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Letter from the Editorby: Rex Lardner© More from this issue Our ‘Scouting Report’ feature this month includes an interview with Mark Panella of De La Salle High School in Concord, CA. The Spartans’ Quarterbacks/Receivers coach, Panella also serves as the teams’ video coordinator. Panella has been an integral part of Head Coach Bob Ladouceur’s staff for over a decade and witnessed a good portion of what is known as ‘The Streak’: De La Salle’s incomprehensible record of winning 151 straight football games over a 12 year period. Is this record the greatest accomplishment in sports history? Clearly, as a team accomplishment, it is. Comparisons are difficult, at best, with individual achievements – Hank Aaron’s record of 755 home runs, Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 points in an NBA game, and Johnny Unitas’ record of throwing touchdown passes in 47 straight games – among others. But when compared to some of the greatest team records over the past half-century, it speaks for itself: • College football’s Division I-A record for consecutive wins is 47 by Oklahoma from 1953-1957. Mount Union College won a record 110 regular season games in a row over the last decade but had the streak broken last fall. • Pro football’s only undefeated team for a regular season has been well-documented: the 1972 Miami Dolphins who went 17-0 and won the Super Bowl. • John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins won 7 consecutive NCAA Championships from 1967-73 as well as 88 straight games in the 70’s. • The Boston Celtics won eight straight NBA titles in the 60’s and 11 over a 13-year period. • The NHL’s Montreal Canadiens won five consecutive Stanley Cups in the late-50’s. • The New York Yankees set the record with five straight World Series crowns from 1949 through 1953. What makes the De La Salle record so impressive are three facts: (1) It involves high school players in which there’s turnover every year and different student-athletes playing different positions; (2) the winning streak included post-season competition over the 12-year period which meant a minimum of two playoff games per year; and (3) the Spartans’, in addition to playing their conference schedule every fall, competed on a national level as well. Even after the record ended in September of 2004, De La Salle came back with records of 8-3-2 and 11-2. As parents, we all know the pressures and choices among today’s teenagers. De La Salle certainly has their student-athletes headed in the right direction. We hope you enjoy this month’s issue of American Football Monthly.
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