New Iberia native Bill ‘Blackjack’ Landry became a legend at USL.

 LAFAYETTE — The atmosphere felt more family reunion than memorial Monday night as friends and family gathered to honor a little known but greatly loved member of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette athletic community.

When Tommie Rogers, a former USL football player, realized how few people outside the immediate athletic community knew who Bill “Blackjack” Landry was, he decided to do something.

“It was hanging heavy on my heart that someone that was that dedicated and that loyal to the university and the athletic department, that nobody knew who he was,” Rogers said. “That’s wrong because we sure haven’t forgotten him as players. He was a tribute to courage.”

Because of complications at birth, Landry, who was born and raised in New Iberia, had physical disabilities that affected his motion in his arms and legs and his speech, but players who attended USL (now ULL) between 1963 and 1998 remember Landry as the tireless equipment manager who never complained and, instead, encouraged those around him.

“You didn’t realize it until years later what kind of an exceptional person he was,” Edward Pratt, former vice president of student affairs, said. “He would work until wee hours of the morning, he would see about every body’s equipment, he would hear everybody’s complaints. The man never complained, just worked and always had something encouraging to say.”

Rogers, Pratt and Ken Blanchard have been pushing a plan forward for the past year on how to memorialize Landry. Through the UL Lafayette Foundation, they were able to establish the Bill “Blackjack” Landry Athletics Fund, which will fund a bronze statue to be placed inside the Cajun Field stadium and an endowed scholarship for future athletic trainers and managers.

Rogers said they wanted to dedicate the scholarship exclusively for managers and trainers because of Landry’s position.

Landry found his way to Cajun Field following Raymond Blanco from Catholic High when the former coach accepted the defensive coordinator post at the university. At first, Pratt said, Landry wasn’t even on the payroll.

“He was just happy to be working,” Pratt said.

Blanco remedied the situation after a conversation with the business department, making Landry the official equipment manager. He held his post for 36 years, through five head football coaches.

Of the 80 to 100 people present at the first official fundraiser for Landry’s tribute, many were former players and coaches who had the opportunity to work with Landry.

“All the things you want in your children, those are the adjectives you hear about Blackjack,” Sam Robertson, former coach, said. “Blackjack defined character.”

“He was the type of person that would do anything for you,” Tom Holleman, Landry’s cousin and a New Iberia resident, said.

Landry was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer in 1998. He died that same year and was buried in St. Peter’s Catholic Church Cemetery in New Iberia.

Courtney Landry Saucier and Stephanie Landry Barineau, two of Landry’s seven siblings, were on hand to help pay tribute to their brother and thank those who started the ball rolling.

“The thing he hated most about dying was leaving his job,” Barineau said. “He loved his boys.”

Saucier said Landry made the freshman players feel comfortable and at home as they transitioned to the pressures of college.

The sisters said they weren’t even sure that Landry would want something like this created, that he was too humble. But the theme of the evening Monday was that the memorial is as much to give future students and ULL fans someone to emulate as it is to honor Landry.

“It wasn’t a person in the limelight or achieving these grandiose things,” Pratt said. “It was just a guy behind the scenes giving and giving and giving every day of his life and never thought anything of it and had a lot of personal challenges and never let that stand in his way.”

As of Monday afternoon, the fund was only about one-third to its goal of $200,000. Rogers estimated the statue will cost about $100,000 with the remaining funds going to the scholarship.

The goal is to erect the statue by the first game of the 2012 football season. ULL athletic director Scott Farmer said he thinks the plan will be successful and although he never knew Landry, he understands and supports the memorial.

“I sincerely pray that I would have had a positive influence on half as many people as Blackjack did,” he said.

“He’s part of our heritage. He’s part of us.”

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