Dayton comes full circle with Grid Quiz win

Published 7:30 am Wednesday, July 15, 2020

In a way, Pat Dayton came full circle with the Grid Quiz for the 2019 college football season.

The 2019 winner of the Grid Quiz college football pick’em contest sponsored by the New Iberia Recreation Department and The Daily Iberian lives in Monroe now, but was the person who introduced the Grid Quiz to the Teche Area when he moved here in 1978 to work as recreation department director.

“I worked with the recreation department in Monroe before I became the director in New Iberia, and we had (a Grid Quiz) here,” Dayton said. “We got the Grid Quiz going with (then-Daily Iberian sports editor) Glenn Quebedeaux.”

Dayton, 70, has a son in St. Martinville and his wife has a daughter in New Iberia, and the couple visits the kids and grandkids in the Teche Area as often as they can, though the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to that for a time, he said.

“We were going to New Iberia just about every other weekend (before the pandemic),” he said.

They made their first trip back since the coronavirus shutdown last weekend.

“It was a quick round trip,” Dayton said. “I still get my taxes done in New Iberia, and we had a chance to visit. It was a good trip. We left here at 7 in the morning and got back at 7 at night.”

Dayton said he spent 32 years working for parks and recreation departments in Monroe, New Iberia and New Orleans — he was in New Iberia from 1978-1993 before moving back to Monroe, then to New Orleans — and played Grid Quiz the whole time.

But 2019 was his first overall win for the contest in New Iberia, though he’d won individual weeks at times.

“I didn’t win a single week this year,” he said. “I tied for one week but lost the tiebreaker.”

Dayton said he enjoys the contest both here and in Monroe, and won one in West Ouachita before..

As for his methods for picking the winners of college games each week, Dayton said he’s partial to Southeaster Conference teams. There’s also a website he visits that lists teams’ opponents, and their opposing teams’ records.

“Probably the biggest thing for me is I stick with SEC teams when they play other teams (from out of conference),” Dayton said.

Dayton finished with 191 correct for the season with Claudette Fremin and Fredy Thomas finishing with 189 correct. Aubrey Derouen, Dana Viator, Jacob Daly, Barry Gudenrath and Harry Lopez each had 187 correct. A total of 135 players played at least one week.