Two former athletes who went on to distinguished careers after their playing days were done and two former coaches who whose goals always went beyond simply winning were elected to the New Iberia Senior High Athletics Hall of Fame and will be honored today at the Yellow Jackets’ home game against crosstown rival Westgate.

Voted into the hall in the school’s fifth such class are Verge Ausberry, an All-State linebacker for the Jackets in 1984 who now serves as LSU’s Senior Associate Athletics Director of Operations; Corey Raymond, an All-State defensive back in 1987 who now serves as LSU’s secondary coach; Donald Batiste, who coached the NISH boys’ basketball team to six district championships and three Top 28 appearances in his 16 years at the school; and Joel McFarland, who led the Yellow Jackets to two state track championships and three state runner-up finishes.

A panel of former coaches who served at least five years at NISH nominates former players and coaches for the Hall of Fame, and the panel as well as Hall of Fame members vote on the class each year.

Former Yellow Jackets head football coach and athletic director Bobby Keasler and former football and track standout Johnny Hector were elected to the Hall of Fame in the first class in 2007. Former NISH athlete and track coach Eddie Sorrel and former NISH football and track standout Kerry Joseph were inducted in 2008. Brian Brown, a NISH track and basketball player; Margaret Romero, who coached New Iberia to two state volleyball and one girls’ basketball state championship; and Fay “T-Model” Thurman, who coached the NISH baseball team to two state titles, were inducted in 2009. Longtime NISH athletics trainer John Williams was elected in 2010. They were joined by former NISH football coach Gordon King, two-time state championship baseball coach Joe Jefferson and former NISH football/baseball player Gary Joseph in 2011.

McFarland, who spearheaded the creation of the Hall of Fame, said the Hall of Fame panel looks to honor coaches who made a big impact on the lives of their student-athletes and former athletes who went on to success beyond their athletic careers as role models for current NISH athletes.

He encourages anyone who played alongside Raymond or Ausberry, or who played for or coached with Batiste and himself, to attend today’s football game. A reception will be held for the inductees prior to the game in a tent next to the stadium, with induction ceremonies scheduled for halftime.

Batiste

“Coach Bat” led the Yellow Jackets to district titles in 1982 and from 1990-94; to the state quarterfinals in 1982 and ’90; and to the Top 28 in 1991, ’93  and ’94. He was named district Coach of the Year in each of his district championship seasons and was the coach for the West All-Stars in 1991 and a national Coach of the Year finalist in 1992.

He also was an assistant football coach until his final couple of seasons at NISH, where he coached from 1978-94, and an assistant track coach, where he helped coach four athletes to seven individual state titles in jumping events. Fifteen of his athletes received college scholarships.

It was in helping his athletes that he got the most joy from coaching, Batiste said.

“Basketball has always been good to me,” said Batiste. “I let the kids know basketball could open the doors to their lives. Quite a few of them benefited from that.”

The game opened doors for him as well. Born in the Youngsville-Broussard-Cade area to parents with little education themselves, Batiste grew up in a household that stressed academics as a way to improve his life. The family moved to Lafayette around 1947 when he was about five years old.

“My dad couldn’t read his name if it was written on a boxcar,” said Batiste. “My mom had a fifth-grade education.”

But Batiste earned a basketball scholarship to school in Little Rock, where he played for a year before transferring to Grambling State University. Batiste said he didn’t play basketball at GSU, instead working his way through college with financial help from his parents, who also helped his older sister earn her college degree. Though not as expensive as it is now, college was still a major expense in the 1950s and ’60s for a working family.

Batiste grew close to many of his coaching colleagues at New Iberia, including King, Jefferson, Keasler and Sorrel. He helped Sorrel coach the track team, bringing many of his basketball players to compete in the jumps.

McFarland

Coaching at NISH from 1993-98, McFarland led the Jackets to district titles in five of those six seasons (1993-94, 1996-98) and regional championships in five seasons (1994-98). The Yellow Jackets won state track titles in 1994 and ’98 and were runners-up in ’95, ’96 and ’97.

He was named district Coach of the Year five times, Acadiana Coach of the Year in 1994 and ‘’98, and Louisiana Coach of the Year in 1998, and coached 15 athletes to individual state titles.

McFarland served as NISH assistant principal from 2006-11 and currently works for the Iberia Parish School Board office.

He attributes the success the Yellow Jackets track team had to having a great group of kids come through the school.

“Good kids as well as good athletes,” said McFarland. The system the coaches put in stressed athletes trying to be the best they could be, he said.

“We wanted to be district champions but that wasn’t enough,” he said. “We wanted to compete for state titles.

“But first and foremost it was the kids. I think our kids just really bought into making Senior High track the best it could be.”

Some years NISH brought only a handful of athletes to the state meet, but most competed in multiple events, and were successful in those events, which helped the Jackets to top finishes as a team. Having guys like Marcus Clavelle, who could be counted on to win state titles in two throwing events every year, was a big part of it, McFarland said.

“We wanted to be the best.”

Ausberry

Ausberry played football and competed in track at NISH from 1982-85, earning All-District honors in 1983-84 and All-State honors in 1984. He was an All-District and All-Acadiana track selection in the shot put.

He went on to play football at LSU from 1985-89, lettering all four seasons and helping the Tigers win SEC championships in 1986 and ’88. While at LSU he played in the Gator Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Hall of Fame Bowl.

After finishing his athletic career, Ausberry worked at LSU’s Academic Center for Athletics from 1990-97, then the Tiger Athletic Foundation from 1999-2001. He served as Associate Athletics Director of Operations at LSU from 2001-06 and has since served as the Senior Associate Athletics Director of Operations. Among his jobs is helping arrange the LSU football schedule.

Raymond

Raymond earned All-District honors in two of his three seasons playing football at NISH (1986-87) and was the District Defensive MVP in 1987, when he also earned All-State honors.

He went on to play cornerback for LSU from 1987-91 with the Tigers winning the SEC championship in 1988. He then played for the New York Giants (1992-95) and Detroit Lions (1995-97) before returning to New Iberia to begin his coaching career.

His stops included NISH in 2003 and Westgate from 2003-05. He served as an assistant coach at LSU in 2009, then at Utah State from 2009-11, Indiana (2011) and Nebraska (2011-12) before joining LSU’s staff as defensive backs coach prior to this season.

McFarland said the selection of Ausberry and Raymond points out one of the main goals of the NISH Athletics Hall of Fame.

“That’s what we’re really trying to let these kids (at NISH) see is it’s not just athletically, it’s what you do when you leave athletics,” said McFarland. “I think Verge and Corey represent the school very well, when they were here, but moreso when they left, in the way they represent themselves, the way they’ve handled themselves.”

The Hall of Fame induction typically is held at New Iberia’s first home game and was scheduled originally for the season opener against St. Martinville. When that game was moved to Lafayette because of poor field conditions at Lloyd G. Porter Stadium after weeks of rain, the Hall of Fame ceremony was pushed back to the next home game, which is today’s contest against Westgate.