Bio

Clement “Clem” Dellenger

Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior/Community College (1966-1991) / Assistant Football/Track Coach
Biloxi, Mississippi

Along with legendary Gulf Coast football coach George Sekul, the late Clement "Clem" Dellenger helped redefine the Gulf Coast football program and turn it into a state and national power.

Before he ever stepped foot on the Perkinston Campus, Dellenger was already an outstanding athlete at Notre Dame High School in Biloxi. He then went on to become a three-sport letterman and a graduate of Tulane University, where he was an All-American end and a baseball and football letterman. “Clem played under four different head coaches during his four years at Tulane,” Sekul says. “Despite that, he was still an all-conference athlete. He played on both sides of the ball and was terrific.”

After coaching one year at John Curtis High School in New Orleans, Dellenger then came to Gulf Coast to serve with Sekul, head football coach, and assistant coach Ken “Curly” Farris.

“Clem was extremely important to the success we had during the time I was head coach,” Sekul says.

During those 25 years (1966-1991) alongside Sekul, Gulf Coast won two National Junior College Athletic Association championships in football (1971 and 1984), along with eight Mississippi Association of Junior Colleges titles. “He was always in tip-top shape,” Sekul remembers. “He always coached the receivers and the linebackers. He had a great rapport with them because of his playing days and his football knowledge.”

Sekul also says he enjoyed working with Dellenger and reliving the glory days of playing football before every football practice. “We had a great relationship,” he says. “He and I would go out on the practice field and step off our ‘passing tree,’ which was made up of about 10 routes the receivers would run. Before practice, I would drop back to throw, and he would run the routes. We were both in good shape back then, so we put on passing exhibitions for the team. Clem could catch the ball with one hand as well as most people can catch for two. He would run those routes to demonstrate how to do it correctly, and he always end up making one-hand grabs. It was unbelievable.”

Dellenger also served as an assistant track coach with Sekul and helped lead Gulf Coast to five state track titles. “We always used our backs and receivers as our basic track team,” Sekul says. “Our sprint relays usually featured are starting backfield. They weren’t real track men, but they were fast, and we could coach them. We would also recruit athletes for field events like pole vaulting.”

Dellenger passed away in 2007 at the age of 65.

Beginning in 2008, the annual Gulf Coast alumni golf event held during homecoming week has been known as the Clem Dellenger Memorial Golf Tournament, which benefits the Bulldog Club.