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Faust rem.ains dedicated man
Gerry Faust hasn't changed much over the years. That boyish face of his looks much the same as it did when he played football at the University of Dayton 20 years ago. The raspy voice still suggests that he has an eternal case of laryngitis, and his enthusiasm is still reflected in a rapid-fire speech delivery as he shifts his weight constantly from one foot to another while talking. He was always one to make the most of an opportaJdtJ. In eollege. despite a wounded knee that foreed him to walk Dke Chester of the old "Gunsmoke" TV show, Faust did the bulk of the quarterbacking for a Flyer team that eompUed a 8-3-1 record under Coaeh Bud Kerr. In 1960, when he was offered the job of coaching the football team at Cincinnati Moeller High School, Faust made the most of that opportunity as well. Today his team is the reigning Ohio Class AAA champion. In 13 varsitJ seasons, Faust's Moeller teams have eompUed an astonishing 118-18-2 record. Five times tbe Crusaders have been unbeaten in the regular seasoa. How has aiJ..of this been possible? Faust attributes it to good material, organization and dedication. And when he talks about a dedicated athlete, he isn't referring to a young man who merely has perfect attend· ance at practice.
Success doesn't mean popularity Yesterday, as guest speaker at The Agonis Club's weekly luncheon at Suttmiller's, the 40-year-old Cha.minade High School product outlined the program which has made winning football a tradition at Moeller. "One advantage we have Is that we're an all-boy high school," he said. "Our players don't have so many distractions. When school Is out, they go straight to practice. There's really nothing else to do except get a bottle of pop ••• and we don't allow that in the locker room." Faust has 11 (yes, that's right, 11) assistant foot· 'baJ1 eoaehes at Moeller. The freshman and sophomore teams have three eaeh, and five serve as varsitr assistuta. Oae of them is former Daytonian PhU Gigllotta. WbUe Moeller's student body of approximately 900 is only half that of eross-town rival Elder, finding players has 110t been a problem. "We had 140 out for the freshman team this year," Faust said. "We kept 75. Once you get a program rolling, you ean see what happens. We carried 61 on our sophomore squad and 66 on the v.arsity." · Faust is envied and even disliked by many of the Cincinnati high school coaches because of Moeller's athletie success. ~me of the guys in the dJstriet don't llke me llecause a lot of kids go to publle grade schools in their cllistricts and then eome to high school at Moeller," he admitted. "And I don't dJseourage them from coming. l'lley're erazy if they don't eome to Moeller. "We get two phone calls a week from parents w~o want to know how to enroll their kids at our school. We're a Catholic school, but we have about SO non-catholics in school. we· had about 15 non-Catholics on the football team."
Short hair part of regimen How does Moeller achieve its gridiron suecess? Faust thinks there are a lot of reasons. He thinks the school's year-round fitness program is a big factor. He is of the opinion that discipline is another. "t think discipline is essential In athletics," he said. "We're very tough on our kids. Yet we believe we're fair. You ean't just tear a kid down. You, ean ehew him out, but five minutes later you have to pat him on the back if he does something well." Like Sparky Anderson, Faust insists that his players keep their hair at a reasonable length during the seasoa. What's his idea of a reasonable length? "Like mine," he said. (Gel'l')''s hair length would be aeeeptahle in one of the milltary academies.) Yesterday, just a month after the eonelusion of the football season, Moeller's athletes resumed their fitness program. Supervised by students, the program is open to all students - athletes and otherwise. It ineludes drills to improve agillty, fiexibilitJ, strength anclspeed. One of Faust'$ latest gimmicks is ballet lessons one night a week from January to April. "You eannot belleve how ballet lessons help a kid's agility," he said. "We tad a basketball player who couldn't dunk the ball. But after two ballet lessons, he could."