Providence High School scraps memorial to coach who died at 41 and puts a TV in its place

Talk about a slap in the face.

A private Burbank prep school has ripped down a memorial honoring a coach who died of cancer at just 41 and replaced his photo and plaque with a flat screen TV.

Paul Sutton spent 14 seasons at Providence High School, serving as athletic director, basketball coach, track coach and cross country coach from 1985 until his death in 1999.

After Sutton died, Providence put up a photo and plaque in the gym foyer to honor the coach who had spent years at the school.

Nearly three decades later, the tribute is gone.

Sutton’s widow, Dana, reportedly said school officials told her the memorial was “no longer relevant for today’s students.”

That did not exactly land softly.

“Just embarrassing and shameful,” sports columnist Eric Sondheimer posted online.

Another user ripped the school over the decision, calling it “a terrible look for Providence HS in Burbank.”

“AD/Coach died at age 41 of cancer and @PHSburbank put a memorial up for him in 1999: they now tell his widow that the memorial is irrelevant and was removed,” the user wrote.

“This is how we treat history, legacies, the past that made us?”

The wall where Sutton’s photograph and plaque once hung has been cleared for a flat screen monitor intended for digital updates and announcements.

The administration says the screen “better serves” the school community.

For Sutton’s supporters, that explanation only makes the situation more galling.

Sutton spent 14 seasons at Providence and wore a lot of hats.

He was the athletic director and coached basketball, track and cross country.

On the basketball court, he went 166 and 151 and won three Liberty League titles.

Then came his final season.

Sutton was battling severe health complications from colon cancer, but he kept coaching most of the 1998 to 1999 season.

He led Providence to a league championship and a CIF playoff spot.

His death was covered by the LA Times.

“He legitimized small-school athletics,” close friend Dan Haasch said at the time.

“He [coached] for all the right reasons–he did it for the kids.”

Sutton died under the impression that Providence’s new gym facility would be named after him.

In 2002, the school’s administration went back on that promise and refused to name the gym after Sutton, deeply upsetting his widow, Dana, and his former players.

The photo and plaque display in the gym foyer became the compromise.

Now that compromise has been ripped off the wall.

Providence Head of School Scott McLarty ordered the memorial’s removal.

McLarty has led the school since July 2019 and has spent more than 20 years working in Catholic schools as a teacher and administrator.

Providence is a private, upper middle class preparatory school where annual tuition is $31,800, plus registration and application fees.

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