Since ‘51, Angie Kretzschmar Has Been Serra’s No. 1 Fan

Angie is a name will be spoken hundreds of times in Gardena Friday night as Serra High celebrates its 40th homecoming with a Camino Real League football game against St. Monica.

Angela Maria Kretzschmar, a fixture at the all-boys Catholic school for 39 years, is “our biggest fan” according to Athletic Director Michael Falco. A short and motherly figure, Angie watches the games from a lawn chair at the 30-yard line, where she is often dwarfed by huge red, white and blue-uniformed players. At 75, she has slowed a bit in the past few years, attending fewer events, but she is a regular figure at most of the school’s varsity athletic contests, especially the football games.

“These are my boys,” she said.

A resident of Hawthorne, Angie has been on a first-name basis with most everyone associated with Serra since 1951, when the first of her three sons attended the high school.

“No one remembers Kretzschmar,” she said.

She greets spectators as they enter the stadium prior to home games. When former students and players pass through the gates, they get a big hug.

“What are you up to these days?” she will ask. “Are you taking care of yourself dear?”

Angie will accept nothing but a straight answer.

“Young people are looking for somebody to give a darn,” she said. “There just isn’t enough of that going on today.”

Angie gives a darn, and a lot more. Each year she contributes $2,000 toward athletic equipment and scholarships.

But she is best known for her patronage on the sidelines, where she mingles with players and offers encouragement. It is tradition for her to pass out gum after the team’s first score.

“No certain brand, mind you,” she said. “Especially now, I give them sugarless. They must take care of their teeth.”

She also attends football practices daily.

“Except Wednesdays,” she said. “That’s when I go dancing.”

She has been known to watch game films with coaches and give pep talks before games.

“However, Angie never tells the coach what to do,” she said. “That’s a no-no.”

She has touched the lives of many athletes at Serra, and at times she has been rewarded. When the football team won the Southern Section Division VII title last year, the players bought Angie a pendant that resembles the championship rings they received.

Born in New York City to Italian immigrants, Angie moved to Los Angeles when she was 7. She met her husband, Raymond, at a dance. They married in 1936 and eventually moved to Hawthorne. They had a daughter, Raemonda, and sons, Frank, John and Bernie, all of whom graduated from Serra in the 1950s. Raymond died in 1981. Frank remains close to the school as the president of its Alumni Assn.

Angie has become the link between different generations of what Frank Kretzschmar calls “the Serra man,” someone who is “a well-rounded person with the ability to work well with people.”

Said Principal James E. Crowell: “Twenty-five years ago, when I was a student at Serra, there was Angie. Fifteen years ago, when I returned here as a teacher, there was Angie. Today, there still is Angie.”

A lot has changed in that time. In the 1950s, Serra was all white and all Catholic. Today the student body is only 65% Catholic and most of the 300 students are minorities. A year from now, when the school begins accepting girls for the first time, enrollment is expected to jump considerably.

“We went from being an all-white school to an all-black school and now to a school that is 50% black, 40% Latino and 10% white and others,” Angie said.

As for the change in the school’s ethnic makeup, Angie said: “This is the best place to learn how to get along with people of other races. So when the kids get out of here and experience mixed races, they know what to do and how to act. It’s no big deal to them.”

Tuition is $1,740 for Catholics and $300 more for non-Catholics. With so much money at stake, Angie said, it is imperative that Serra students respect the school. The campus is graffiti-free, she pointed out because “tomfoolery isn’t tolerated.”

“Our kids know what is expected of them,” she said. “They know that if they make a mistake they’re out (of school).”

That’s what makes Serra unique from other educational settings, Crowell and Angie said.

“We foster a family spirit here,” Crowell said. “As the school population has changed, Angie has become an example of our extended family.”

Serra, which has won 18 consecutive games and is ranked No. 1 in Division VII, played a sloppy, penalty-ridden first half two weeks ago before defeating visiting Inglewood, 42-6. Serra took a 22-6 halftime lead, but Angie wasn’t impressed.

“We look crummy,” she said. “I don’t want to be in the locker room at halftime.”

Angie was on the field to help “my players” when they needed her. When defensive end Twan Hall was ejected from the game for punching an opponent in the first series, Angie took him by the arm.

“I didn’t punch the dude,” Hall said.

“Easy, honey. Easy,” Angie said. “Calm down. It will be all right.”

She encouraged the team to play better. Then, when Jerald Henry scored on a six-yard sweep with 5:11 left in the first quarter, she said, “Shall we pass out the gum now?”

Off she went down the sidelines, handing out the bounty. Coach Leo Hand took a stick and popped it into his mouth. He glanced back at Angie, surrounded by football players.

The scene is bound to be repeated Friday night, and time and time again for years to come.