END OF AN ERA: After 43 years at The Daily Iberian, Shoopman retires

Published 8:00 am Sunday, January 13, 2019

Don Shoopman stood there, hands trembling ever so slightly, and began to read from a prepared speech that he had typed up the night before.

The man who had spent the past 43 years working days, and then nights, and weekends at a daily newspaper had long talked to friends and family about retiring; he didn’t finally decide to retire until nearly six months ago so there was plenty of time to prepare for this moment.

But that didn’t mean delivering a retirement speech in front of nearly 100 people in The Daily Iberian offices Friday was made any easier for the man standing there trying to utter the words he had written down.

“Thank you for being here. It means so much to me,” Shoopman said with tears in his eyes and a tremble in his voice. 

The Daily Iberian was packed to near capacity for Friday’s open house event honoring Shoopman’s storied career. 

Tech Area sports legends Johnny Hector and St. Martinville head football coach Carroll Delahoussaye were on hand, as were local civic leaders such as Iberia Parish President Larry Richard and New Iberia Mayor Freddie DeCourt, the latter of whom gave Shoopman a key to the city and a proclamation naming Friday, January 11 “Don Shoopman Day.” Representatives from Ducks Unlimited also were on hand to make a presentation to the man of honor.

In addition to the current Daily Iberian staff and Wick Communications President Francis Wick, there also were former Iberian staffers like Karma Champagne, Jennifer May, Glenn Quebedeaux, and former longtime publisher Will Chapman on hand for the event.

They were all there for one man.

“I started working here in January 1976,” Shoopman later added. “Forty-three years later, I’m saying goodbye to the full-time job. It’s been a heckuva long ride, a great ride.”

A career is born

Shoopman’s career began back in his native Missouri.

Shoopman attended Southwest High School in Kansas City where he lettered in both football (running back and defensive back) and wrestling and graduated in the spring of 1971. It was during these days roaming the halls of his school, and then cruising around town in the evenings, that Shoopman first thought of becoming a writer.

Shoopman drew his inspiration from an unlikely source — from English art rock band The Moody Blues known for such hits as “Knights in White Satin” and “Tuesday Afternoon.”

“I thought I could write a little bit,” Shoopman said. “I used to listen to The Moody Blues and boy could they could tell a story and I wanted to do that.”

While attending Penn Valley Community College, where he served as editor for the college’s newspaper, Shoopman secured his first job in the news business as a low-level copy boy at The Kansas City Star in 1971. There, he helped compile the weather reports, ran errands and got the veteran news editors and reporters plenty of coffee when needed.

It didn’t take Shoopman long to prove his mettle to his superiors, including his managing editor and mentor, the late Donald Casey Jones. That first began by writing obituaries for the newspaper, which in that era meant actually writing a story on the life of the deceased.

“Back then they were stories,” Shoopman remembered. “The funeral homes would call with all the facts and you would have to write the story. That’s where I learned about chronological order.”

By 1974, Shoopman had moved his way up to being an assignment reporter. There was one story that he had to write — in fact he pitched the story idea himself — that has stuck with him more than four decades later.

“I pitched the idea to my editors about going to the Jackson County Jail on Father’s Day,” Shoopman said. “I thought it was a great idea but I had no idea how emotional it would be. I came back to the office and cried for the first hour. Kathleen Patterson really helped me through that story because it was so difficult to write.”

Love at first sight

Shoopman likely would have remained in Missouri if it weren’t for a fateful trip he made over Thanksgiving break in 1975.

He had made it a habit to travel to place he had never been before and on the recommendation of his mentor Jones at The Star, Shoopman packed up his yellow beige Dodge Colt, his rod and reel and his camera and headed down to New Iberia. 

“I knew that I liked to go different places on vacation,” Shoopman said. “He told me, ‘You will like the culture and people.’”

Shoopman got himself a room at the old Beau Sejour Hotel out on Louisiana 182 and decided to do some sightseeing. He was amazed by the sights he saw throughout the Teche Area, everything from the raised tombstones at a cemetery in Delcambre to local sugar cane fields being burned and a visit to the historic Shadows-On-The-Teche.

The avid outdoorsmen also wanted to get in a little fishing. Shoopman had called ahead and spoke to former Daily Iberian editor Woody Baird about some of the best local fishin’ holes (Baird recommended the Atchafalaya Basin) and when Shoopman got to town he decided to stop by the offices — only problem was that he had some problems finding the building. 

“I drove by it four times,” laughed Shoopman. “It was an old car dealership and I didn’t recognize it. At that time, they still had the car dealer roof and everything on the building. 

“I was staying at the Beau Sejour and one day when I got back to my room there was a message on the phone,” Shoopman said. “It was from The Daily Iberian and they said somebody had came by with bass in the back of truck and so the editor asked them if they mind taking me fishing.”

Shoopman didn’t catch anything on that trip with the late Marc Buford and Jimmy Lacour, both of whom would become good friends, but that day fishing in the Sportsman’s Paradise changed Shoopman and he knew then that he had to come back. 

