One enshrining moment

Former sports information director at Northwestern State University and current chairman of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in Natchitoches Doug Ireland stopped by Ville Platte Tuesday to meet with the Rotary Club of Ville Platte.
“We have an incredible museum in Natchitoches,” he said. “Even if you’re not a sports fan, the information is written and presented in a way that you will enjoy the experience.”
“The architecture is world class,” continued Ireland. “In 2013, when we opened, the museum was chosen by an architectural magazine as the number one new architectural project on the world for that year. We’ve had people from all over the world come in to see the architecture alone.”
Enshrined in the museum are some of the top athletes across 27 different sports categories including sailing, boxing, lacross, outdoors, horse racing, high school sports, and women’s sports.
“The thing was created in 1958 and originated back in 1950 when a bunch of sports writers from all over the state got together to talk about how they could improve high school sports coverage,” Ireland explained. “Eight years later, the Louisiana Sports Writers’ Association was organized to formalize and improve statewide high school coverage by exchanging information and organized to create a Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.”
He continued, “The edict and the standard that was created then was the Hall of Fame would only enshrine the elite.”
Among those enshrined is Leslie Gaudet, the former Pine Prairie basketball coach.
“He won over 1,000 games and never got a technical foul in his whole career,” said Ireland. “Being able to go to his house in Pine Prairie and visit with him and his wife and see him celebrate at our ceremonies back in the 1990s was a great thrill and privilege.”
Eight inductees were elected this year for enshrinement including former LSU head football coach Nick Saban.
According to Ireland, Saban has been eligible for the past few years. “One of the eligibility rules is coaches become eligible if they are still coaching at the age of 60,” he said. “He and Coach (Les) Miles were coaching against each other, and we informally decided we wouldn’t consider either one of them until either they stopped coaching or got to a later stage. We inducted Coach Miles last year, so some of our committee felt like we needed to put Coach Saban in for what he did at LSU.”
Ireland continued, “If you step back and forget he is the Alabama coach and look at what happened at LSU since he has been there, he totally turned that program on its ear and set it on course to be as successful as it is. Not only did he win football games, he pushed for facility improvements and changed the culture. All of the foundation for the success that has occurred since then, Nick Saban was the guiding force behind.”
That decision to elect Saban was met with mixed reaction. As Ireland said, “LSU each year takes the back cover of the program and salutes the LSU people who are going in the Hall of Fame. As soon as we elected Saban, some of the people in the room asked Kent Lowe, the LSU senior associate communications director, if LSU is still going to take the ad. Kent said, ‘Yea, after we beat their butt, we’re going to use a picture of Coach O shaking his hand.’ And, low and behold it happened this year.”
The museum is located at 800 Front Street in Natchitoches and is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults; $4 for students, seniors, and active-duty military; and free for children 12 and under. Admission included all exhibitions. A 20 percent discount is given to groups of 15 or more with reservations. School groups meeting required criteria are free.