Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
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Note: This is the first installment in our Year of Years series. Each month, we will highlight a dozen different Creighton-related anniversaries we will see this year. Future installments will include the construction of Swanson Hall (60 years), the start of the Christian Spirituality Program (50 years), the opening of Morrison Stadium (20 years) and many, many more.
Have an anniversary you would like to be acknowledged? Send it to micahmertes@creighton.edu, and we will consider it for inclusion.
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By Micah Mertes
Near the start of each new year, we like to round up all the anniversaries Creighton will celebrate — or at least acknowledge — in the coming year. (See our anniversaries lists for 2023, 2022 and 2021.)
The problem with this year’s edition: 2024 marks too many milestones to cram into one article. Our solution: a full year's worth of anniversaries content.
Once a month, we’ll drop another list of 2024 anniversaries of notable Creighton (or Creighton-associated) events, alumni, athletes, coaches, stadiums, residence halls, programs, concerts, celebrity appearances, statues, websites, magazines, campus haunts, popular dining establishments and student food services.
Now ... are each of these anniversaries — which we’ll list throughout the year in no particular order — significant to the history of Creighton University and the state of Nebraska? They are not. But many are, and the ones that aren’t are, at the very least, interesting or weird or funny, the kind of thing that makes you smile, shake your head and say to yourself, “That’s so Creighton.”
Here’s the first installment in our Year of Years series, which features a pavilion, a law school, two hall-of-famers, a mascot, a statue of a bird and, least notably, Creighton's first copy machine.
Here’s to another year of moments worth remembering.
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The Pavilion
35 years
You know the pavilion by the Old Gym that overlooks the Eppley and Hixson-Lied Science Buildings? The spot that’s just about as serene as any on campus? It turns 35 this year.
Built in 1989 where a water tower for air conditioning once stood, the pavilion offered students a quiet, shaded place to read, reflect or relax. It continues to provide that for students today.
Writer’s note: Is it a bit cruel — what with it being the dead of winter — to display an idyllic image of students enjoying a beautiful spring day on campus? Perhaps. But, hey, it gives us something to look forward to.
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Doug McDermott, BSBA’14
10 years
One of Creighton’s greatest athletes is celebrating his reunion this year. (Pssst … this year’s Creighton Days celebration is Sept. 20-22. If you were, say, a current player in the National Basketball Association looking to organize or take part in your 10-year reunion class party, please contact alumni@creighton.edu.)
For anyone who loves the Jays, Doug McDermott’s accomplishments go without saying. But we’ll say them anyway:
Three-time All-American. Consensus National Player of the Year (2014). Finished his Creighton career with an NCAA-record 135 double-figure scoring games, with 3,150 points total, the most of any player in Creighton’s history and the fifth-highest tally in NCAA history.
In December, Creighton retired McDermott’s No. 3 jersey. It now hangs in the rafters alongside fellow Bluejay greats No. 25 Kyle Korver, No. 30 Bob Harstad, No. 33 Bob Portman, No. 35 Paul Silas and No. 45 Bob Gibson.
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Paul Silas, BSBA’64
60 years and 50 years
Staying on the topic of all-time greats with Creighton business degrees, let’s talk about Paul Silas. Silas, who passed away in 2022, would have celebrated his 60th Creighton reunion this year. He also would have marked the 50th anniversary of his first NBA championship win in 1974. (He would win another with the Boston Celtics in 1976 and a third with the Seattle Supersonics in 1979.)
Silas was also inducted into the Creighton Hall of Fame in ’74. At the ceremony, John J. "Red" McManus — the legendary head coach who recruited Silas — called his former player “the man who made the difference in Creighton becoming a big-time basketball school.”
Silas is the only player in NCAA history with three or more seasons of 557 rebounds. He owns the top three single-season rebound totals in Creighton history, including 631 as a senior in 1963-’64. Silas' 21.6 career rebounds per game are the third-most in NCAA history, and his 1,751 rebounds are sixth in NCAA history, as well as the most ever by a three-year player.
After a 16-year career in the NBA, Silas coached for another 12 seasons. He once said, “I'm more proud of my academic success at Creighton than of all my athletic accomplishments. What Creighton University does for an athlete or any student is that they teach you how to think, how to deal with everyday living.”
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The Bluejay
100 years
A century ago this spring, the Bluejay made its debut as Creighton’s first official mascot.
Before then, Creighton’s athletic teams were known by the school colors or the unofficial nickname of the “Hilltoppers,” based on the campus’ elevated position. But by 1923, half a dozen other teams across the country had the same name.
At the behest of alumni and the athletics board, the Omaha Bee newspaper ran a contest to name the University’s official mascot. There were 200 entries, including the Creighton Golden Rods, Creighton Shamrocks, Creighton Tigers and Creighton Bears. But the winner, of course, was the Creighton Bluejays, largely because the bird kept with the school’s colors. (We officially became the Bluejays in 1924.)
It wasn’t until 1941 that the bird got a humanized form and a name: "Battlin’ Bill Bluejay.”
Over the next 83 years, he would be referred to as “The Bluejay,” “Billie Bluejay,” “Billy the Bluejay,” even “William Bluejay” before landing on Billy Bluejay. And if you’re into the whole brevity thing, you can of course just call him Billy. Read more about the history of the Bluejay mascot here.
45 years
The mascot costume has gone through many iterations over the years. In 1979, Billy unveiled his new look at a men’s basketball game. Despite his unsettling appearance, this Billy endured for another six years. Some even defended him. In a Creightonian column, one student wrote, “OK, so maybe Billy does look like he got hit with a shovel. This just makes him look that much meaner to me.”
