Don Boniol, at age 83 and homebound with various health issues, got a surprise visit last week from Joe Moreau and a cluster of friends or former players that lifted his spirits.
Moreau, a legendary local high school track and field and cross-country coach who’s now the chief of discipline at Grace Christian Academy, delivered the news that Boniol had been elected to the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame. Moreau was representing the Hall of Fame selection committee, of which he is a member.
“This honor happened thanks to a lot of hard work,” Boniol told me at his Pineville home a day or two later. Boniol, who once embodied hard work, is trying to be “restful” these days. He said he has so many maladies he can’t remember them all, but his wife of 57 years, Linda, said his foremost challenge is acute stage 5 kidney disease.
“I do what the doctors tell me and try to get a lot of rest,” said Boniol, who takes multiple naps each day.
His honor revived memories of his splendid coaching career at many schools, highlighted by 19 years at Alexandria Senior High from 1986-2004. During that time, he coached his teams to 383 victories, including a 47-game winning streak that spanned three seasons, from 1998 to 2000. He guided the Trojans to back-to-back undefeated state championship seasons in 1988 and ’89.
The ’89 team stands out in my memory as a dream team. As a member of the LSWA’s all-state selection committee that year, the other members of the committee understandably got a bit upset with me for nominating so many ASH players for that honor. Consider the starting lineup he had (position and batting average with each name): Ben Jones, CF, .587; Mike Crenshaw, LF, .324; Chris Gatlin, RF, .390; Charlie Jones, 3B, .460; Todd Nash, 1B, .557; Rick Ducote, SS, .367; Robert Barnes, DH, .400; Daniel Tomlin, 2B, .430; Chris Boniol, C, .388 (Don’s oldest of two sons); and Ed Woods, P, 15-0.
For opposing pitchers, there was no relief facing ASH’s lineup. It was a “Murderer’s Row.” For opposing batters, especially when facing Woods, the premier starting pitcher, it was like being fed diet bean soup. Woods had 136 strikeouts and a 2.58 earned run average. Woods, incidentally, went on to play for Northwestern State and helped the Demons, under then head coach Jim Wells, win Southland Conference regular-season championships in 1991, ’93 and ’94.
An unprecedented seven guys from that ’89 ASH team made all-state, including three first-team selections: Jones, a repeat selection; Nash and Woods. Tomlin, Ducote, Crenshaw and Boniol got honorable mention all-state recognition. Jones went on to a solid collegiate career at Louisiana Tech, including being named a Freshman All-American.
Boniol had 25 players go on to play in college, a few others enjoyed time in professional baseball in the minors and two Trojans made it to the major leagues – pitcher Greg Smith (most notably the ’08 season with Oakland) and base-stealing guru, World Series champion and Louisiana Sports Hall of Famer Juan Pierre.
To coach such players, Boniol relied on the tips and advice others passed on to him.
“I learned from Jerry Lavespere (Menard’s head baseball coach during Don’s time as a player) and Skip Bertman,” said Boniol, who ran the high school section of former LSU baseball coach Skip Bertman’s summer camps in Baton Rouge for many years. “I brought Skip’s philosophy to my squad,” said Boniol. “He was such a fundamentalist. He taught the fundamentals of the game. He was a top-notch coach, and it showed. All he did was win. And Jerry Lavespere was the same. He stressed fundamentals, and I learned a lot from him.”
Boniol played first base under Lavespere and helped Menard win a state championship in 1960 (a repeat state title). He was best known for his long, graceful stretches at first base to snag infielders’ throws, nullifying many potential base hits. He was named to the Class AA all-state team after his senior season. He didn’t play only baseball, either. As a senior he was the school’s first four-sport letterman in many years. He played three charmed seasons in college at Louisiana-Monroe (then Northeast Louisiana University) and later served his alma mater as an assistant coach to Bob Raxsdale when Menard’s Eagles won a state championship in 1975.
Coaching was where he gained most of his renown, and in 2018 he was inducted into the Louisiana Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame – in the same class with his esteemed mentor, Skip Bertman, and LBCA founder and former Bertman assistant at LSU, Duane “Beetle” Bailey. By the time of that award, though, Boniol had transitioned to coaching girls’ basketball at Grace Christian – a sport he had previously coached many years earlier at Bolton and Menard, and he led Grace to a surprising state runner-up finish in Division IV.
Yet another honor came in 2010 when he was coaching at Alexandria Country Day. Louisiana’s first lady Supriya Jindal and Alexandria Mayor Jacques Roy came to the school to honor him for his lifetime of dedication in making a difference in children’s lives. In connection with that honor, he won a drawing that enabled him and Linda free airline tickets to any city of their choosing for a four-night stay.
“And he chose Fenway Park,” said Linda of the iconic ballpark for the Boston Red Sox. “Juan Pierre was there playing for the opposing team the night we went to Fenway, and he came to the fence and talked with us, which was a real thrill for Don.”
With the news of this latest award he will be receiving officially in April of 2027, Boniol was nothing but grateful.
“I appreciate everything everybody has done for us – those who stood behind me, stood behind the ball club,” he said. “Thank God I had ’em. It’s been a blessing to have all those people support us.”