De La Salle High School (Concord, California)
Encyclopedia
De La Salle High School is a Roman Catholic Private
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...

 school for boys in Concord, California
Concord, California
Concord is the largest city in Contra Costa County, California, USA. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 122,067. Originally founded in 1869 as the community of Todos Santos by Salvio Pacheco, the name was changed to Concord within months...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland
Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Northern California. The diocese comprises Alameda and Contra Costa Counties in the San Francisco Bay Area...

, the school was founded in 1965 as a Lasallian
Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools is a Roman Catholic religious teaching congregation, founded in France by Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle and now based in Rome...

 institution. De La Salle currently enrolls just over 1,000 students, and roughly 99% of each graduating class goes on to attend a university or college. It is home to the Spartans
Spartan Army
The Spartan army was the military force of Sparta, one of the leading city-states of ancient Greece. The army stood at the centre of the Spartan state, whose citizens' primary obligation was to be good soldiers. Subject to military drill from infancy, the Spartans were one of the most feared...

, and its colors are green
Green
Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...

 and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

. The school motto is "Les Hommes De Foi", or "Men Of Faith." The school's principal is Brother Robert Wickman. The deans are Mr. Joe Aliotti, and Mr. Bob Guelld. Mr. Joe Grantham is head of admissions, and Leo Lopoz is the director of athletics.

Schedule

There are six main class periods, plus an optional "zero" (In the morning) and 7th period at the end of the day. All classes are held Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, and last roughly 45 minutes. "Block days" are most Wednesdays and Thursdays. On Wednesdays, periods 1, 3, 5 and 7 meet for about 80 minutes, and on Thursdays periods 0, 2, 4, and 6 meet for about 80 minutes. Students take most of their classes at De La Salle, but classes can be taken at Carondelet. The school day starts at 8:15 a.m. and ends at 2:20 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. During normal block days on Wednesday, the day starts at 9:10 a.m. and ends at 2:20 p.m. On Thursday, the school day begins at a regular 8:15 but the day ends early at 1:45 p.m.

Athletics

Fall Winter Spring
Cross Country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

 (Freshman-Sophomore, JV, V)
Basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 (V, JV, Green, Silver)
Baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 (V, JV, Silver, Green)
Football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 (V, JV, Freshman)
Soccer (V, JV, F) Rugby
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 (V, JV, F)
Water Polo
Water polo
Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...

 (V, JV, Freshman-Sophomore)
Wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

Track and Field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

 (V, JV)
Golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

 (V, JV)
Lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

 (V, JV, FS)
Swimming and Diving
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 (V, JV)
Tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 (V, JV)
Volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

 (V, JV)

Football

De La Salle High School has long been recognized nationwide for its extraordinary football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 tradition. The team, currently coached by Bob Ladouceur
Bob Ladouceur
Bob Ladouceur is an American football coach. He began coaching the De La Salle High Spartans in Concord, California in 1979, when he was twenty-five years old. He took over a team that had never enjoyed a winning season since the school's founding in 1965 and turned it into a perennial winner...

 holds the national record 151 game winning streak
Winning streak (sports)
In sports, a winning streak refers to a consecutive number of games won. A winning streak can be held by a team, as in baseball, football, basketball, hockey, or by an individual, as in tennis...

 spanning from 1992 to 2004, more than doubling the previous record of 72. The streak ended when they were defeated by Bellevue High School in Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...

 on September 4, 2004. 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.
During the span of the 151-game winning streak, De La Salle was named national champion in seven different years; once by ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 (1994), five times by USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

(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). They have also been honored as the top team in California 12 times (1992, 1994–2003, 2007) 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). For the 2008-2009 school year, De La Salle was ranked the 18th best high school football team in the country by USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

, the 37th by ESPNRISE, the 19th by MaxPreps, and the 14th by Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

.

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
Long Beach Polytechnic High School
Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a High school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States....

, and splits its focus between the schools. When the Game Stands Tall was written by Contra Costa Times
Contra Costa Times
The Contra Costa Times is a daily newspaper based in Walnut Creek, California, U.S.. The paper serves Contra Costa and eastern Alameda counties, in the eastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area...

 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
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....

 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.

Notable alumni

  • T.J. Ward Safety for the Cleveland Browns
    Cleveland Browns
    The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

  • Maurice Jones-Drew
    Maurice Jones-Drew
    Maurice Christopher Jones-Drew is a professional American football player who currently plays running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League . He was drafted in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft...

     Halfback for Jacksonville Jaguars
    Jacksonville Jaguars
    The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

    .
  • Amani Toomer
    Amani Toomer
    Amani Toomer is a retired American football wide receiver who played in the National Football League. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the second round of the 1996 NFL Draft. He played college football at Michigan, where he was a fan favorite.Toomer has also been a member of the Kansas...

     Wide Receiver for New York Giants
    New York Giants
    The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

  • Kevin Simon
    Kevin Simon
    Kevin Simon is a NFL scout for the Dallas Cowboys. Formerly, was a strength and conditioning graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee. He was an American football linebacker who was selected by the Washington Redskins in the last round of the 2006 NFL Draft. played at Tennessee from...

     Linebacker for Washington Redskins
    Washington Redskins
    The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...

