The earliest mention of the Old Boys' Association is in the year 1940. But it officially came into being in the year 1942 when Late Msgr Cyril George became the Principal.
Our Principal (before 1942) Rev Augustine was its patron.
Rev. Fr Cyril became the first Old boy to become the principal of the school and also the President of the Association.
When the entire staff and management comprising the Irish Christian Brothers of Nainital resigned in 1916 a lot of records were destroyed.
Overtime we realise that no significant history is available from 1923 to 1958 apart from the Magazines. The first Issue of the college magazine came out in 1953 however The first Volume of the Old Boys' Magazine was published & released in July 1942 with Mr NN Guzdar as its Editor and printed at The Mercantile Press.
Quoting from our records, the words of Msgr Cyril George, Our President-
"...Last year I made an appeal for more members and many names were sent in but many more could have come, and so I make an appeal once again"
So we believe that the birth of OBA was 1940 and not before that as Mr Guzdar, the editor of the First Volume of the OBA magazine clearly mentioned that there was No OBA before that and it was a pity.
The first meeting was Held on Sunday,
13th October 1940, and presided over by the Principal and a constitution was proposed and accepted.
The first event organised by the OBA was a Hockey Match on 18th March 1941.
Two Whist Drives were Held, one in March and the Other in April.
Further more whist drives were organized, a badminton tournament, annual function in November followed by cricket match and lunch, Annual Football Match, Tug O War & Relay.
The First General Body Meeting was held on 8th February 1942 with the election of the executive committee.
The Annual subscription was decided to Rs 2.
The Executive Committee conducted its first meeting on 22nd February 1942.
Messrs E Simeon and Z Islam were duly opted as Executives.
A sports sub-committee was founded and GBM was proposed to be held in July every year instead of at the beginning of the year.
The next executive meeting was held on 7th April and a new Bank account was opened at the Central Bank of India, Allahabad.
The events of the OBA were also published in the Catholic magazine named "Catholicus".
The list of Office Bearers include -
Patron - Rev Augustine (Principal)
President - Msgr Cyril E George
Vice President - Mr ML Dave
Secretary - Mr TN Dhar
Treasurer & Joint Secretary - Mr H Athaide
Old Boys' Representative - Mr C Veliath
Staff Representative - Mr F Fernandez
Co - opted Members - Mr E Simeon and Mr Z Islam
Editor - Mr N N Gazdar
With time and with the going of Rev Cyril, Rev Hogan and Fr Rego, the Literary & The OBA activities took a back seat.
Fr.KK Antony restarted the Old boys association & revived the Life Membership program
In February 1998, there was a newspaper item stating that there would be a meeting of the Old Boys Association of the St Joseph’s College on 08 February.
A total of 40 old students attended that meeting of which 30 were on the behest of Group Captain Achchyut Kumar.
The then Principal, Fr. KK Antony wanted Dr. Manas Mukul Das to be the President of the OBA but a majority wanted Achchyut so Fr. Antony invited him to take over the chair as the President.
The latter, however, insisted that in any meet, it is the seniormost alumnus who should chair the meeting. He also insisted that as the OBA exists for encouraging brotherhood so there should never be any elections ever for any post as elections breed animosity.
Both the ideas were accepted, however, it was deemed necessary that there ought to be a body to run the affairs of the OBA. So Mr. Francis Moore, a senior teacher of the College was tasked to formulate a Core Committee to run the affairs of the OBA.
So in February 1998, an OBA Core Committee was formed with six members. The College was to be represented by Fr. Antony and Mr. Francis Moore and the students by Dr. Bhaskar Banerjee ( 1968 and a former School Captain), Gp. Capt. Achchyut Kumar (1971, a former School Captain and Prime Minister of the School Parliament), Mr. Justice Vineet Saran (1972) and Mr. Sharad Verma (1973).
In 1998, the Core Committee proposed that during the School’s Annual Sports, there ought to be a marching contingent of the Old Boys to which Fr. Antony agreed and was also gracious to set up a separate seating tent for the Old Boys. Achchyut agreed to get a banner made for the OBA Tent.
