Fred Guillot – Health and Physical Education, 1964

Fred Guillot

1964 – Health & Physical Education

I am forever grateful to some of my high school teachers, who were graduates of Southwestern, for urging me to consider enrolling there.  Mr. Lloyd Smith, Mr. Carlys Sibille, the late Mrs. Myrtle Castille Smith, and, Mr. Hunter English, also deceased.  They came to Port Allen High School from SLI.  They were well trained and prepared teachers who saw to it that their students acquired the necessary foundation and encouraged them to pursue their academic goals with confidence.

I remember my first day at USL, then known as SLI.  It was June of 1960, there was no such thing as the ACT, so all beginning freshmen were tested for placement.  We were lined up in the Quad and ushered into the Library to begin processing.  As tradition dictated, all of the males had their heads shaved and donned their red “S” beanies.  We were recruited by members of the student government to join a group of students to go to the State Legislature, then in session in Baton Rouge, to lobby for Southwestern to be designated as a university.

That summer, there were weekly dances in the Stu; the Boogie Kings were featured at most of them.  I earned my Water Safety Instructor certification at the Girard Park Pool.  My first class was College Algebra; the instructor was Ms. LaSalle, a legend even then; the classroom was in “Little Abbeville”.  I discovered it was true; she really could work problems on the board writing with her right hand at the same time she was erasing with her left.  This amazing feat was one I had heard about while still in high school.

                As a Physical Education major, some of my fondest memories were from the clinic for physically and mentally challenged kids, supervised by Dr. Bowers.  I do not remember what the official name was.  I often wonder about the youngster named Chuck, who I worked with for two years until I graduated.  I was glad to see that Marty Bourg, one of my classmates, was memorialized by the Department and the University.   Some of the others I remember and read about now and then are:  Larry Dautrieve, Bob Cutrer, Mickey Guidry, Bob Morgan, Al Joseph and my wrestling partner, Hal Lebouef.  I wonder how many intramural events we officiated for $2 a game over a four year period.  If memory serves me, Ed Dugas used to work in Intramurals and scheduled officials.

                Speaking of officiating, I will never forget the basketball games I refereed with Carol “Cotten” Ducote in her home Parish of Avoyelles.  We usually refereed a girls then a boys game.  Her parents always had supper waiting after the games, no matter how late it was.  Cotten was one of the few lady officials allowed to call boys games.  If you can remember that far back, the girls game was basically a three-on-three half court game.  The rules were quite different from boys rules and many of the Catholic school leagues still had the “two dribble” rule.

                Who can forget Fall registration at the Coliseum, lined up in the chutes in the barn.  And the “sage” academic advisors who saw to it you had a full load of at least 18 or 19 hours with at least one Saturday class.   How about the three absences per class, and eleven total absences rule; does anybody know why that “law” was mandated by the Legislature for all state colleges and universities?

                Other memories I have are these:

                                -We would go to Evangeline Bakery for a “hot loaf” late night snack.

                                -The Pitt Grill opened on Pinhook.

                                -Dave’s Top Hat was on Pinhook.

                                -Roy and Caffery Halls were the newest men’s dorms.

                                -Cecil the “Sandwich Man” came through the dorms every night.

                                -There were dorms named A, B, and C.

                                -Mom Peterson got a mink coat for Christmas.

                                -The USL Laundry

                                -Dupre Library was built.

                                -The four lane from Opelousas opened.

                                -The Freeze of  ’62 when we didn’t have to take final exams and

                                -Cypress Lake frozen over and ice skaters were featured in Life Magazine.

                                -Voorhies’ New Roof Garden

                                -Lil Bob and the Lolly Pops

                                -Four Corners, The Pat, Jacobs, and Toby’s Oak Grove.

                                -Hopper’s

                                -The Buckhorn

                                -Don’s

                                -Borden’s

                                -All freshmen non-commuter females had to live in dorms.

