Newman Center, 1979

A student seeking an elevation of the Newman Center was the winner of the coveted “first walk-in reference question of the term” contest.  His prize?  A free jpeg of the photograph of his choice, conveniently e-mailed to him.  You too can be a winner!  Whether you need a photograph of a building, a Triangle article or yearbook page, or any information related to the history of Drexel, check out our web page, send us an e-mail, or visit us on the Lower Level of Hagerty Library.

We were saddened to learn of the death on Monday of Eddie Burke, men’s basketball coach at Drexel from 1977-1991. Coach Burke’s teams won 205 games in his 14 seasons, including the win over Hofstra in the 1986 East Coast Conference championship game. That victory earned the team its first NCAA tournament appearance. The photos below show Coach Burke at a press conference and senior guard Walt Fuller in the clinching game.

For more information about Coach Burke, please see his obituary at DrexelDragons.com and the Philadelphia Daily News.

For more information about the history of men’s basketball at Drexel, contact the University Archives.

March 3 is the Feast of St. Katharine Drexel, niece of Anthony J. Drexel.  Both niece and uncle were, in the words of Dan Rottenberg, “social revolutionaries.” Tony Drexel’s revolutionary idea was to found “an institute that placed no restrictions on race, religion, gender or social class.” (The Man Who Made Wall Street, page 157)  Mother Mary Katharine established an order of nuns, Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, that established and operated Catholic boarding schools for Indians and African-Americans.  Mother Katharine’s order and her Uncle Tony’s Drexel Institute were both established in the same year, 1891.  Mother Katharine was canonized in 2000.

For more information about Mother Katharine, see her Saint of the Day page at Americancatholic.org and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament historical exhibit about her. Thanks to @DrexelNews for the tip.