St. John's Football Coach David 'Doonie' Waldron
By Louie Estrada  Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, December 17, 2005
David Doonie  Waldron, 74, the legendary head football coach at  St. John's College High School in Washington who led the Cadets to five Metro  championships as well as a record 11 consecutive victories over its arch rival Gonzaga, died of pneumonia Dec. 16 at Suburban Hospital. He lived in Silver Spring.
During his 18 seasons at St. John's, from 1968 to 1985, Mr. Waldron  compiled a record of 131 wins, 64 losses and 5 ties. The highly coveted Metro championships were won in 1968, 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1976. After that final championship, Mr. Waldron was named coach of the year by the Brookland Club of  Washington.
He brought a great deal of enthusiasm to the teams he coached,  said his son Robert Waldron, who played for his father at St. John's and, in the mid-1980s, coached football at Catholic University with his father as an assistant. He was a real players' coach; everyone liked him. His commanding presence and booming voice would get his players to give their maximum effort for St. John's. It was always about playing for the school.
If Mr. Waldron spoke passionately about the pride of St. John's, it was because he genuinely felt a connection to the school, where he first distinguished himself as an athlete in the 1940s.
Born in Swissvale, Pa., he grew up in Silver Spring, where his younger  sister began calling him Doonie as her way of trying to pronounce Junior. The nickname stuck. He was 11 years old when their father, David Waldron Sr., a government lawyer, died of a heart attack, leaving his mother to raise five children.
He gravitated toward sports, where his natural athletic talents led to a scholarship to attend St. John's, then an all-boys school.
Mr. Waldron was among the few students to earn four letters at St. John's,  where he played baseball and football, started on the school's first undefeated football team and was named All-Met in his senior year.
He received an athletic scholarship to attend George Washington University,   where he was a star linebacker on the 1952 team that posted the Colonials'  second-best record in the school's history.
After serving in the Navy during the Korean War, he briefly taught in public schools before taking a coaching position at St. John's.
Doonie Waldron brought the St. John's community so much more than  victory on the gridiron, Brother Thomas Gerrow, president of St. John's College High School, said in a written statement. He taught his students, his colleagues and his friends the values of teamwork, sacrifice, fairness and service.
Mr. Waldron, who also coached the school's tennis team, was known for imparting to his players a sense of identity, confidence and accomplishment. Setting an example for those around him, he was a strict disciplinarian and a student of the game who regularly logged 15-hour days during the football season.
He drew up game plans for his teams that gained a reputation in the competitive Washington Catholic League for their physical toughness and for playing with a high level of intensity from start to finish.
If his team was behind on the scoreboard at halftime, he would rally the troops in the locker room with an emotional speech that seemed to re-energize the players, said Ro Waldron, who also was an All-Met player at St. John's.
Some of his former players and coaches went on to coach in the scholastic and collegiate levels. A few others made it to the NFL, including former New York Jets defensive back Tommy Marvaso and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mike Kruzek.
After a couple of seasons as an assistant coach at Catholic University, Mr.   Waldron retired to a life that included golf outings and cross-country trips.
In addition to his son, of Silver Spring, survivors include his wife of 50  years, Betty Waldron of Silver Spring; another son, David Waldron of Vienna,  who also was an All-Met football player at St. John's; three daughters, Margaret Rudt of Rockville, Sally Allen of Maplewood, N.J., and Kelly Bromley of Silver Spring; a sister, Betty McShea of Frederick; a brother, Ronayne  Waldron of Sonoma, Calif.; and six grandchildren.