C’est Vrai: Great passer had pretty good receiver on other end

A while back, I wrote about the remarkable passing record compiled by Chris "Keener" Cagle, arguably the greatest athlete ever to set foot on a SLI-USL-UL playing field.

In his career at UL, he scored 235 points from touchdowns, extra points and field goals, a school record that lasted until 1989. The "boys from Southwestern," as a newspaper writer named them, claimed a world record based upon his passing ability in 1924.

Sportswriter John B. Foster wrote about it in The New York Sun:

"In 1924, Southwestern, with a total of 125 forward passes, completed 67 successfully. … The students and coaches of the institute are quite sure that they made a world’s record when they did it."

That prompted Jesse Johnson of Ville Platte to ask, "What good is a pass without a successful receiver?"

He said that the guy at the other end of many of Cagle’s passes was his father-in-law, Eddie Perron of Ville Platte.

According to Margaret Perron Johnson, her father caught the longest forward pass thrown by Cagle while he was at SLI.

Perron went on to teach and served as Evangeline Parish tax assessor from 1940 to 1948 and then served in the Legislature during the Jimmy Davis administration.

He died in 2001 at 97.

"He wanted to live to be 100," Margaret Perron Johson said, "but he didn’t make that record."

C’est Vrai means "it’s true." Read senior writer Jim Bradshaw’s observations on Acadiana’s history and people each weekday at theadvertiser.com. Reach him at 289-6315 or jbradshaw@theadvertiser.com.

Jim Bradshaw, Daily Advertiser, September 14, 2007