Thank you to all of the alumni who have sent in their stories and photographs for The Spirit of LSU! Thanks to all of your wonderful memories, it’s going to be a great book.
Also, congratulations to Kristin Tassin, winner of the $500 contest for best story! See her story and many others below.
Geaux, Tigers!
–The LSU Alumni Association
The Winner for Best Story: The Tigerland Band by Kristin Tassin 1993 & 1996 (Law)
All I ever wanted to do was go to LSU and march in Tiger Band. I had dreams of sitting in Tiger Stadium, playing “Pre-game” and “Geaux Tigers”, cheering my Tigers to victory. When I was growing up, I spent every Fall in front of the TV or on campus tailgating and watching Tiger football. I was born to be a Tiger. In fact, I bleed purple and gold. So, when I graduated from high school in 1989, there was only one place I was going, only one school I even applied to…LSU.
I was one of the fortunate few to make it into Tiger Band that year. I started band practice 2 weeks before classes started and watched fellow band members drop like flies…literally. The heat index was somewhere over 100 degrees, but I marched on, panting and sweating, working towards my dream. When that day finally arrived in late August of 1989, I was so nervous and excited, I could hardly march in a straight line! There is NOTHING more exciting than when Tiger Band marches onto the field in Tiger stadium, with 90,000+ fans screaming, waiting for those 4 notes that send Tiger fans into a state of pandemonium. As I waited for my turn to be part of history, I closed my eyes and savored every moment. I burned the images and sounds and smells into my mind so I would never forget it. The whistles and shouts of the crowd mixed with the roar of Mike V and cheers of “Hot boudin, cold coush coush…”; the smell of gumbo and jambalaya mixed with bourbon floating in the air from tailgaters who had been out since the early morning; and the sight of 90,000+ fans wearing the most beautiful colors…purple and gold.
As I waited for the Drum Major to count us off, my heart fluttered and I realized I was about to do something that few people will ever get to do. I was about to experience a thrill in a way that most others will never experience it. I was about to be the reason that over 90,000 people would rise to their feet and cheer loud enough to register on the richter scale. Then I heard the count from the whistle and the drums started beating in time. When my turn came to step off onto the field, I kept my eyes up looking around at the faces full of excitement for what we were about to do. When I reached my spot on the field, a cheer went up, then silent anticipation. The drums started, the cymbals crashed, my horn flew up just at the right moment, then….baaaah, bah, bah, nah!! There it was, the 4 notes I had waited to play my entire life! The crowd went wild, and I did not play another note. I spent the remainder of the drill just savoring the experience, feeling the rush, the excitement, until we came to an abrupt halt, forming the traditional “L-S-U” in the center of the field. The rest is a blur…playing the National Anthem, the Alma Mater, and standing in the tunnel when the team ran out onto the field. All I could think was, that was an experience I will never have again.
Although I continued to march my entire 4 years of undergraduate study, there is only one “first”, and I had just had it. I will treasure my time in Tiger Band forever, but my first Pre-game ranks up there as one of the best experiences of my life. Some people, especially from other schools, think I’m weird, they don’t get it. They don’t understand what it is like to be born with a passion for something that runs as deep as family. A passion that is ingrained in Louisiana families and handed down for generations. A passion that is…forever LSU!
Five words that describe me: novelist, poet, runner, artist, and volunteer.
In my first semester at LSU, I was living in the Tiger Stadium North dorms on the fifth floor. At the time there was no air conditioning. Needless to say, it got pretty hot. My room mate and I decided we would haul a window air conditioning unit up to our room under cover of darkness. Our intention was to use it only at night, as the water it leaked would draw attention from students and others walking below to class. We found out why air conditioning units were prohibited that first night when we cranked that baby up. The draw of electricity was too much for the circuits to handle, and when the AC was on, all of the lights on the fifth floor became very dim.
One night a huge jock knocked on our door and asked if our lights were dim. We cracked the door slightly, so as not to let him feel any of the cool air and just agreed with him and shooed him away. This was TOP SECRET and we did not want to be evicted. The following night, we apparently blew the circuits and all of the electricity in our wing went out. We scrambled to haul that massive air conditioning unit to our car before we were found out. Maybe we should have tried a smaller unit!
–Stephen R. Davis
After moving to Baton Rouge in 1953, I quickly became a passionate and fanatical LSU football fan. Although I love all LSU sports, my favorite is football. I wear purple and gold every Friday and again on Monday, regardless of the outcome of the Saturday game and, of course, always to the Bengal Belle luncheons. From 1953 until 2005, I missed only three home games: once when my son was born, once to attend a wedding (poor planning there) and, lastly, when I attended a high school reunion in Michigan. When I moved here, Jim Corbett was athletic director and Gus Tinsley, the football coach. TV coverage was still in the future, the south end had not yet been completed, tickets were available at a booth outside the stadium, you could leave home at 6 p.m. and never miss the kick-off, and what fun it was to walk across the playing field when the game was over. I was there for Billy Cannon’s run, when we beat Notre Dame and Joe Theisman, and when Bert Jones threw that last-second touchdown pass to beat Old Miss. I was a participant at the earthquake game, was witness to the foggy/orange game in 1982, cheered when the goal posts came down in 1997, was thrilled whenever we beat Alabama, and almost had a heart attack in that overtime game with Auburn.
Since I do not take losing well, I have been known to seriously question an official’s parentage, a coach’s decisions, the fates, weather or even the time of day. And, of course, no one is happier than me when we win. I have hated Notre Dame ever since they knocked us out of the Cotton Bowl, cried when Tennessee broke our 13-game winning streak in 1959, despised Ole Miss because we had so much trouble beating them in Jackson, hated Florida because they were always so good, hated Cigars, and hated Alabama and Tulane, but didn’t all LSU fans? I was in the stadium through all those awful losing years, but I was also there for all the great and memorable moments. I have walked down the hill with the band, have cried “Tiger Bait” and “Go To Hell Ole Miss,” have felt betrayed when a coach left but then was 100 percent behind the new coach and I have spent all day Saturday tailgating, regardless of the weather, which is considered standard procedure for a true fan.
I was beginning to think I would never see LSU win another National Championship, but now my two crystal footballs have the top spot among my many precious Tiger treasures. I have a brick at the new tiger cage, I own a number of LSU prints, my Christmas tree is decorated purple and gold, my license plate says “LSU by 6”, and I have a tiger tattoo on my leg. I have worked for the attorney who was Homecoming Queen in 1996. An LSU flag hangs on my porch and a six-foot inflatable Tiger greets passersby on game day. I participated in the first Bengal Belle Football 101, which was a fabulous experience. Yes, I am obsessive. Yes, I bleed purple and gold!! I am happy. My dreams have all come true and I am 73 years old!!!! While I am not an alumni, I am a TRUE TIGER FAN!!!
–Anne Strahan
Daydream – All my life I wanted to play football in Tiger Stadium. Alas, Coach McClendon had no need for a slow, 5′6″, 145 lb. center in 1969. Nonetheless, my Sigma Nu fraternity got the bid to play Kappa Alpha in the Charity Bowl while I was in undergraduate school, so I did indeed play one football game in a purple and gold uniform in Tiger Stadium.
I was never a good student. I couldn’t motivate myself to go to class or study, but that wasn’t the only problem. I was working for five local radio stations at one time, even before the start of my freshman year. I just never got involved in student life. I went to a few campus functions and even lived in Kirby-Smith for a year. I lived for Tiger athletics. I even produced some of the games on the local radio flagship for a while.
But it wasn’t until late in the spring of 2001 that I walked into the LSU Catholic Center at Christ The King Church. I don’t know why I went there that day. I just felt compelled to go. It changed my life completely. Not just my spiritual life, but my LSU life. I became involved in all aspects of the center. I was spending more time on campus then I had when I lived there as a freshman. I owe a great thanks to people like Brice Acosta, Candace Zeringue, Margaret Dillon, Jenny Duckworth, Father Than Vu and Father Jerry Martin. They made me a part of not only the church and its community, but part of the LSU student body in ways I never had been before.
