Bene Merenti (L to R) SFC Wayne Atherton, Gregory Dolan ’89 and Richard Duffell P’93 ’99
THREE TEACHER-COACHES ACHIEVE 20-YEAR MILESTONE Xavier High School has recognized a trio of teachercoaches, Sergeant First Class Wayne Atherton, Gregory Dolan ’89 and Richard Duffell P’93 ’99, with Bene Merenti awards for 20 years of dedication and faithful service to Jesuit education. SFC Atherton serves as Army JROTC instructor as well as coach for the Raider Unit, the physical training unit of JROTC. “His stern demeanor provides cover for his deep care and concern for each and every Xavier Cadet,” said Military Science Chair LTC Roy E. Campbell, US Army (Ret.). “He loves those under his care with deep devotion, and he develops sterling qualities of toughness, mental agility and courageous persistence in all of them.” LTC Campbell added that SFC Atherton was instrumental to the Regiment’s success in maintaining its Gold Star and the title of Honor Unit with Distinction. Prior to joining Xavier in 1994, SFC Atherton completed tours of duty with the United States Army in Germany with both the 509th Airborne and the 82nd Airborne, and served combat tours of duty in Panama in early 1990 and in Iraq during Desert Storm. As an outstanding student-athlete at Xavier, Mr. Dolan led the varsity basketball team to the Archdiocesan Championship in 1989 and was named First Team AllCity. In 1993, he returned to Xavier to coach basketball and officially joined the Xavier faculty as a social studies teacher in 1994. As an assistant Varsity coach,
Mr. Dolan has been an integral part of Xavier’s seven division championships and four city championships in basketball. “He has the reputation of being the best post position coach in the CHSAA,” said Physical Education Department Chairman and Head Basketball Coach Joseph McGrane. “He always has time for each student in the classroom and each athlete on the team,” added social studies teacher and coaching colleague Patrick Dormer P’17. Mr. Duffell served as a part-time basketball coach for four years before joining the Physical Education Department. He is a three-season coach, fall and spring baseball and basketball. He has coached basketball for 23 years and baseball for 24 years. Previously, he coached football for 13 years. As a baseball coach, Mr. Duffell led his teams to four division and one Archdiocesan championship. As Assistant JV Basketball Coach, he has led teams to two JV city championships. Mr. Duffell is also the parent of two alumni, Brian Duffell ’93 and Justin Duffell ’99. Fellow coach Christopher Stevens ’83 said Mr. Duffell “will drop everything to help out, whether it is to run a First Aid/CPR certification course or drive a team bus to a game for a sport that he doesn’t even coach! He does all this while teaching health, coaching all three seasons and acting as Xavier’s in-house EMT.” XAVIER MAGAZINE
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