St. Thomas football won its Division I home debut game on Saturday. Honorary captain at the game was World War II veteran Tom Pacholl, who was a St. Thomas football player himself in the 1940s. The game, and Pacholl's story, are featured in an article by the Star Tribune.
From the article: Tommies coach Glenn Caruso had Pacholl out for practice during the week and had a surprise for him. Caruso had a picture of the seniors on Pacholl's Cigar Bowl team, smoking cigars in front of the old O'Shaughnessy Fieldhouse. He put the photo on the video board and watched Pacholl's eyes tear up before he talked about each teammate.
"That speaks to the depth and the breadth of the emotion that football evokes on a campus," Caruso said. "That's what you saw out there today."
Pacholl watched the Tommies roll from reserved seats on the east side of O'Shaughnessy Stadium. He was opposite of the main grandstand that was nearly full, with an announced crowd of 5,051. The return of fans coupled with the move to Division I led to a crowd as large as ones for games against old rivals St. John's and Bethel.