This all culminated for me on September 14, 2001 – the fourth day after the tragic events of September 11. After a beautiful prayer service on the parade grounds, a giant crowd of thousands began to slowly attempt to go about their day. I walked toward the student union and I noticed a small crowd within the larger one. It was a group of street preachers in Free Speech Alley. They were destroying the hopeful, united, peaceful spirit of the day by screaming at all who walked by.
I overheard a girl near me crying and saying to herself, “Why would you come here and do something like this? It’s like pouring salt in our wounds.” I was enraged, but I knew that screaming back at these people would do no good. I went to see Father Than and asked if I could borrow a Bible. He lent me one without hesitation and I headed back to Free Speech Alley.
As I drew closer to the group of angry proselytizers, I heard them shouting “sinner!” at nearly everyone they saw. “You’re all damned to hell! Especially you, whore!” They used to word “whore” to refer to an 18 year-old freshman girl whose only crime was wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt. I saw dozens of saddened and angry students. Some were engaging the group to no avail. I jumped up onto one of the concrete benches and opened Father Than’s Bible.
“One of them, an expert in the law, tested Jesus with this question:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
I looked at the now quiet group of street preachers and said, “You are not loving these people, your neighbors. You are kicking them while they are down. Go home. Let them reconcile their sadness in their own hearts.”
Then I addressed the whole crowd. “If you ignore these people, they will have no effect here. Tell everyone you know to do the same.”
The angry preachers did not leave immediately, but an hour later when I drove by they were gone. For weeks and months, people I did not know would approach me and say they saw me that day. It was one of my proudest moments as public speaker, as a Christian, and as an LSU student.
-Patrick Thomas Thibodeaux
My husband-to-be attended school at the University of Alabama, and I attended LSU for my undergraduate degree and am currently pursuing my Masters here. Both of us adore college football. Our house, usually loving and harmonious, divides along loyalties on the one day a year when our two schools meet on the football field. (The rivalry became more heated when a certain coach returned to SEC football to offer his service to another team.) During the course of our relationship, we have looked forward to the BAMA- LSU game, placing a small bet, which included bragging rights for a year. This year, however, we plan to make game day extra special by officially uniting our house on the day which it is normally divided. We scheduled our wedding early on that Saturday morning so that we can get all of our friends and family to campus to the tailgate reception in celebration of our vows. We want to share our love of each other, football, rivalry and LSU tailgating with everyone around us. After we say our “I do’s”, we plan to move our party to the Parade Grounds where everyone who loves us and appreciates a good tailgate is welcome to join. (I also want the magnificent oak trees as the backdrop for my wedding photos.) To cap off the memories of the day, we plan to attend the game in full wedding attire, cheering and chanting with the rest of the fans. This football game day is very important to our soon-to-be-united household, and we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the happiest day of our lives than with 93,000 of our best friends.
–Stephanie Gauthier, ’05 & ‘09
I graduated in Chemical Engineering in 1972. During one of the spring semesters, my ChE class was struggling with a major (maybe final) Exam in a ground floor classroom in the Chemical Engineering Building, between the sugar mill and the south end of Tiger Stadium. It was not hot outside, so the classroom windows were open. As we toiled away at the grueling exam, a student walked past the open windows of the room on the sidewalk outside, and he was whistling a happy tune. Without looking up from his exam, one of my classmates said to himself, but loud enough for everyone to hear, “He must be a Business major . . .” It broke up everyone in the class, including the professor, and definitely took some of the tension away from the exam!
–Mike Feig
Five terms that describe me:
Nostalgic, flutist, historian, creative, and a Louisiana Creole and Cajun!
Little known fact:
I am deathly afraid of tornadoes.
In 1956 I was a theatre major at LSU. It just so happened that Clark Gable and Yvonne de Carlo were making the movie Band of Angels in and around Baton Rouge.I was living in West Hall and students kept coming in telling me and my best friend, who was also a theatre major, that they saw Clark Gable at some of the local restaurants. We were envious so we concocted a plan. We would go out to the motel where he was staying and wait in the parking lot until he walked by. We went out to the motel and sat. A couple of men walked out of the office and I said, “They look like they are from Hollywood. Let’s ask them if they know where Gable’s room is.”
