De La Salle High School (Concord, California)

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De La Salle High School
Delasalleconcord.jpg
Location
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
1130 Winton Drive

Concord, California

United States
Coordinates37°56′04″N 122°01′53″W / 37.934415°N 122.031279°W / 37.934415; -122.031279Coordinates: 37°56′04″N 122°01′53″W / 37.934415°N 122.031279°W / 37.934415; -122.031279
Information
TypePrivate, College-prep, day
MottoFrench: Les Hommes De Foi
English: Men of Faith
Religious affiliation(s)Roman Catholic
(De La Salle Brothers)
Established1965; 56 years ago (1965)
FounderInstitute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
Sister schoolCarondelet High School
CEEB code050662
PresidentDavid Holquin
ChairpersonFrank Wagner '73
DeanJoe Aliotti
Vice-President
List
Grades9–12
GenderMale
Enrollment1,040[1] (2020-2021)
Campus size19 acres (77,000 m2)
Color(s) Green  -  White  -  Silver 
SloganEnter To Learn, Leave to Serve
Athletics conferenceCIF North Coast Section
(EBAL)
NicknameSpartans, De La, DLS,
Team nameThe Spartans
AccreditationWestern Association of Schools and Colleges[2]
NewspaperSpartan Spotlight
YearbookThe Odyssey
School fees$18,550 (2017–2018)[3]
Websitewww.dlshs.org
Students from De La Salle High School meet with Mark DeSaulnier in Washington, D.C. in 2020.

De La Salle High School is a private Roman Catholic school for boys run by the De La Salle Christian Brothers of the District of San Francisco in Concord California, United States. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland. The school was founded in 1965 by the De La Salle Brothers. De La Salle currently enrolls 1,039 students, and roughly 99% of each graduating class goes on to attend a university or college. It is home to the Spartans, the athletic varsity teams of the school and its school colors are green and silver. The school motto is "Les Hommes De Foi", French for "Men Of Faith", which is based on the order's Latin motto "Signum Fidei". The deans are Joe Aliotti and Bob Guelld.[4]

Athletics[]

Football[]

De La Salle High School is well-known in Northern California for its football team. The team, when coached by Bob Ladouceur, holds the national record 151-game winning streak spanning from 1992 to 2004, more than doubling the previous record of 72. The streak ended when they were defeated on September 4, 2004, by Bellevue (Washington) High School, outside Seattle.[5] De La Salle finished the 2007 football season 13–0 and as state champions. In 2009, De La Salle defeated Crenshaw 28–14 to win the state title again. In 2010, De La Salle defeated Servite, ranked #7 in the nation, 48–8, to win the state title game for a second straight year. De La Salle finished the season 14–0 and ranked #1 in the nation by Maxpreps.[citation needed]

During the winning streak, De La Salle was named national champion in seven different years; once by ESPN (1994), five times by USA Today (1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003), and once by the National Sports News Service (1999). The Spartans have been named national champions by ESPNRISE.com (formerly Student Sports) six times, including four straight years (2000–03).[6] They have also been honored as the top team in California 19 times (1992, 1994–2003, 2007, 2009–2012, 2014–2015) and competed in 25 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) North Coast Section (NCS) championship games with 23 victories (12 of which were attained during the 151-game winning streak).[6] For the 2008–2009 school year, De La Salle was ranked the 18th best high school football team in the country by USA Today, the 37th by ESPNRISE, the 19th by MaxPreps, and the 14th by Sports Illustrated.[7]

In recent years, the team has won the California Open Division State Championships six times (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015). They have appeared in the Open Division state title game every year since the division was founded in 2008. Prior, they had competed in Division I, where they were the 2007 State Champions and the 2008 runner-up. They have won the North Coast Section championships every year since 1992, with the league's restructuring. From 1991 to 2021, they had a streak of 318 games without a loss when playing Northern California schools (going 316–0–2). This ended on September 10, 2021, when they lost to St. Francis High School of Mountain View. The Lancers, coached by St. Francis alum Greg Calcagno, beat De La Salle in the closing seconds of the game by the score of 31-28.[8][9]

