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People SearchFind an individual who either played a sport or was a member of a support group. Search by last name by clicking on the first letter of the person's last name.
Mr. Linden Bercegeay, Jr.
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Home Phone: 337-234-1362 Served in the Army. * * * * * * * * * Team Captain, 1957 and 1958. Most Valuable Lineman, 1957 and 1958. All Gulf States Conference, 1958. Graduate Assistant Coach in Football, 1959. * * * * * * * * * * Daily Advertiser October 21, 2009 When Linden Bercegeay’s wife, Carolyn, took him to the Cathedral-Carmel campus this past Saturday, he didn’t know exactly what he was going to do. He didn’t think much of it, though. After all, he had been there many times, coaching Cathedral’s football team from 1968 to 1980 and then serving as the elementary school’s principal from 1982 until 1997. What he found upon arriving there, however, was something more special than he ever imagined. Many of his former players had joined the current administration at the school in a ceremony that named the practice football field at the school Linden Bercegeay Field and erected a permanent brick monument with a bronze plaque that exclaimed Bercegeay’s philosophy in football — “Practice make champions.” “I got to Cathedral quite frequently, so I didn’t think anything of it,” Bercegeay said. “When I got there, I was very surprised. It was more than I imagined. It meant a lot. It meant that it 33 years of teaching, I touched some souls somewhere.” Obviously an understatement, 1976 senior quarterback Jimmy Domengeaux was one of the many lives influenced by Bercegeay over the years. “He did it his way,” Domengeaux said. “You couldn’t manipulate him. He was truly an enigma. You never could truly predict what he was going to do. “He was out of the old (Vince) Lombardi, Bear Bryant tradition as far as two-a-days. They were brutal, but you just see the light at the end of the tunnel. There was always a plan. He was tough, but there was also a compassionate side to him. You knew that you were going to be better off if you followed his rules.” With a military background, there certainly were rules that must be followed. On Bercegeay’s teams, you earned what you got. In fact, his assessment of the modern-day high school football game clearly illustrates how the Cathedral Tigers won football games in the late 1960s and 1970s. “They try to score touchdown easier these days,” said Bercegeay, who was a 1955 graduate of Gonzales High as a 16-year-old. “We tried to get three and a third yards and a cloud of dust. “Today, these quarterbacks and pass receivers try to do it the easy way, and sometimes it works. We did it from the heart. We earned the yards we got. We worked to get what we got.” Domengeaux said during his years, “we actually threw the ball more than the legend allows. He didn’t mind the 10 or 15-yard pass.” Bercegeay, who was also the head coach at Baker in 1966 and St. Aloysius in New Orleans in 1967, is also like many other old-school coaches in that the losses stay with him more than the wins. Asked what he remembers most from his coaching career at Cathedral, Bercegeay said, “The championships that we didn’t win that I wanted to win.” With that said, Domengeaux said that didn’t mean that Bercegeay never accepted losing. “He was very stoic,” Domengeaux said. “He demanded that you give 100 percent. If you lost, you lost with dignity, but only if you gave it 100 percent. You just fought for a guy like him.” * * * * * * * * * * Gonzales native Linden Bercegeay Jr. was honored Saturday night in Lafayette, when Cathedral-Carmel renamed its field Linden Bercegeay Field. Bercegeay played football at Southwestern Louisiana Institute, now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, in the mid-1950s and became head football coach at Cathedral-Carmel in 1968, winning a district title that year. Bercegeay, who spent one year in the mid-1960s as head coach at Baker, continued to coach at CCHS through 1980. The high school program was suspended in the 1980s, when St. Thomas More opened. Bercegeay went on to serve as Cathedral-Carmel’s principal from 1982 until his retirement in 1997. By ROBIN FAMBROUGH * * * * * * * * * * Cathedral-Carmel Football Field to be dedicated to Linden Bercegaey on Oct. 17, 2009 “Practice Makes Champions†Dedication to Coach Linden J. Bercegeay Dear Cathedral, Mt. Carmel, CCHS, and Cathedralâ€Carmel School Graduates & Families: In grateful appreciation for Coach Linden Bercegeay’s many years of faithful and devoted service, the school will be dedicating the football field in his honor as the “Linden J. Bercegeay Football Fieldâ€.We invite all of you to join us for a Dedication Ceremony and Reception onSaturday, October 17, 2009 from 5:30p.m. †7:30p.m. on the CCS football field with a reception immediately following in the cafeteria. The school has designated an area behind the Kindergarten/1st grade building to build permanent brick seating and a monumental pillar to display a bronze plaque honoring our former coach and principal who gave his entire career to the families of our great school. We humbly ask for any donations to help defray the cost of the bricks and labor. Donations will be accepted starting as low as $25.00. All donations in excess of the cost will assist in benefiting the football locker room & any future gymnasium renovations. We are hoping that each of you will participate! In addition, we are collecting special notes/cards/memories for Coach Bercegeay (especially for those not attending) to present to him during the dedication ceremony. Please mail to the school address below. We would like to thank you in advance for your continued support. May God Bless you and your family, Greg Gossen CCHS ‘78 Paul Eason CCHS ‘77 David Laurent CCHS ‘81 Judy Placer CCHS ‘71 Cynthia G. Sonnier CCS’84 Eustis Corrigan CCHS’82 Liz Calais MC ‘61 Melanie Stokes CCS’83 Brigitte Quebedeaux CCS’84 Lynda Judice CCHS’78 Glenda Matt Those who make a donation on behalf of Coach Bercegeay will be recognized on the back of the Dedication Program. Purple and Gold Sponsor $25 †$49 †$499 All checks payable to: Cathedral – Carmel Foundation/ Bercegeay Fund 848 St. John Street * Lafayette, LA * 70501
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