20 years
Billy took a whole new form in 2004, when a bronze statue of the surly bird took his permanent perch in front of the new Morrison Stadium, in the middle of campus’ (then future) athletics corridor. The statue was the brainchild of the Creighton Students Union, Inter-Residence Hall Government and the National Alumni Board, who commissioned artist Matthew Placzek to cast a sculpture inspired by Billy’s original 1941 design.
Placzek said at the time: “It is my hope that the sculpture will become a focal point for the school and its supporters.” IRHG president Ann Miller, BA’84, JD’08, said she hoped that the Billy statue might launch a new tradition. She got her wish.
At the start of each new academic year, hundreds of first-year students — along with faculty, staff and University leadership — walk together for the Creighton Pathway event from St. John’s Church to Morrison Stadium. They complete the path (and begin their Creighton journey) by tapping Billy on the beak. It’s become one of Creighton’s most tried-and-true traditions.
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The Yearbook
100 years
Speaking of Bluejays, let’s talk about the “Bluejay.” In 1924, Creighton published the first Bluejay yearbook (which you can read here).
The yearbook’s foreword read: “The publication of Creighton’s first yearbook is an outgrowth of a long-harbored belief that Creighton University, her alumni, undergraduates and friends should have an opportunity to review each year’s activity, presented in a pictorial volume. We hope that it may serve to foster Creighton spirit and perpetuate the ideals of the University.”
Creighton’s high school — which used to be a part of the University but separated into Creighton Preparatory School in 1958 — actually beat the college to the punch, creating the very first Creighton yearbook in 1922, called “The Creighton High School Annual.”
The high school yearbook’s name was continually under renovation in its early years. In 1923, it became “The Creighton Prep,” in 1924, “The Omega,” and in 1925, “The Creighton Preparatory Record” before landing in 1926 on the name “The Bluejay Jr.”
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California closes
50 years
In 1974, the city gave the University the stretch of California Street that later paved the way for the Mall.
Shortly after the Omaha City Council voted to vacate California between 24th and 26th streets and Creighton took ownership, the University made the street a one-way with 107 parking spaces by University permit only. (Annual permits were $20 for employees and $10 for students.)
Three years later, the University closed the street to all vehicle traffic to begin construction of the Mall. The portion of the Mall between Deglman Circle to the fountain was completed in 1980 and named the Skinner Mall — in honor of Lloyd E. and Kathryn G. Skinner — in 1982.
In the Mall’s early years, efforts to make campus look more like a campus were reportedly slow and arduous. Planting a lot of trees and bushes helped. In any case, for more than 40 years now, the Mall has served as Creighton’s circulatory system. It all started on the day a group of students prompted University leaders to ask the city to kick cars off California.
(You can find a big history of the Mall and the St. John’s plaza and fountain here.)
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Ahmanson Law Center
50 years
The same year Creighton took over California Street and launched the proto-Mall, another milestone was taking shape on campus.
The opening of the Ahmanson Law Center — named for 1923 Creighton law alumnus Hayden Ahmanson and supported by the Ahmanson Foundation — ushered in a new era for the School of Law. The 86,000-square-foot building brought classroom space for 500 students, a trial courtroom, a law library containing 100,000 volumes and an apartment to house visiting professors and guests.
The Ahmanson Law Center remains the law school’s home today, training a new generation of Jesuit-educated attorneys and judges. In fact, Creighton’s law school is celebrating another anniversary in 2024 — its 120th. Since opening in 1904, the School of Law has awarded more than 9,500 degrees.
Creighton law graduates include such distinguished names as former U.S. Sen. Roman Hruska, JD’29; former Nebraska Gov. and former U.S. Sen. Michael Johanns, JD’74; Secretary of the U.S. Navy (under President Truman) Francis Matthews, LLB '13; Secretary of Commerce (under President Carter) Philip Klutznick, JD’30; and the Hon. Elizabeth Davis Pittman, JD '48, the first female judge in Nebraska and one of the first Black women in the nation to be appointed to a judgeship by a governor. The list goes on to include successful CEOs, children's advocates, champions of civil rights and even producers of popular TV series such as Batman.
The law school celebrated its centennial in 2004. Then-Creighton President the Rev. John P. Schlegel, SJ, said at the time:
"Justice, ethics, accomplished academic scholarship and service to the community are hallmarks of a Creighton legal education. We are proud of our law school's heritage and the positive difference it has made over the decades in the growth and prosperity of Omaha and its citizens."
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Creighton firsts
As we said, not every item in our Year of Years series will mark the most significant events and individuals in Creighton’s history. Sometimes, we’ll just want to acknowledge the firsts.
60 years: First copy machine
In 1964, Creighton University got its first copy machine. The Xerox Photo-Copy Machine (valued at $29,000 at the time) was placed in the Alumni Library and made available to all students. The new machine, librarians explained, “will reprint any written materials, as well as photos.” At 10 cents per page, copy rates were steep. It was truly an era of technological wonders for Creighton University. Also around that time, a computer — the IBM 1620 — played (and defeated) Creighton students in a few games of tic-tac-toe.
30 years: First Internet boom
In 1994, "a new wave of computer technology took campus by storm," according to a borderline ecstatic Creightonian article. Creighton had issued nearly 3,000 Bluejay Internet accounts to join the "giant cooperative network of interlinked computers across the world." Creighton leadership said at the time: "Creighton is feeling the growth of the Internet."
20 years: First community LAN party
At a time when many universities were cracking down on students hogging bandwidth, Creighton opened campus up to an all-night "Game Fest LAN" party and invited everyone. Hundreds of students and Omahans attended the event, which was held in the Skutt Student Center Ballroom. Because the year was so aggresively 2004, the LAN party's prizes included MP3 players, USB drives and a digital camera.
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Stay tuned for another edition in our Year of Years anniversaries series in the coming weeks. In the meantime, check out previous anniversary roundups from:
