Andy Douglass

Tyrone Clark

The "Catholic League" debuted for the 1955 football season. The members were St. Aloysius, Jesuit, Holy Cross, De La Salle, and Redemptorist. The winner would play the Public League victor for the City Championship and a spot in the state playoffs. The coaches and sportswriters installed the Cavaliers as the preseason favorite to win the new league.

Head coach Andy Douglass was ably assisted by Carl Lavie, Bill Callery, and Henry Perret.

• The Crusaders opened with a 12-0 loss to the Warren Easton Eagles at City Park. SA played without seven players on the Coca-Cola American Legion baseball team that won state and regional competition to reach the World Series. The Knights also had three TDs called back. The Saders would exact revenge on the Eagles later in the season.
• On Sunday, September 11, SA returned to action in a 2:30 game at City Park against East Jefferson. Scoring a TD in each quarter, the Crimson prevailed 27-6. After spotting EJ a 6-0 lead, senior QB Tyrone Clark led scoring drives of 75, 54, 46, and 54 yards. A 39y pass from Clark to senior E Ronald Vinet set up Ty's one-yard sneak. Junior HB Ronald Mineo scored TD #2 from the one. In Q3, senior Charles Lumbley returned an INT to the EJ 46. Mineo capped the drive from the 5. Finally, Clark ran up the middle to close the scoring.
• The following Sunday at 8 pm, the Crusaders faced an early test as they began league play against De La Salle at City Park. The Times Picayune headline the next morning proclaimed, "Aloysius Stuns De La Salle, 8 to 0" before "one of the year's better crowds." In Q1, senior E Roy Picou blocked a punt out of the EZ for a safety. Then the Knights took the free kick and drove for the only TD of the game. Senior HB Calvin Bartholomew ran down the sidelines 46 yards after a double fake by Clark. The preseason-favorite Cavaliers lost their second straight game, having fallen to Redemptorist the week before in the first-ever Catholic league game.

The 2-1 Crusaders hit the road for the first time.

• The Bogalusa Lumberjacks shutout the Knights 7-0 in a "great defen­sive battle" before a packed stadium. The Saints made only three first downs and 71y in the first half but put up several goal-line stands to keep the home team off the scoreboard. The only TD came midway through Q4 on a third down pass from Dick Jezek to Jimmy Givens for 28y. Emile Fournet kicked the PAT. The visitors' lone threat came after Bogalusa scored when they marched from their own 28 to the Lumber­jack 25. However, they were thrown back to the 35 and had to punt.
• On Sunday, October 2, SA returned to City Park Stadium in a 2:30 game against archrival Jesuit. The Crusaders were trying to beat the Blue Jays two times in a row for the first time ever. With the World Series on TV, 5,500 fans watched SA drive 80y in Q2 to break the scoreless tie. Ronald Mineo scored the TD and Sims Couvillon kicked the PAT. Q4 saw a 60y drive for another Mineo TD and a 13-0 victory. SA outrushed the Jays 178-41 to move their Catholic League mark to 2-0.
• Sunday, October 9, saw the Saders wallop West Jefferson 32-6 at Behr­man Stadium in Algiers. Ty Clark threw 3 TD passes: 38 to Calvin Bar­tholomew in Q1, 28 to Eddie Ryan in Q2, and 15 to Roy Picou in the last stanza. Couvillon recovered a fumble in the EZ in Q3. Tom Schwaner scored on a 4y plunge in the final seconds.

The Crimson were 4-2 heading into a big tilt with the Holy Cross Tigers.

Sims Couvillon

Roy Picou

Tom Schwaner

Andy Bourgeois

Calvin Bartholomew

The Crusaders met Holy Cross on Sunday, October 16, 1955, at 2:30 pm at City Park Stadium. The 33rd meeting between the schools was the Tigers' first Catholic League game. HC boasted the city's leading rusher in Joe Sciortino.

