[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish Sports Hall of Fame inducts three great athletes

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish Sports Hall of Fame inducts three great athletes
Written by Jim Bickford | Sunday, 31 January 2010 22:43 Prep Sports 

St. Bernard Parish Sports Hall of Fame will honor three outstanding athletes
at its 15th induction ceremony which will be held Saturday, March 6 at the
St. Bernard Parish Cultural Center on Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette as
cocktails will start at 6:30 p.m. and the formal ceremony beginning at 7
p.m., announces SBPSHOF President Dr. Bryan Frichter.

This year's induction class honors three former college stars and
outstanding high school athletes in Robert "Bobby" Scafidel, Kathryn "Katie"
Dow-Kahmann and Arthur "Artie" Liuzza.

With this year's induction, the SHOF organization will have honored 35
individuals as athletes and/or coaches in various sports.

Bobby Scafidel was a four-year starter at fullback at Northeast Louisiana
State in Monroe and a two-time all-Gulf States Conference selection in the
late 1960's as well as a two-sport star at Chalmette High in the early
1960's.

Liuzza, the present head football coach at Slidell High as well as its
long-time assistant at the school before taking over the reigns, starred in
both football and baseball at Chalmette High as well as a two-year letterman
in football at Tulane University and was formerly the head football coach
and Athletic Director at St. Bernard High for four years.

After an outstanding high school career at Seton Academy in New Orleans as a
two-time all-state volleyball player and a four-year all-metro selection in
her sport, Dow-Kahmann who grew up in the parish playing at Rebel Park and
at Trist Middle School became the greatest volleyball player in Louisiana
Tech history and was inducted into the Louisiana Tech Athletic Hall of Fame
in 2007.

In the early 1970's Scafidel returned to his high school alma mater where he
was the school's head baseball coach and assistant football coach who
mentored Bobby April, a member of the SBPSHOF and now the special teams
coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, Elphage Caillouette, the group's special
recognition honoree and another one of this year's inductees, Artie Liuzza.

Scafidel's 1974 baseball team came out of the Catholic League as one of
that's district's top teams and won its first state playoff game that
season.

As a senior in 1967 at NLSC, Scafidel led the Gulf States Conference in
rushing, the first Northeast (now, University of Louisiana at Monroe)
football player to ever do so. He was named the team's MVP in leading the
Indians (now, Warhawks) to its best record in more than a decade.

In his final college game, he set a school record with 160 yards rushing in
defeating a Louisiana Tech team featuring quarterback Terry Bradshaw, an NFL
Pro Football Hall of Famer today.

Upon graduation, Scafidel left as the school's second all-time career
rushing leader as a four-year starter.

When he graduated from Chalmette High in 1964 and having played for SBPSHOF
inductee, the late Bobby Nuss, Scafidel was recognized as the school's
all-time, all-around football player and is still considered Chalmette
High's second all-time best college football player behind the late Norris
Weese, also a member of the SBPSHOF.

Now in his third year as the head football coach at Slidell High, Luizza
took over the reigns of that program in 2007 from veteran Tiger coach Wayne
Grubbs. The Tigers have been to the state playoffs twice during Liuzza's
tenture.

Before becoming head coach at Slidell, Liuzza was Grubbs' long-time
assistant and Offensive Coordinator, starting with the 1982 season.

During that time, Slidell won nine district championships and appeared in
the state playoffs 17 times, including the 1986 season as the state
runners-up and 2004 when the Tigers played in the semi-finals.

Included in the list of players that Liuzza has coached is Matt Forte' who
was an all-state player at the school and later starred at Tulane University
and became a No. 1 pick by Chicago in the NFL draft and is currently the
starting running back with the Bears.

At Tulane, Liuzza was a two-year lettermen, attending the university on a
football scholarship from 1973-77. He spend two seasons as a Graduate
Assistant for the Green Wave and earned his Master of Education from the
institution.

At Chalmette High, Liuzza was selected the school's Oustanding Athlete for
the 1971-72 school year.

In football, the Tiger head football coach played for Sports Hall of Fame
inductee the late Bobby Nuss, who was a legendary head football and head
track coach at Chalmette High.

A three-year lettermen in football, Liuzza played quarterback and defensive
back and earned all-district honors in 1971.

As a baseball player, Liuzza was a three-year letter winner, gaining
all-district honors as a catcher in 1973 under Scafidel, who was the
school's head baseball coach. That same year, Liuzza as selected as the
team's Most Valuable Player in the sport.

As a youngster, Liuzza played football, basketball and baseball at Vista
Playground in Chalmette. He was a starter on several parish championship
teams, but it was baseball where he seemed to shine the brightest.

He was an all-star catcher for Charlie Reppel in 1967 and again was honored
for his play at that position in 1969. That same year he received the
highest honor for a youngster in the sport, the Diamond Club of New Orleans
as the best young baseball player.

Playing for several outstanding playground coaches including former baseball
all-stars Bobby Satter and Roy Montrieuil, Artie played for his father,
Arthur Liuzza on the park's league championship team in '69.

Playing high school athletics at Seton Academy in New Orleans, Dow-Kahmann
as a four-year all-city volleyball player, led her school to the Catholic
League championship in 1988 in addition to being named to the all-city
softball team.

Awarded a volleyball scholarship to Louisiana Tech in Ruston, she became a
four-year letter winner.

As a senior in 1992 she was named to the first team all-Sun Belt Conference
squad, leading her Techsters to a school-record 29 wins. Upon graduation,
she left Tech as the school's all-time leader in kills in a season, kills in
a career, kills per game in a season, kills per game in a career and
services aces in a career.

Tickets for the event are $40 each or $400 for a table of 10 and tickets may
be purchased by contacting any member of the organization from SHOF
President Dr. Bryan Frichter at 504-554-2685 and treasurer Sean Warner at
504-874-3889.

SBPSHOF board members Raymond Doran at 504-554-4794; Charlie Reppel at
504-442-1452, Eddie Appel at 504-301-6135; Roy Cortes at 985-809-3959; Terry
Verges at 504-512-0550, Cheramie Kerth at 504-554-5514 or Jim Bickford at
504-495-1104 will also will have tickets for purchase.