FRANKLIN — Durand “Rudy” Macklin, LSU basketball star of the 1980s, told a breakfast crowd Thursday there is more to health than having an annual checkup.

Macklin, the Tigers’ second all-time leading  scorer, was the guest speaker at a breakfast to kick off Fit Fun and Fabulous, the state’s first health festival in Franklin. 

The event, now in its fourth year, has just received official festival designation status from the state association of fairs and festivals. 

Macklin is  the executive director of the Louisiana Bureau of Minority Health Access and Promotions and the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Gov. Edwin Edwards appointed him to the office in 1992. 

“There are people in this state who are dying before their time. That’s why I have become a champion of the power of prevention. Health Care offers a great opportunity of prevention,” he said, especially in terms of “how we live, where we work, where we learn, how we play and where we pray.”

Louisiana ranks 44th for bad health nationwide, he said. 

“Being healthy is in the prevention of disease. I need you to take better care of yourself!”

Macklin said convincing people to take care of themselves is imperative. It also isn’t easy. 

“We know with better health, seniors can maintain their independence, children regularly attend school and folks function better on their jobs,” he said.

Louisiana residents, he said, are affected because of  a lack of physical activity, poor nutrition and excessive alcohol and tobacco use.

“We have to empower people to make better health choices, and we have to make prevention an everyday part of our lives,” Macklin said. 

In the wake of the state’s poor health statistics, he praised Gov. John Bel Edwards for expanding Medicaid because, he said, it provides a historic funding commitment to promote prevention and wellness.

“If we truly want to remove disease in this state, we need to teach people on how not to get sick in the first place. We need to take our state focus from sickness and disease to prevention, to learn how to be healthy in every stage of life,” Macklin said. 

For example, he said work site wellness programs should be a must.

“You have to own your own health. But one of our biggest enemies is obesity. Your body is your temple. What will it take for you to preserve it?” Macklin asked. 

He cautioned everyone that if they don’t own our own health, “We are going to see some very dark days in this state.” 

“As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, there is nothing more fundamental to opportunity than good health.”

Macklin played at LSU from 1976 to 1981. As a senior, he was named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, and led LSU to the NCAA Final Four. He graduated as LSU’s all-time leading rebounder (1,276) and second all-time leading scorer (2,080). 

Fit Fun and Fabulous originally started as an outreach idea by Franklin Foundation Hospital, guided by Dawn Kaiser-Melancon, who was marketing director of the hospital then. Melancon said she was looking for an opportunity to deepen the hospital’s impact in Franklin, and quickly teamed up with Ed Verdin, marketing director of Teche Action Clinic, to help her bring the vision to life.

Since then, Melancon, who has opened her own public relations agency, continues to serve as president of the festival and Verdin, vice-president. Both serve with an executive committee and a host of volunteers, who help produce the festival. 

Franklin Foundation Hospital and Teche Action Clinic of Franklin are the original founding sponsors. However, the festival has expanded its grantors, some of whom exhibit during the festival’s health walking tour, which was held after the Thursday breakfast until 1 p.m. along Franklin’s Lamppost Main Street.