Tribute to Fern Tetreau

I wrote and delivered the following tribute to Fern Tetreau at halftime of the game against Ludlowe. The Warde field was named in honor of Tetreau, Andrew Warde High School's first football coach, Thanksgiving morning.

When Andrew Warde High School opened in 1956, the Crimson Eagles needed a football coach. They didn't have to look very far, however. Fern Tetreau was the head coach at Roger Ludlowe High School, on the other side of town, and he accepted the challenge to start a brand new program.

Although the first two years delivered growing pains and only two victories, Tetreau was building a solid program at the Melville Avenue high school. As hard as it may seem to believe, just three years after Andrew Warde High School opened, the Crimson Eagles won a state football championship! The 1959 team went undefeated in nine games, and even produced a future National Football League star.

One year later, Tetreau's gridders went 8-1. Their two-year cumulative record was 17-1. And this for a program which was just starting.

Fern Tetreau is seated in the dark raincoat and hood holding his plaque and proclamation at the field dedication ceremonies at Warde High School Thanksgiving morning.

Bob Anderson, a former housemaster at Warde who passed away a few years ago, played at Ludlowe and then at Warde. He wrote about Tetreau's 1959 team.

"Many Fairfield citizens recall the success of that team, with its tricky single wing T formation, using an unbalanced line, and a side-saddle blocking quarterback. The tailback had to be able to do everything. That threw off the defense through Fern's effective use of the draw, screen, and third down-11 quick kick." Six of the nine games that year Warde held the opponent scoreless.

Fern's move to Warde created quite a rivalry in his own family. His son, Mike, was the quarterback at Roger Ludlowe. Playing football was a family tradition. Fern once said, "We both wanted to win the big game, but we were pulling for each other, too."

Fern was the innovator on the gridiron. His love for the game has never waned. To him, football represents the belief that when you work together as a team, and stay focused, any dream is within reach. To Fern, football was learning about life --- dealing with victory and defeat, getting knocked down, and getting up again.

At Ludlowe, his 1954 team was ranked number three in the state. On his state championship team of 1959, 15 players went on to play college football, and Dave Graham played tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles. Tetreau always preferred the unexpected on the football field. He liked to run the Statue of Liberty play, where the quarterback fades back to pass, and the running back grabs the ball. He ran draw plays and screen passes. And, he taught his players to think on the field.

Tetreau is a native of Maine, speaks fluent French, and when he left Warde in 1970, he became an administrator at Fairfield Woods Junior High School. For two years, he took in a Cuban refugee foster child who spent time in an orphanage. Today, Roberto "Chico" Rodriguez is a business executive.

Bob Anderson also wrote the following about Fern Tetreau: "Every now and then when players call me 'coach,' I am touched that they might use that term with me, because it conveys my relationship with them, beyond what I taught or failed to teach them about football. Far more, it conveys what my coach and mentor taught me about life, ethics, the treatment of others, and the value of human relationships. Thanks, Fern, from the many of us who continue to call you 'Coach.'"

Without further ado, "Coach" Fern Tetreau, a state champion, and the very first football coach at Andrew Warde High School. Warde athletic director Chris Manfredonia will present a plaque to the man known as "Coach."

Photos courtesy of Tim Parry, author of fciacfootball.blogspot.com.

Paul