A photograph of a track meet at St. Joe’s offers a glimpse of track in the 1970s, showing five runners racing toward a chest-high white string stretched across the track.
It’s not clear who won the 1975 race at Finnesey Field — now Sweeney Field — but a St. Joe’s track team member is in the lead. All the runners are men. The women’s track team wouldn’t be established as a varsity sport for another seven years.
In the photo, located in the St. Joe’s Archives Collections, the lines on the dirt track appear freshly painted.
The St. Joe’s track and field program began in the 1920-21 season with the men’s first relay team competing at Penn Relays, the oldest track and field competition in the United States. The women’s team was introduced as a varsity sport in 1982.
According to the archives’ description of the photo, head coach Kevin Quinn ’62 stands on the sideline along with Emory Ross, S.J., former men’s basketball team chaplain.
Quinn, a team member from 1960-62, is one of the most recognizable names in St. Joe’s track history. After graduating, he returned to St. Joe’s to coach the men’s program for 22 years beginning in 1966 and was head coach of the women’s program from 1985-2015. During his time as head coach across both programs, Quinn coached 40 NCAA qualifiers, nine NCAA All-Americans and 10 ECAC/IC4A champions. In 2017, the track was named the Kevin Quinn ’62 Track in his honor.
The photo is a look at what campus once was: Barbelin Hall, the Science Center, Drexel Library and Bellarmine Hall all reside in the background of the photo. Spectators are gathered throughout the center and outside of the track and on the hills below Barbelin Tower.
In 2013, the Sweeney Field expansion project included an addition of 2,300 seats, a stone facade featuring bronze hawk statues, protective netting, a full-service press box and an enhanced sound system to the track area.
Even 100 years after their first season and nearly 50 years since the photo was taken, St. Joe’s track team members still race for the finish at the track, which hosts daily practices of the track and cross country teams and schoolwide events.
