Caravan gives local alumni a chance to reminisce about Nicholls

Morgan City banker R. Scott Melancon and his wife Cecilia are Nicholls State graduates. Their two sons attended the state’s flagship university.

“I tell them that it was the Nicholls State degrees that paid for the LSU degrees,” Melancon said.

That’s what Thursday night was all about at the Petroleum Club of Morgan City – celebrating the connection between St. Mary and Nicholls State.

The Colonel Caravan rolled in for an event hosted by the Atchafalaya Colonels, the local Nicholls alumni group. It was part pep rally, part PR event and part college reunion.

Melancon is on the advisory board for the Nicholls Business Department, of which he’s a fan.

“It’s a good small school – quality,” he said.

One of Thursday’s attractions was a talk by Nicholls State head football coach Tim Rebowe, who has turned the Colonels into Southland Conference contenders.

CPA Barry Dufrene likes the way Rebowe works.

“He tries to recruit talent from the area,” Dufrene said. “And that brings out the fans.”

Dufrene said he didn’t go to football games when he was a Nicholls student. But “you start going to the games and it’s a great atmosphere.”

He also likes the way Nicholls has made itself part of the community, including the training of teachers.

“It’s a great catalyst,” he said.

One talented player recruited by another Nicholls coach was Clarence Robinson, who is now the housing authority director for both Morgan City and Berwick. He gets credit from other local officials for straightening out both authorities.

Nicholls, Robinson said, “is my heart and soul.”

Robinson was a Nicholls State defensive back in the mid-Eighties under head coach Sonny Jackson. The team went 10-3 in 1986 and beat Appalachian State in the first round of the Division 1-AA playoffs before falling to eventual national champion Georgia Southern.

As Robinson spoke of his playing days, former teammate Keith Menard wandered over. Menard, recruited by Jackson from Rayne, remembered Jackson’s ability to find talent in south Louisiana.

“Sonny Jackson gave you every opportunity in the world,” Menard said.

Robinson remembers Nicholls for more than just football.

“It’s the best kept secret in Louisiana,” he said. “If you go back now and talk to the faculty that is still there, they’ll know who you are.”

Morgan City is the last Colonel Caravan stop of the year after New Orleans, Houma and Baton Rouge. Thursday's stop drew nearly 80 people, including state Supreme Court Chief Justice John L. Weimer, Berwick Mayor Duval Arthur, Councilwoman Colleen Askew of Berwick, Morgan City Councilmen Lou Tamporello and Tim Hymel, Morgan City Court Judge Kim Stansbury, Morgan City Chief Administrative Officer Charlie Solar and St. Mary School Board President Kenny Alfred.

They heard Rebowe talk about the Colonels’ upcoming season, which starts with six straight road games. The first will be Sept. 3 at South Alabama.

Rebowe joked at the top that he doesn’t want to talk about the transfer portal. But the question is tough to avoid after the loss of much-traveled Zachary product Lindsey Scott.

Scott, who passed for 3,767 yards in 18 games at Nicholls through 2021, entered the portal in January and transferred to Incarnate Word in San Antonio.

“College athletics is going crazy …,” Rebowe said. “It’s getting tougher and tougher to keep a team together.”

Nicholls will rely on the quarterback play of Kohen Granier, a 6-1, 200-pound senior from Destrehan, pushed by Leonard Kelly, a 6-1, 195-pounder from New Orleans.

The east St. Mary athletes on the spring 2022 Nicholls roster are Brooks Thomas, a redshirt-sophomore wide receiver, redshirt freshman defensive back Hugh Gregory Hamer, and sophomore tight end Nathan Hebb, all of Central Catholic; senior defensive lineman Deondre Diggs of Patterson; and redshirt freshman linebacker Hayden Seneca from Berwick.