Meet Dave Worland, Class of 1973! Dave Worland attended both St. Mary Elementary School and Central Catholic. As he grew up directly across the street from Central Catholic, the school quickly became a second home for him. Additionally, all of his siblings also attended CC: Terry ‘66, Bobby ‘67, Jim ‘68, Susan Riehle ‘76, and Penny Reed ‘78.
During his elementary years, long-time CC basketball and baseball coach, John Eberle took Dave under his wing and became an important mentor. From 3rd through 8th grade Dave was both his student manager and ball boy and thus learned a great deal about responsibility, respect, and the world of high school athletics.
Dave credits another CC coach, Al Brown, with encouraging him to attend college and pursue a career in high school academics and athletics. At 19 years old, Dave served as head cross country coach, 8th-grade basketball coach, and JV baseball coach, while attending Purdue University part-time at Al Brown's insistence. Dave went on to become CC's head basketball coach, as well as Athletic Director and Assistant Principal.
Dave graduated from Purdue University with a B.A. in Physical Education and Health. He received his certificate in Secondary Education from Dayton University and his Masters in Education Administration from Purdue. He has taught and coached at St. Lawrence School, Washington Catholic High School, South Dearborn High School, and Central Catholic.
In the spring of 1990, it was announced by the bishop that CC would be closing. This caused much upheaval in the community. Msgr. Fred Potthoff approached Dave and asked if he would consider serving as principal if the school reopened. Dave agreed. As a great help to him during this time in CC's history, Dave mentions his Administrative Assistant, Kathy Dienhart, as invaluable in operating his office and Joyce Weintraut for advocating on the school’s behalf to the bishop and rejuvenating CC through development efforts and marketing. He is also grateful to Fr. Pat Kelly, then Principal at Cathedral High School, who brought a team from Indianapolis to evaluate and recommend ways to improve the school's Catholicity. Dave is also thankful for the other LCSS principals and administrators, Sr. Lois Delee, Mrs. Barbara Schrader, Fr. Dan Gartland, and Sr. Ann Kathleen, who had more experience than he did at the time.
During Dave's tenure at Central Catholic, the school not only survived but grew. He says, "In my last few years as principal I was blessed to witness tremendous growth. Through God's grace, we were able to build the junior high wing which included the Eberle gym as well as a classroom chapel. Ron Whistler and Mike Baker were tremendously influential in bringing this project to fruition."
After serving as principal at CC until 2002, Dave moved to Indianapolis to serve as principal of Cathedral High School. He was Cathedral’s principal for 18 years before becoming the Senior Vice President for Mission and Advancement where he continues to serve today. Dave also was recently honored at Cathedral’s Evening of Excellence, which recognizes members of the Cathedral community who have made a significant impact.
As a former President of the Purdue University School of Liberal Arts Alumni Board, Dave is very generous with his time and talent. He is active at his parish where he is a former President of the St. Matthews Pastoral Life Committee, a Eucharistic Minister, and a Sunday School Leader. He was selected by the National Catholic Education Association for their Distinguished Principal Award.
He has also been selected by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association as a Coach of the Year and Administrator of the Year and is in the Hoosier Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Excellence. He was also a member of the IHSAA Board of Trustees for seven years and served as IHSAA President, the first Catholic School Administrator to ever be selected to do so. During his time with the IHSAA, Dave appreciated having the opportunity to present the medals to all of the Central Catholic teams who made it to the state championship.
Dave is currently on the board of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. He has been an associate board member for nine years and just recently became an executive board member. In his time there, he has seen some CC individuals and teams inducted into the Hall of Fame, including Henry Ebershoff ‘63 and the 1998 CC Boys Basketball State Championship Team, who was the first boys team to win a single A basketball championship since 1998 was the first year for class basketball in Indiana.
Dave continues to be a role model for children of all ages. He and his wife Janet are members of Holy Spirit of Geist Catholic Church in Fishers, Indiana and have been married for 39 years. They have 3 children, Lance, Courtney, and Sean, who all attended LCSS before graduating from Cathedral. Dave is now a proud grandpa of five grandchildren with a sixth grandchild due in December.
How did your education at LCSS prepare you for college and your career?
My time at St. Mary gave me as much prep for college and career as my time at CC. It got me started with friendships, coaches, and teachers. That background really got me going and allowed me to hit the ground running at CC.
I remember in grade school, the teachers would assign us peers to help each other. I had the worst handwriting of all the kids, and I remember my classmate Terry Turk really worked with me to help me improve my printing and writing. That type of one-on-one help has really stuck with me.
And in high school, it was the teachers that really took my gifts and talents – and my shortcomings – and they were able to build me up. I definitely would say those teachers and all of the grade school experiences prepared me to study and to learn which is so valuable. And the support and all the friendships over those 12 years gave me all kinds of confidence.
I’ll never forget when I graduated. Paul LaRocca was the Athletic Director then. He allowed me to coach the CC 8th grade basketball that year. It was made up of players from St. Boniface, St. Mary, and St. Lawrence all merged to make a team. I was able to coach for four years. That experience of coaching was invaluable. In those four years, I fell in love with education. It wasn’t just basketball. It was those experiences that I got firsthand because Paul LaRocca hired me to coach. I was coaching while also going to Purdue and getting my degree. I really appreciate that opportunity that set me on the path of teaching and coaching.
How did LCSS help to shape your faith?
Without a doubt, it all started at St. Mary. We went to Mass every day from first grade through eighth grade. I remember enjoying that. I couldn’t wait to go to Mass. Part of that was my upbringing with my parents. But I enjoyed all of it - the readings, the priests including Msgr. Potthoff, and the homily.
The other part was every class that we were a part of, we always would talk about others who needed our prayers and needed our service. And our faith was talked about in all classes, including math class and science class. That really formed my faith.
What did you like most about your experience at LCSS?
It was those lifelong connections with my classmates and others. On the playground, we would play with grades above and below. Plus, at CC, it was that experience that I had with the coaches. I was luckily very involved with athletics. And those coaches and adults were like surrogate parents.
Describe one of your favorite memories of LCSS.
The class spiritual retreats we went to - those were meaningful to me. I remember seeing the alums who came back. I really looked up to them, and they would come back and talk about their experiences and their love for CC.
Another big memory is the 1973 basketball team and the sectional win over Jeff. At that time, Jeff had a 29-year streak of sectional championships as well as a streak of 99 straight sectional games. That championship game would have been their 100th sectional game win and their 30th sectional title in a row. At that time, we didn’t know the numbers. We were so focused on the game and on our rival. That sectional streak that Jeff had is a state record to this day. With class basketball, you don’t get powerhouses like that anymore. And after the sectional game, we went on and made it to the final semi-state game. That’s a highlight for me.
Every year those six seniors on that 1973 team, we still get together. Because of that experience and that bond that we had, we’re like brothers. We usually also connect with Coach Al Brown. The seven of us are still inseparable.
Plus our basketball team just had our 50th reunion this last year. The whole team came back, including the cheerleaders and families. It was exciting and great to see everyone.
Anything else you would like to mention?
The Central Catholic connection is unbelievable. Even though I’m not in Lafayette, a week doesn’t go by that a CC connection doesn’t hit. I see students I coached or who were at CC while I was principal, and they now have their students at a school in Indy. I see them at a high school sporting event. It’s amazing those things that have happened to me.