  • Matt Gutierrez
    Matt Gutierrez
    Matthew Paul Gutierrez is an American football quarterback who is currently a member of the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League. He was signed by the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2007...

     Quarterback with Kansas City Chiefs
    Kansas City Chiefs
    The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...

  • Jackie Bates
    Jackie Bates
    Jackie Leonard Bates is an American football cornerback who is currently a free agent. He was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at Hampton....

     Cornerback with the Kansas City Chiefs
    Kansas City Chiefs
    The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...

  • D. J. Williams Outside Linebacker with Denver Broncos
    Denver Broncos
    The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

  • Doug Brien
    Doug Brien
    Douglas Robert Zachariah Brien is a former American football placekicker. He played twelve seasons for seven teams in the National Football League:...

     Kicker with San Francisco 49ers
    San Francisco 49ers
    The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...

  • David Loverne
    David Loverne
    David Loverne is an American football guard who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the New York Jets in the third round of the 1999 NFL Draft. He played college football at Idaho....

     Guard with New York Jets
    New York Jets
    The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

  • Derek Landri
    Derek Landri
    Derek Landri is an American football defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Draft...

     Defensive tackle with Philadelphia Eagles
    Philadelphia Eagles
    The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

  • Tosh Lupoi
    California Golden Bears football
    The California Golden Bears football team is the college football team of the University of California. The team plays its home games at California Memorial Stadium, however the team played at San Francisco's AT&T Park in 2011 while Memorial Stadium was being renovated, the team will return to...

     Defensive line coach for California Golden Bears
    California Golden Bears
    The California Golden Bears is the nickname used for 29 varsity athletic programs and various club teams of the University of California, Berkeley...

  • Marquis White
    Marquis White
    Marquis White was a U.S. soccer forward who spent time playing in both the Netherlands, Bolivia and the United States. He played two seasons in Major League Soccer, two in the USISL and one in the USL A-League. He currently teaches high school and is the Technical Director of the Diablo F.C...

     Head Coach of Soccer team (2000–2002)
  • Stephen Wondolowski
    Stephen Wondolowski
    Stephen Wondolowski is an American soccer defender.-High school:He played high school soccer at De La Salle High School in Concord, California, where he helped his team earn a North Coast section title in 2003...

     Pro Soccer player
  • Chris Wondolowski
    Chris Wondolowski
    Christopher Elliott Wondolowski is an American soccer player who currently plays for San Jose Earthquakes in Major League Soccer.-Youth and College:...

     Pro Soccer player
  • Stefan Frei
    Stefan Frei
    Stefan Frei is a Swiss footballer who currently plays for Toronto FC in Major League Soccer.-Youth and college:...

     Pro Soccer player
  • John David Baker
    John Baker (baseball)
    John David Baker is an American professional baseball catcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball.-Personal:...

     Pro Baseball player
  • Chris Carter
    Chris Carter (left-handed hitter)
    William Christopher "Chris" Carter , nicknamed "Animal", is an American professional baseball infielder and outfielder.-High school:...

     Pro Baseball player
  • Jon Barry
    Jon Barry
    Jon Alan Barry is an American former basketball player and current television analyst for ABC and ESPN.-Biography:Barry is the son of Hall of Famer Rick Barry, and has three brothers: Scooter, Drew, and Brent, all of whom are also basketball players. Jon played his high school basketball at De La...

     Pro Basketball player
  • Brent Barry
    Brent Barry
    Brent Robert Barry is an American former professional basketball player. The , shooting guard was selected out of Oregon State University by the Denver Nuggets with the 15th overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft, but was traded shortly after to the Los Angeles Clippers.Barry played professionally...

     Pro Basketball player
  • Melvin Orange Children's Entertainer and Founder of Wonderville
  • Jerry Slavonia Founder of CampusExplorer.com

The Christian Brothers

The Christian Brothers community at DLS Concord is part of the District of San Francisco, which educates over 10,000 students in the states of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, and Washington.

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."
This means that the Campus Ministry department, under the leadership of Mr. Roger Hassett, is charged with ensuring that the Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...

 of Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...

 is kept at the heart of everything which happens at DLS Concord. For the Lasallian school, a holistic approach to education is essential and should not be solely academic or physical, but include the spiritual and social.

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 2 day residential which concentrates on making good moral decisions. Seniors take part in a 4 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
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...

 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
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...

. Members of the upper school may also participate in 'Ven a Ver' (Come to See) which involves spending 5 days with the disadvantaged people of Salinas
Salinas, California
Salinas is the county seat and the largest municipality of Monterey County, California. Salinas is located east-southeast of the mouth of the Salinas River, at an elevation of about 52 feet above sea level. The population was 150,441 at the 2010 census...

 or Tijuana
Tijuana
Tijuana is the largest city on the Baja California Peninsula and center of the Tijuana metropolitan area, part of the international San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. An industrial and financial center of Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence on economics, education, culture, art, and politics...

.
There are many ways for students to express their faith at De La Salle. There is mass 5-7 times a year where all the students and faculty come together to pray as one. Each class begins class with formal prayer along with time for intentions.

De La Salle also has a spiritual program available to seniors called Kairos. The experience lasts for three days, and during this time students and faculty can connect with one another in large and small group settings. What happens on Kairos is not told to others, so those who have not been on the trip yet can go into with an open mind.

External links

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