Tuesday, July 3, 2001

De La Salle
coach is ‘game’

Ladouceur is willing to
put his team's streak on the
line against a Hawaii squad

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By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.com

KAANAPALI, Maui >> The head coach of one of the nation's top high school football programs is confident his team will face a team from Hawaii. He's just not sure when.

Bob Ladouceur, whose De La Salle High School team hasn't lost a game since 1991, hopes to someday face a Hawaii power on the field. A matchup with local football giant St. Louis School has been the subject of discussion for several years, but scheduling conflicts with the team from Concord, Calif., have prevented the game from becoming reality.

"I know our seasons start at different points and trying to match up logistically is a problem, but I think down the road it's going to happen," Ladouceur said. "It's not like we're dead set against it. We want to play good football and I know they play good football. I think it will happen -- when I couldn't say, but I think it will."

Ladouceur spent last weekend on Maui, where he was among 10 individuals inducted into the National High School Sports Hall of Fame.

Ladouceur was 24 when he took over the De La Salle program in 1979. During his reign, the Spartans have compiled more California Interscholastic Federation North Coast Section championships (15) than losses (14). De La Salle also boasts the nation's longest winning streak, which stands at 113 games entering this fall.

"I feel good about (entering the Hall of Fame) because the national federation is not looking specifically at records, even though I know my record is a big part of this," Ladouceur said. "I think they look a lot deeper at what you stand for and what you try to teach."

While the Spartans' unprecedented success has become a source of pride in Northern California, it has also made them the target of a number of teams eager to end "The Streak."

"When schools want to play us, it's usually schools that have a senior-laden team or they feel they've got a group of athletes that can step forward and take us out," Ladouceur said. "So whenever we get a call, we know the team they have is a good one. Nobody calls us when they're bad."

While Ladouceur admits he hasn't seen Hawaii teams in action, he said he is aware of the exploits of schools like St. Louis and the level of play in the state.

"I follow them in the paper and USA Today," he said. "I know they play good football here and the colleges pull good football players from the Islands. All the teams that have come over here and played, they've definitely had challenges. The competition, I'm sure, would be more than we could handle."

Although The Streak has grown into an heirloom, passed from one De La Salle team to the next, Ladouceur isn't concerned about it becoming a burden to his players.

"I think they have it in perspective," Ladouceur said. "They'll feel good about it if they lose to a team that's better than them as long as they didn't out-prepare us or did not out-hustle us. As long as that doesn't happen, they'll be able to deal with it fine. If they're going to lose it, they're going to lose it fighting and going down to a better team."

Ten inducted into Hall: While Ladouceur's record at De La Salle is impressive, the statistical credentials of fellow Hall of Famer Rich Jordan are hard to beat.

Jordan earned 16 varsity letters as an athlete during his four years at Fennville (Mich.) High School in the early 1960s. In his remarkable senior year, Jordan rushed for 25 touchdowns for the football team (each averaging 46 yards), hit .550 for the baseball team, won regional championships in three track and field events, and averaged 44.4 points per game for the basketball team. And, at 5-foot-7, Jordan regularly dunked during games.

"I think for the shorter guys, it gives them hope that you can do some things," Jordan said. "You should never limit yourself. I never felt small."

Keith Jackson, a three-sport star in Little Rock, Ark., best known as an All-America tight end at Oklahoma and an All-Pro in the NFL, also earned a place in the Hall of Fame.

"It's awesome," Jackson said. "You start thinking that every athlete played in high school, so now you're being chosen out of all of the athletes that ever played to go into the Hall of Fame. It is a great accomplishment."

Also inducted into the Hall of Fame in a ceremony Sunday night at the Hyatt Regency Maui:

>> Tanya Haave: A volleyball and basketball standout in Colorado in the late 1970s.
>> Albert Flischel: A fixture behind the plate in Missouri, who has umpired high school baseball games in seven decades.
>> Colin Kapitan: Spent 40 years as a football, basketball and track and field official in South Dakota.
>> Charles Ruter: A Kentucky native and one of the nation's most respected track and field officials.
>> Charles Adams: A longtime administrator in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.
>> Barbara Twardus: The first female director of the Seattle School District athletic program.
>> Wilbur Crisp: A coach and inventor credited with introducing electronic timing for wrestling and basketball.

Hawaii School Web Sites