Cabrini University Athletics

On Dec. 5, 1974, as Jolyon Girard, Ph. D., prepared to coach the first men’s varsity game in Cabrini history, Sister Ursula Infante called him aside.

"As you know, I was opposed to men on campus," the College’s founding president said sternly. "But as long as we’re going to have them…don’t lose!"

In six years as head coach, Girard rarely did. He went 98-33 from 1974 to ’80, leaving a trail of ever-improving win-loss records (10-4, 14-5, 14-7, 19-7, 20-5 and 21-5).

He also went 52-12 in men’s softball, long-since defunct as a collegiate sport. He laughingly calls himself the winningest college coach in men’s softball history. He just may be right.

Girard, who arrived at Cabrini in 1973, founded the men’s athletic program and served as men’s athletic director until 1980, when he refocused his attention on his day job as professor of history and political science. He chaired the department from 1982 to 2000 and won a Lindback Award for teaching.

Girard grew up in Hazleton, Pa., and spent his teenage years in Germany, where his father held a key post with the Red Cross. He played basketball for the Stuttgart Stallions, a team of American high-schoolers, and later at Washington & Lee University.

Shortly after he came to Cabrini, a ragtag team of students signed up to play in the Eastern intramural league. They lost every game. "They thought that because I played basketball," he recalled, "that maybe I could do something with the team the next year."

He did. To Eastern’s embarrassment, Girard coached the club team to the 1973-74 intramural title.

"I called up the next year to see about the intramural schedule," he remembered, "and they didn’t want us back. We had a team already assembled, and we had to play somebody. So I called around and put together a schedule."

The rest is history. While the basketball team evolved into a national power, Girard founded men’s teams in soccer, tennis, cross country and, of course, softball. The budget never exceeded $7,000.