When Tom Minogue came to the University of Missouri–St. Louis, he hoped to leave four years later with a degree in economics. What he found at UMSL was so much more: an impressive athletic record, an academic transcript that propelled him into the Ivy League, and the love of his life.
 
Minogue, a 1976 graduate and UMSL Athletics standout who was MVP of the tennis team as a freshman, shared the story of meeting his wife on campus.
 
"Becky had started taking group lessons from the tennis coach here, who told his students to go watch the tennis team and maybe they would learn something," Minogue said. "So, here's this cute girl I had already noticed because we had a biology class together. I saw she was watching the tennis matches, and that gave me the courage a week or two later to ask for her biology notes in the Jefferson Library."
 
Minogue's courage paid off.
 
"She gave me her notes, I asked her out, and it changed my life," Minogue said, smiling. "Now we've been married almost 49 years. UMSL tennis gave me my lifelong partner."
 
Minogue also credits UMSL as being foundational to his professional success. A personality test administered by the school suggested to Minogue that he would be best suited to work as either a lawyer or a recreational superintendent. He recalls carefully weighing those options.
 
"I thought, if I become a lawyer, I can still play tennis, but if I become a tennis teaching pro, I'm not going to be able to be a lawyer," Minogue said. "Why not become a lawyer and still play tennis? And so that's what I did."
 
With that plan in mind, Minogue set his sights on the legal profession. Never one to settle for mediocrity, he aimed high by applying to Harvard Law School. And, again, his courage paid off: he became the first UMSL student to graduate from Harvard Law. That degree positioned him for a high-powered career, first as a corporate lawyer and later as managing partner of Thompson Coburn, a large national law firm.
 
While UMSL academics gave Minogue the intellectual tools he needed to be accepted into Harvard, he is quick to note that UMSL Athletics gave him the characteristics he needed to thrive in law school and beyond.
 
"UMSL Athletics gave me the discipline to succeed," Minogue said. "That's one of the things athletics teaches you: how to goal-set, and how to do the things that you have to do – whether it's practicing, studying, or working – to achieve those goals."
 
In addition to discipline, UMSL Athletics provided Minogue with other meaningful experiences from which he derived life lessons.
 
"My junior year, I beat the number one singles player at a D1 school. I still remember specific shots I made in that match," he said. "But I also remember missing a shot when I had match point in my favor in a different match that I ultimately lost. That's another thing you get out of athletics: the winning and the losing. At its best, athletics teaches you how to win with grace and lose with dignity. It's a lesson you've got to learn. No matter how good you are at something,  you aren't going to win all the time."
 
In the years since graduation, Minogue has found many ways to express his gratitude to UMSL for all the things he feels it has given him. At the invitation of former Chancellor Blanche Touhill, he has served on the Chancellor's Council for almost three decades, including a term as chair. He has helped with legislative initiatives and made numerous trips to Jefferson City to voice his support of UMSL, and introduced UMSL to key business partners.
 
Minogue also chose to give back in three specific ways to honor his wife, his academic foundation, and his athletics experience. To honor their relationship, the Minogues participated in a campus beautification program by providing funding to plant a tree in front of the Thomas Jefferson Library.
 
"It is right outside the window where I asked for her notes, and it is very near the path where I asked her out for our first date," Minogue said. While the original tree required replacement in the intervening years, the symbolism representing the Minogues' enduring relationship stands strong.
 
For Minogue, it was also important to establish a scholarship to honor the support he received while he was a student.
 
"I chose UMSL because, to be perfectly honest, UMSL was what I could afford," Minogue said. "Between the Curators Scholarship and a Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Scholarship that paid for my books, I got to go here for nothing. And that 'nothing' got me into Harvard Law School. It gave me my wife, my family, and my career – all those different things. I feel like I owe a lot back to UMSL."
 
The Tom and Becky Minogue Scholarship helps fund the tuition of a deserving student in any discipline in the College of Arts and Sciences. A coincidental but meaningful highlight for the Minogues was the fact that the 100,000^th graduate of the university was a recipient of their scholarship.
 
And, of course, Minogue wanted to find a way to honor the cornerstone of his undergraduate experience: UMSL Athletics. When Dr. Holly Sheilley, executive director of athletics, reached out to invite Minogue to become a founding member of the Triton Athletics Club, he didn't hesitate.
 
"Holly is really first-rate," said Minogue. "She has a great vision for the program, and we're already seeing some of the results of that great vision. When she reached out with the idea of becoming a founding member, it touched me as something that I wanted to do."
 
As a member of the Triton Athletics Club, Minogue offers financial support to the entirety of UMSL Athletics, including the beloved tennis program that shaped his identity during his time on campus. He offered a few words of advice for current UMSL student-athletes:
 
"Have fun," Minogue said. "It's a great joy to be an athlete. You learn all these lessons that you can apply in your life later on, but never lose the joy of playing your sport. That's really what it's all about."
 
"And, to all of you former athletes, please join the UMSL Triton Athletics Club. It's a great way to give back to the place that helped shape your life, and if you're an older athlete like me, it might even help you recapture part of your youth, too."