Community Leaders Raise $200K to Restore St. Raphael's Gym

A group of Marin leaders announced that they raised over $200,000 for renovations of the in honor of former coach Louie Freitas.

Built in the 1940s, the gymnasium has not had any major repairs in decades.  Over 25 groups use the facility each year, and it serves as the primary practice and game location for the Catholic Youth Organizations' basetball teams. After the gym is repaired, it will be renamed the Louis G. Freitas Memorial Gymnasium.

"What Louie taught us went far beyond basketball," said former Marin County Supervisor Gary Giacomini, who sits on the steering committee for the project. 

Giacomini played basketball for Freitas in his grammar and high school years. About a year ago, he was walking by the Saint Raphael gym and noticed it was closed due to maintenance problems.

"I told a couple of guys who used to play for Louie and we thought, 'We can't stand for this,'" he said.  

The former players formed a committee and decided to raise $500,000 to restore the gym. The repairs would include fixing the roof, upgrading the lighting and flooring, painting the interior and enhancing the mechanical and electrical systems.

Other than Giacomini, the committee includes Dick Ghilotti, Dave Freitas, Curt Caton, Don Curry, Charlie Coyne, John Enos, Gary Frugoli, Lucile Gingras, Keith Grady, Bill Hansen, Fred Hass, Bob Hass, Bob Hawkins, Andre Horne, Bill Isetta, Tom Knopf and Dave Zappettini.

For over three decades, Freitas broke numerous CYO records and won over 100 Marin CYO championships. In his last five years of coaching, his 12 basketball teams played a total of 125 games, winning 110. During that same five-year period, Freitas’s teams won every title in the Archdiocesan championships – a feat that has gone unmatched by any other school in Northern California.

To many of his players, his inspiration and determination served them off the basketball court as well. During his service in WWII, the coach suffered a gunshot wound. He told his players, Giacomini included, that as he waited to be rescued, he promised God that if he survived he would dedicate his life to helping kids. After returning home, Freitas lost much mobility in his injured arm, Giacomini remembered.

"He taught me more about life than any teacher in school," Giacomini said. 

The committee is working with the Campaign for Saint Raphael, an organization that hopes to revitalize the parish and school as well as the mission and the plaza. Other than the gym restoration, the organization is working to level the plaza between the mission and the rectory and make it handicapped accessible, according to the campaign's Director of Development Susan Todaro.

"Our facilities are so old," she said, noting that the kitchen on the Mission hasn't changed since the 1940s. "We could just fix some of the cracks in the cement, but we really want to make it better for the community."

To date, the campaign has raised over $2.1 million in gifts and pledges, according to their website. The funds will go to deferred maintenance projects as well as the gym and the plaza. Todaro's goal is to have all the funding for both projects by the first quarter of 2012. She is hoping the gym's restoration will be completed in 2013.

"Saint Raphael has been a cornerstone in the city of San Rafael since the city’s inception," said Father John Balleza, Pastor of Saint Raphael Parish. "The campaign to restore, renew and revitalize our campus will ensure that our parish is able to meet the needs of our community for years to come."

To donate to the campaign, visit their website.