This Thanksgiving will be a special one for Tom Davis, his wife, Celeste, and the entire Davis family. The Fairfield Board of Education unanimously voted Tuesday evening to rename the Warde High School field after the late Bill Davis and Fern Tetreau, the first two football coaches at Andrew Warde High School.
"Everybody was very, very happy," admitted Tom, Bill's brother, after the meeting. "We were just overwhelmed."
Bill Davis, the head football coach at Warde from 1970 to 1979, passed away June 2 of this year from Creutzfeldt-Jackob disease, an extremely rare degenerative brain disease. Tom admitted that it has been an especially difficult year for him and the Davis family. He said that his brother first began feeling ill in April, and he was diagnosed with the condition in May.
The dedication of the football field on Thanksgiving Day will have added significance because it occurs on the 50th anniversary of the opening of Andrew Warde High School, and the Mustangs are hosting Ludlowe for the first time at Warde since 1984. The Falcons prevailed, 20-14, in the inaugural renewal last year at Ludlowe.
"It will be a great honor to go up there and see his name up there," acknowledged Tom Davis, who played for his brother for three years. "It's a great honor for the family." Tom was coached by Fern Tetreau during his freshman year, and he said the link between the Tetreau and Davis family is a strong one.
"The relationship between my brother and Fern goes way beyond a coach and a player or a coach and an assistant coach," Tom said. His brother, Bill, who played for Tetreau from 1963 to 1965 and was a varsity captain his senior year, started as an assistant under Tetreau in 1969, and he assumed the head coaching role the following year.
As for the Davis family, which also includes brothers John, a dentist in Fairfield, and Bob, who lives in Windham, NH, the connection with Tetreau is solid. "We all played football for Fern," Tom smiled. Later, Tom became an assistant for his brother for three years, from 1977 to 1979.
Tetreau came over from Roger Ludlowe High School and became Andrew Warde's first football coach when the school opened in 1956. He immediately built the squad into a powerhouse. His 1959 undefeated Crimson Eagles won a state championship.
Davis holds the distinction of being the only Warde football coach to defeat Ludlowe twice in the same season, 31 years ago in 1975. The Eagles beat the Tigers during the regular season, 27-13, and then Thanksgiving morning, 28-6. The team also played well against perennial powerhouses Fairfield Prep and Staples that season.
Obviously, the Davis family will recall a great football tradition this Thanksgiving.
"Thanksgiving Day was always a football day," mentioned Tom Davis. "It was an enjoyable day. We were thankful that we won every Thanksgiving we played." He pointed out that during his playing days, Warde took on Kolbe in the annual Turkey Day rivalry. Davis said the Eagles never lost a Thanksgiving Day contest against Kolbe when he attended Andrew Warde.
Also in attendance at the Board of Education meeting Tuesday evening were Mike Tetreau, Fern's son and the coordinator of the Fairfield Pop Warner football program, John Davis, who lives in Easton, Dave and Mike Abraham, whom Tom Davis considers extended "family," James Coyne, Warde's current headmaster, and Chris Manfredia, the Mustangs' athletic director.
When Fern Tetreau decided to move to Warde from Ludlowe in 1956, it created quite a rivalry within his family. His son, Mike, was the signal-caller for the Tigers. According to the Tetreau Web site, the first snap of the game (between Warde and Ludlowe) was a little bit uneasy for Roger Ludlowe High School’s starting quarterback, Mike Tetreau. His team was in the middle of a great season and there was nothing more they wanted to do than beat the cross-town rival, Andrew Warde High School. However, the game had much more at stake for Mike, as well as the rest of the family. You see, his father, Fern, was the head coach of the other team.
Dubbed “Family Day” by the local newspapers, the game was the first of several head-to-head match-ups for the Tetreaus. “Those were certainly interesting Saturdays,” Fern said, looking back. “We both wanted our teams to win the big game, but we were pulling for each other, too.”
If you’re wondering, Mike’s team won the game, but what really mattered to both father and son was that they were playing football—a Tetreau tradition in itself. Fern had grown up with a deep affection for the sport, and much of his values today reflect the teamwork and dedication it takes to be a good football player.
From playing in college to coaching and teaching physical education at various high schools, including leading Andrew Warde High to a state championship in 1959, his love of the game has never waned. In fact, the nickname “Coach” is still with him today because of his reputation in the Fairfield football community. To Fern, football has always been a perfect representation of his belief that when you work together as a team and stay focused, any dream is within reach.
Today, the Davis name is still active in Warde athletics. Tom's daughter, Allie, is a sophomore sweeper on the Mustangs' girls' soccer team. She is a key player on defense since switching from forward, and has helped the team in its quest for a spot in the league and state playoffs. She was featured in an article in The Fairfield Citizen-News Friday, October 20.
"The thing I'm most proud of," said Tom Davis, his voice cracking with emotion, "is having my daughter play there for the next three years. She'll be playing on her uncle's field."
Read more about Fern Tetreau in this 1998 article published by The Fairfield Minuteman.
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Paul
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