Barry Rubin back in the NFL world

Former Demon tight end Barry Rubin, who was an All-Louisiana standout during his playing days at NSU from 1978-80, is back in the NFL.

The Monroe native has joined the Philadelphia Eagles as assistant strength coach. He previously worked for 12 years for the Green Bay Packers, becoming their head strength coach when Mike Holmgren was head coach. With the last regime change and Mike McCarthy taking over for Mike Sherman, Rubin's philosophy didn't mesh with McCarthy's so he wasn't retained - despite being one of the 14 inaugural inductees into the USA Strength and Conditioning Coaches Hall of Fame along with trailblazing Baton Rouge icon Alvin Roy, Lou Reicke of New Orleans and 2008 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inductee and NSU graduate Gayle Hatch.

Rubin's return to the NFL came partly as a result of his long association with Eagles defensive line coach Pete Jenkins. The two worked together at LSU when Rubin headed up operations there in the mid-and-late 1980s while Jenkins was defensive line coach. They became fast friends and in fact were planning to have dinner Friday night in Philadelphia.

Jenkins, who is making plans to visit Natchitoches next month for the Hall of Fame induction of his former LSU player Leonard Marshall, was effusive in his admiration for Rubin, who he called one of the finest people and more outstanding coaches he's encountered in his long coaching career.

Dropping in to say hello

Two teammates, and roommates, on the Demons' 1962 Gulf States Conference championship football team dropped by the athletic fieldhouse Tuesday morning, then had lunch at The Landing with one of their former coaches, Walter Ledet.

One of the two posed for pictures at the fieldhouse -- Pro Football Hall of Fame member Jackie Smith. He and his dear friend Wayne Earp were in Natchitoches for a couple of days as Jackie filmed some segments for Tom Gresham's outdoors website.

Smith, who lives in St. Louis, makes appearances around the country promoting Hobie Cat boats. He was demonstrating the incredible ease and enjoyment of scooting about in a Hobie Cat kayak, which is a hands free craft powered by foot pedals. Check out the link: http://www.hobiecat.com/kayaking/index.html

Jackie got Wayne into a kayak and the Shreveport resident was amazed at how easily he operated the boat. He said it was more comfortable than sitting in his own bass boat.

Their first stop after arriving in Natchitoches Sunday was to check on their beloved assistant football coach, Slim Howell, who has been ill. Coach Howell was with family up in Arkansas.

Jackie was tickled to see the display in the foyer of the athletic fieldhouse commemorating his 1994 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement. The materials were brought back to NSU by then-athletic director Tynes Hildebrand, who attended the festivities in Canton.

Doug Ireland, SID

Oops!

A pair of miscues related to last week's "name those Demon legends" contest ...

...Jerry Dyes went to Fair Park High in Shreveport, not Byrd. He competed for Coach Carl R. Kight, says fellow Fair Park alumnus John Sims. Thanks, John!

... There was another correct answer submitted - by Mrs. E, the traffic director for football, baseball and track and field, administrative assistant Elizabeth Holloway. She deserves credit for figuring out the mystery -- which is something she does on a regular basis in her job!

First in wins, as it turns out

The drama was palpable Monday morning as everybody's favorite assistant coach, Coach Black, drew the winning entry in the "identify these NSU track greats" contest staged last week.

Now we can provide the caption to the picture above: NSC head track coach Walter Ledet (left) presents the Outstanding Field Athlete in the high school division award to Byrd High School's Jerry Dyes for his performance at the 1959 Northwestern Relays.

Submitting the correct identification of Ledet -- nicknamed "Cajun" during his playing days for NSU as a track and football athlete from 1934-38, owing to his Abbeville roots -- wasn't as challenging as identifying Dyes. A variety of other familiar NSU athletes who went into coaching, including Tynes Hildebrand and Dan Poole, were suggested.

But it was Dyes, who became kiddingly known as "Ace" during his coaching career at NSU because of his penchant for referring to nearly everybody as "Ace" or "Champ," who was the skinny young man accepting the award. The meet ended early as a result of a big storm.

