Rest in Peace, Bro. James F. Wiegand, SDB

By Fr. Mike Mendl, SDB

Early on the morning of December 8, a little after midnight, Bro. James Frank Wiegand, SDB, surrendered his soul to the Lord whom he had served faithfully for more than 91 years, including 70 as a professed Salesian brother. He had been transported the previous evening from Allendale (NJ) Senior Living to the Valley Hospital Emergency Room in Paramus, NJ, where he passed away. He had belonged to the Don Bosco Prep community since 2002.

Jim Wiegand was born on September 21, 1933, in Freeport, IL, the son of Aloysius and Faye Sunderland Wiegand. His father was a railroad conductor. The family also included Jim’s younger sister Martha.

Jim became a member of Christ’s family on November 12, 1933, baptized at Freeport’s St. Joseph’s Church. He was also confirmed there in 1944.

In his youth Jim was a fervent sports fan, rooting always for the Chicago White Sox—“yesterday, today, and tomorrow”—and for the Chicago Bulls after their founding in 1966. He starred in high school in basketball and baseball and was the starting tight end in football. He even got a tryout with the Chicago Cubs (who evidently did not sign him). As a teen, he decided that he wanted to become a coach.

Aiming to become a secondary school teacher, therefore, he began college at Illinois State University in Normal, IL, with a basketball scholarship (1951-1952). But his sister Martha’s entering the Dominicans and his seeing the example of some religious brothers made him think about becoming a brother. Martha had taken the religious name Dominic Savio, and she suggested to Jim that he look at the Salesians because of his interest in teaching.

So Jim came to the Salesians at Don Bosco Tech in Paterson as a Son of Mary (an adult aspirant) on January 29, 1953. From his first encounter with the Salesians, he found what he described as “a form of spirituality which I had not witnessed before. The Salesians were more often in the field working, than in the chapel praying. When I inquired about this, I was told, ‘Our Founder, Don Bosco, believed that work can be prayer!’ And I noticed they went about doing their work with great cheerfulness.” At DBT he found a solid family spirit among the brothers and other staff and was particularly guided by Fr. Joseph Perozzi, Bro. Mike Frazette, and the athletic director, Bill Kehoe, whom he regarded as his mentor in coaching.

The Kehoes, in fact, remained lifelong friends. Bill’s daughter Jude Ann Coté testifies: “Bro. Jim truly walked in Don Bosco’s shadow using reason, religion, and kindness with his boys.” She adds:

Like Don Bosco, who used his juggling/gymnastic skills to attract and meet his boys where they were, Bro. Jim used the blessings of his athletic/coaching abilities. He saw Don Bosco as his model and sought opportunities to apply his system of reason, religion, and kindness to greet boys wherever they were (even a morning greeting in the cafeteria) with a desire to develop in them good character to bring into the world. Clothed in team gear or perfecting the physics behind shooting, Bro. Jim held fast to returning to the importance of the lesson of “the spirit vs. the ego,” successfully using every opportunity to leave his message with us to pass on now as confreres, teachers, coaches, friends, and parents.

Jim was admitted to St. Joseph’s Novitiate in Newton in September 1953 and, a year later, made his first religious profession at Newton on September 8, 1954. He made perpetual profession at Newton on September 3, 1960.

Jim continued studies at Don Bosco College in Newton and earned a B.A. in humanities in 1957. At the same time, he had begun practical training at Don Bosco in Paterson, teaching physical education and coaching basketball and baseball. He remained at DBT for seven years and also served at summer camps at Camp Savio in West Milford, NJ, and Camp Don Bosco in East Barrington, NH, for six years. He always regarded his seven years at DBT as “golden years.”

Transferred to Salesian High School in New Rochelle in 1961, he taught phys ed and coached basketball there until 1980 and also was campmaster during the summers. From 1974 to 1980 he was on the house council, and from 1970 to 1980 was a member of the province’s coadjutor advisory board. He was elected many times to provincial chapters. At Salesian he was highly respected and highly successful as basketball coach, amassing 353 wins, 13 league titles, and a state championship in 1976. According to a Don Bosco Prep student, Matt Stranzl, who looked deeply into Bro. Jim’s career, “his teams played with tremendous discipline and selflessness; they were a reflection of their coach’s personality off the court.”

Four of Bro. Jim’s players became 1,000-point scorers in college. Luis Brignone, ’71, played for the Puerto Rican Olympic team in 1976 and was the first alumnus inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame. In 2008 Bro. Jim became the school’s second hall of fame inductee. Another player, Mike Breen, ’79, became a highly regarded sportscaster and was elected to the National Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.

When Bro. Jim joined Salesian’s hall of fame, the provincial, Fr. Jim Heuser, congratulated him as a “wholesome and friendly presence” among the young, offering “steady and helpful instruction” and “warm and positive encouragement.” He said, “You teach the young lessons, not only for a game, but also for life.”

The school’s new gymnasium (2010) is named in honor of him.

He also became a pretty good tennis player and, late in his career, coached that sport, too.

