| Debate has existed at Damien since the early 1960's. The program was granted a charter by the National Forensic League in 1964. In 1968, Damien won its first state debate championship. Since that time, Damien has maintained a level of competitive excellence virtually unmatched in the state of California.
Dozens of Damien debaters have gone on to have successful college debate careers. The most successful of these was undoubtedly Mark Fabiani, who won Top Speaker at the 1975 National Debate Tournament. More recently, there have been several Damien alums who have been noteworthy names in college debate: Paul Derby, Kevin Tessier, Bryan Yeazel, Shuman Sohrn, John Miller, and Omri Ceren, among others. The program was blessed in the early years with talented coaching. The program was begun by Mr. Charles Stamps, who coached the team through the late 60's. He was replaced by Father Martin O'Loghlen, SS.CC., who was already a well known and highly successful coach at Bishop Amat prior to his years at Damien. "Father O" was the coach in the late 60's as Damien debaters began to achieve success on the state and national levels for the first time. After Father O'Loghlen became principal of Damien High School, he was succeeded by Robert Schwartzberg ('70-'73), Jim Caforio ('73-'74), Barbara Busse ('74-'79), Paul Hudson ('79-'80), and Bob Mocharnuk ('80-'82). Then, in 1982, Chuck Ballingall came to Damien. In 1998, Mr. Ballingall became the youngest coach ever inducted into the California High School Speech Association's Hall of Fame. This year he begins his 23rd year as the coach. |
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Jim Kerwin and Meeten Bhavsar, top team in 1987 |
Dave Fagundes and Tom Oliveri, top team in 1992 |
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