By Ron Brocato Photo courtesy of Academy of Our Lady
Robert Chauvin, Academy of Our Lady’s bowling coach, and Archbishop Rummel’s senior linebacker Donovan Kaufman received well-deserved honors to end the year 2019.
Chauvin was named the 2018-19 Coach of the Year by the National Federation of State High School Associations, the Marrero Catholic girls’ high school announced.
And Kaufman, who turned in one of the finest individual performances in leading the Raiders to the 2019 Division I football championship, was named the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Amateur Athlete of the month of December.
The NFHS, which is made up of 51-member state associations including Washington, D.C., and serves 19,500 high schools and more than 12 million young people, selected Chauvin based upon his coaching performance, lifetime community involvement, school involvement and philosophy of coaching.
Nominated by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association as the most deserving recipient of this honor, Chauvin has been coaching high school bowling since 1980. His notable accomplishments as AOL’s bowling coach include back-to-back state championships in 2018 and 2019 and Louisiana state champions of the Invitational Baker Tournament in 2018 and 2019.
Since 2017, AOL teams Chauvin has coached have earned district championships five times. As head coach of the varsity bowling team, since the school’s inception in 2007, the team has never experienced a losing season.
Kaufman, a Vanderbilt University commit and the Clarion Herald 2019 Elite Football Team’s Most Outstanding Player honoree, led Rummel to a perfect season, highlighted by a come-from-behind 14-10 victory over Catholic High of Baton Rouge in the championship game played at Tulane University.
Kaufman’s final performance for the 13-0 Raiders included 11 tackles, a forced and recovered fumble, a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and a rushing TD after taking a direct snap from a “wildcat” offensive set.
The Allstate Sugar Bowl honored eight other athletes from Archdiocese of New Orleans for individual monthly awards over the past 12 months.
Former Rummel wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, now at LSU, received the November 2019, award; Xavier University tennis star Angels Charles-Alfred (October), Little League baseball hero Reece Roussel of St. Charles Borromeo Elementary School (August), Academy of the Sacred Heart‘s state cross country and track champion Mary Nusloch (May), Holy Cross state champion powerlifter Alex Davis (March), Jesuit‘s two-time heavyweight wrestling champion Perry Ganci (February) and Loyola University basketball player Zach Wrightsil (January) were also recognized by the Sugar Bowl’s selection committee.