LATROBE, Pa. (Sept. 9) – The Saint Vincent College community is mourning the death of longtime athletic director and faculty member Father Myron Kirsch, O.S.B.
 
Father Myron, who served as athletic director from 1983-2023, passed away on Sept. 8, 2024, at the age of 78.

"We are grateful for Father Myron's many accomplishments and the contributions he made to our College through his leadership," said Saint Vincent College President Father Paul R. Taylor, O.S.B. "During his more than 40 years as Athletic Director, he led the athletic program and all its varsity sports toward excellence, both on the scoreboard an in accordance with our Benedictine values. His presence in our community will be deeply missed."
 
"I know I speak for the entire Saint Vincent community when I say that today is a very sad day," said athletic director and head men's basketball coach D.P. Harris. "Father Myron was a great man and a great leader. He served as a trusted mentor for so many coaches and was a pillar of support for each and every student-athlete and coach at Saint Vincent. We express our deepest condolences to his family and to the Saint Vincent Benedictine community."
 
Named athletic director in 1983 upon Saint Vincent College's transition from a male-only school to a coeducational institution, Father Myron presided over the successful introduction of female sports to the College's varsity offerings, with the additions of women's basketball and tennis in 1983 and softball and volleyball in 1985. 

Since then, the department has continued to grow, and currently sponsors 23 varsity teams and supports more than 600 student-athletes.

Along with the overall growth of the department, Father Myron has also presided over several major athletic facility upgrades, the biggest coming in 2003, with the renovation and expansion of the then-Kennedy Hall into the Robert S. Carey Center. The ambitious project more than doubled the number of locker rooms, added state-of-the-art fitness and athletic training facilities, and included a complete renovation of the varsity gymnasium and the construction of more than a dozen offices for the coaching staff and athletic department personnel. More than 20 years after its construction, the Carey Center remains one of the premiere small college athletic facilities in the region.

In 2007, Father Myron oversaw the return of football to Saint Vincent as a varsity sport, and with that, the construction of Chuck Noll Field, a natural grass, 1,100-seat stadium that continues to serve in the fall as the home of Bearcat football and in the summer, the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have called Saint Vincent College their summer training camp home since 1967.

In addition to the Carey Center and Chuck Noll Field, Father Myron presided over the construction of the College's first artificial turf field in 2008, and its subsequent renovation and transformation into the current UPMC Field in 2017, as well as a substantial renovation to the baseball field in 1998 and the construction of a new softball field in 2003.

Twenty-three years after Saint Vincent's addition of women's sports, Father Myron guided the athletic department through another significant transformation, as Bearcat athletics made the move from the NAIA and the American Mideast Conference to NCAA Division III and the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) in 2006. Following a successful four-year period as a provisional NCAA Division III and PAC member, the College was officially accepted as a full member for the 2010-11 academic year.

Along with athletic director, Father Myron held a number of roles across the Saint Vincent community throughout his tenure. He was a faculty member for more than 40 years, teaching accounting and business administration, while serving as dean of students from 1984-94 and a residence hall moderator from 1979-84. Prior to assuming the role of athletic director, he was assistant baseball coach from 1980-83.

A native of Nicktown, Pennsylvania, Father Myron graduated from Saint Vincent College in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. He received a master of divinity degree from Saint Vincent Seminary in 1973, and a master of business administration degree from Loyola University in Chicago in 1977. He was ordained a priest in Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica on May 12, 1973, and served as weekend assistant at St. John (Summerhill, Pa.) and Immaculate Conception (New Germany, Pa.) parishes from 1994-2021.

The body of Father Myron will be received at 1 p.m. Wednesday, September 11 at the parlor of the Elizabeth J. Roderick Center of Saint Vincent Seminary, where viewing will be held until 5 p.m. The wake service in the Basilica will begin at 7 p.m., with celebrant and homilist Father Prior Killian Loch, O.S.B. A concelebrated Mass of Christian Burial, celebrated by Father Killian, will take place at 2 p.m. Thursday, September 12, in the Basilica. Brother Norman Hipps, O.S.B., will give a post-communion reflection. The Rite of Committal will follow at the Mary, Mother of Mercy Mausoleum Chapel at Saint Vincent Cemetery.