When the New Iberia Senior High School Athletics Hall of Fame was started in 2007, one of the main ideas was to let students at the school know that they can accomplish anything once they finish school.

The 2013 class, which will be inducted at Friday night’s home opener against Westgate at Lloyd G. Porter Memorial Field, is a great group to do that, according to Joel McFarland, Iberia Parish Supervisor of Child Welfare and Attendance and one of the driving forces behind the Hall of Fame.

Among the five inductees are a former college and pro football standout, two NISH graduates who returned as coaches and then principals at the school, the first NISH player to earn an athletic scholarship who returned to the school to become a coach and athletic director, and a coach who turned the football program around and went on to become the first high school coach inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Those four coaches from years past are part of the hall’s first “Legacy Group,” McFarland said.

“That’s what’s kind of unique about this group,” McFarland said. “They went to school there, came back, taught and coached and became administrators. I think the main thing about this group is just the history.”

The Class of 2013 inductees will be Ernest Lancon, George Crowson, Olton “Sue” Hebert, Faize Mahfouz and Mark Roman. McFarland said that Pat Onellion gave him great information about the history of NISH football that helped the Hall of Fame selection committee decide to introduce a Legacy Group to honor figures from the past who made big contributions to the school.

The 2013 group certainly did that.

Lancon attended NISH from 1959-61, was an All-District basketball player at New Iberia in 1960 and ‘61, state MVP in 1961 and went on to play at what was then USL from 1961-65, earning All-Conference honors in 1964 and being named team captain in 1965, when USL went to the NAIA tournament.

He was the NISH head basketball coach from 1969-78, leading the Yellow Jackets to district championships from 1974-78 and earning district Coach of the Year honors in each of those seasons. New Iberia went to the state semifinals in 1974 and 1975, earning Lancon state Coach of the Year honors in 1974.

Lancon then was an assistant principal at NISH from 1978-86 and principal from 1986-95, and was named parish Principal of the Year four times. New Iberia was named a National School of Excellence in 1989. Lancon was a member of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Executive Committee for three years, president of the Lafayette Area Football Officials Association for seven years, president of the Lafayette Area Basketball Officials Association for two years, president of the Lafayette Principals Association for seven years and received the LHSAA Distinguished Service Award in 1999.

Crowson attended NISH from 1944-47, earning All-State football honors in 1946 before playing football at USL. He was named All-Gulf State Conference in football in 1949 and 1950, All-Gulf State Conference in baseball in 1949, ‘50 and ‘51 and was named to the USL Hall of Fame in football and baseball in 1951.

Crowson was named a USL College of Education Centennial Honoree in 1998. He served as an assistant coach at NISH from 1956-62, an assistant principal at the school from 1962-68 and principal from 1968-73. Crowson then served as an assistant superintendent with the Iberia Parish School Board from 1973-81.

Hebert attended NISH from 1939-42. He was named quarterback on the All-State football team in 1940 and was the first NISH athlete to earn an athletic scholarship. At Tulane he lettered in football in 1941-42 and in baseball in 1943.

Hebert served in World War II, and was awarded the Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars for his service. He became an assistant coach at NISH from 1947-58, coaching football, basketball and boxing. Hebert was head baseball coach at NISH from 1947-58, head football coach from 1958-61 and athletic director from 1962-77.

Mahfouz, a Bolton High graduate, was head football coach at NISH from 1962-68, helping stop a 29-game losing streak at the school. He began his career at St. Mary’s in Natchitoches, then spent 22 years at Eunice High before working as an assistant coach at Southeastern Louisiana for one year.

He then took the NISH job, and began building the program through the five junior high schools that served as the school’s feeders. The 1962 state Coach of the Year, Mahfouz received the 1967 Service Award from the National High School Coaches Association.

An offensive innovator who introduced the wing-T and split-T to high school football, Mahfouz was inducted into the LHSAA Hall of Fame in 1979 and was the first high school coach inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, in 1981.

“It’s a remarkable group,” McFarland said. “When it was started we wanted to let people from here see what you can accomplish. You look at what some of these people did after they got out of high school, it’s remarkable.”

Roman played at NISH from 1993-96, earning All-District, District MVP, All-State and State MVP football honors in 1995. He also ran track, helping NISh win state championships in 1994-95 in the 4×100 relay.

He went on to a career at LSU from 1996-99, earning SEC Freshman of the Year and Freshman All-American honors in 1996 and played on the Tigers’ 1996 Chick Fil-A Bowl and 1997 Independence Bowl teams. Roman was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals and played with the team from 2000-03, played for the Green Bay Packers from 2004-05 and for the San Francisco 49ers from 2006-09.

“We saw Mark coming through, even in middle school and at Freshman High, and knew he had the potential (to have a professional career),” McFarland said. “You see a lot of kids with potential but do they do everything they need to do to reach it? Some don’t have the grades, or whatever. It’s very rewarding to have someone come through and do all the things they need to do to reach that potential.”