However, when the banner was being delivered, Fr. Antony expressed his worry that some Old Boys had challenged the idea. Achchyut insisted that he would take the responsibility for the proceedings. So in 1998, for the first time a contingent of just 9 individuals marched on behalf of the OBA with Mr. Jhaboo Khanna (1959) as the flag bearer.
In January 1999, a meeting of the OBA was summoned in the absence of Gp. Capt. Achchyut Kumar and four officers bearers were nominated. Colonel Gurmeet Singh as Hon.. President, Mr. Justice Vikram Nath as Hon. Secretary, Mr. Sanjeev Singh as Hon. Joint Secretary and Mr. Chandra Kumar Pathak as the Hon. Treasurer.
On 26 January 2000, for the first time a friendly cricket match was organised between the OBA and the Staff of SJC which the OBA won. It was then decided to have this match as a regular feature and so it has continued ever since.
During his term as the Principal, Fr. Rolfie D’Souza had a confidential meeting to give the OBA a more concrete structure because Dr. Bhaskar Banerjee had pulled out of the Core Committee, Mr. Vineet Saran had moved out of Allahabad, Mr. Sharad Verma had a rather premature demise, Justice Vikram Nath had been elevated as a Justice and Mr. C.K. Pathak had also sought relief from his appointment though he continued to be involved actively in all the organisations on the OBA.
The OBA organised The Sharad Verma Memorial Inter school debate competition in memory of Late Sharad Verma, an Alumnus. The March past at the Sports day and the
Annual Old Boys Dinner is a much anticipated event.
The Old Boy's Vs Staff cricket and football match is also organised every year.
The OBA was given more importance by Rev Fr Louis and more members were added during his tenure.
So, in 2018, Gp. Capt. Achchyut Kumar prepared and submitted a draft Articles of Association for the OBA. The process of ratification was delayed because Fr. Rolfie moved to Kanpur and Fr. Thomas Kumar being the new Principal wanted to consult the west while Principals before finalising the draft.
Fr. Rolfie’s sad demise due to COVID only delayed the matter further and the OBA seemed to be heading towards extinction when Mr. Piyush Tandon took a plunge to organise a few events in consultation with Fr. Thomas Kumar and thereafter took the inititative to get the OBA rejuvenated.
Mr Abhishek Verma from the Batch of 2014 came forward to make OBA technology friendly.
Initially there was no Emblem of OBA.
Our Emblem was designed in the mild winters of October in the year 2020 by Mr. Abhishek Verma, of the Batch of 2014.
The presented Motto of the OBA is Simul Quia Scholae - Latin for "Together for School"
The OBA went online on social platforms in 2019 with more than 3000 active members on Facebook.
The Sharad Varma Memorial debate was discontinued as the parents of Late Mr Sharad Varma moved out of the city.
More events were added and organised such as Manas memorial inter school hindi speech and debate competition in the memory of Manas Singh, an Alumnus of the college. Col Gurmeet Singh memorial Cricket Match, Late Jhabboo Khanna memorial Football match, Photography competition for the children of the Old boys and the new concept of Inter decade Cricket tournament Old Boys premier league OBAPL,the brainchild of Secretary Piyush Tandon was introduced.
In 2024, before handing over charge of the Principal to Fr. Walter D’Souza, Fr. Thomas Kumar gave a nod to the draft Articles of Association with a few changes after consulting Mr. Justice Siddharth Verma.
The OBA was registered under the Societies Act by Fr Thomas Kumar and the Life Membership program was revamped and renewed.
The OBA by now is available on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) with recent updates and news from the Alma Mater and 24x7 chat support.
The OBA released its first digital calendar in 2022 and the first edition of The Quarterly Newsletter
"OBA Kaleidoscope" was released in September 2024
The newly elected office bearers comprising of
(President Dr Probal Neogi, General Secretary Ar. Piyush Tandon, Joint Secretary Mr Akshat Kapoor and Mr Abhishek Verma and Treasurer CA Sanjay Khanduja) are committed to touch greater heights under the leadership of Our New Principal Rev Fr Walter D'Silva.
So the OBA continues to grow and flow as of now to touch greater heights.
Researched & Compiled by Gp Capt Achchyut Kumar and Mr Abhishek Verma