• "The season's top crowd" saw the Knights record only the school's second victory over Tiger Coach Lou Brownson.
  • After a scoreless Q1, Ronald Mineo raced 44yd to paydirt to end a 69yd drive. The PAT try failed.
  • Later in the period, HC drove to the 4 but lost a fumble.
  • In the dying minutes of the game, the Crossmen desperately tried to pass the ball downfield only to have Andy Bourgeois take an INT back 65yd to clinch the 13-0 victory.
  • Mineo was named the TP Player of the Week for his 76-yard effort against the Tigers.
• The following week, Redemptorist provided the opposition in another Sunday afternoon feature in that pre-Saints era. The Rams, "the heaviest and most experienced team in school history." were one of only two undefeated teams in the city. The Saders could clinch the Catholic crown with a victory in only the eighth meeting between the two schools.
  • When the dust cleared, Redemptorist was still undefeated as the Crimson had to settle for a 7-7 standoff before 8,000 fans.
  • SA got off to a fast start, recovering the opening kickoff when it bounced off a Ram at midfield. On the fourth play, Bourgeois scampered 35yd around E for the TD. Sims Couvillon booted the PAT.
  • In Q2, Red Donegan punted to the Ram 1. Joe Galliano's crew covered 99yd in three stages. The Crimson D held, but Calvin Bartholomew fumbled the punt at the 40. Unbelievably, after three plays, Calvin repeated his miscue, this time at the 13. On third down, Merwin Leaber scored.
  • The defensive struggle continued to the end. SA failed to complete a pass and gained only 119 rushing. Redemptorist bested them by only one yard, completing only one pass with two INT in six tries.

The Crusaders needed someone to beat the Rams if the first Catholic League pennant was to fly on Esplanade Avenue.

Butler Powell

James Lee

Curtis Summerlin

Having completed Catholic League play, the 5-2-1 Crusaders took to the road on Friday, November 4 to play Terrebonne in Houma. Buck Seeber's Tigers had only one loss. Over 6,000 watched the tight contest, which was broadcast on WTPS by Larry Regan and N. Charles Wicker.

• Near the end of Q1, Aloysius drove 62y, the key plays being a 30y run by Robert Meyers and a 15y pass from Ty Clark to Meyers. Clark sneaked over. The PAT failed.
• Terrebonne took the kickoff and drove 68y. T. J. Pennison scored on an 11y end run. The point after put the Tigers ahead by one.
• The Crusaders drove to within one-inch of the goal when the half ended. Coach Andy Douglass insisted that his club had scored on the final play.
• After stopping the home team's opening possession, SA drove 64 for what turned out to be the winning TD. A 28yd run by Ronald Mineo did the most damage. Calvin Bartholomew handled the scoring honors. Sims Couvillon booted the point.
• In the last quarter, the visitors drove to the 15, but Couvillon missed a FG. After driving to midfield, Terrebonne punted to the one. However, the Saders ran out of the clock with the scoreboard showing Visitors 13, Terrebonne 7

The next night brought the news Crimson fans wanted to hear: Holy Cross 14, Redemptorist 7. No rematch with the Rams would be needed to determine the Catholic League champion.

The Crusaders celebrated their crown by dispatching Nicholls 24-0 on Saturday night, November 12 at City Park Stadium. A crowd in excess of 6,000 saw SA score 6 points in each quarter.

• Q1: Charles Lumbley returned a punt to the enemy 35. Two plays later, Clark faked a pitchout on the option and scampered 24 for the TD.
• Q2: Another Lumbley return put the ball at the enemy 33. Myers and Bartholomew carried the pigskin to the 1 from where Myers scored.
• Q3: Butler Powell rambled 30y down the sideline with an INT for the TD.
• Q4: Peter Patterson recovered a fumble at the Rebel 34. Douglass let the backup O do the honors. James Lee and Curtis Summerlin toted to the 1 from where QB Tom Schwaner bucked over.

St. Aloysius had one more tilt left, against Fortier, before the rematch with Warren Easton for the City Championship.

A "sparse crowd" turned out for the final game of the season against Fortier on Fri­day, November 18. According to N. Charles Wicker, Prep writer for the TP, the fans were "treated to a feat as rare in prep football as a snow storm in N.O. Sims Cou­villon kicked an 18y FG for St. Aloysius." The Crusaders romped 50-0, which gave Coach Douglass a chance to rest his starters and avoid injury. Andy also did some experimenting to prepare for the City Championship Game against Warren Easton.

