The Debate Team Hall of Fame Class of 2012

Posted September 1, 2012 / Last updated May 9, 2014

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Participant Category

Policy (CX) Debate

Moises Arriaga ’78 and Brett Giroir ’78 –  In 1978, Moises and Brett had a legendary season, winning the City Championship, District Championship, State Championship, and the NFL National Championship in addition to winning tournaments at Northwestern, the University of Chicago, and Bronx Science. The same year they placed second at the Barkley Forum (Emory), Harvard, and the Harvard Round Robin. They won a number of local and regional tournaments as well throughout their career.

Sal Liberto ’90 and Corey Todaro ’90 –  Sal and Corey qualified for the TOC as sophomores, juniors, and seniors. As novices, they won the Louisiana State Championship in Novice CX. As sophomores, they qualified for NFL Nationals and broke to quarterfinals at CFL Nationals. As juniors they won Ole Miss, attended the Glenbrook Round Robin, and reached quarterfinals at Emory. As seniors they won Ole Miss, placed 5th at the Glenbrook Round-Robin, and reached quarterfinals at St. Mark’s, quarterfinals at Glenbrook South, semifinals at Glenbrook North, quarterfinals at MBA, double octofinals at Emory, and Round 10 at NFL Nationals.

Lincoln-Douglas (LD) Debate

Richard Re ’00 –  Richard qualified for the TOC in both his junior and senior years. As a junior he broke to octofinals of the TOC, octofinals of St. Mark’s, octofinals of Harvard, and semifinals of Memorial. In his senior year he broke to semifinals of St. Mark’s, co-championed Greenhill, and competed at several round robins.

Josh Fulwiler ’03 –  Josh qualified for the TOC in LD twice, as a junior and senior. As a junior he broke to quarterfinals at TOC, earning automatic qualification for his senior year. As a senior he broke to octofinals of the TOC and was 8th Speaker. As a junior he closed out finals of Homewood, won the Chesapeake Bay Round Robin, and broke to octofinals of Barkley Forum (Emory), quarterfinals of Wake Forest (where he was second speaker), semifinals of Grapevine, and finals of Greenhill among others. As a senior, he reached octofinals of Apple Valley, won Isidore Newman (where he was first speaker), won the MBA Round Robin, won NFL Districts (qualifying for NFL Nationals), and won the State Championship.

Individual Events

Patrick Quigley ’96 – Patrick was the NFL National Champion in Prose Reading in 1996. He finished 5th in Duo Reading at CFL Nationals in 1995. He was a two-time NFL National Qualifier in Humorous Interpretation, the Isidore Newman Champion in Prose/Poetry Reading, the Hattiesburg Champion in Duo Reading, a semi-finalist at the Barkley Forum (Emory) in Humorous Interpretation, a finalist at the Glenbrooks in both Humorous Interpretation and Poetry Reading, and a finalist at St. Mark’s in both Humorous Interpretation and Duet Interpretation. He was State Champion in Prose/Poetry Reading, State Runner-Up in Duet Interpretation, and a State finalist in Humorous Interpretation. Patrick won the City Championship in Duo Reading, Humorous Interpretation, and Prose/Poetry Reading along with numerous other in-state tournaments. He also won the Performing Arts Award, the Louisiana State Championship’s award for best all-around competitor in Individual Events.

Coach Category

Head Coach

Michael Major –  Michael coached Jesuit’s speech and debate team from 1984 to 1987 as mostly an in-state team. In his first year, the team began with six members. By the end of his tenure, he had increased the team’s membership to over 40. In just his last year as head coach, Jesuit won the State Championship in LD, closed out finals of the District Championship, qualified two LD debaters to NFL Nationals, qualified a student to NFL Nationals in Extemporaneous Speaking, and won the State Championship in Novice Policy.

Byron Arthur – Byron coached Jesuit’s speech and debate team from 1987 to 1996. During his tenure the team consistently had between 40 and 50 members across most events. He led the team in starting the Blue Jay Classic tournament in 1987 and grew it to 52 schools from 10 states by 1996. Byron’s forensics team won sweepstakes at the State Championship in 1991 and 1992. He coached LD debaters to qualify for CFL Nationals each year from 1987 to 1995. His LD debaters qualified to NFL Nationals in 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996. He coached his LD debaters to three State Championships in 1989, 1990, and 1992.

In policy, he coached CX qualifiers to CFL Nationals each year from 1987 to 1994. His CX debaters qualified to NFL Nationals from 1988 to 1992 and 1994 to 1995. His CX debaters claimed titles at Glenbrook South and earned Top Speaker awards at St. Mark’s, Greenhill, MBA, Emory, Glenbrook South, the Greenhill Round Robin, and the Harvard Round Robin. In Individual Events, he coached an NFL National Champion in Prose Reading.