Rummel’s Roth will join royalty in LHSAA hall

By Ron Brocato, Sports
Clarion Herald

From a proud 2016 inductee, congratulations on your membership in the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s Sports Hall of Fame, Jay Roth.

You are indeed a distinguished member of an elite fraternity of outstanding men and women who have contributed to this 104-year-old body that governs and promotes high school sports in this great state.

Enjoy your day on April 16 when your name is called.

The hall has honored many deserving players, coaches, administrators and contributors   from the Archdiocese of New Orleans over the decades, but you are just the 25th inductee with New Orleans Catholic high school ties among the 408 men and women who have been honored by the association.

You are breathing rare air, Coach. Your 228 victories over a career that spanned 23 years and 286 games places you on a list of just 56 Louisiana coaches whose teams have won 200 or more games.

The LHSAA’s Hall of Fame is the brainchild of the association’s late commissioner Tommy Henry, who convinced the executive committee to create a vehicle to recognize the lifetime achievements of administrators and head coaches who had distinguished themselves as the crème de la crème.

It wasn’t originally meant to include competitors – a quite unusual criterion in a state that has produced so many great athletes over the decades.

Of the 29 inductees in the first three classes selected between 1979 and 1981, just five athletes (Vida Blue, Greg Procell, Joe Ferguson, Charles Gilbert and Terry Bradshaw) are among the first of the group. Heisman Trophy winners John David Crow of North Webster High (Texas A&M, 1957) and Billy Cannon of Istrouma (LSU, 1959) were not elected until 1983 and 2020, respectively.

That all changed under the current leadership of executive director Eddie Bonine, who opened the door to the great athletes the hall had left behind. Payton and Eli Manning of Newman were finally honored in 2021.

The LHSAA itself was founded in 1920 as a public school principals’ organization. It took the hardliners nine years to relent to appeals and welcome Catholic and private schools into the fold. And it wasn’t until 1979 – nearly 60 years after its founding – that Henry convinced the association to create a hall of fame.

New Orleans-area Catholic schools have produced their share of deserving honorees. But so far, only 25 have been voted in:

• Jesuit coach G. Gernon Brown of the charter Class of 1979.
• Johnny Altobello, head basketball and baseball coach at St. Aloysius and De La Salle (1980).
• Charles Gilbert, a baseball star at Jesuit who became a major league player at age 20 during the 1930s (1980).
• Johnny Lynch played (1925) and coached at Holy Cross before becoming a premier football official. He officiated the four major bowl games of his era (1980).
• John Petitbon, football and track star at Jesuit in the mid-1940s (1982).
• William “Buck” Seeber, who coached Fortier to the 1948 state football title. He was also the head coach at Nicholls, De La Salle and Terrebonne before becoming director of the New Orleans Recreation Department (1984).
• Pat Screen, heralded as one of Jesuit’s greatest all-around athletes, quarterbacked the 1960 state championship team. He also excelled in baseball, basketball and track and field (1984).
• Mike Miley, a 4-sport star at East Jefferson (1967-70) and shortstop with the California Angels before his untimely death in 1977 (1988).
• Holy Cross Brother Melchior Polowy, the father of high school wrestling, who led the Tigers to numerous state championships (1989).
• Ray Coates, the star tailback of Jesuit’s 1943 state championship team and future head coach (1966-70), who was elected in 1990.
• Jim Robarts,who coached Rummel to state basketball titles in 1977 and 1978, ended a 39-year career with 714 victories (1994).
• Vincent Gonzales, a Holy Cross tailback in 1950-51, who distinguished himself as a prep football coach in the Baton Rouge area (1996).
• Surachai “Sam” Harnsongkram, longtime Jesuit wrestling coach who developed a dynasty during his years (1997).
• Frank Misuraca who coached Jesuit to four state baseball titles then served for most of his 46 years there as its athletic director (2001).
• Bob Conlin, the first local Catholic school coach to record 200 victories at Brother Martin from 1970-96 (2003).
• Hugh Oser Sr., Jesuit great who accumulated 14 letters during his career (1945-48), was named the school’s greatest all-around player of the first 100 years (2004).
• Roy Hoffmann, a star tailback and sprinter at St. Aloysius in the mid-1940s, who became a respected high school official (2007).
• Jack Schommer, once a star lineman at Metairie High, who became an athletic director at Brother Martin (2009).
• Otis Washington, who coached St. Augustine to three state football titles between 1975-79 (2012).
• Will Clark, an all-time great Jesuit slugger and longtime major league first baseman (2012).
• Gene Bennett, St. Paul’s legendary basketball coach for whom the school’s fieldhouse is named (2013).
• Frank Monica, with ties to Jesuit (1984-88) and St. Charles Catholic as head football coach and athletic director (2019).
• Rusty Staub, baseball and basketball great at Jesuit and first baseman in the Major Leagues (2020).
• Tyler Lafauci (1968-70), a De La Salle lineman, the only player in Louisiana prep history to earn All-State recognition on offense and defense (2022).

Not bad company you’re about to keep, Jay.

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