Throngs of well-wishers show up to honor former Nicholls coach, athletic director Landry

It was an eclectic group of well-wishers who showed up to honor Don Landry on Saturday afternoon.

There were former players, university administrators, athletic department personnel, student managers, family, and friends among the throngs who made their way to Stopher Gym on the Nicholls campus in Thibodaux.

Landry, who was the basketball coach and athletic director during the formative years of the university, was honored with the unveiling of the “Don Landry Legacy Center at Stopher Gymnasium.”

After the restrooms of Stopher Gym were remodeled to accommodate the Americans with Disabilities Act, the lobby and entrance were reimagined. The reconfiguration has allowed for a display area for memorabilia to the left of the lobby featuring numerous plaques. Inside the arena is a new glassed-in lounge area. The “Don Landry Legacy Center” is inscribed across the top of the glassed-in area.

“I’m very flattered and not sure I deserve it all, but l accept it,” Landry said. “I’m very humbled and appreciative. You know, when people say it’s been a long time coming. I don’t look at it that way at all. I am honored that it happened while I was still living because so often, you know things happen after you’re gone. This way, I’m able to share it with my family, our friends, and it’s quite an honor and I’m very appreciative of everything.”

Anything other than that sort of response would have seemed uncharacteristic of the unassuming Nicholls pioneer for all those who know him.

“It’s wonderful. He definitely deserves it. Whatever he gets, he deserves it,” said Sam Manicalco, who was a member of Landry’s first Colonels basketball team in 1967.

Manicalo, now age 76, was signed by Nicholls by Landry’s predecessor, Jim Mahoney.

“I had signed a scholarship with Jim Mahoney over here. The next year I played baseball and basketball over here. I couldn’t handle that. He came in and he gave me my scholarship back,” recalled Manicalo.

Landry’s lasting legacy at Nicholls went beyond his former players.

“It wasn’t just about the game. It’s about life,” said Vic Lafont, who served as Athletic Business Manager during Landry’s years as athletic director. “There is a lot of things you can learn from a man like that.

“It’s funny, for the players, too, things you remember were not necessarily on the court – things he taught them, things he said, things he did. Things he did with me sometimes I didn’t understand or weren’t happy about at the time. He didn’t have the best job sometimes to have to tell people no. When I entered the work force and I ended up doing the same thing, I was like, ‘OK, I got it now.’ The lessons I learned were something I could use along the way. They weren’t one-time things.”

Landry’s influence has had an effect even on those at Nicholls who arrived long after him.

“My very first phone call other than Jay Clune was 40 minutes later,” said current Nicholls athletic director Jonathan Terrell, referring to the university’s president. “Coach Landry called me to congratulate me because he heard I just got the A.D. job and started giving me some advice and telling me his door was always open. So, he and Miss Lucille (Landry’s longtime wife) grabbed me as their own and they didn’t even know me that well. To be able to do that (honor) for a great person is awesome. When you think of Colonel Pride or Colonel Nation means, you think of Don Landry.”

The outpouring of affection shown toward Landry on Saturday, Clune said, reflects what the former coach and athletic director has meant to Nicholls.

“You see it in the people that come back for every event that honors Coach Landry. Today is no exception. The turnout is three or four times what we ever expected and he’s deserving of it.”

What about that Nicholls has meant to Landry?

“It’s the best decision Lucille and I ever made. It means everything,” said Landry.

“We raised our four children here,” chimed in Lucille.

Landry, 85, who was the youngest coach in the country at age 26 when he was hired by Nicholls in 1967, won 173 games as Colonels coach in 13 years. He also served as the school’s athletic director from 1978-87.

He led Nicholls to the NCAA Division II playoffs twice during his tenure as coach, with the Colonels reaching the quarterfinals on both occasions.

Landry’s 1975-76 squad posted a 22-4 record while capturing the Gulf South Conference championship before falling in the quarterfinals.

In his final year as Nicholls coach during the 1978-79 season, the Colonels went 21-7 and again won the Gulf South Conference title and advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to North Alabama, the eventual national champion.

He was a two-time finalist for National Coach of the Year.

As athletic director, Landry guided Nicholls in its transition from Division II to Division I. He is credited with helping create the Louisiana Athletic Directors Association and the founding of the Gulf Star Conference.

A 1960 graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now UL-Lafayette), Landry was a student coach in football, baseball, and basketball. He was a high school coach for four years before becoming an assistant at Louisiana Tech in 1964.

Following his tenure as athletic director at Nicholls, Landry served as commissioner of the Southland Conference for three years. He later became Executive Director of the National Cutting Horse Association before being named Director of Special Projects with the Texas Rangers.

From 1994-2004, Landry served as commissioner of the Division II Sunshine State Conference.

Landry is a member of the Louisiana Basketball and Nicholls State University Halls of Fame. In his honor, the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches created the “Don Landry Award” for outstanding contributions to Louisiana basketball.