By Robin Fambrough
Composed for the LSWA
As Dale Weiner narrated the incident that influenced his life, years seemed to melt away in a moment.
Weiner gestured with his hands as he recalled watching Jimmy Taylor score the game-winning touchdown. It was simply the angle at which he moved to avoid two defenders. That was unlike anything I had ever seen.
Baton Rouge High triumphed thanks to his goal. I was ecstatic. I knew then and there that I had to play football.
When Taylor, who later became a star at LSU and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, scored that game-ending touchdown that night, Weiner was five years old and standing in the back of the BRHS end zone.
Not every football-loving boy who grows up goes on to become a high school football coach with 300 wins. Weiner did, and it not only influenced his life but also the course of the Catholic High School athletic program in Baton Rouge.
Weiner, a member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2025, accumulated a 317-109 record while coaching high school football. Enshrinement takes place in Natchitoches from June 26 to 28 as the culmination of the Induction Celebration. Details on the event are available at LaSportsHall.com.
According to Pete Boudreaux, the former athletic director of Catholic High and a 2014 LSHOF inductee for his track and cross country coaching career, Dale Weiner is the most significant coaching hire in the school’s history. I don’t question that, but others could.
One of the first things people inquire about while visiting a Louisiana high school is the football team. We might have had a successful season before Dale arrived. As soon as Dale arrived, the program got underway. He was the ideal candidate for the position. It transformed the entire institution, not just football.
Is it hyperbole or reality? The latter is suggested by the fact that Boudreaux, who won 52 state titles in track and cross country, could make such a claim. Others refute that idea, such as Don Hood, a veteran Catholic assistant and former colleague and classmate at Baton Rouge High.
“Everyone wanted to schedule us for their homecoming game because we were bad,” Hood added. We were called many unpleasant names, which I would not repeat. I knew Dale, so when he arrived, I knew things would be different. He was always that intelligent guy who knew football and could inspire others.
Baton Rouge High existed much before Catholic. Since Weiner was raised close to the school, he frequently watched games similar to the one he witnessed when he was five years old. He fulfilled his aim of playing as a lineman with the Bulldogs. Weiner recognized a career route when he met the late Murrell Boots Garland.
Weiner claimed that Coach Garland had a talent for attracting people to him. He had a knack of making a point and a sense of comedy. When necessary, he could be tough. I had a great time playing for him. After seeing him, I knew I wanted to be a coach.
Weiner’s passion was seen by others. This is how Gerry Garidel, a fellow BRHS alumnus and Weiner’s longtime defensive coordinator at Catholic, puts it.
Dale always knew he wanted to be a coach, unlike me, Garidel added. At Baton Rouge High, I took a class with him and Weiner’s wife, Lindy. It was visible to you. There was no doubt because I knew him and had seen him back then. Coaches were Dale Weiner’s calling.
Weiner’s top priority was to become Baton Rouge High’s head football coach. A few years after Weiner’s graduation, the school changed its name to a complete magnet school and stopped playing football.
More than ten years after graduating from LSU, he moved to Catholic High, which is located just a few miles away across Government Street.
However, his first position as an assistant coach at Catholic High of Pointe Coupee in New Roads in 1975 was enlightening and contributed to the school’s reputation as the “cradle of coaches.”
Former LSU baseball graduate assistant coach Jim Hightower was the Hornets’ first-year head coach. Hightower, who is now the renowned coach at St. Thomas More, second on Louisiana’s all-time winning list with 482 victories, and a 2016 LSHOF inductee, had his first head coaching position there. Numerous coaches, including Weiner’s son Neil, head coach of The Dunham School in Baton Rouge, have tested their mettle at CHSPC throughout the years.
According to Hightower, Dale has always been a really upbeat person. He worked diligently and had a strong desire to learn. He was that person who was constantly in the lab, attempting to determine which systems and plays would be most effective in various circumstances. There was always something he was working on.
The Hornets’ 1975 debut featured one significant error. On the last play, Catholic-PC prevailed in their jamboree match. In the press box was Weiner.
“I started jumping up and down in the press box as our player ran down the field to score the winning touchdown,” Weiner recalled. I was ecstatic.
After the movie was made in Baton Rouge, everyone wanted to see and examine that play again. It wasn’t supposed to be. Weiner began to hop up and down when he was next to the camera. It warped the pictures.
According to Lindy Weiner, we now laugh about it. Jim was furious at Dale at the time.
Weiner quickly secured his first position as head coach. He served as head coach of Trafton Academy, now known as The Dunham School, St. John-Plaquemine, and Catholic-PC. Weiner was rejected when he applied to Catholic for the first time.
I was supposed to attend Catholic High. Weiner stated, “I thought that from the moment I applied.” At Baton Rouge High, I did aspire to be the head coach. Why not Catholic High, though? I knew about the school and what the school had to offer.
Garidel told Boudreaux and others in the school s administration they were making a mistake. A couple of years later, the job was open again and Weiner was hired. During the second interview process, Weiner pointed out that he grew up in the neighborhood and boldly stated that was why he wanted to coach.
It s fair to say the rest is history. In 30 seasons at Catholic, Weiner was 282-81, including a runner-up finish in Class 4A in 1990 and a Division I select title in 2015, along with 18 district titles with just one losing season.
More than 140 of his former players have competed on the college level and 16 have earned spots on NFL rosters. Weiner s attention to detail in all things, including strength and conditioning, also contributed to 17 Olympic weightlifting team titles.
Trick plays were a thing Weiner s offenses and special teams had a penchant for. It is one area of Weiner s career that is still discussed to this day. Was he high school football s version of a river boat gambler, as some fans thought? Or was it a unique way to motivate his team? Weiner says it was the latter.
The trick plays? I wanted to make it fun for the players, Weiner said. It kept them interested. That was something to look forward to.
Off the field there were life lessons. Sid Edwards, now mayor-president of Baton Rouge, and Zachary High head coach David Brewerton, a former Catholic player, attest to that.
Coach Weiner is one of those men who parents want their children to play for, Brewerton said. It didn t matter whether you were a starter or somebody further down on the depth chart, he had that infectious personality and could make anybody feel like the top dog.
We were successful. And we learned so much off the field. We got to watch him handle stressful situations and how to be a husband and father to his son and daughters. Those are life lessons.
Edwards added, I don t just think he transformed football at Catholic High, I think he transformed high school football in Baton Rouge. Before Dale, Baton Rouge football was pretty much three yards and a cloud of dust with people running the option. He opened things up with more passing and trick plays.
There is a touch of irony in Edwards statement. Weiner, a former lineman, was first a wishbone disciple before his coaching philosophy evolved.
To this day, I am thankful to the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, the administration, Pete Boudreaux and all the coaches and faculty members I worked with at Catholic High, Weiner said. I ended up where I was supposed to be. I am blessed.
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