John Bellairs was a member of two extracurricular groups during his years at Notre Dame: the Bookmen during his junior and senior year, and the Wranglers for only his senior year. Robert Sedlack believes both groups had faculty moderators, but were student run so that meant some semesters they were active than others.
The Bookmen was a literary discussion group, notes Tom Banchoff, which met monthly to discuss a paper presented by one of the members. "There were about a dozen members, maybe as many as fifteen, selected from those who applied at the end of each year. The general idea was that the paper presented should not be a paper that had been written for any class. While I wrote about Dr. Zhivago, I fear that I don't remember what subjects John chose."
Sedlack recalls that the Bookmen were more literary, "and I think I belonged because I remember Joe Ryan delivering a paper on D. H. Lawrence. I have a vague recollection of presenting a paper myself, but have no idea what that might have been. I suppose we had officers, but no recording secretary or minutes that I remember. That year Professor Alvan Ryan, who later became English Department Chair, was the moderator of the Bookmen." Fellow members of the Bookmen included Bruce Babbitt, the former governor of Arizona and Secretary of the Interior.
The Wranglers was, as the name would suggest, more of a debating society, according to Sedlack. "They used the same format," notes former student and current Notre Dame English professor Jay Walton, "and its faculty sponsor was Frank O'Malley, but for membership one had to pass muster at an interview with other members. As I recall, John was rejected at his first few tries but at last admitted." John may not have impressed people initially, Sedlack feels, "but did so when he became known. By the time I was admitted, I'm sure John was a member in good standing, so I would not have been involved in his admission."