We called them over to the car and we told them we were theatre majors and we would really like Clark Gable’s autograph and we would really like to get onto the set to watch the movie being made. They laughed and as it turned out, one of the men was Gable’s stand-in. He said come with me; I will write you a note to get you onto the set. We followed him and he went into his room, while we stayed outside, and he wrote us a note. He said, “Now don’t bring all your sorority sisters with you. This is just for three of you. The next day, it was very cold as it was in January, we hopped in the car and drove across the river to the River Boat they were using. When we got there we found out that Clark Gable was not on the set and it was iffy if they would be shooting that day. It was pretty overcast and cold. We took a tour of the river boat and ran into some other theatre majors who were extras. All of a sudden we heard people shouting, “Here comes Clark Gable!” We ran outside and there in a big black sedan was Clark Gable and the two fellows we had met the day before. We ran up to the car and knocked on the window. Gable rolled down the window and said, “Yes?” I thrust a piece of paper at him and asked if we could have his autograph. He smiled and said, “Of course.” Then we got an extra autograph for a friend who couldn’t come with us.
He was very gracious and we were so excited. That was not the end of the story though. They were not going to film that day because of the weather so he left in his car. We decided to follow him back to the motel. When we reached the motel they parked and we parked. We ran out to greet him. I shouted, “Mr. Gable!” He turned around and smiled and again said, “Yes?” At that point I wasn’t sure what to say so I just blurted out, “Could we shake your hand?” He smiled that gorgeous smile and said, “Certainly.” We stood there in a line and he gently took our hands. When he took mine, he said, “Your hand is quite cold.” All I could think of to say was, “I know.” Then he turned around and said, “You girls better get in out of this cold now.” We just smiled and thanked him.
After that we went to several places where they were filming and watched. Gable made just one more film after that one, The Misfits with Marilyn Monroe and he passed away. I will always remember that day and what a thrill it was to meet Clark Gable
The middle sofa area of the Union next to the back staircase was dubbed “Livingston Square” by students like me who hailed from Livingston Parish. We would meet there between classes to swap stories and blow off steam about classes. I even made a new friend there, too. She remains a friend to this day. Of course, many of the people who once gathered at “Livingston Square” are now scattered. However, when I visit the Union now and pass that area of sofas, I still picture the crowd of Livingston Parish students enjoying their time spent at “Livingston Square.”
–Jackie Bankston Manning, ‘84 & ‘89
Favorite Quote: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”–Eleanor Roosevelt
Thirty years after I graduated from LSU, my sons, Matt and Adam, showed their Tiger spirit in a very unique way. While attending LSU, they rented a house near campus and late one night decided to move a desk from our home to their new home. In the top drawer of the desk was an envelope that contained Matt’s tickets to all of the LSU games that season, both home and away! They secured the desk in the back of their truck and took off down Highland Road. Somehow, the drawer flew open and when they got to their house, they realized that the tickets were gone! In desperation, they spent the rest of the night searching Highland Road, shining flashlights from the back of the truck as it travelled up and down Highland but to no avail. The next morning, they started walking south from the intersection at Lee, determined to walk every inch of Highland Road! Finally, eight miles later, they found the envelope! It had come open and the tickets were scattered over a fifty yard section on either side of Highland Road. One of them described it as the “wackiest Easter egg hunt ever”! They cheered and shouted out the name of each game as they found the ticket for it! They were joined in their celebration by motorists who honked their horns at the sight of two very happy fans shouting “Go Tigers!” and waving game tickets on the shoulders of Highland Road. In the weeks that followed, I had a number of friends tell me that “they couldn’t imagine why but they thought they had seen our sons shouting and waving game tickets on the shoulders of Highland Road.
