ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 1, 1997 TAG: 9703030104
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
WARREN RUTLEDGE has won 879 games at the Richmond school.
Benedictine boys' basketball coach Warren Rutledge actually was trying to do something new in his sport.
For a man who has 879 career victories, that's news. When he brought his team to the Virginia Independent Schools Division I tournament this week, Rutledge was hoping to win a second state championship.
Last weekend, Benedictine won the state Catholic title. Rutledge, who is among the 10 to 15 winningest high school coaches in the country, was denied two state titles in one year as his team was beaten 47-38 by Episcopal in a quarterfinal game Thursday at North Cross.
How many victories will the 65-year-old Rutledge amass? Will he stay around to win 1,000 games, which is probably six years down the road? According to the National High School Sports Record Book, only six boys' coaches have ever won 1,000 games.
``More people are concerned about it than I am,'' Rutledge said. ``One thousand, I'll never see.''
Rutledge can't remember the last time he brought a Benedictine team to play basketball in Roanoke. He does remember ``when Bob Ayersman coached at Roanoke Catholic and we played them and Holy Cross [in Lynchburg] on the same trip.''
Rutledge was surprised to hear that Ayersman had passed away this winter.
The possibility of winning two state titles in the same year came about when Benedictine started playing in the VIS and the Catholic tournaments, which are held on different weekends, in the same season.
``We've been in the finals [of the VIS] three times,'' Rutledge said. ``We lost to North Cross in double overtime one year when Jimmy [Muscaro] had his sons playing for him. Once we beat Bishop O'Connell for the state Catholic title and the next weekend lost to them in three overtimes of the VIS.''
The Benedictine coach retired from teaching six years ago. He has two part-time jobs - athletic director and coach for the school and selling insurance.
Rutledge played baseball and basketball at William and Mary, and started off coaching both sports at Benedictine. He accepted a job teaching math at the Richmond school in 1957 when Roanoke native Gerry Furst, a football player at the University of Virginia, was coaching that sport and serving as athletic director at Benedictine.
``I still enjoy coaching,'' Rutledge said. ``I've been fortunate to have good health and I'm still able to maintain a high energy level. When those leave, I'll seriously consider getting out.''
Rutledge has coached many outstanding players, including former North Carolina guard John Kuester, now an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics; Les and Linwood Henson of Virginia Tech; their brother Byron, who attended Auburn, and former Duke basketball captain Mark Crow.
In baseball, Rutledge coached former Los Angeles infielder Tracy Woodson. In Woodson, Rutledge proclaims that he coached someone ``who has a World Series ring.''
The veteran coach said athletes and sports have changed over the years. ``Athletes are much more skilled than they used to be. The general rule is that they are bigger and quicker,'' he said.
``Right now, there's not as much commitment to the sport as there used to be. There are so many more things to occupy a kid's mind now.''
Rutledge will chat about basketball with anyone. It's his favorite pastime other than coaching.
``I can still remember details of games. I just can't always remember when they were,'' he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 linesby CNB