Tokyo Olympics 2020/2021
The Olympic games are an international spectacle that showcase some of the best athletes in the world. Viewers from all over the world watch in support of their country’s representative athletes as they strive to make the Olympic podium, which is one of the highest achievements an athlete can reach in their sport. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed, making it the first time in history where an Olympic game had been deferred rather than canceled. The games will start July 23, 2021, where after a year of waiting athletes from around the world can finally march into the Olympic Stadium. As we anticipate the return of the Olympics, let’s take a look at several Olympians that have come from Santa Clara and examine their collegiate careers that prepped them for the international stage.
Rugby
The fifteen-player version of Rugby was an Olympic sport during the years 1900, 1908, 1920, and 1924. During the early 1900s, both rugby and football were popular sports for young men to play until President Theodore Roosevelt urged the Football Rules Committee to do something about the violence within the sport. After President Roosevelt’s announcement, football at Santa Clara was severely limited, leaving many to look for other sports to play. Rudy Scholz, a quarterback for Santa Clara’s varsity football team as a high schooler, decided to play rugby in 1913 (Ryan 13). After only six weeks of playing the sport, Scholz and the Santa Clara team took on an infamous team: the New Zealand All Blacks. While the game ended in an expected loss, it bolstered Scholz’s interest in the sport, so much so that he rejected an offer to play baseball for St. Mary’s (Ryan 14-15). By 1915, Scholz became captain of the Santa Clara rugby team and during the following year he led the team to an undefeated season winning ten games, even defeating their rivals, Stanford (Ryan 16). However, in the midst of this success, America was on the brink of war as global tensions increased. In 1917, America officially entered World War I and Scholz quickly abandoned his joy of rugby and joined the war effort.
After the war, rugby in America experienced a decline, leading Scholz to return to football while also pursuing a law degree (Ryan 30-31). Recent political events in the world left many to question whether the 1920 Olympics would still take place since the 1916 Belgium Olympics was canceled because of the war. Eventually, the International Olympic Committee announced that the 1920 summer games would take place in Antwerp, with a number of countries involved in the war being banned or refusing to compete. American Olympic committees looked to California schools to recruit players for their rugby team. Upon hearing this, Scholz was one of the athletes that led the effort in fundraising money to send several Santa Clara players to Europe (Ryan 40). Despite being the shortest, Scholz’s speed would help the American rugby team win the gold medal in a match against France. Their success continued in the 1924 Paris Olympics, where Scholz and four other Santa Clara players helped win another gold medal. This summary only touches on some of Rudy Scholz and the other Santa Clara rugby athlete’s achievements. Mark Ryan’s Try for the Gold, America’s Olympic Rugby Medals presents a detailed story of their journey to the Olympics and is available in the Reading Room of SCU’s Archives and Special Collections.
Basketball
At the start of the 1992-1993 basketball season, the SCU men’s team picked up seven freshmen recruits. One of these players was Steve Nash, Santa Clara University’s first Canadian athlete to sign a letter of intent to play for the school (“Bronco Sports Bits,” The Santa Clara). The team had a very promising start and with Nash helping the offense, they appeared in the NCAA playoffs, making it their first appearance in five years. In a dramatic upset, the Broncos (seeded at no. 15) would defeat the no. 2 Arizona 64-61. According to The Santa Clara, “They were not supposed to be that good” (“Broncos Pull Huge Upset”).
By his senior year, Nash had collected many accolades. During the 1994-95 season, Nash helped lead the Broncos to a WCC title after 26 years (“Twenty-six year wait”, The Santa Clara). Nash also led the Broncos to two NCAA tournament appearances. He was named conference MVP for two years in a row in 1995 and 1996. He was also an All-American honorable mention in 1996 and played for the Canadian Youth National team. It makes sense that Nash is one of Santa Clara’s most famous alumni—as if all this wasn’t enough, he broke many records in the program’s history, finishing his career as the all-time leader in assists, free throw percentage, and attempted three-pointers (“Sports Awards”, The Santa Clara).
Nash would later be selected as the 15th overall draft pick for the Pheonix Suns. He would also continue his national team career by being the captain of the Canadian basketball team for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Unfortunately, Nash missed a shot at the podium, ending the tournament in seventh place. However, SCU honored his prolific collegiate career when his #11 jersey was retired in September, 2006 (“Alumnus Steve Nash honored with retired jersey”, The Santa Clara).
“Life isn’t long enough to not have as much fun as you can. For this, I definitely call my stay at SCU a successful one. I had a ball. All of you at Santa Clara touched my life in one way or another and allowed me to have fun. Thank you.”
– Steve Nash (“My playing days”, The Santa Clara)
Soccer
Riding high off of their recent NCAA championship, the SCU women’s soccer team has enjoyed many victories led by notable athletes throughout the program’s history. One notable athlete is Brandi Chastain, who was selected for the U.S. 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, which was the first game where women’s soccer was introduced. Prior to her professional career, Chastain transferred from UC Berekley and played for the Broncos from 1989-1990. During her first season at SCU, Chastain helped lead the team to the NCAA playoffs, making the program’s first ever appearance in the final four as the no. 2 in the nation (“Women’s soccer advances to final four,” The Santa Clara). During her senior season, Chastain would be named co-captain of the Broncos with fellow senior Tamie Bastista. Under their leadership the team would have a historic undefeated season, finishing 10-0 before playoffs (“Women’s soccer scores a perfect score”, The Santa Clara). Chastain finished her career at SCU with two NCAA playoff appearances, emerged as the leading scorer for the team two years in a row, and received the prestigious Hermann Award (“Chastain makes strides for SCU soccer,” The Santa Clara). SCU sports broadcaster Keith Bleyer proclaimed, “If I had to name the most dominant athlete on this campus in their respective sport right now, it’s Brandi Chastain” (“Bleyer from the booth”, The Santa Clara).
Chastain went onto help the U.S. Women’s soccer team win the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Her impact was also etched in American pop culture history as the image of her iconic celebration against China during the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, inspiring little girls to play soccer and ruffling some conservative feathers at the same time. In 2011, SCU honored Chastain’s incredible career by retiring her #21 jersey (“Chastain has Number Retired,” The Santa Clara).
Julie Ertz, known at the time as Julie Johnston, played for the SCU Broncos from the years 2010-2013. She enjoyed early success as she was named WCC women’s soccer freshman of the year and led the team in assists (“Athletes of the Week”, The Santa Clara). Ertz’s skill and leadership also garnered national attention, as she was chosen to be captain of the U20 U.S. Women’s World Cup team by her sophomore year (“Broncos Shine in U20 World Cup”, The Santa Clara). At the end of her collegiate career, Ertz was named WCC player of the year. Ertz was known as a consistent scorer and helped lead the Broncos to two NCAA playoff appearances (“Women’s Soccer Back in Tourney,” The Santa Clara).
Soon after her time at SCU, Ertz was called up to the Senior National Team in 2013 and made her first FIFA Women’s World Cup appearance in 2015. Her first Olympic appearance occurred during the 2016 Rio Olympics, where the team fell short of the podium during the quarterfinals. However, Ertz would go on to find incredible success in the years to come, which made her an easy pick for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic roster.
After a year of isolation, it will be exciting to see an international competition take place. As athletes begin to leave for Tokyo, lets cheer on SCU Alumni Julie Ertz and our other representative athletes!
Header Image: Rugby match during the 1924 Paris Olympics (Courtesy of private collection)
Works Cited
Ryan, Mark. Try for the Gold, America’s Olympic Rugby Medals. White Plains, NY, American International Media, 2010.
Great read!