NATCHITOCHES — While music at the Natchitoches Jazz Fest provided thousands with an enjoyable Saturday experience downtown, while two visitors provided plenty of inspirational stories and good humor at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum.
Louie Cook, who is continuing a 52-year football coaching career, and author Gaylon White were spellbinding and entertaining in a free 75-minute presentation at the museum Saturday afternoon.
White has written a book, “Coach of a Lifetime,” that chronicles Cook’s life and reaches far beyond football stories. Saturday’s museum program followed that theme.
White, a Los Angeles native and University of Oklahoma graduate who now lives in Kingsport, Tenn., is a former Denver Post and Arizona Republic sportswriter who also spent decades in corporate public relations for major corporations such as Hallmark Cards, Goodyear and Eastman Kodak. He has written four other books.
Cook has won over 400 games in 41 seasons as a high school football head coach. He has been at Notre Dame of Crowley since 1997 and said as long as he can continue to have positive influence on young people, he will continue in that role.
He stresses family values and faith with his players and all those surrounding the Pioneers’ program. Three of his former players have become priests, along with a host of others who are leading happy and successful lives in a variety of roles and fields.
White said it was his idea, not Cook’s, to write the book, which is published by the international firm of Bookman & Littlefield and has attracted national attention. He became aware of Cook while visiting Crowley doing research for another book.
This one has been well received nationally.
“I’d never heard of Lewis Cook before, but now, thanks to Gaylon White’s book, I won’t forget him,” wrote Jerry Izenberg, a nationally-renowned sportswriter based in Newark, N.J.
During Saturday’s presentation, Cook shared a fascinating series of stories from his life, most from his coaching career, and reflected on the evolution of education and leadership in our society. He said teachers and coaches face unprecedented responsibilities today and more than ever need the support and most of all, the involvement, of parents and family members in the lives of students.
The book is available on Amazon.
Cook, inducted in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2018, will return to Natchitoches for the 2025 LSHOF Induction Celebration June 26-28, he said, to support his friends and 2025 inductees Danny Broussard, basketball coach at Lafayette’s St. Thomas More Catholic School, and former LSU and Alabama coach Nick Saban.