LaSalle-Regis-Xavier Alumni Hall of Fame

Chad Colston is a 1986 graduate of LaSalle High School. During his time at LaSalle, Chad competed in football, basketball, and baseball. He was named co-captain of the 1985 football team and the 1985-86 basketball team. Chad was named 1st Team All-State as a Defensive Back in Class 2A in 1985 by the Des Moines Register. 

After graduating from LaSalle, Chad pursued a career in law enforcement and was hired by the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, where he currently holds the rank of Major and oversees the Patrol and Criminal Divisions which is comprised of Uniformed Patrol, Rescue, K-9, and Detective Bureau. 

Chad is married to his wife Joan, and they have two children, Bryce (X08), Courtney (X14), son-in-law Sam, and grandson, Doc.

Ryan Jacobs is a 1994 graduate of Regis High School and is entering his 16th season as the head coach of the University of Northern Iowa softball program in 2023 with a 425-325 career record.

 

“Coach Jake” has been a part of the UNI softball program since 2007, leading his players to multiple honors on and off the field. Over the past 15 years, 52 of Jacobs players have earned All-Missouri Valley Conference honors. Jacobs has also coached 7 MVC players to honors on the All-Defensive Team honors. Off the field, Jacobs has led 24 players to MVC Academic Honors in the classroom and the 2022 team was named one of the Top 10 academic teams in the country by Easton Fastpitch and the NFCA.

 

Other notable accomplishments include MVC Specialty Honors, with two MVC Player of the Year in Sammey Bunch and Emmy Wells, five time coaching staff of the year in ‘09, ‘12, ‘17, '21, and ‘22, two MVC Defensive Player of the Year, three MVC Pitcher of the Year, four MVC Rookie of the Year, and two MVC Newcomer of the Year. Coach Jacobs has developed 21 MVC All-Tournament Selections in his career at UNI.

 

Under Jacobs' direction, UNI has finished with an above .500 record in MVC play in ten straight seasons. His teams have set or tied 15 single-season school records.

 

Prior to his time with UNI Softball, Jacobs served as the head softball coach at Cedar Falls High School from 2004 to 2007, guiding the Tigers to a 108-62-2 cumulative record. After a season of playing professional baseball for the Richmond Roosters of the Frontier League and assistant baseball coaching stints at Cornell College and Cedar Rapids Xavier High School, Jacobs returned to Cedar Falls and UNI in 2001 as an assistant coach on the Panther baseball staff until 2005, specializing in coaching catchers and hitters. He also coordinated Panther camps and clinics and served as the team's first base coach.

 

The Cedar Rapids native played two seasons for UNI's baseball team, from 1997 to 1998, helping the Panthers to a then-school record 32 wins and second-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference.

 

Jacobs was also a standout prep baseball player at Regis High School, being named both Mississippi Valley Conference Player of the Year and the Iowa Legion Player of the Year in 1994.

 

Jacobs and his wife, Kelley, reside in Cedar Falls with their two daughters, Haley and Emma.

Lauren (Squires) Ready is a 2004 graduate of Xavier High School and an Emmy award-winning storyteller who specializes in telling untold stories. She began her career as a senior at Xavier High School, working in her first TV job as a production assistant at KCRG. She ran cameras during the evening newscasts after school. After graduating from Loras College in Dubuque, she worked her way up to a job in front of the camera and spent time as a reporter at KWWL in Iowa, WOWT in Nebraska and WMC in Memphis. After a decade working in newsrooms, she transitioned from a life in front of the camera, to a life behind the camera telling mission-focused stories for nonprofits and small businesses. Today she is founder and Principal Storyteller for Forever Ready Productions in Memphis, TN. Lauren was named the Memphis Business Journal's 40 Under 40 and her company was named Memphis Business Journal's Small Business of the Year in 2020. Among her critically-acclaimed projects, she directed and produced an Emmy award-winning short documentary, “Bike Lee.” The story captures the first year of the journey of a bike mechanic as he mentors children in his community. She directed the team-wide production of 2018 Indie Memphis winner “You Must Believe,” which took home the Audience Choice award in the Hometowner Documentary Short category. It also won an Emmy in 2020. She met her husband, Scott, after college and they've been married 10 years and love taking adventures with their son, Max. She’s a part 107 certified drone pilot, loves rock climbing and photography.

Fr. Phil Thompson is a longtime faithful servant and supporter of Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Dubuque and especially of Xavier Catholic Schools. 

 

He graduated from ­Loras College in 1974 and completed his theological studies at St. Meinrad Seminary in St. Meinrad, Indiana. He later earned two advanced degrees — a master’s in religious education from the University of San Francisco in 1984 and a master’s in secondary school administration from Loras College in 1986. He was ordained on June 3, 1978, at St. Columbkille Church in Dubuque by Archbishop James J. Byrne.

 

For more than 40 years, Fr. Thompson served a number of pastoral assignments across the Archdiocese. His stops include Independence, Rowley, Mason City, Plymouth, Rickardsville, Holy Cross, Walford, Cascade, and Gilbertville.

 

These assignments also include serving as a religion faculty member at Cedar Rapids LaSalle High School for the 1984-1985 school year and later as LaSalle’s principal from 1989 through 1991.

 

He was named founding pastor of John XXIII Parish in Cedar Rapids in 2000, and administrator of St. Patrick’s in Fairfax in 2001. He was also administrator of Holy Trinity Parish in Walford from 2001 until it closed in 2002. He was named pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Cedar Rapids in 2008, helping the parish to recover from the devastating flood of that June. In 2010 he was named pastor of St. Pius X in Cedar Rapids, where he would serve until his retirement in July 2022. 

 

As the long term pastoral coordinator of Xavier High School and the Xavier Foundation, Fr. Thompson has been a leading voice in Xavier’s commitment to excellence in Catholic education. His contributions have been key to a number of new initiatives launched at Xavier to further strengthen the school’s viability and sustainability while remaining true to its mission of developing the total person in a Catholic environment. 

 

Since 2016 he has also served as the priest supervisor of St. John the Baptist in Mt. Vernon and St. Isidore in Springville. He has served on the Priests’ Council as a member and chair, the Iowa Catholic Conference, the Archdiocesan Catholic School Board, the Priests’ Personnel Advisory Board, and the Archdiocesan College of Consultors.