ENROLLED
2023 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 64
BY REPRESENTATIVE ROMERO
A RESOLUTION
To commend Jennings High School head football coach, Rusty Phelps, on the occasion of
his retirement.
WHEREAS, Rusty Phelps is the longest-tenured head football coach in the history
of Jennings High School with twenty-eight years served; he has two hundred one career wins
at Jennings High School, which is the most wins of all fourteen coaches who have served
in his position; and
WHEREAS, prior to his tenure at Jennings High School, Coach Phelps served as the
head football coach at Newellton High School in Newellton, Louisiana, achieving a modest
record of sixteen wins and sixteen losses; and
WHEREAS, Coach Phelps took the reigns of the Jennings High School Bulldogs
football program in 1995 and made his coaching debut on September 1 in a gritty, double-
overtime victory over LaGrange High School; he would go on to lead the Bulldogs to a
record of two hundred one wins and one hundred twenty-eight losses over the course of his
career; and
WHEREAS, Coach Phelps holds claim to two undefeated regular seasons at Jennings
High School; in 1999, the team finished the regular season with ten wins and zero losses
before bowing out to Edna Karr High School in the quarterfinal round of the Louisiana High
School Athletic Association (LHSAA) Class 3A state playoffs; during the COVID-19-
shortened 2020 football season, his team finished with six wins and zero losses; and
WHEREAS, Coach Phelps displayed the true measure of his coaching ability by
producing astoundingly consistent teams every season; under his leadership, the Bulldogs
reached the LHSAA state playoffs in twenty-six out of twenty-eight seasons and finished
with a playoff record of thirty-one wins and twenty-six losses; and
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WHEREAS, Coach Phelps led the Bulldogs to the team's deepest playoff run during
the memorable 2019 season; after finishing the regular season with a modest record,
Jennings landed at the bottom of Class 3A bracket as the 23-seed team; the Bulldogs went
on to make a Cinderella run to the state championship game, where the team fell to top-
seeded St. James High School; and
WHEREAS, Coach Phelps led Jennings to a number of improbable victories over the
course of his storied career, and he has earned his place as a legendary figure in Jennings
High School history; he is most deserving of the highest recognition on the occasion of his
retirement.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby commend Jennings High School head football coach,
Rusty Phelps, on the occasion of his retirement and does hereby extend sincerest wishes that
he continue to prosper in all of his endeavors as he begins a new journey in retirement.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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