HLS 23RS-1276 ORIGINAL
2023 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 64
BY REPRESENTATIVE ROMERO
COMMENDATIONS: Commends Jennings High School head football coach, Rusty
Phelps, on the occasion of his retirement
1 A RESOLUTION
2To commend Jennings High School head football coach, Rusty Phelps, on the occasion of
3 his retirement.
4 WHEREAS, Rusty Phelps is the longest-tenured head football coach in the history
5of Jennings High School with twenty-eight years served; he has two hundred one career wins
6at Jennings High School, which is the most wins of all fourteen coaches who have served
7in his position; and
8 WHEREAS, prior to his tenure at Jennings High School, Coach Phelps served as the
9head football coach at Newellton High School in Newellton, Louisiana, achieving a modest
10record of sixteen wins and sixteen losses; and
11 WHEREAS, Coach Phelps took the reigns of the Jennings High School Bulldogs
12football program in 1995 and made his coaching debut on September 1 in a gritty, double-
13overtime victory over LaGrange High School; he would go on to lead the Bulldogs to a
14record of two hundred one wins and one hundred twenty-eight losses over the course of his
15career; and
16 WHEREAS, Coach Phelps holds claim to two undefeated regular seasons at Jennings
17High School; in 1999, the team finished the regular season with ten wins and zero losses
18before bowing out to Edna Karr High School in the quarterfinal round of the Louisiana High
19School Athletic Association (LHSAA) Class 3A state playoffs; during the COVID-19-
20shortened 2020 football season, his team finished with six wins and zero losses; and
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HR NO. 64
1 WHEREAS, Coach Phelps displayed the true measure of his coaching ability by
2producing astoundingly consistent teams every season; under his leadership, the Bulldogs
3reached the LHSAA state playoffs in twenty-six out of twenty-eight seasons and finished
4with a playoff record of thirty-one wins and twenty-six losses; and
5 WHEREAS, Coach Phelps led the Bulldogs to the team's deepest playoff run during
6the memorable 2019 season; after finishing the regular season with a modest record,
7Jennings landed at the bottom of Class 3A bracket as the 23-seed team; the Bulldogs went
8on to make a Cinderella run to the state championship game, where the team fell to top-
9seeded St. James High School; and
10 WHEREAS, Coach Phelps led Jennings to a number of improbable victories over the
11course of his storied career, and he has earned his place as a legendary figure in Jennings
12High School history; he is most deserving of the highest recognition on the occasion of his
13retirement.
14 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
15Legislature of Louisiana does hereby commend Jennings High School head football coach,
16Rusty Phelps, on the occasion of his retirement and does hereby extend sincerest wishes that
17he continue to prosper in all of his endeavors as he begins a new journey in retirement.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 64 Original 2023 Regular Session Romero
Commends Jennings High School head football coach, Rusty Phelps, on the occasion of his
retirement.
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