2009 LHSSCA HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
Rusty was the founding girls’
soccer coach for the Fontainebleau
High School Lady Bulldogs when the school began
girls’ soccer in 1994. He served as the
team’s head varsity soccer coach from 1994 until his retirement following the
2007 season. In doing so, he compiled
an overall record of 206-52-16. Rusty
brought Fontainebleau High to its first varsity playoff berth in 1997 and
followed that with 10 more playoff berths for an impressive run of 11 straight
playoff appearances in the state’s highest classification. His teams won or shared the district
championship six straight times from 2002-2007. His district acknowledged him as Coach of the Year twice (in
2003 and 2004). In his stellar run at
the helm of the Lady Bulldogs, Rusty brought Fontainebleau its first state
championship as a school in any sport when the Lady Bulldogs won the
2004 Division I soccer championship. He
was recognized as the LHSSCA Division I Girls’ Soccer Coach of the Year that
year, along with Times-Picayune Metro Coach of the Year and St.
Tammany News Banner Girls Coach of the Year.
Rusty currently heads the
Fontainebleau Athletic Alumni Association.
Rafael, a native of Oviedo,
Spain, was the boys’ soccer coach for Hahnville High School from
1991 through the 2008 season. Through
the course of those 18 years, Rafael compiled a record of 330-155-42. His teams won eight district
championships. Rafael’s boys advanced
to the state semifinals for the first time in 1999. They advanced to the state quarterfinals four times and qualified
for the playoffs an impressive 17 out of the 18 years that he served as coach
with all of them coming as a Division I team.
He also has served as a coach
with the St. Charles Soccer Association, Houma Soccer Association, and the
Lafreniere Soccer Association.
Rafael was the NSCAA high school
boys’ soccer state chairman from 1995 through 2006.
Art was the founding girls’
soccer coach for the St.
Scholastica Academy Doves. He would coach SSA from 1992 through 2003
when he retired from the sideline.
During his high school career, Art went 180-44. His girls won or shared district titles
seven times, including the last five years of his tenure. After reaching the state semifinals in 2002,
the SSA Doves would advance to the title game for the first time in school
history in 2003. In what would be Art’s
final game as head coach, SSA played in front of a raucous, excited home crowd
before bowing to the eventual Division II champions from Ben Franklin.
Art laid the foundation for St.
Scholastica’s athletic success not only on the soccer field (resulting in
Division II state title in 2007 and a Division I championship in 2009) but in
the athletic department. He has been
the athletic director at SSA since 1995, and it was his vision that gave SSA
its own soccer and softball complex with lighted facilities near the school.
Art’s involvement with soccer
also included his work with the Mandeville Lakers, which he co-founded in 1989,
and the Louisiana Soccer Association.
He was the Girls Commissioner for the state from 1992-1994. During his tenure, the Louisiana Olympic
Development Program expanded to include all age groups for the first time in
Louisiana history.
Art graduated from East
Jefferson High School and has a master’s degree from Loyola University. He is a certified high school social studies
teacher, and he resides in Covington with his wife.
2008 LHSSCA HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES (inaugural class)
Brother
Al founded the Archbishop Rummel Raiders soccer program in 1967. He would coach the Raiders until he retired
from coaching in 1993. Brother Al’s efforts
began the first high school soccer league in Louisiana nearly twenty years
before the Louisiana High School Athletic Association would recognize soccer
officially as a sport. Brother Al’s
teams would win the 1968 junior soccer league state championship and the 1974
New Orleans Interscholastic Soccer League championship. In 1985 he was honored as Louisiana Coach of
the Year. His Rummel Raiders competed
in the state title game in 1987 for the first official LHSAA championship, but
fell to Jesuit High School. For his
efforts that year, he was honored as New Orleans Metro Coach of the Year. In 2002, he was inducted into Archbishop
Rummel High School’s athletic hall of fame.
Brother
Al graduated from De La Salle Normal School in 1960. He received his bachelor’s degree from the College of Santa Fe in
1965. He earned a pair of master’s
degrees, including an M.A. from the University of Minnesota in American Studies
and an M. Ed. From the University of New Orleans in Counselor Education. He currently works at the Christian
Brothers school in El Paso, Texas.
Gerry
Mueller coached boys’ high school soccer for thirty-five years. His soccer coaching career began at De La
Salle High School in New Orleans in 1972.
Gerry completed his final year with the Cavaliers and moved to Isidore
Newman, also in New Orleans in 1986.
He would continue with the Greenies for twenty years before departing
after Hurricane Katrina for the north shore.
Gerry’s final year of coaching was with the Slidell High School
Tigers. He won 321 matches in his
thirty-five years, including an impressive 219-35 record during his twenty-year
run at Newman. During his career, Gerry
won 25 district titles and 7 state championships. In addition to his high school coaching achievements, Gerry was
the first men’s Division I soccer coach in Louisiana. He coached the University of New Orleans’s men’s team from
1976-1986 when the Privateers fielded a team.
Gerry
founded the Louisiana High School Soccer Coaches’ Association and is a former
president of the association. He is a
native of St. Louis, Missouri.
Garry
Ortner served with distinction on both the boys and girls side of high school
soccer in Louisiana. He assisted with
the Northshore High School Lady Panthers from 1986-1990. During that time, Northshore won four
consecutive state championships and went undefeated during those four
years. After departing Northshore, Garry
became assistant coach at Jesuit High School in New Orleans in
1990. He was elevated to head coach in
1993, and he began an impressive run of success that lasted until he retired
from coaching in 2003. Garry’s record
as head coach at Jesuit was 210-25-11.
He won three state championships and seven district championships. The Blue Jays were also state finalists four
times during his tenure.
Garry was
President of Slidell Youth Soccer Club, and he was elected Vice President of
Boys Programs for the Louisiana Soccer Association. He served as General Manager for the New Orleans Riverboat
Gamblers, the semi-pro team that played in New Orleans during the 1990’s. He coached youth teams of all ages during
his coaching career.
Garry
served twenty-seven years active duty in the United States Coast Guard. He graduated from Behrman High School in New
Orleans in 1965. His son, Mike, is
varsity girls’ coach at St. Scholastica Academy in Covington and serves
as Girls Coaching Director for the Mandeville Soccer Club.
Jim Scott
began coaching at Northshore High School in 1986. He coached the Lady Panthers to four
consecutive state championships, and during those four years his record was
59-0. In 1991 he began a brief two-year
tenure with the Panthers’ boys program before returning to the girls’ team in
1993. He coached the Lady Panthers
until retiring after the 2001-2002 season.
During his high school coaching career, Jim won six girls’ district
titles. He was named the National High
School Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1990 for his
achievements with the Lady Panthers.
Jim
coached with the Slidell Youth Soccer Club from 1981-1991 before moving to the
Lakers Soccer Club in Mandeville from 1995-1999. The Lakers would become Mandeville Soccer Club, and Jim
continued to work with them until 2006.
He retired professionally after Hurricane Katrina, and he moved with his
wife to Jackson, Tennessee. He
currently coaches a youth team with the Jackson Soccer Club.