Los Gatos Weekly-Times Photograph by Roger Shank Former LGHS football coach Bob Skuse sends defensive captain Bill Klindt into a Campbell Turkey Day game. Los Gatos High School has long line of strong football coaches John S. Baggerly Locally and nationwide, high school football teams are now involved in playoffs, and California and Texas all-stars will meet in an annual Shrine game in December. Last weekend Los Gatos and Saratoga started play in separate division playoffs. Before the Texas-California game, the Shrine sponsored State of California prep playoffs, and LGHS head football coach Butch Cattolico headed a winning Northern California team with his own quarterback Tom Krug and guard Mark Cox. Ben Pierce, a LGHS grad and longtime Saratoga High School coach, headed a winning North team in the Shrine game. Here's a rarity in the Cattolico family--Dad is guiding Los Gatos in Division III playoffs while son Joe's Overfelt High team is contending in Division IV. In his 12 years at LGHS, Cattolico has won eight league titles and five division titles. Since 1926, all LGHS coaches have won one or more titles. Following are the coaches and their tenure: Doug Helm, 1926-44; Fred Canrinus, 1945-54; Pete Denevi, 1955-60; Larry Mathews, 1961-66; Pete Denevi, 1967-70; Bob Skuse, 1971-76; 1977-85, Charlie Wedemeyer; and 1986-present, Cattolico. Helm, a graduate of Santa Clara High School and San Jose State University, coached many sports at LGHS and was a one-man boys' physical education department. His football and baseball teams played on dirt fields. Today the school's lighted turf football field with all-weather track is named in his honor. Canrinus was an All-American end at St. Mary's College when the Galloping Gaels traveled to New York and defeated Fordham. At LGHS, Canrinus installed the T-formation that had caught on nationwide. Denevi played football and baseball under Helm's tutelage and went on to star in both sports at SJSU. He then returned to LGHS as a coach. There were no division playoffs then but the Los Gatos-Campbell Turkey Day game drew large crowds. Skuse played at LGHS before attending Idaho University. He had been a center on a Mathews winner stocked with one of Los Gatos' finest groups, including Bill Fairband, Bob Brannen and Sandy Atwood. Ed Howell, Bob Bortolussi and Lee Baumgardner also empowered Mathews' team. Bill Walsh, a SJSU teammate of Mathews, liked to boast: "I could always run faster than Larry." That was an inside joke. Walsh was pigeon-toed and knock-kneed, Mathews said, but got around well enough to make the SJSU team and, as a coach, win championships at Stanford and later with the San Francisco 49ers. Early in Wedemeyer's career he began to feel the effects of Lou Gehrig's disease. However, the illness did not prevent him and his '85 Cats from defeating St. Francis, 14-12, at Spartan Stadium. Jeff Borgese scored two touchdowns and blocked a last second field goal. From his native Hawaii, Wedemeyer graduated from Michigan State. Today Wedemeyer, with wife Lucy reading his lips, is offensive coordinator for Scott Downs' LGHS Frosh/Soph team. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 25, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.