A historic end to a historic college rivalry: The last Johnnie-Tommie football game ever
MINNEAPOLIS (BVM) — In Feb. 2018, U.S. Bank Stadium hosted Super Bowl LII which featured the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots. That game had an attendance of 67,612 fans.
This November, U.S. Bank Stadium will host another game that will come close to those numbers. However, it’s not the Super Bowl or a Minnesota Vikings game. It’s a college football game — a Division III game to be exact. The last-ever Johnnie-Tommie game is going to be one for the record books.
“You can talk about Auburn vs. Alabama, Texas vs. Texas A&M, Michigan vs. Ohio State, Minnesota vs. Wisconsin — there’s many great rivalries and I would certainly put ours against St. Thomas up in that same category,” St. John’s University head football coach Gary Fasching said. “I just think you got two very good universities that have a very passionate fan base.”
The Johnnie-Tommie game is between St. John’s University and the University of St. Thomas. The teams will play for The Holy Grail, a trophy given to the winner of the game. Only an hour and half drive separates the two schools, with the Tommies in St. Paul and the Johnnies in Collegeville, but you would think they are crosstown rivals.
“I’ve been a part of roughly over 40 of them to be exact and it’s a unique rivalry,” said Fasching, who first experienced the rivalry as a player for the Johnnies and then as an assistant coach and head coach. “As soon as I got here in 1977, I was a freshman, it was pretty evident that the week of the St. Thomas game was just a little bit different than any other week. It’s a good clean rivalry and it makes for a fun atmosphere for a Division III football game.”
The rivalry started back in 1901 and has grown ever since. It’s a fan favorite for both sides and countless numbers of alumni come back to watch the game then get together afterwards to celebrate and reminisce about past games. Of course, there is also some gloating for whichever side won that day, but both fan bases have combined to break multiple records for attendance.
In 2010, the game broke the NCAA Division III record with a crowd of 16,421. In 2014, the game in Collegeville broke the Division III record again. Then in 2017, the game was held at Target field, home of the Minnesota Twins, and drew a crowd of 35,355, blowing away an only three-year-old record. Last year’s game was hosted at Allianz Field, home of the MLS team Minnesota United FC, and was sold out with a crowd of 19,505.
This year, the Johnnies had every intention to host the game at Clemens Stadium in Collegeville. However, outside forces made it so that St. John’s had to look for a much bigger venue. In May 2019, the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference announced that the University of St. Thomas would be involuntarily leaving the conference.
The news came as a shock to all.
“We wanted St. Thomas to stay in the league,” Fasching said. “We were disappointed.”
As the Tommies began to explore options for life after the MIAC, which will begin after the 2020-21 season, it became evident that the Johnnie-Tommie game may not continue beyond 2020. This led to a tsunami of calls from alumni of both teams asking to reserve tickets.
The calls became so numerous that the Johnnies realized that they could not safely host this game if so many people planned on coming. That is why back in February it was announced that St. John’s would be partnering with U.S. Bank Stadium to host the game in Minneapolis.
“The people at U.S. Bank Stadium thought we could get more than 50,000 for this game,” Fasching said. “Even if they get somewhat close to that, they will have forever left their mark on not just Division III football but all of college football.”
If the series has to end and another historic college rivalry must go the way of the dodo, at least this one will go out in style — in front of tens of thousands of fans who have been the lifeblood of the rivalry and are the reason a Division III football game had to be hosted at an NFL stadium.
“It’s a great rivalry,” Fasching said. “It’s one that the public enjoys watching and it’s right up there with the top rivalries in all of college football and we’re fortunate to have been a part of it over the years.”