Dyes, who was NSU's head coach from 1970-82, was just honored at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships, his last meet as a parttime assistant coach at Texas-San Antonio. He is stepping away from coaching. We'll see if that decision lasts! He was honored for his coaching career and for the fact that while competing for Abilene Christian, a charter member of the SLC, in the first ever Southland track championship in 1964, he was the high point scorer.

As the Demons' coach, Dyes tutored 14 all-Americans and led the Demons to a national runner-up finish at the 1976 NAIA Championships and an 11th-place finish at the 1981 NCAA Championships. His 1981 4x100-meter relay team, Victor Oatis , Joe Delaney, Mario Johnson and Mark Duper, won the NCAA title and set a then-Louisiana collegiate record time of 39.03 seconds. That foursome remains the only relay squad from a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) university to ever win an NCAA Division I national title.

Of course, Coach Ledet was our first football All-American in 1938, a No. 2 draft pick of Philadelphia in the 1939 NFL Draft, and is in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame chiefly because of his remarkable track coaching career, highlighted by five straight Gulf States Conference championships.

OK - enough history for now.

Correct answers in this contest were submitted by (in order) Gary DeBlieux, Leonard Endris, Leah Jackson, David Stamey, Elaine Guidry, Barry Aldredge, Dart Volz, and Lawrence Wilkins.

Those names went into a size 22 Shaquille O'Neal shoe that we have in the office (the shoe is a remnant of being the host of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame). The first name drawn twice was the winner - and it was the first person to answer correctly.

But with all the weight Gary's lost, I wonder if he KNOWS his T-shirt size! Congrats to all the correct respondents and especially to our buddy "Dub."

Rave reviews from a world class athlete

The refurbished Walter Ledet Track Complex and the administration of Saturday's NSU NCAA Qualifiers meet got a five-star endorsement from 2006 USA pole vault champion Russ Buller.

A week before, he was in Japan competing in a Grand Prix event. Next week, he'll head to California for another star-studded competition, with the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., also on his short list before the USA Olympic Trials at the same location this summer.

Buller is trying to earn a trip to Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games. Competing at NSU Saturday helped him down that path, he said.

"This is just a great, great facility. The track is super fast, the field event venues are great and it's a nice, relaxed competition," said Buller after clearing 18-4 1/2 to break the oldest Ledet Complex record, dating back to 1976.

He said he was fortunate to find NSU was hosting a meet that would welcome him for a competition. The weather in Japan was horrible, "raining like it does here (in Louisiana)," said the Westlake native, and 40-degree temperatures.

He took one attempt, clearing 17-8, to qualify for his Grand Prix points and prize money. Coming to Northwestern allowed him the opportunity to warm up, train and then compete (even if there wasn't a challenge from other vaulters, all whom no heighted before Buller entered the competition).

"I couldn't have had this experience anywhere else today. It was a couple of hours up the road, great weather, great people putting on the event. Coach (Leon) Johnson has always been so good for track and field in this state," he said.

Buller said he almost was a Demon.

"He recruited me and I was about to come, until I cleared some better heights and LSU got interested enought to offer me some good scholarship money," he said.

It worked out well for the Tigers. Buller was the 2000 NCAA champion and he had to wait until Saturday to compete at the Ledet Complex and make his mark on its proud history.

The vault record by John Barrier, a Demon legend who was close to being an Olympian himself as a decathlete, stood for 22 years. It wouldn't surprise if Buller's mark lasts that long, unless NSU can capitalize on a suggestion he made to Johnson.

"This is a good time in the competitive schedule for American vaulters. With this facility, this weather, this community, you might be able to turn this into something to attract a lot of top-caliber athletes," he said.

Whatever the future holds, Buller said he and his wife, sixth representing Canada in the pole vault in the 2004 Olympic Games, will be back to visit Natchitoches.

"We were living out west but came back this way. I want to get up here and enjoy the Christmas Festival. I've never been able to do that," he said.

If he can make the Olympic team, he would be a prime candidate to ride in the parade.

Doug Ireland, SID