When Loyola University discontinued its intercollegiate athletics program following the 1972 baseball season, coach Louis “Rags” Scheuermann saw the opportunity to begin a new athletics program from the ground up across town at Delgado Community College. More than fifty years after Delgado opened as Louisiana’s first community college, the Dolphins’ athletic program was born.
Scheuermann’s success on the diamond was almost immediate, and the Delgado baseball program became a prime breeding ground for future stars at four-year colleges throughout Louisiana and the south. More than three decades have passed since the birth of the Dolphin baseball program, and former Delgado captain Joe Scheuermann has inherited the program from his father and continued to keep the green and gold at the highest level of junior college baseball, producing more than 100 players who have played at the Division I level.
In the fall of 1977, men’s basketball became Delgado’s second varsity sport, and like baseball, the sport has enjoyed great success, most of it under the leadership New Orleans high school great Tommy Smith, who was part of two state championship teams at Brother Martin and later was part of a Division II national championship track and field team at Southeastern Louisiana University.
Since Rags Scheuermann’s retirement in 1990, Smith has also served as athletic director for the Dolphins, overseeing the growth of the Delgado program, including the construction of the gymnasium in the Michael Williamson student center and many renovations to Kirsch-Rooney Stadium.
In the fall of 1993, women’s basketball came on board. This fall, the Lady Dolphins will be under the leadership of Dale Valdery, a New Orleans native and a teammate of Tommy Smith's at Brother Martin. Valdery brings a wealth of head coaching experience having previously served as the men's coach at Xavier University in New Orleans.
The Dolphins’ program continues to attract top athletes from all corners of the greater New Orleans area and Louisiana, and as the oldest junior college athletic program in the state, Delgado will continue to lead the way for giving student-athletes the opportunity to continue their careers both on the field and in the classroom.
