Football: UL to honor Thomas with helmet sticker

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, November 12, 2014

In its road game Saturday night at UL Monroe, the UL football team will be pay homage to ex-Crowley High, UL and Minnesota Vikings defensive back Orlando Thomas.

Thomas, 42, lost a lengthy battle with ALS on Sunday.

"We’re gonna wear a helmet sticker with his initials," Ragin’ Cajuns coach Mark Hudspeth said Tuesday.

That’s not all.

Hudspeth is having a highlight video of Thomas’ college and pro career compiled for Cajun players to watch sometime before they face the Warhawks.

"I want our team to know more about Orlando Thomas’ legacy, and what he meant to this team and this community," Hudspeth said. "Because (from) everything I’ve heard, not only was he a great player; he was a great human being, just a great ambassador for his city of Crowley and then for our program."

The last time the Cajuns wore a similar special helmet sticker, it was a Blue Dog honoring famed local artist George Rodrigue, who died shortly before UL’s 2013 New Orleans Bowl win over Tulane.