                After graduating from USL in 1964, I taught and coached at Fatima High School.  Phil Stoma was head coach, and Andy Russo was the basketball coach.  In February of 1965, I was summoned by my local draft board.  I applied and was accepted by the Air Force for pilot training.  During my 20 year career in the Air Force I flew two combat tours in Vietnam; both in fighters.  I was assigned to bases in Okinawa, Korea, and Japan for three years after serving my first tour in Vietnam.  One of the most rewarding assignments was as a Flight Instructor at the Fighter Weapons School, Nellis Air Force Base, near Las Vegas, Nevada in the  program.  Instructional systems design, lesson planning, and assessment in a highly technical environment with the best equipment and academic support systems was the daily routine.  Because of the excellent teacher training and preparation I received at USL, the instructor part came easy.  This allowed me to concentrate on learning to fly the most sophisticated fighter in the world, while my colleagues were learning to become teachers.  Many of the coaching methods and techniques I learned as a physical educator, I also employed as a coach and instructor in the air.  The  was a $30 million aircraft; there was no room for error; the teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom was proved by his students’ effectiveness in the air.

                After a rewarding and exciting eight years in the cockpit, the Air Force sent me to Pepperdine University at Malibu, California, where I earned a Masters in Human Resources Management.  My Air Force career ended in 1985 when I retired from the Reserves.  I left active duty in 1977.  Because of my background and training in physical education, I was always given the additional duty of squadron or wing physical training and aerobics officer.  At England Air Force Base in Alexandria, I served as Chief of Social Actions.  I was responsible for the race relations, substance abuse, and equal opportunity and treatment programs.

                After leaving active duty at England Air Force Base, I entered the private business sector in Alexandria, and opened the Courtyard Health and Racquet Club in 1978.  Henry Kinberger, a USL graduate, was President of Security Bank, and helped me with financing.  Marty Masden, another USL alum, was my CPA.  I also enrolled in Graduate School at Northwestern and obtained a plus 30 in Physical Education.  My first research class there was taught by Dr. Robert Alost, then the department chair of E.  Dr. Carolyn Spears who was, and still is, at Louisiana College, helped me start an exercise physiology and aerobics program at the Courtyard.  She was instrumental in getting Alton Oschner to come to Alexandria to consult on the design of a public fitness trail.  Roy Gentry and Gordon Coker from Nortwestern also worked with me to establish internships for E students.  Although these folks were not all USL graduates, they were leaders in our profession, and I know they probably crossed paths with many USL graduates in the education profession.

                When I sold the racquet club in 1980, I moved to Baton Rouge, and became a manufacturing representative for a Minneapolis based company in its sports wall division.  I was responsible for nine states in the Southeastern U.S. where I consulted with architects, lenders, and contractors in the health club construction industry.  One of my clients was Cajun Court Club in Lafayette.  I also consulted on the design of the Student Recreation Complex at Louisiana Tech.  In 1982, I returned to teaching at my alma mater, Port Allen High School, where Ed Dugas had left his mark as a teacher and coach.  After two years there, I went to the Department of Corrections and was a teacher at Louisiana Training Institute (LTI) Baton Rouge for four years.  In 1986, I completed a second masters, this one in Computer Science at Southern University.  Dr. James Oliver was one of my instructors and served on my thesis committee.  I taught at Northdale Magnet Academy, Alternative School, Baton Rouge, from 1987 until I accepted a position at Southeastern Louisiana University as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science in 1989.  I have completed all but the dissertation at LSU and will receive the Ph.D in Educational Leadership and Research in May of this year.  I am currently Director of Academic Computing at Southeastern, a position I have held since July 1997.

                My wife, Blanche, and I have adopted a son, Devin, who is five and really keeps us young.  We both have children from previous marriages–three for her and two for me–from which we have four grandchildren.  Blanche is a graduate of Southeastern and is a teacher at Glen Oaks High School in Baton Rouge.  I will not reveal her age; however, she was a student at Glen Oaks High when Mel Didier and the late Dan “Sonny” Roy were coaches there.  Blanche is in the process of starting a charter school in Tangipahoa Parish.