Post by Scott Crawford on Feb 18, 2013 16:06:52 GMT -6
Origins of Louisiana High School
Soccer
By Brother Tim Coldwell (2001)
A tribute to Brother Alphonse LeBlanc, FSC, one of
the founders of state high school soccer. Brother Al was honored at
the beginning of the Saint Paul-De La Salle regional playoff match February
15, 1994.
Twenty-five years ago in the fall of 1968, a Rummel
freshman went up to Brother Alphonse LeBlanc, FSC, and asked him if
he would start a soccer team at the fledgling Catholic high school in
Metairie. Little did he realize at that moment what would be created
in the city and the state, largely by his hands, in terms of interscholastic
soccer! Like most native New Orleanians at the time, the only thing
he associated with soccer were the goalposts, which still stand, in
Audubon Park facing Magazine-a small “monument” to the sport which
has budded and flourished in our area. Evidence the youth leagues, clubs,
schools, amateurs and semi-professional teams.
In 1968 there were no interscholastic leagues. But
through the auspices of “Pro” Schuermann and Carlos Mitchell with
the Jefferson Parish Recreation Department, Archbishop Rummel’s 9th
grade team formed a league with Our Lady of Lourdes (Violet), Costa
Rica Juniors, and the Jefferson Saints. There were rarely goals, and
when there were, there were no nets. Refs . . . refs?
Brother Al remembers beginning the season with a
pamphlet entitled, “Sandlot Soccer” and ending it with a 2-0
victory over Jefferson in what may arguably be the first high school
level soccer trophy awarded in the state. There were more trophies to
come.
As 1969 rolled around, Brother Al appointed himself
“league director” and recruited and organized new schools into
what was grandly named the Greater New Orleans Interscholastic Soccer
Football Association. GNOIS FA-a great trivia question! Charter members
included Saint Paul’s School, (like De La Salle and Archbishop Rummel,
a Christian Brothers-conducted high school) Fortier, Redemptorist, Holy
Cross, Country Day, Marjorie Walters and Olympia (a club team). De La
Salle, coached by Gerry Mueller, joined in 1972.
LHSAA sanctioned soccer in 1971, and as the New Orleans
area schools were the only ones to field teams, when Holy Cross won
the title over Rummel by percentage points in the standings, they won
“state” (playoffs did not exist in these humbler days!). In 1974
and again in 1975 Rummel captured the “state title.” Besides Rummel,
the powerhouses of the mid- and late seventies included Warren Easton
and Country Day and De La Salle, each of whom won state titles.
By 1987, soccer had planted roots in Shreveport,
Baton Rouge and the Northshore. The LHSAA’s inaugural state championship
pitted Catholic league arch-rivals Jesuit and Rummel. The Raiders, still
led by Brother Al as coach, painfully conceded a goal that decided the
typically close match.
Brother Al retired from coaching after twenty-five
years, having well earned the distinction “founding father.” But
he prefers being called Brother . . . thanks Brother Al!
