The Gauntlet Is Thrown : Chaminade Vigorously Pushes Athletics In Hope of Upstaging Catholic Brethren

Looming on the horizon in West Hills, the Crusade is gathering momentum. Chaminade High is calling out for recruits.

Missionary zeal overstates the case, but school officials have devised an ambitious game plan intended to transform Chaminade into nothing less than the No. 1 Catholic school in the Valley area. So be advised Crespi, Alemany and Notre Dame: Chaminade is flexing its muscles.

“I want every Catholic kid and every kid thinking of going to a private school to want to go to Chaminade,” said Brother Bill Campbell, the school’s first-year principal and a chief architect of the mission. “When Chaminade Prep is mentioned, I want people to think of it as the place to go, the place to be.”

High academic standards and a rigorous disciplinary code are essential ingredients in the Chaminade package, but Campbell and Father Allen DeLong, the school’s president, have instituted what faculty and students call a new emphasis--athletic achievement.

The school has installed lights at an on-campus football stadium that is scheduled to be completed in time for the 1988 season. Chaminade not only wants to win, the Eagles want everybody to know they’re winning. Toward that end, the school has established a position for a sports information director, a job that is nearly unheard of at the high school level. In addition, DeLong invited sports writers to the school this fall for an introductory luncheon, another unusual step.

The school also has something called the Eagle Sports Line. Those calling after regular business hours get a recording that states school hours in one breath and directs callers to the 24-hour sports-information line in the next. This week’s recording extols the football team, which upset St. Joseph last week in the playoffs, 20-13. It’s all part of the plan to publicize Chaminade.

“I like to pick up the paper in the morning and see Chaminade in the headlines,” Campbell said. “In fact, I love it.”

Campbell has his heart set on a particular headline this weekend, one that would inform readers that Chaminade has won the Desert-Mountain Conference football championship. More than a Southern Section title rides on tonight’s game against Woodbridge at Irvine High.

Said DeLong: “This is a dream and goal we’ve had in the back of our minds, and the whole pie is within our vision. We’re doing things and striving to improve ourselves in many areas. A victory would reflect what we’re trying to do in all areas.”

DeLong, who was named president two years ago, hired Campbell this summer as principal of the school’s West Hills campus, a facility for grades 10 through 12. The school, which opened in Los Angeles in 1952 and moved to the Valley 10 years later, is affiliated with the Marianist Order of the Catholic Church. Originally an all-boys school, Chaminade admitted girls in 1974 and has an enrollment of 1,330, including three junior-high grades at its Chatsworth campus.

Campbell, 43, taught and served as athletic director at a Catholic school in Long Island for 13 years and was an administrator at Riordan High in San Francisco before coming to Chaminade. He set the tone for his administration before school started, meeting with the football team during the two-a-day practice sessions in August.

“I told them that I wanted us to win,” he said. “I want athletics to be part of our vision. If a school is strictly athletic, that’s not a good service, but if it’s strictly academic, most people don’t know about them. There’s no doubt that the press we’ve received from football will peak interest in our school.”

Reports from other private schools support that claim. Crespi, a Catholic school of 650 boys in Encino, won the Big Five Conference football championship last year and, subsequently, the number of applicants for this academic year increased 25%.

“There is a relationship between that and the football team’s success,” said Father Joseph Atcher, Crespi principal. “It can translate into increased interest.”

Campbell preaches excellence in all activities and is proud of the girls tennis, soccer and volleyball teams that qualified for postseason play over the past two seasons. Still, football draws the most media attention.

“I want to see Chaminade on the winning side of the ledger in all sports, but The Times isn’t going to write too much about girls cross-country. I want to see all the major sports do well because it brings excitement to student life,” he said.

Campbell walks the sidelines of every football game, providing encouragement and medical assistance--he’s a licensed trainer. Players say his presence marks a shift in attitude on campus.

“After the preseason meeting, we could feel the change,” said Doug Kavulich, a Times All-Valley offensive tackle. “Everybody on campus is aware of us. It’s like a wake-up year.”

Chris Noonan, a Times All-Valley kicker, was struck by Campbell’s honesty.

“His sincerity was apparent at the team meeting. Last year, we didn’t have that. It’s been weird to have every coach and Brother Bill actively involved in the program,” he said.

Active administrative support of athletics is new to Chaminade, according to Steve Costley, the baseball coach, sports information director and a 1980 graduate.

“Goals are a lot higher now than before,” he said. “When I was a student, there were none. If you won, great. If you didn’t, it was no big deal.”

Rich Lawson, the first-year football coach who has taught and coached track at Chaminade for six years, welcomes Campbell’s presence and is impressed with his intensity.

“I can go to Brother Bill or Father Allen and they’ll explore ways to satisfy my needs. Before it was more of a laissez-faire attitude. The door is open to coaches and that’s definitely a change.

“And there’s no question that he’s a competitor. We go golfing and Brother Bill and I are hackers. But after he makes a bad shot, there’s a quiet storm brewing within him.”

His competitive nature aside, Campbell said he has no intention of turning Chaminade into a jock factory. Athletics is important, but the school’s foundation is built on academics. Campbell claims that 99% of Chaminade graduates enroll in college, 90% in four-year schools. Chaminade students scored between 50 and 90 points higher than the state and national averages on last year’s SAT scores, he said.

But Campbell points to his handling of the Sean Burwell affair as an example of the relationship between athletics and academics at Chaminade.

Burwell was the Valley’s fourth-leading rusher last season with 1,211 yards, but he left Chaminade just before the start of the school year after he was involved in a fight with a teammate. Campbell disciplined Burwell, saying he could stay at school only if he underwent a one-game suspension and a year of counseling at his mother’s expense.

The Burwells balked at this form of discipline and Sean transferred to Cleveland High.

“We want to win, but we don’t want to sell our souls to do it,” Campbell said. “We’re mindful of the costs of winning. We want to do it but not at the expense of honesty or hurting the academic aspect of the school. I think the Burwell case states that.”

Still, it rankles Campbell that schools such as Crespi, which plays at a higher level than Chaminade, earns more ink.

“Crespi gets top billing and we’re smaller and get less attention,” he said. “We want to be known as the best school in the Valley and if part of that is athletic excellence, then so be it.”

Does that mean Chaminade plans a move to the Big Five Conference? Maybe not immediately, but Crespi seems to be on everyone’s mind at Chaminade.

“I’d like to play Crespi on a regular basis--as soon as Russell White graduates,” said Lawson in reference to Crespi’s junior running back. “Crespi is the benchmark for Valley Catholic schools right now. Crespi has the tradition, but sports can reverse tradition.

“By the 1990s, when you talk about the great Catholic schools in the San Fernando Valley, Chaminade will be the word out of people’s mouths.”