It was no secret that former mayor Bobby Bodin was a big supporter of New Iberia Senior High athletics.

He was well-known for sitting with the students leading the harrassment of opposing teams and referees.

 He was the public address announcer for the Jackets and did many baseball and football games as away of keeping involved and supporting his Jackets.

So his passing right before the school year started was a deeply flet blow to all who knew him.

So when the baseball season started in February, NISH baseball coach Robby Norris knew that he and the team had to do something special to honor his memory.

“We had a player, Tim DeClouet, play for us last year and that was his grandfather and everyboyd knew that,” said Norris. “He was our PA announcer who announced all of our games for us the last couple of years and he was a big supporter of the program.”

Norris added that Bodin was always around, always willing to help.

“His passing was an unfortunate circumstance that nobody saw coming,” said the NISH coach. “He was already fired up to announce our games against for the third straight year.

“So when everything happened we wanted to something special.”

Norris said that he reached out to DeClouet and talked to the family and then got the team together to do something special for the family and for Bodin’s memory.

“We wanted to do something more than the what you normally do. So what we did was get together to dedicate the season to him,” said Norris. 

What the team did was give the family a plaque and officially announce that the 2017 NISH baseball season would be dedicated to Bodin to honor all he did for the baseball team.

“We know that he was looking down on us and I’m sure that he had a lot to do with the season this year,” said Norris.

After all was said and done, NISH finished the season with a 15-10 record, the 11th seed in the Class 5A playoffs and the first home playoff game in a decade which will be played Tuesday night.

“I’m sure that he would have loved what we accomplished this season,” said Norris. 

“He would have enjoyed the big wins we had on this field and us going to Sulphur and Barbe and the big wins we had on the road.

“He always said that if you could win at those places, you can win anywhere.”