Loyola College - Review Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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In 1930 he was named to the Mexican World Cup soccer team but his father, rancher-businessman José Suinaga Arias, died and his mothe r told Pedro “It is time you stopped kicking a ball and concentrate on your new law degree.” Pedro, an obedient son, stopped kicking a ball but, he adds, “Luckily, my mother said nothing about hitting a ball with a club.” He found that golf and legal business blended serenely. Golf trophies began accumulating. He managed a six handicap and knocked on the championship door several times. He became President of the Mexican Golf Association. During this period he proudly negotiated and signed a tri-partite agreement with the Royal Canadian Golf Association and the United States Golf Association for biennial matches among teams of the three nations. He married an ex-athlete, beautiful Luz de Lourdes Lanz Duret Sierra. They had a daughter and two sons, all of whom married and (at last count) made Pedro a grandfather 13 times over. 21 In 1965, Pedro returned to Canada — this time with the awesomely formal tag: “His Excellency Pedro R. Suinaga y Lujan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Mexican Embassy, Ottawa.” Translated freely, he had become Mr. Mexico in Canada. As the head-of consulates in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, and honorary consulates in Winnipeg and Quebec City, his basic job, as stressed by President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, was to ‘“‘sell”” Mexico t o Canada and foster good relations — also, of course, while doing all he could to encourage the multi-million dollar trade flow between the two countries. It was fun for us who had known the pre-dignified Pedro to bait His Excellency at affairs of state and posh dinners. Casual criticism of such Mexican pastimes as the bullfight would cause Pedro to rise in wrathful defence of the “savage sport”. He looked upon this centuries-old spectacle as tauromachy, an art, rather than a sport. One night over a third Scotch and water he blasted at me: “The Anglo-Saxon and American appreciation of life, in a sense, is limited. We find among the arch-critics of such an art men who ride behind the hounds in high society to chase a wee fox to its death. We find alleged sportsmen who shoot a timid deer and leave it to die slowly in lonesome hiding. We find a beauteous milady donning, without hesitation, mink slaughtered to adorn her. What else, she will ask, is a mink for ? We of Mexico come right back about 1200 pounds of seething bull fury and ask what else is a fighting bull for ? ” During the intervening years Pedro made two memorable trips to Loyola. Just as his father had done with him when Pedro first came up to Loyola (then five and one-half days by train), Pedro brought his eldest son, Pedro Junior (this time by plane) for registration at the old alma mater. A year later he followed the same procedure with his second son, Pablo. Both have long since graduated from Loyola, going on for law degrees and now practicing in the firm of Suinaga Luna. The addition of his sons gave senior partner Pedro time to author three books on Mexican Jurisprudence. He was appointed to the Board of Governors of the Mexican Bar Association and, for 15 years, lectured in law at the National University of Mexico. How, I once asked, did this faraway Mexican boy come to Loyola in the first place. Pedro replied: “My father thought it would be wise for me to study in a foreign country, to become fluent in English as well as Mexican. He also wanted education to include character moulding and felt the Jesuits were the best in the world at this development. Together, my father and I, pondered long and exhaustively over the Jesuit Schools and finally agreed on Loyola and Canada as the happiest combination.” Pedro Suinaga sighed happily: “I have had a golden life thanks to that start. I wonder if the young students of today fully appreciate how vital is the foundation upon which they are building, the importance of what has for so long been proven sound instead of what appeals just because it’s different ? Before accepting what is new, what has been proven good in the old should always be given a fair hearing. Many harsh mistakes may be avoided.”