A month later on Christmas Day, Shoopman once again packed up his car from Kansas City for New Iberia, but this time it wasn’t for a vacation but to start a new job.

The best two-person sports team in state

The first day of Shoopman’s Daily Iberian career was New Year’s Day in 1976, as he took over as acting sports editor at the ripe age of 23-years-old. Even though Shoopman was thrilled about living and working in the Teche Area (the access to the outdoors alone made it worthwhile), he felt that he was in way over his head as an editor at such a young age. 

“I wasn’t any good,” Shoopman said. “I just wasn’t ready to be an editor at the time. I wanted to cover sports but I wasn’t ready to be an editor.”

In 1978, Shoopman stepped aside as acting sports editor and the newspaper hired Glenn Quebedeaux away from the Abbeville Meridional as its new sports editor. The two men, who admittedly butted heads from time to time, would work side-by-side for nearly 15 years and helped make the newspaper sports section one of the most respected, trendsetting and award-winning sections in the entire state.

“We won awards every year,” Quebedeaux said. “Just not LPA (Louisiana Press Association), but LSWA (Louisiana Sports Writers Association) and Associated Press awards. At first, though, we were like oil and water or Cain and Abel, but once Don and I got used to one another it became a great partnership and a great friendship. We prided ourselves at being the best two-man sports staff in the state.

“Don was spell check before there was spell check,” Quebedeaux added. “He would save my butt a lot of times. He would catch a lot more mistakes than I did of his. That’s because he didn’t make many.”

“We brought a lot of high school sports results into the homes,” Shoopman said. “We worked a lot of late hours after Friday night football games. We would get back from games at around 10 o’clock. We would do all the stories, sports agate and then wrap up at around 3 or 3:30 a.m. Sometimes we wouldn’t leave until the sun was coming up and then I would leave to go cover a fishing tournament that morning.

“The hours were long and exhausting but it was worth it. I think we were respected. We weren’t always liked because we didn’t make excuses for any of our teams but we were honest and gave the people something they never had had before.”

Shoopman fondly remembers those years spent covering Teche Area sports, especially the coaches he got to cover and know, which includes the late Dick McCloskey (Hanson Memorial football), the late Joe Jefferson (NISH baseball) and the late Donald Batiste (NISH basketball). 

But his favorite memories from that time were the late nights he spent trying to make deadline with his good friend. 

“Just talking with Glenn before or after deadline,” Shoopman said. “That what is what I remember the most. It was great just to sit there and talk.”

“I think there world of him.” Quebedeaux said. “I was blessed to have him at my side all those years when I was there.”

Penning about            sportsman’s paradise

It was during his time in sports, that Shoopman began writing about his passion — the great outdoors. 

Shoopman began regular outdoors coverage in 1978 and then became a freelance writer for the Louisiana Sportsman starting 1984. In the decades since then, Shoopman has become of the most honored and respected outdoors writers in the state and the reason for that might be in his human approach to covering fishing and hunting.

“Don is a throwback to the outdoor editors of the 1960s and 1970s,” Quebedeaux said. “They wrote human stories when it came to the outdoors. At a lot of the bigger papers, the outdoor pages were or are about regulations, and a lot of technical stuff. 

“Don is all about the human side of the outdoors,” Quebedeaux added. “The kid who shot his first buck or how the guy who went to Alaska bagged his first moose. It is not about the technical stuff. It is stuff that everyone wants to read.”

The outdoors, though, ended up giving Shoopman one of the most thrilling and scary moments of his life.

In July of 1984, Shoopman became a father for the first time as his wife June, or as he lovingly refers to her, “June Bug,” welcomed their eldest son Joshua into the world. The following month, the family traveled up to Missouri to visit Don’s family. On the way back the plan was for Don to cover the BassMaster Classic held that year in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. 

Shoopman was going to cover the event, but also serve as a press angler (member of the media that is allowed to fish). Shoopman actually reeled in $500 one day on the water as he got the biggest bass among the press anglers. But the next day, Shoopman returned to the shoreline and was immediately told that he couldn’t even be part of the weigh-in because something was wrong with his son.

Joshua began to run a high fever that day and the family’s doctor was so concerned, even believing that the baby may have had meningitis, and told them to either admit the child into the hospital immediately or haul butt back to New Iberia. 

“All the tournament officials, boat officials and everyone ran up to the boat,” Shoopman remembered. “I remember they said, ‘You’ve got to go right now your son is very sick’. They thought he had a disease. We had to rush back home. Thankfully it ended up not being anything serious but it was scary.”

Taking on new            challenges

In 1994, Shoopman left the sports department and took on a new role as newsroom editor.

Even though he hadn’t worked in the news department since his Kansas City Star days, Shoopman relished the chance of tackling local news, plus it gave him the opportunity to spend more time with his wife and kids (sons Joshua and Jacob).

