"We were torn by our loss but are forever bound by our spirit," says Ritz, Class of '71, president of the St. James Alumni Association. "The school is closed, but St. James' legacy lives on."
The closing of the 53-year-old school wasn't personal, they understand, but economics. The fight lasted only a few months.
The alumni association has never been stronger, 1,550 dues-paying members. Mr. Mooney, 77, is very much in their lives. The men, in their 50s and 60s, still call their teacher and coach "Mr. Mooney." They're good Catholic boys that way.
In nearly two decades, the group has distributed more than a half-million dollars in scholarships, sponsoring 26 students with four-year awards at diocesan schools. The association also makes sizable contributions to nonacademic charities, church-affiliated and secular, many of which assist the poor.
"We want to tell the families of those schools that there's life after closure," says Lou Robinson Jr., Class of '68. He leads the group's 35-man choir, Blue and Gray Voices, which has produced three CDs and performs extensively to promote the association's charitable work.
St. James hosts 18 events every year, eight fund-raisers, with more than 700 alums and family members attending the "Bark at the Park" Phillies game. The men's closets are stuffed with new St. James jerseys and sweats. There are commemorative plates, pins, hats, and Christmas ornaments with a photo of Mr. Mooney and Boomer.
"We don't bleed red," says vice president Joseph "Jody" Poliafico, '65. "We bleed blue and gray." The group produces a newsletter, a website. The school history sold out.
St. James has everything except a school.