Bro. Jim was assigned to Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero in 1980. There he was athletic director and an administrative assistant. Without reliable public transportation on the West Bank, he had to learn to drive. For eight years he was also the Salesian community’s treasurer.

In the summer of 1984 Bro. Jim was posted to Birmingham, AL, to run a basketball program for the impoverished youngsters at Mark’s Village, adjacent to the Salesians’ Holy Rosary Church. Although this was quite a change for him, he served with enthusiasm, keeping the court in good condition, keeping games peaceable, coaching a bit, and always ready with guidance (including for the present writer, his assistant that summer).

Another change came in 2000, a two-year posting to the Salesian Boys & Girls Club in East Boston as a youth minister and game room assistant. He also managed to do a little coaching at Savio Prep.

2002 brought him to his last Salesian community, Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, where he assisted with some coaching (basketball and tennis), was assistant athletic director, moderated the cafeteria, and was known to many of the students “as a kind sage who greets [them] in the morning as they walk between classes.” Matt Stranzl, himself a basketball player, described Bro. Jim as a “a living legend amongst all the basketball players in the program. Known affectionately by many as ‘The Shot Doctor,’ he can be found anywhere in the gym helping all players, ranging from wide-eyed freshmen to well-established senior starters.” One of the Bosco coaches alleged that Bro. Jim knew more about shooting a basketball than a lot of NBA coaches.

Weakened health obliged Bro. Jim to enter assisted living in Allendale in January 2020. He returned to the Prep whenever he could for celebrations or short visits and happily celebrated his 90th birthday there with a big party in the cafeteria.

His last director at Don Bosco, Fr. Abe Feliciano, praised his apostolic character:

Bro. Jim never let his physical limitations diminish his zeal, interest, or connection to the Salesian mission at Don Bosco Prep. He was a regular presence at the home basketball games, appearing courtside with his walker, cheering on the Ironmen and offering shooting tips at every turn. Every year, he prepared his “proper shooting technique” packet for every member of the varsity basketball team. In the spring, he would request the roster of the varsity baseball team and write a personalized note to each player. He read the local sports page cover-to-cover and kept up on all of Don Bosco Prep's teams, always offering encouragement and suggestions for how they could “come out on top” and win it all. While his declining health caused him to be physically absent from the campus, his heart, mind, and prayers were ever-present.

When Bro. Jim celebrated his 50th anniversary of profession, he wrote that “the brother’s vocation allows presence [among the young] in a variety of ways.” He especially liked the “Salesian concept in education–bring reason, religion and kindness” and assisting young people “with a smile.” The “Salesian model of interior life—work is prayer” was a great gift to him, he said, and he was to live his life as a gift of God with joy each day. He concluded, “Some great men have helped me over these 60 years—and I am very grateful.”

Bro. Jim made an impact on a spread of Salesians in their practical training at Salesian, including several who eventually left the Society. One, Bob Breault, in 1961-1962 found in him:

a man who exemplified the image of an American Don Bosco. I served my first year of tirocinium at Salesian High in New Rochelle, and Jim allowed me to coach the freshman basketball team there. I remember his insistence on shooting skills, but especially his ability to marry athletics with religion. It seemed to say that what goes for playing well goes for living well. The world became a bit better for Jim’s life. May we all live as Jim did.

Jack Hudak came to Salesian for practical training almost a decade later and found a great coach in Bro. Jim:

When I was at Salesian HS New Rochelle, I was the athletic director during the 1971-72 school year. That year Bro. Jim with Lou Brignone, an outstanding player, along with other very good players won the Thruway League championship. Since there were no other takers for the AD position, I volunteered or was asked to serve as AD. With Bro. Jim’s invaluable support, all the games through all sports went on without a hitch.

Bro. Jim was not only an outstanding coach but, more important, he was concerned about the well-being of the student athletes and of all students. Athletics and PE were a means for Bro. Jim to carry on the work of Don Bosco through religion, reason, and kindness. I highly valued his friendship during my stay and after Salesian HS.

Bob Ferrara came to Salesian still later and kept up a friendship with Bro. Jim. He was one of Brother’s visitors at the Allendale assisted living. He writes:

Bro. Jim was a “good and faithful servant,” a great Salesian, and a phenomenal basketball coach! He personified dedication and meticulous detail to Don Bosco's Preventive System of reason, religion, and kindness as being his educative mantra. During our visits he would eventually refer back to these ideals no matter what we were talking about. They lived in his soul! I’m very glad that I caught up and had meaningful time with him. He thanked me for the visits. I thank him for his life!

Bro. Jim is survived by his sister, Sister Martha Wiegand, O.P., of Muskego, WI. They visited each other often in their later years, and whenever they spoke by phone, they included prayer.

Bro. Jim’s funeral will take place at the Marian Shrine Chapel in Stony Point, NY, on Friday, December 13. The wake and visitation are from 1:00 to 6:45 p.m., followed by the Mass of Christian Burial at 7:00 p.m.

He will be interred the following day at the Salesian Cemetery in Goshen, NY, at 10:00 a.m.