Central Catholic High School

This is like last year.

Catano Ladapo, the other guy in the safety room, was at Oregon State and he played at Central Catholic, which is like right down the road from me right now.

That's crazy.

So there is four safeties on the roster, right? Because our ledger is three, but one of the nickels is Javon Bullard.

Curtis Williams.

Today we have a special guest, one of the most successful, well-respected coaches in Oregon High School, state champion, Central Catholic head coach, David Blue.

Welcome to the podcast.

I appreciate you having me.

You were able to win the 2024 6A State Championship, First Boys Basketball State Championship in 30 years.

And the standard hasn't changed.

Last season in Central Catholic, you were 23-6, but a perfect 14-0 in a tough Mount Hood conference.

And so, you know, just kind of want to talk about your journey and what it took to get Central Catholic to the place they're at to be one of the standards in Oregon basketball.

Well, I mean, it's in his, you know, similar in ways to the math, it's a historic program in our state, right? You know, even before Kevin Love, we're talking Salim Stoudemire, right? We're talking, you know, the football program with Coach Corey who's still there, like who's an unbelievable leader of men, right? So I think in terms of athletics, there was a lot to be desired.

It was one of a handful of Nike Elite high school programs in the country that's regionally, like in our area, what was it, Westview with Pat Coons, Central Catholic, There's only so many, right? So Lake Oswego being among one of them, which meant that we had an opportunity to consistently compete at the Les Chois, be able to go on to some of the Nike national tournaments, that was appealing.

But, you know, even that, like, if I said to you guys, I think, that I had this grand ambition or plan or, like, you know, I'd be lying to you guys because, honestly, as I was on the fence about, like, do I, this is the route that I take, really what happened was we were living in Multnomah Village, like, near Multnomah Village at the time.

When I left University of Portland, I took a year off, right? So I coached at the Multnomah Athletic Club.

Here we go.

According to the Oregonian, two former Central Catholic high school employees allege they were terminated after protest last spring over the school's handling of a racist incident.

involving his baseball team.

The two employees, Restley Guy and Anthony Gray, served as advisors to the Black Student Union, which organized the protest.

So they volunteer their time.

The racist incident, April.

In April, Central Catholic baseball player used a racist slur before two varsity games.

And what students later described as part of a hazing ritual.

In addition to that, you now have Less restrictions.

You have less emphasis on the government attacking the element of racial discrimination and bullying inside of school systems.

There was a time there was a focus on that.

And went to scoop a large number of these self-deleting also veterans.

All right, what if I told you that black teachers are let go after they encouraged their students to protest racism? Hell of a thing, put it up for mass.

Here we go.

According to the Oregonian, two former Central Catholic high school employees, Alleged they were terminated after protest last spring over the school's handling of a racist incident involving his baseball team.

The two employees, Restley Guy and Anthony Gray, served as advisors to the Black Student Union, which organized the protest.