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There was tremendous interest in Sports. The “Field Day” was the Gala Sports Event of the year. It was generally held in late May or early June. But at the first sign of Spring in March or early April, our runners would be out in scores, training for the great event. You had to stay off the Campus till it was day, but there were roads and trails through the woods behind the Loyola grounds up to and through Cote-St-Luc where you could run to your heart’s content. Amateur coaches, like Ned and Frank Kearns, would give their services free to bring along to their peak the young enthusiasts. Most of the parents and their ‘“‘cousins and their sisters and their aunts” would be on hand to cheer the lads along. And a good time would be had by all. There are many other things, persons, and places I should recall and write about, but my object was to give a glimpse of the Loyola I knew and loved from 1916 to 1920. True, I was back here teaching in 1929-30 but that will have to be another chapter. You will note, Jim, I have not made any comparisons with the Loyola of today. Like all living things, it had to grow, evolve, fit into new patterns. That’s right, that’s fine. We are all for growth and development, but perhaps a little remembrance is in order of what it grew from; a little savouring of the fragrance of pastoral days in Arcady. Boug Cas pisieueriereilaes Henry Francis Douglas Smeaton ry 4 Panels “Grad Who Got the Mostest From Loyola” by Andy O’Brien °31 It seemed incredible. 1971 — and 40 years since our graduation from Loyola. Nineteen of us had gathered at the University Club, swapping exaggerated tales of our days and nights together so very long ago. One of us had made a million dollars. We had a Jesuit, we had lawyers, doctors — even a newspaperman. But as the lies grew thin and the chatter lessened, we got to talking about those who had gleaned the most from Loyola. People such as that late beloved Governor General Georges Vanier were naturally mentioned, only to be dropped from the topic. After all, no matter how much Loyola must have helped him, becoming army general had to be something of a boost, what ? Finally we could only agree on one person as the “‘grad who got the mostest”: Pedro R. Suinaga y Lujan. Education, particularly classical higher education, is often criticized these days as having little practical value — ‘So your mind’s been well trained” they say, “with things that you can’t remember and nobody else cares about ! What good is that ? ” This makes the case of Pedro, who was fed the old-fashioned stuff, all the more intriguing. He truly demonstrated the possible attainments of a sincere student who is willing to reach out for what is there. In 1920, when Pedro enrolled at the Loyola College High School, his experience with English was limited to Mexico City’s elementary school system. Six years later he had become one quarter of the Loyola team that won Canada’s intercollegiate debating championship. 20 Not only did he have complete command of the language, but his Mexican heritage had injected his speech with a dynamic quality that made listening a delight. He was also rather a hotshot academically, graduating magna cum laude. What’s more, Pedro decided to take up football. True, he had never even seen a game of our bashing version of soccer. True, he weighed only 138 pounds and stood five feet, six and one-half inches. But so what if you can kick the ball with either foot ? That peculiar skill, of course, had been developed in kid soccer play down Mexico way, but as Pedro saw it, the ambidextrous ability would help him adjust to tacklers coming from either direction. He figured it right, of course, and was permanently recorded across the street among the first ten inducted to the Loyola Sports Hall of Fame. By way of proving that brains and brawn can go together in education, Suinaga’s name had been a unanimous choice of the selection panel. The citation commented that he starred on the 1922 team which copped the Canadian junior intercollegiate title and, in 1923, both the intercollegiate and (then) Dominion Championships. It was in a losing playof game though, on Nov. 1, 1924, against Queen’s University at Molson Stadium in Montreal that he established a Canadian record with what the Montreal star described as “‘the longest drop kick ever.” For the benefit of those younger folk who came in late on the football scene, the ball used to be fatter — not so pointed. The kicker would drop it to the ground and time his kick so that foot connected with ball while it was momentarily poised on end. In other words, the booter was making like kicking a field goal with nobody holding the ball. In the case of this record kick, Loyola scrimmaged from the Queen’s 50-yard line. Suinaga received the ball directly from the centre, some 12 yards back of the scrimmage line and took two steps forward before kicking from a spot between 50-yards (mid-field) and 60 yards out. The kick went all the way, bouncing off the crossbar and over for three points. Later he attempted another drop kick — from 50 yards out — that went wide of the uprights but bounced to deadline for a single. He kicked all five points as Loyola lost, 10-5. In 1926, equipped with the Bachelor of Arts degree which so many kids regard as meaningless today, Pedro’s mind was tuned for the world ahead. He returned to Mexico City to study law at the National School of Jurisprudence. As a veteran sports editor, I like to stress the importance of blending brain and brawn in building men. In Pedro’s case the sport bug had bitten and he was restless with books alone. There was no Canadian version of football being played in Mexico so he returned to the soccer of his teen days. Typically, he devoted such energy to it that he became captain of the 1928 Mexican Olympic soccer team.

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Loyola and the Revolution On the way to revolution, Loyola is generally designated as a backwater port. Untroubled, middle-class, English- Catholic and Canadian, it is typically discovered in the eddies of social and intellectual advance. The student activist at Loyola is not likely to be pounced upon and smothered by a group of fearful reactionaries. Most everybody simply considers him to be a manifestation of the times — and times change. Loyola, at least, is content to change — eventually, but sees little point in initiating reform. The collective psyche at Loyola seems to consider particular incidents and up- heavals in their relationship to the scope of history and is usually willing to accom- modate the activist as one whose role is merely an historical function. There is a conscience at Loyola that allows for the necessity of change, and, accidentally, makes some preparation for it. Most people call it apathy. || a That is: 4% “they better not’; 6% “oh yes we will”; and 90% “‘huh ? ”. This gives the progressives a handy 50% edge. Although it may well be the case, such a blanket designation could be un- fair because, so far as apathy is consid- ered wrong, it implies that 90% are being immoral. Rather than being wrong, perhaps their position is indicative of a morality basic to Loyola. Take the case of the activist on campus. (Not the revolutionary. Loyola has never appeared to offer any issues worthy of his fiery attention). The acti- vist soon realizes that he is not exactly storming the ramparts of an entrenched establishment. He learns that the rhetoric of his political and philosophical stances pro- duces little in the way of confrontation and virtually nothing that amounts to change. He turns his attention to practical issues like the renewal of teaching con- tracts or student-faculty representation on College committees and the Board of Trustees.