The 2003 Lutcher Quarterback Club proudly enters its 55th year of
support for the Fighting Bulldogs. What
started out as a simple gathering of friends to talk about football has now
grown to become one of the premier high school booster clubs in the state, if
not the country. It all began when
Coach Norman Buckner made his return to coaching at Lutcher after completing
his duty in World War II. A group
of friends headed by Saul “Payee” Kliebert and including Amedee Richard,
Dr. A.J. Nobile, Fr. Robert Moran, Gerald Viator, Joe Sullivan, Scutter Schaubhut,
Pitt Gaudin, Lloyd Alexander, H.C. Alexander, Sr., G.C. Boucvalt, Martin Cunningham,
Joe Chenier, A.G. Gearheard, Eddie Bleakley, J.P. Veron, Sr., Joe Amato, Chink
Bourgeois, J.H. McMillion, Ben Loupe, Joe Lamendola, Sr., Fred Arras, Roland
Roussel, Gaston Brignac, Carl Bertrand, Claude Boudreaux, Sr., David Reynaud,
Louis Tircuit, Bob Pertuis, Dorrell Poche, Hubert Cazentre, Sr., Joe Pollet,
E.L. Roussel, J.F. Guglielmo, and others, (our apologies if we left anyone out,
we are going by some fading memories) who
had been gathering to discuss Lutcher Football, invited Coach Buckner to a supper
to get firsthand information. These
first organized meetings started around the 1948 season and were held in the
southeast portion of the gym, where there were about 8 burners available for
cooking. It was also about this time that David Reynaud, an avid LSU
supporter, Carl Bertrand, E.L. Roussel, J.F. Guglielmo, and Norman Buckner joined
the “Bengal Backers” to hear Gaynell Tinsley speak about LSU football.
They brought back the idea of the “Bengal Backers” and incorporated
it into their gatherings, whereby you paid for membership dues and your meal.
The first dues were $15.00 for the year, but this included your meals
for the entire season, and if necessary, payment could be made in two, $7.50
installments. The objective of
the club was to help raise money to buy the film to record the game, which would
be used as a teaching tool to help improve the team.
They also wanted to get some publicity for the Lutcher players, caught
in the fringe areas of the two major newspapers, so they invited the sports
writers for those papers.
From that meager beginning we have evolved
into a club that in some years has topped 200 in
memberships. This could not have happened without good
leadership. You would probably have to say that
“Payee” Kliebert was the first Chief Quarterback before
the club started official elections. The first elected
Chief Quarterback was Louis Brady, Jr. Following him were
David Reynaud, Russell Richard, J.E. Brignac, Louis Brady again,
L.J. St. Pierre, Floyd “Gizmo” Alleman, Kenneth
“Wop” Foret, Jared “Butsy” Martin, Wayne
Bourgeois, Jared Amato, “Butsy” Martin again, Milton
“Bud” Lambert, “Butsy” again, Mark
“Bird” Lambert, and our current CQB Jared Amato again.
We would like to thank all of our members for your support and
urge all inactive members to become active. We also extend
an invitation to those who are not members to come to a meeting
and join our group of supporters.