J.T. Curtis, John Curtis Christian Football

After coaching their respective teams to championship, J.T. Curtis from John Curtis Christian Football and Dave Baudry from Archbishop Rummel and Nationwide Restoration Baseball were selected as the co-winners of the New Orleans Prep Coach of the Year honor as selected by the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s New Orleans Sports Awards Committee.

Curtis directed the Patriots to a 14-0 season and LHSAA Class 2A state title in football. It was the school’s 21st state championship. En route to the title, Curtis defeated No. 1-ranked Hoover, Ala., 28-14, on the road. Curtis was named the All-Metro New Orleans Coach of the Year by The Times-Picayune and was the national Coach of the Year selected by USA Today.

In 38 years as head coach, his teams have won 441 games.

Baudry led Archbishop Rummel to the Catholic League title and a state semifinal appearance in the spring. The Raiders lost to eventual state champion Barbe at the state tourney in Lafayette. In the summer, Rummel-based Nationwide Restoration won the American Legion World Series national championship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to become the first team from New Orleans to win a national title since the Jesuit-based Tulane Shirts in 1960. Rummel was 33-5; Nationwide was 45-7.

The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee began in 1957 when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize Sugar Bowl Athletes of the Month.

-www.AllstateSugarBowl.org-