All In The (SID) Family: CoSIDA Hall of Famer Louis Bonnette To Watch Sons Face Off Saturday
College Sports Information Directors of America
Retired SID Louis Bonnette was the the long-time award-winning sports information director at McNeese State, serving 46 years at the school. Bonnette was elected into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2009. His athletic communications legacy continues as a family affair. Upon his retirement, he was was succeeded by his son Matthew, who becomes McNeese State’s second sports information director. His son, Michael, is the LSU Associate AD/Communications Director. Both handle SID duties for their respective football programs. Bonnette and his wife, Willene, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in June 2013.
On Saturday, Sept. 5, McNeese and LSU will meet on the gridiron, pitting the SID brothers against each other in the pressbox.
In 2012, The Louis Bonnette Sports Media Award was created by the Southland Conference. It is presented annually to an individual that has made an outstanding contribution in the field of sports information, print journalism, broadcasting or other media focused on the Southland Conference and/or its member institutions.
Feature and main graphic photo courtesy of www.sportsnola.com
See online: Proud father, PR legend Louis Bonnette to watch sons face off Saturday, by Lenny Vangilder
If Archie Manning is the patriarch of the first family of quarterbacks, then Louis Bonnette is the Archie Manning of college sports information directors.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Louis Bonnette said earlier this week. “Archie Manning was a heckuva football player.”
Bonnette was in charge of sports publicity at McNeese State University for nearly a half-century before retiring in 2012, when he was replaced by his youngest son, Matthew. His oldest son, Michael, is a senior associate athletic director and manages publicity efforts for LSU’s football team.
Matthew’s path was more circular. After working in television production and later getting his degree from McNeese, he went to work at Division II Henderson State University in Arkansas. He returned to Louisiana a year later as an assistant SID at Northwestern State in Natchitoches.
Matthew was completing his ninth year on Doug Ireland’s staff at NSU when Louis Bonnette announced he would retire after a 46-year run at McNeese in which he earned induction into the CoSIDA and Louisiana Sports Halls of Fame and had the football field at Cowboy Stadium and the Southland Conference’s annual sports media award named in his honor.
Huge shoes to fill indeed. But as it turned out, only the first name on the door to Bonnette’s office would have to change.
“When I retired, the only one (then-McNeese athletic director) Tommy McClelland even thought about was Matthew,” Louis said.
Willene Bonnette retired earlier this year, which is giving the Bonnettes a chance to spend more time with their grandchildren.
“When I was working and she was working,” Louis said, “it was seven days a week.”
On Saturday night, he gets to watch his two sons – his living legacy, if you will – in action.
“You think about them following in your footsteps, but in reality, they made their own footsteps,” Louis Bonnette said. “We’re very proud of them. It’s a shame they both can’t win.”