“I told June I was doing it because I had missed so many events and moments because of working in sports,” Shoopman said. “I had to work every other weekend. I remember calling up my friends Bobby Dower (the late Lake Charles American Press writer). He told me, ‘Don you will do fine.’”

“I had four years working at The Star and that was all news. I learned a lot there but I was still a little wet behind the ears when I moved over to news. That was a little intimidating but I looked at it as a chance to always learn something.”

From writing about local businesses opening their doors to writing an in-depth feature on future Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, Shoopman thrived in his new role in the newsroom.

“He was always a good soldier, quick to adopt a positive attitude towards whatever the latest and greatest idea we’d come up with for the newsroom, including the times where that meant adopting new technology,” recalled former longtime Daily Iberian publisher Will Chapman. “He’d claim he was an old dog and slow to adapt to changes in computer systems and such, but he’d put his head down and work out whatever the bugs were to get himself proficient.

“Don was always a hard worker, coming in early, working late or on weekends, to make sure his areas of responsibility were covered, and done right. If you gave Don Shoopman a deadline, you didn’t have to wonder whether he would meet it.”

That is a sentiment echoed by sports editor Chris Landry, who worked alongside Shoopman for two-plus decades and became good friends with him. 

“He is one of the best writers you will ever know,” Landry said. “He is a good reporter but an even better writer. He is also a creative with layout and design — he spends a lot of time working on making the newspaper the best it can be. He wants to put out the best product. He always wants to put out the best product.”

With a work ethic like none other, and enough recognition and awards to fill up a fleet of fishing boats, why didn’t Shoopman ever leave The Daily Iberian? He almost did. 

In 1998, Shoopman was recommended by his old friend Quebedeaux, who had left The Daily Iberian in 1992 to go into the insurance business, for a sports reporting job (primarily covering NASCAR) at the Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee.

“They flew me over there and wined and dined me,” Shoopman said. “They took me to both a men’s and women’s basketball game at Tennessee. I saw enough burnt orange to make sick. They put me up at a bed and breakfast across from Neyland Stadium. They even gave me a tour of Great Smoky Mountains. It was amazing.”

Shoopman, though, returned back home and spent weeks debating whether or not to take the job. 

“It took me two or three weeks to decide,” Shoopman said. “June and I even spent a few nights crying on the couch about whether or not to take it. In the end, I couldn’t take it. Our house is four blocks from the elementary school where our kids went. It is four blocks from the bank we use. Four blocks from the hospital where June gave birth to our sons. This was our home.

“It was a tough decision but I have never regretted staying.”

“Don could have worked anywhere in the country,” Quebedeaux said. “I wanted to come over to New Iberia and strangle him for not taking that job but that just shows you how much New Iberia and The Daily Iberian means to him.”

If serving as both the newspaper’s outdoors editor and newsroom editor wasn’t enough, Shoopman also became heavily involved in youth soccer in the area. Inspired by his own son’s interest in the sport, Don and June both became immersed in soccer — reading books, attending seminars and watching videos — all in an effort to teach the Teche Area’s youths about the “beautiful game.”

Shoopman has served as a member of the Iberia Soccer Association, Iberia Sports Complex Commission (which built the Louisiana PepperPlex), New Iberia Recreation Board and Boys & Girls Club. 

Shoopman coached ISA girls and boys teams from 2000 until 2016. He also served as an assistant soccer coach for the New Iberia Senior High School boys’ team since 2013 to 2016, and before that he was assistant coach for the NISH girls’ team from 2000 to 2013. 

“I learned fast,” Shoopman said. “You want to know how raw I was? I didn’t know anything. I remember one of our youth teams was playing this powerhouse team and it was late in the game and I turned to June and asked her if we should pull the goalie,” Shoopman said with a laugh.

“I really got into it, though. I was like a freakin’ sponge. I read, listened and learned from other people. Coaching those girls was one of the most rewarding things in my life. It was quite a ride.”

More than four decades of late hours, nights and weekends is now coming to an end for Shoopman, whose final day as a full-time salaried employee was Thursday. During Friday’s event, many former co-workers took time out to thank Shoopman for his service and share what he meant to them.

“I learned a lot from working with Don, and consider him a colleague and a friend,” Chapman said. “He’ll be missed by The Daily Iberian and its readers, but he’s worked long and hard on their behalf and deserves a long and enjoyable retirement.”

“Don is very passionate about the newspaper, living in this community, and of course about outdoors,” Landry said. “Don was out in his boat helping rescue from the roofs of their houses between here and Delcambre during one of the hurricanes years ago. Don is a very big believer in the community.”

Even though he will now have more time to cheer on his beloved Kansas City Royals and Chiefs — and New Orleans Saints and LSU Tigers — that doesn’t mean that Shoopman’s byline will no longer be featured in The Daily Iberian.

He will continue to write (as a freelancer) about the great outdoors of the Teche Area which hooked him to relocate here all those years ago. 

“There was no way that I was going to stop writing about outdoors,” Shoopman said. “The people here care about the community. They are just amazing and they kept me here. This place was something. It was my home and I am grateful for that.”