–Ann Darphin Jennings, ‘76
You would think the most memorable moment for any student athlete or “Jock” would be the very first time running through your locker-room to the Stadium or arena you play in. I’m a Tiger football Alumnus, and my most memorable moment is beating #1 ranked Florida in 1997. It was Saturday night in Tiger Stadium! If that doesn’t sent chills thru your body, close this book you Gator fan.
Gerry DiNardo had just given the pre-game speech of his life. As we funneled out of the locker room towards the stadium, you could feel the tension, the anxiety, just the raw emotion in the air. Every last one of us had enormously dilated pupils. I looked around and seen these big black extremely uneasy but confident eyes. I could look into my teammate’s eyes and read their minds; each and every one of them said “I’ll die on this field tonight before I let my brothers down.” My best friend from high school and still to this day Johnny Mitchell was like a cage Tiger. Tears rolling down his face, HE WAS READY! Coach D touched the “WIN” stick on top of the doorway to enter Tiger Stadium. He pushed the doors open, acute tunnel vision came over me, and couldn’t even hear the 90,000 best damn fans in the land.
If you have seen the movie Gladiator, that could give you a since of what it’s like to walk out into uncertain battle. I was a part of the “Chinese bandits” that completely threw The Gators off balance. After four quarters of battle it was so surreal, I still feel like it was an out of body experience. I remember the Wild and Crazy student section blowing through security as if they were toy soldiers. They climbed a field goal massaged with Vaseline so that they couldn’t climb the thing, but they climbed the thing. In the mist of this dreamlike moment I was tackled by one of our fans and I watched my helmet role away. It was like I couldn’t get up to get it, all I could do was stare at this student sprint pass and grab it and run. Out of nowhere Coach Haywood ran the kid down and pried the helmet from his hands, and picked me up off of the field, because I was still laying there for some reason. As I got up off the field, here comes the goal post almost exactly where I was lying. As I stood there like a General in the middle of a war zone with out a care in the world. I noticed our Wild and Crazy students trying to carry the goal post to the top of the stadium. WHAT! “That’s dangerous isn’t it?”, I said to myself, but couldn’t move to do anything about it. The coaches had to come out a gather all the players. I think for that moment, we all knew once we went through those locker room doors, it all was going to end.
I coached football for a couple years after that, as Strength and conditioning GA for Coach Moffit at LSU, and the offensive GA for Gerry DiNardo at Indiana. I have traveled the world doing all types of high speed, high flying, classified, AIRBORNE, and Special Operation missions with the US Air Force. Now I’m an Aerospace Space Suit Engineer at Johnson Space Center, Houston. To this day I still have not had that feeling of TEAM I had that night.
–Theo M. Williams III, ‘00
The one memory which stands out the most from my time at LSU comes from my Sophomore year, in the aftermath of the LSU-Tennessee game on Sept. 30, 2000. By the end of the game, it seemed pretty apparent that we were going to pull off an upset of #11 Tennessee, and that everyone was going to rush the field and the goal posts would come down. Naturally I had to be a part of this. Once the game was over, and the goal post in front of the student section was down, the crowd started to pick them up to carry them around the field. I started to help, but before I knew it, they were getting too high for me to reach. Not about to be left out of the action, I grabbed on, and found myself hanging from the goal post with my legs still in the crowd and my torso above it. Being the stubborn fool that I am, and because people were pulling on me, I picked up my feet and wrapped them around the post, which left me hanging upside down above the crowd. At some point I realized this probably wouldn’t end well, so I began to work my way on top. When I finally sat up and was able to get my balance, I was looking out over a football field covered in people, with the goal post still being passed around above the crowd. I stayed up there waving and yelling and making a general fool of myself for the scoreboard TV’s until the goal post was finally put down. I stepped off, and walked out of Tiger Stadium. There was nothing left for me to do. The best part was that my friends didn’t recognize me up there at the time, and didn’t completely believe me until they saw my picture in the Reveille that Monday.
–Wayne Walker, ‘02
 | J J LeBlanc on A Quick Thanks |
 | brandon cressy on Tiger Tale: Team Spirit |
 | Mike Thorne on Tiger Tale: Forever LSU |
