Cole Peters had never met late Johns Hopkins football coach Jim Margraff. But when Peters arrived in Baltimore in the summer of 2021 to begin his enrollment at the university, his education about the man considered the program’s architect started early and often.

“Hearing the way [upperclassmen] talked about him, anytime there was some issue with culture or some problem, Coach Margraff had said something that summed it up perfectly, and that really showed me how much he laid down the foundation for the culture that we continue to build on,” said Peters, now a senior linebacker for the Blue Jays.

Almost six years removed from Margraff’s sudden death, the echoes of his personality continue to resonate at Johns Hopkins (12-1). And as the team prepares for its first appearance in the NCAA Division III playoff semifinals since Margraff guided the 2018 squad to similar heights, continuing Margraff’s legacy is one of the program’s top priorities.

Many of the players tutored by Margraff during his 29-year tenure have become industry leaders in their respective fields and are frequently asked to speak to the current players. And one thread binds many of those conversations.

“As our finance guys are talking to our alumni who are working on Wall Street or our pre-med guys are talking to world-renowned doctors across the country, Coach Margraff gets brought up all the time and so is ‘Pride and Poise’ football and that mantra,” coach Dan Wodicka said of the program’s slogan created by Margraff. “So I think they see it. It’s not just me talking up there the whole time. They’re hearing it, and then they realize, ‘Oh, this is something that is really special that Coach Margraff built, and even though I never specifically met him, I’m part of the Coach Margraff “Pride and Poise” family.’”

Owners of 17 Centennial Conference titles and 13 NCAA postseason appearances, the Blue Jays didn’t come across success immediately. Margraff, who had been a record-setting quarterback for the school from 1978 to 1981 before becoming the coach in 1990, had to wait until his 13th year for the program’s first league championship and then his 16th for its playoff debut.

“There were tough times,” said Alice Margraff, Jim’s wife of 26 years. “Jim at one point said, ‘I’m afraid I’m going to be the only coach in the Centennial Conference to never win a Centennial Conference championship’ before he got that first one because it took him a long time to get there.”

In 2018, Johns Hopkins set a new standard by advancing to the semifinals, where the squad fell, 28-20, to Mount Union. Less than a month later, on Jan. 2, 2019, Margraff died of a heart attack at the age of 58 as the school’s all-time winningest coach with 221 victories and the Division III Coach of the Year named by the American Football Coaches Association and D3football.com.

Despite his absence, traces of Margraff’s influence abound. The football suite reserved for the coach inside the Newton White Athletic Center and the head coaching title are named after him, and the Greater Baltimore chapter of the National Football Foundation created the James Margraff Coaches Award to honor the organization’s former board member.

On the field, Wodicka — who was a wide receiver under Margraff from 2010 to 2013 — and his staff have retained some of the same drills and exercises Margraff employed. And Wodicka has copied Margraff’s policy of encouraging players to pursue whatever major they desire, even moving practices on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from late afternoons to early mornings so that players don’t miss class.

Alice Margraff, who played field hockey, squash and lacrosse at Johns Hopkins and was inducted into the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame in October 2000, said her husband would be thrilled by Wodicka’s emphasis on learning.

“It was all about teaching to Jim,” she said. “He wanted to teach and develop young men, and the fact that someone took these skills to the next level and learned even more and is carrying this on back to the semifinals, I think it’s incredible.”

Although the current team might not feature the explosive offenses that Margraff tailored, it ranks in the top 30th percentile nationally in fewest penalties per game — a hallmark of Margraff-coached teams, according to former All-American wide receiver Bill Stromberg. A former teammate of Margraff’s who set an NCAA Division III record for career receptions in 1981 with 258 and earned a tryout with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted rookie in 1982, Stromberg said he sees a lot of Margraff in Wodicka.

“Dan is an amazing motivator of people, as was Jim,” said Stromberg, who retired as president and CEO of T. Rowe Price three years ago. “They both are very sincere people, but they really knew how to bring out the very best in their coaching staff and the team around them. So I would say that Dan’s doing a fantastic job of that just like Jim did.”

Wodicka, who acknowledged getting emotional thinking about his former mentor after Saturday’s 17-10 win against Mary Hardin-Baylor that pushed the team to the semifinals, said he feels an obligation to extol Margraff’s virtues to his players — all of whom did not meet Margraff.

“That’s why I think it’s even more critical this year that I bring him up more and more just to make sure that his legacy is still lasting because I wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for Coach Margraff,” said Wodicka, whose coaching path was initially rebuffed by Margraff, who wanted him to concentrate on his bachelor’s in biomedical engineering. “And even with the alumni who have come before us, I try to remind the guys, ‘Hey, everything didn’t just come out of the blue for us to get to the Final Four here. You’ve got to really appreciate everyone who has come before you.’ This is something that has been building for a long time.”

Saturday’s semifinal at noon poses a difficult challenge as the Blue Jays will clash with 13-time national champion Mount Union (13-0), which has not lost in four postseason meetings in their series. But the chance to advance to the title game in Houston on Jan. 5 and further build on what Margraff set as a foundation provides plenty of motivation.

“I think we have a great opportunity to really extend his legacy and pick up where he left off with Mount Union this weekend,” said Peters, who wears the No. 3 jersey that Margraff wore as a quarterback and is intended to go to a player who embodies Margraff’s values of humility, leadership and passion. “But I would say that we’re just continuing to be that place where players can come here, get that education that they want, have a great experience with the brotherhood, and be a part of the family. What we do here is really hard, but it’s so worth it.”

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