Wednesday, October 3, 2012

David Lappin, SS CIF Champion for Character

CIF Victory with Honor Award
On Monday, October 1, 2012 at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, Mr. David Lappin (class of 83) received the Jim Staunton "Champions for Character" Ninth Annual Award by the Southern Section CIF.  The award was set up to "honor the student-athletes, coaches, administrators and member schools who represent excellent sportsmanship and outstanding character."

In the official CIF program for this event, it states Mr. Lappin was awarded this honor because:

  • His peers recognize him as one of the most respected coaches in the CIF Southern Section.
  • Always puts students first, considers himself a servant to his players and checks their grades on a regular basis.
  • never uses gamesmanship, does not accept disrespect for officials, which makes him popular with umpires.
  • Dependable, on time, on task and conducts himself with the utmost professionalism at all times.
  • Sets very high standards for his program and believes that those standards are more important than wins.

Dave and his wife Anne Williams Lappin (class of 83)
Mr. Lappin has been the head coach since the early 90's.  After graduating from Berkeley he came back to Loara to teach in the Social Science Department and more importantly to coach Baseball.  In an email to the staff, Principal John Briquelet stated "I just wanted to again express my appreciation and respect for David Lappin, our CIF Champion For Character. He definitely embodies the qualities we desire most in our teachers and coaches, and he is truly dedicated to the pursuit of victory with honor. We are proud of you, Dave!"  This feeling echoes the feeling of the staff and colleagues here at Loara.  David is a Saxon through and through, during his days as a student in the early 80's, his Baseball team coached by Scott Pickler (currently coaching at Cypress College) won a CIF title. CIF couldn't have picked a more deserving person.  The Lappin clan has left a permanent mark at Loara High School.  His mother Kathy Lappin was on of the best (in my humble opinion) principal's secretaries, his brother Dean Lappin is the head football coach and his sister Georgia Lappin is the records clerk.  Not to mention his relatives, in law's, nieces, nephews and children all have been a positive influence in the Saxon Spirit on campus.

On a side note, David was in the last class of 9th Graders ever to attend Ball Junior High.  When he came over to Loara in 1980 as a 10th Grader, the 9th graders followed giving Loara 4 classes.  David was also the ASB President at Ball Junior High in 1979-80.

Congratulations Coach David Lappin, we are proud of you.

Coach Lappin receiving a banner for the gym


1 comment:

  1. Dave is a very deserving recipient of this award. He embodies all the great things teachers and coaches can do for students and he does this by modeling the highest standards of behavior and excellence. We have been lucky to have Dave and the Lappin family as part of our Loara family. Congratulations Coach Lappin!

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