College faculty in the early 1900s. Both were famed in their respective fields of Arts and Science.

• The cornerstone of the new Manhattan College in Riverdale was laid in 1922.

• In 1944, with the World War II at its height, the Army abandoned its Specialized Training Program in Engineering. Soldiers were dispatched into the thick of it and Manhattan was left with fewer than 100 students.

• When Coach George Eastment revived track after WWII, he made Manhattan’s one of the outstanding teams in the country and left a legacy of 14 indoor and 13 outdoor Metropolitan Intercollegiate Championship seasons.

• The crew team, briefly revived in 1946, was again disbanded when the rowers’ shell disintegrated beneath them.

• When the Korean War began, vice president Brother Augustine Philip brought the Air Force ROTC to the college.

• Lou Jones, class of ’54, set a world record at 400 meters in track in that year.

• Jasper Hall, built in 1957, was named in honor of the former Head Prefect, Brother Jasper of Mary.

• Manhattan’s famed basketball team used to play its games at Madison Square Garden, where it secured the biggest win in school history, defeating the No.1 team, West Virginia University.

• The graduate division, open to men and women, began operation in 1959.

• Among Manhattan’s graduates are two Cardinals of the Catholic Church, Patrick Hayes of New York and George Mundelein of Chicago, classes of 1888 and 1889, respectively.

• King Hussein of Jordan was awarded an honorary degree in 1964 for his support of the Brothers’ foundation in Jordan.

• Manhattan Prep, which for 118 years prepared students for entry into the College, closed in 1972.

• The New Draddy Gymnasium was dedicated in 1978. It became home court for the basketball teams, intramural sports, and featured the largest indoor track in New York City.

• Two New York City mayors were Manhattan grads – Hugh J. Grant, Class of 1868, and Rudolph Giuliani, Class of 1965 – and Thomas Whelan ’55 was Mayor of Albany, NY.

• Jaspers who served as U.S. Ambassadors include John McCarthy ’61, Thomas McNamara ’62, and Charles Gargano ’79.

• Buddy Hassett ’33 played first base for the N.Y. Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers and N.Y. Giants, and Robert Chlupsa ’67 pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals.