Platten, Fok are recipients of Saint John's highest alumni honor

Two members of the Saint John's University class of 1974 are this year's recipients of the Fr. Walter Reger Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Jim Platten will receive his Reger Award at the Homecoming Banquet Friday, Oct. 3, in Guild Hall, SJU.

Canning Fok was presented the Reger Award by SJU President Michael Hemesath in March at a gathering of the SJU Hong Kong Alumni Chapter.

The Reger Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Alumni Association and recognizes an alumnus or alumni each year for his/their outstanding volunteer service to the SJU community. This is the fourth time two graduates have been selected in the same year, most recently in 2009 when Bob Spinner '64 and President Emeritus Fr. Dietrich Reinhart, OSB, '71 (posthumously) were honored. Fok and Platten are the 46th and 47th alumni, respectively, to receive the award.

Blake Elliott, a 2003 graduate of SJU, will receive the Bob Basten Excellence in Leadership Award at halftime of the Homecoming football game against Hamline University on Saturday, Oct. 4, at Clemens Stadium. Elliott is the sixth alumnus to receive the award.

The award, given in honor of the late Bob Basten, SJU Class of 1982, honors a former Johnnie football player who has been an outstanding leader as an alumnus. Basten, who signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Vikings, was a business executive and founder of the Playing to Win for Life Foundation for ALS Research.

Saint John's will also present 11 Alumni Achievement Awards at reunion celebrations on Oct. 4. Recipients for 2014 include:

Thomas Borak (Class of 1964);
John Chromy (Class of 1964);
Mike Healy (Class of 1964);
Gary Eichten (Class of 1969);
Nick Hayes (Class of 1969);
John Laliberte (Class if 1974);
Tim Marx (Class of 1979);
Bob Morris (Class of 1984);
Stephen Yurek (Class of 1984);
Mark Vande Hei  (Class of 1989);
Dean Holt (Class of 1994).

Platten, who received bachelors of science degrees in psychology and sociology at SJU, has spent most of his career in health care administration. He recently accepted the position of CEO and executive director of Open Cities Health Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

An active member of the SJU Alumni Association, Platten recently completed his term as president of the association's Board of Directors. He has been a class agent for more than three decades, chair of the Red Tie Gala, mentored countless students and served on numerous alumni, fundraising and reunion committees.

Platten has become well-known to Johnnie football fans as an on-field volunteer equipment manager at every game, both home and away, since 2002.

Fok, who graduated with degrees in accounting and economics from SJU, went on to receive a degree in financial management from the University of New England in Australia. For more than 30 years, he has worked at one of Asia's largest companies, Hutchison Whampoa Limited, serving as executive director beginning in 1983 and as group managing director since 1993.

Fok has hosted numerous SJU students, guests, alumni and presidents when they have visited Hong Kong. He has also served on the SJU Board of Regents and currently serves as Regent Emeritus.

The Fr. Walter Reger Award is named after the long-time secretary of the Saint John's Alumni Association. Known as "Mr. Saint John's," Reger, OSB, was a dean, history professor, prefect, member of the university orchestra and purveyor of Johnnie Bread. He befriended hundreds of SJU students and kept up personal correspondence with them after they graduated. Reger died in 1971, and the Alumni Association Board of Directors launched the award program later that year (the award's first recipient was Fred Hughes '31).

Elliott is no stranger to SJU football fans. In 2003, the wide receiver helped the Johnnies capture the NCAA Division III national title and went on to win the Gagliardi Trophy, named after legendary Johnnies' Coach John Gagliardi and emblematic of the top player in Division III. Elliott, from nearby Melrose, Minnesota, was a three-time All-America and a two-time MIAC Player of the Year, and was placed on the ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.

His off-the-field accomplishments are just as noteworthy. Elliott is co-owner and director of operations at Everyday Living in Eagan, Minnesota, a foster-care system for adults with special needs. He created the company after his younger brother suffered a traumatic brain injury just before Elliott's senior year at SJU. He has also served as president of the J-Club and is heavily involved with Feed My Starving Children, a nonprofit committed to ending world hunger.