• Ronald Mineo kicked 4 PATs and ran for two TDs.
• Calvin Bartholomew ran 25y around RE for the only tally in Q1, and Robert Meyers rushed for two TDs (4 and 11).
• QB Ty Clark contributed the most sensational play of the evening, a 65y run to paydirt.
• Ed Schellhaas (8y), Andy Bourgeois (28y), and Jim Donegan (24y INT return) claimed the other markers.

On Friday night, November 25, #5 St. Aloysius met #8 Easton in the first City Champ­ionship Game in New Orleans history between the Catholic and Public School winners. SA, which had waited 31 years for its first prep championship, now had a chance to win its second after only four seasons. The Knights also sought revenge for the season-opening 12-0 loss to the Eagles. The seven Saders on the Legion baseball team who missed that contest would participate this time while WE was without several injured starters.

The 9,500 spectators saw an almost exact reversal of the September score.

• With the game still scoreless, Clark went 53y off-tackle for a TD with three minutes left before halftime. The missed point made the score 6-0 at the break.
• In Q3, Butler Powell scored his second TD off an INT for the season, this one 32y. Couvillon converted this time to make the scoreboard read 13-0.
• With the Knight D playing superbly, the Eagles seemed doomed. However, Hoss Memtsas's crew blocked Donegan's Q4 punt and recovered on the Crimson 17. On second down, Powell made his second great play of the evening, messing up a pitchout that he recovered on the 33.
• Powell nosed out Clark to win the TP Player of the Week award.

Ironically, the trophy presented to the Crusaders by Maison Blanche for winning the Prep championship was named after Perry D. Roehm, who had coached Warren Easton early in the century.

The victory thrust the Crusaders into the State Playoffs. The opponent would be Istrouma at Tiger Stadium on Friday, December 2.

 

Ronald Mineo

Robert Meyers

Ed Schellhaas

 

Howard Bode

Donald Gaudet

Robert Worringen

Ronald Vinet

One of the first schools in the country to employ weight training, the Istrouma Indians had already defeated Terrebonne 32-0 in the first round.

Led by future Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon, Istrouma romped 33-7 before 15,000 in a "game enlivened by a fistfight and wrestling match near the end of the first half between Istrouma QB B. L. Fairchild and St. Aloysius's Howard Bode." The fight went on for 35 seconds before the officials stopped it. Fairchild was ejected. Then, as if to balance it out, the officials ejected Butler Powell after the next play.

• The Indians scored twice in Q1. Bartholomew lost a fumble on the 20 on the first play after the kickoff, and Fairchild ran over from the 12 three plays later. Cannon kicked the first of his 3 PATs. Later in the period, George Guidry, hailed as Cannon's "touchdown twin," raced 77 for a 14-0 lead.
• SA halved the lead with a 54y drive ending with a Clark-to-Bartholomew aerial from the 12 on the first play of Q2.
• Donegan's INT at the +32 started a drive that reached the one as time ran out in the half.
• The second half was all Istrouma. Cannon scored two TDs and Guidry the other one.
• For the game, the Indians did not complete a pass in only three attempts, with two INTs, but rushed for 314. SA mustered only 129y of O.

If it was any consolation for the 9-3-1 Crusaders, Istrouma went on to win the state championship.

The '55 Crusaders garnered many individual honors.

• Butler Powell: 1st team All-Prep C for New Orleans States and Times Picayune, 2nd team AAA All-State
• Tyrone Clark: 1st team All-Prep B for States, Item, and Picayune; MVP for Item; 2nd team All-State
• Donald Gaudet: 1st team All-Prep T for States and Item; 2nd team Picayune
• Robert Worringen: 2nd team All-Prep G for Picayune
• Ronald Vinet: 2nd team All-Prep E for Picayune
• Calvin Bartholomew: 2nd team All-Prep B for Picayune
• Howard Bode: 3rd team All-Prep G for Picayune
• Coach Andy Douglass: Picayune Coach of the Year

The 1955 Prep Champion St. Aloysius Crusaders