Campus ministry and spirituality[]

In the minds of the Brothers, "For Lasallian establishments to be the living expression of the Good News, they must be places for dialogue in truth, freedom, and hope." [10]

Freshmen are introduced to the concept and experience retreat as a year group, spending the day together. Sophomores focus on the social justice aspect of the Gospel by working in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco. Juniors participate in a two-day residential which concentrates on making good moral decisions. Seniors take part in a four-day residential retreat which seeks to have them deepen their faith by examining their relationship with themselves, with others and with God.

Throughout the academic year students and staff have the opportunity to gather for prayer before school commences, to participate in the celebration of the Eucharist and to pause for prayer and reflection before classes. Those students wishing to further their spiritual development may participate in the Lasallian Youth movement. The school also runs father/son and parent/son retreats each year.

De La Salle Concord sponsors Nativity school in Shinara, Eritrea. Members of the upper school may also participate in "Ven a Ver" (Come to See), which involves spending five days with the disadvantaged people of Salinas or Tijuana.[11]

In media[]

The De La Salle football team was the subject of two 2003 books. One Great Game: Two Teams, Two Dreams, in the First Ever National Championship High School Football Game, by Don Wallace, follows the undefeated 2001 season and national championship showdown with Long Beach Polytechnic High School,[12] and splits its focus between the schools. When the Game Stands Tall was written by Contra Costa Times sportswriter Neil Hayes, who followed the team for practices, games, and meetings during its undefeated 2002 season. The foreword was written by former Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa. Don Wallace also wrote about De La Salle and Ladouceur in an article called "The Soul of a Sports Machine", published in the October 2003 edition of Fast Company magazine.

The 2014 movie When the Game Stands Tall is based on Hayes' book.

Notable alumni[]

American football[]

Other sports[]

Other[]

  • Charley Koontz, actor
  • , Head of Product and Business Development for Launcher

Notes[]

  1. ^ https://www.privateschoolreview.com/school-size-stats/california
  2. ^ WASC-ACS. "WASC-Accrediting Commission for Schools". Retrieved 2009-06-05.
  3. ^ "Tuition and Fees". Archived from the original on 2015-08-31.
  4. ^ Hayes, Neil (2005). When The Game Stands Tall (English). ISBN 9781583941300. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
  5. ^ Lawlor, Christopher (2004-09-05). "De La Salle's 151-game win streak ends". USA Today. Retrieved 2004-09-05.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "Ladouceur: No secret ingredients to success". ESPN.com. September 26, 2008.
  7. ^ FB2008-Polls Archived 2009-06-07 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Sabedra, Darren (2021-09-11). "Stunner! St. Francis ends De La Salle's 30-year unbeaten football streak against regional opponents". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  9. ^ Stephens, Mitch (2021-09-11). "'Really, really unbelievable': How St. Francis ended De La Salle's 318-game streak". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  10. ^ "De La Salle Educational Mission". Archived from the original (English) on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
  11. ^ "De La Salle High School Campus Ministry". Archived from the original (English) on 2008-07-02. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
  12. ^ Shipnuck, Allan (October 15, 2001). "Two Is Better Than One: No. 2 De La Salle beat No. 1 Long Beach Poly to extend its 10-year winning streak". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 2008-10-12.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l Biggins, Greg (22 September 2011). "Amani Toomer among top Spartans". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  14. ^ "De La Salle High grad Mike Miller is a hit with the Class-A Salem Red Sox". Contra Costa Times. July 29, 2014. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  15. ^ "Royals sign top draft pick A.J. Puckett, who battled back from brain surgery". Kansas City Start. Retrieved November 29, 2016.

Further reading[]

  • Hayes, Neil (2003). When the Game Stands Tall: The Story of the De La Salle Spartans and Football's Longest Winning Streak. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books. ISBN 1-58394-086-3.

External links[]

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