Father Dave Zettel has been a part of the Trinity community for more than 70 years, recognized as a kind-hearted and important figure in the school’s history. While many students know him for his work during school Masses, his impact goes far beyond that. As a member of Trinity’s second graduating class in 1958 and one of the longest-serving figures in the school’s history, Father Zettel represents a living connection between the school’s humble beginnings and its present-day success.
Trinity, Fr. Zettel explains, was “much simpler” when he arrived as a freshman in 1954. “We had basically just a few buildings, barely comfortable desks, and only freshmen and sophomores,” he remembers. The campus was small, and the class size was even smaller, with 96 students in the class of 1958 and just 75 in the first class of 1957. On top of that, the faculty consisted of just four or five teachers. Despite the limited facilities and all the basic World War II surplus furniture and supplies they could get, the spirit of the school was overflowing. “We knew we were pioneers,” he says. “We were doing a lot of things for the first time.”
When asked about some of the people who impacted him, Zettel recalled his early experiences with Monsignor Alfred Steinhauser, Trinity’s founder and first principal. While the current generation is well removed from him and has only heard stories of his work, Zettel remembers him as humble, approachable and extremely intelligent. “We didn’t know it at the time, but he had a Ph.D. in education,” he says. “He didn’t act like a big shot.” Steinhauser taught German, showing some of his background. He was known to laugh easily and had a talent for recruiting brilliant teachers — the kind of character essential in building a school from scratch.
Louisville’s East End was rapidly expanding with new parishes, suburbs and young families. The one thing missing was a Catholic boys high school. The West End had Flaget High School, and downtown had St. X, which used to be located at Second Street and Broadway, with nothing yet built in the growing area of St. Matthews. Archbishop Floersh approached Steinhauser in March and famously told him to open a new high school by Labor Day of the same year. Despite the fact that there were no supplies, no furniture and no real campus, Steinhauser began filling the school with any chairs, desks and kitchenware he could find to form Holy Trinity High School. Against the odds, Trinity opened on time, offering local boys a school that the community was quickly growing in need of.
Even with the growth and advances in the campus, the student and faculty body, and academic programs, Zettel believes that the heart of Trinity has remained unchanged. “The spirit then and the spirit now is the same,” he says. “We were always the Shamrocks, always ‘Go, Rocks’… those things are just symptomatic of what was really going on in our hearts.” He points to Trinity’s diversity in faculty, backgrounds and abilities, and its strong sense of community as proof that the school continues to honor its founding values.
For Trinity students today, Zettel offers a simple message: buy into the culture. Embrace the brotherhood that has defined the school since its earliest days more than 70 years ago. “This is a school full of heart,” he says, looking back on the decades of students who have gone through its halls. “Jesus said, ‘Come one, come all,’ and that’s what we are.”
His words show the connection between Trinity’s past, present and future — a reminder that every Rock, whether from 1954 or 2025, shares the same spirit, pride and sense of belonging in these halls.
