And two more...

There are two other people I’d like to acknowledge who have played a role in my being here today: Mr. William Henry Brophy and his wife, Ellen Goodbody Brophy. One of my goals for last year was to learn more about Brophy’s history and I’m glad I did. I found it fascinating and very instructive in my thinking about Brophy’s future. I want to take a few minutes to share some highlights with you.

Mr. Brophy was born in Ireland, orphaned young, and in eighth grade he borrowed money to immigrate to the U.S. in 1881. He made his way to southern Arizona where he found his way into the mining industry, then banking, and experienced great business success.

In 1924, he was on a fishing trip out of Guyamas, Mexico, and was swept overboard in a storm. His body was discovered a month later. The estate he left behind (for which his wife became responsible) was $2 million, considered the largest estate ever probated in Arizona up to that time.

Mrs. Brophy's son later said she was determined in her lifetime to give away all her wealth.

She was very philanthropic — she gave money to faith-based charities in Tucson, Phoenix and California where they spent time.

Her spiritual advisor was the president of Loyola College in Los Angeles. He heard she was going to donate the remainder of her estate to the U of A and so, in classic Jesuit fashion, he called her and suggested she start a Catholic, Jesuit school in Arizona. Suffice it to say, he was compelling.

In April 1927, there was an announcement that a new school was opening: It announced Mrs. Brophy’s gift of $250,000 which enabled the Jesuits to buy 25 acres on North Central Avenue.

Ground was broken on January 15, 1928, and classes somehow started nine months later, in September 1928. There were no supply chain issues in 1928, apparently.

However, the building was not quite finished: There was no hardware on any of the doors or windows and scaffolding still wrapped the building. The night before the school was to open, there was a monsoon that blew down much of the scaffolding, knocking out many of the windows. The school opened the following day. That first semester, there were 58 boys enrolled of whom eight were boarding students and only one paid full tuition ($600).

It’s worth noting that — even in its first year, in 1928 — Brophy was committed to the very same things we are today — the holistic education of its students. There was a notice in the local newspaper that year about student council, speech and debate, and photos of Brophy’s first football team.

Another nugget from those early years that still holds true today: In 1931, President O’Keefe wrote an op-ed to correct the notion that the school was endowed. He clarified that the school relied on tuition and donations.

Unfortunately, 1928 proved to be a tough time to open a new school. Brophy's families weren’t immune to the Depression and the school began to struggle.

In 1932, the "Save Brophy for Arizona" campaign was launched. There were 91 students that year.

› Here are some headlines from the Arizona Republic about the campaign to support Brophy: A horse show and a flying priest? (Fr. del Toro, don’t get any ideas!)
› "Moose Women Arrange a Benefit;" "Shriners Benefit Show: Hollywood Joins Phoenix on Parade" (and Walt Disney wrote the script); Westward Ho Has Ball to Raise Funds for Brophy;" "Biltmore Horse Show Will Benefit Brophy"...

In 1933, the editorial board of the Arizona Labor Journal said this:

“It would be little short of a calamity for Phoenix and the Salt River Valley were the Brophy College forced to close its doors. The closing of this magnificent school for boys would be just about the worst advertising this community has ever received in its entire history. And yet, unless the people of Phoenix become interested in saving Brophy, there is an excellent chance that the school will close its doors and the students enrolled there will be transferred to schools in other states that understand the value of maintaining and supporting institutions of learning.”

It is stunning to me that this school had only been open for five years, and enrolled just 90 students, yet the community had a sense of how important Brophy was to Arizona.

It became clear that the effects of the Depression were too strong and Brophy wasn’t going to make it.

› During the 1934-35 school year, there were 65 day students and 16 boarders. The school closed at the end of that year.
› In 1936, the Jesuits at the parish agreed to open an elementary school and St. Francis Xavier Elementary School was opened on the ground floor of what is now Brophy Hall.
› In 1943, the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) came to Phoenix from Iowa to open Xavier College Prep and they used the top floor of Brophy Hall as their school building with the grammar school on the lower level.
› In 1952, the Jesuits agreed to re-open Brophy and for three years, Brophy operated on the first floor of Brophy Hall and Xavier was on the second floor, until 1955 when Xavier moved to their current location. The rest, they say, is history.

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