McNeese State?s Louis Bonnette to Be Inducted into CoSIDA Hall of Fame
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ? McNeese State senior associate athletic director and sports information director Louis Bonnette will be inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame on Thursday, June 25, 2009, at the organization’s annual workshop to be held in San Antonio, Texas.
Bonnette is completing his 44th year as the SID at McNeese. Few people in college athletics ? either as an administrator or as a coach ? can match Bonnette’s tireless dedication and commitment to his craft. Fewer still can claim to have been a part of a family as dedicated to college athletics.
A native of Pineville, La., and a 1963 graduate of Louisiana Tech University with a degree in Journalism, Bonnette is a past two-term president of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association and has been the recipient of that association’s highest honor, the Mac Russo Award. He has received the Distinguished Service Award from the LSWA and has been inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, in the sports journalism division.
He is a member of the McNeese State Hall of Fame and has been inducted into the Southland Conference Hall of Honor. Bonnette served three years (1963-66) as the sports editor of the Louisiana edition of the Beaumont Enterprise newspaper and joined McNeese State in April, 1966.
Bonnette may be the only SID ever to have his school’s football field named after him, an honor bestowed on him in 2008. He has been a member of CoSIDA since 1966 and serves on the Academic All-American Committee and has worked a total of 493 straight football games for the Cowboys.
He and his wife, Willene, have been married for 43 years. It is a testament to Bonnette’s commitment, professionalism and that both of his sons, Michael and Matthew, are also sports information professionals. Michael is the Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information at LSU and Matthew is an Assistant SID at Northwestern State. Bonnette’s daughter, Anne, is a registered nurse.
Bonnette will be one of five sports information professionals to be inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame at the San Antonio Workshop. He joins Minnesota State Mankato’s Paul Allan, Union College’s Eric McDowell, South Carolina State University’s Bill Hamilton and Vanderbilt University’s Tammy Boclair in the Class of 2009.