Four Cajuns to Be Inducted Into The Athletic Hall of Fame

Brian McCann, Sports Information Director, October 31, 2013

Contact:  Brian McCann

Four former Ragin’ Cajun standouts, each of whom made a huge impact in their sports during their careers, will receive the university’s highest athletic honor during Homecoming activities on Saturday (Nov. 2) when they are enshrined into the Louisiana Athletic Hall of Fame at halftime of the Ragin’ Cajuns game against New Mexico State.

Baseball standout Gene Bacque (1956-57), softball star Lynn Britton (1993-96), men’s basketball standout Sydney Grider (1988-90) and football star Andy Martin (1979-82) will join 138 former inductees into the Hall, following their selection by the Ragin’ Cajun Lettermen Club executive board earlier this year.

The four will be honored at a reception on Friday, Nov. 1, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. during Louisiana’s Homecoming week activities. They will also appear in the Saturday morning parade and will hold an autograph session two hours before Louisiana’s Homecoming football game at the Alumni Tent next to Cajun Field. The group will be formally introduced as Hall of Fame members during halftime of Louisiana’s 4 p.m. contest against New Mexico State.

This year’s Hall of Fame group includes one athlete who made an impact both at then-USL and internationally, one who achieved a singular distinction in Louisiana’s storied softball program, one whose basketball abilities still have him ranked second in NCAA history in his specialty, and one whose football defensive talents and unmatched effort led him to honors that belied his lack of size.

"It is an outstanding group," said Tom Carroll, Ragin’ Cajun Lettermen Club president. "Our goal every year is to remind each new generation of athletes of the tradition they must uphold and the ideals they should strive for while wearing a Cajun uniform. These four definitely do that."

Bacque pitched for two years on the then-USL baseball squad in 1956-57, earning first-team All-Gulf States Conference honors in his sophomore year in 1957 as a pitcher. Following that year, he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers and spent four seasons in the minor leagues before taking his talents to an international stage in the Nippon Pro Baseball league in Japan in 1962.

Bacque pitched in Japan for seven years, and at that time was the best-known American player in the Nippon League for most of that stretch as a member of the Hanshin Tigers. He won over 100 games in those seven years, including a standout season in 1964 when he finished with a 29-9 record and a 1.88 earned run average in 353 1/3 innings of work. He had 24 complete games and over 200 strikeouts that season and was named winner of the prestigious Sawamura Award – the equivalent of major league baseball’s Cy Young Award.

Bacque, who earned his bachelor’s degree in 1962 before heading to Japan, followed his retirement from playing by joining the USL staff and serving as a Cajun assistant and pitching coach under both Bob Banna and Don Lockwood from 1971-78.

Britton was a four-year softball standout from 1993-96 as a third baseman, and in the impressive history of the Cajun softball program she remains the only player ever to earn four-time first-team All-America honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

Britton also led the Cajuns of coach Yvette Girouard to three trips to the Women’s College World Series in four years, and as a senior in 1996 she was named to the Women’s College World Series all-tournament team. She was also a key member as a freshman on the 1993 squad that made its first-ever WCWS appearance and finished third nationally.

She was also a four-time All-South and All-Louisiana selection, being named the state’s Freshman of the Year in 1993. She ended her career ranked second in school history with 248 hits and also totaled 163 runs scored, 152 runs batted in, 42 doubles and 396 total bases.

Britton received her bachelor’s degree in English in 1996 and later earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 2006.

Grider was part of the Cajun basketball program for two seasons in 1988-89 and 1989-90 and made a huge impact in both seasons while becoming the most effective three-point shooter in school history. He earned back-to-back first-team All-American South Conference honors as a junior and senior, averaging 23.5 points as a junior and leading the American South as a senior with a 25.5 average.

In that senior year he hit 131-of-321 three-point tries, setting Cajun school records in both categories, and he also holds the school marks for three-point percentage in a season (45.7 as a junior) and in a career (43.0). Only the legendary Dwight "Bo" Lamar scored more points in a single season than Grider did as a senior, when he finished with 739 points scored. His 41 points against Pan American in 1989 still stands as a Cajundome record.

Grider still ranks second in NCAA history in three-point field goals made per game in his career, with his 4.36 made per game (253 in 58 games) trailing only Mississippi Valley’s Timothy Pollard on that list. He was a two-time All-Louisiana and All-American South first-team pick and led the Cajuns to a 20-9 record under head coach Marty Fletcher as a senior, and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1993.

Martin never let his 5-foot-9 size hinder him from becoming one of the Cajuns’ all-time best defensive linemen in a four-year career from 1979-82. The four-year letterman at defensive end was a two-time All-Louisiana first-team selection and was runner-up for the state’s Defensive Player of the Year honors as a senior. He also made the All-South Independent Team as a senior in 1982 when the Cajuns were not members of a conference.

More than 30 years after his career finished, Martin still ranks fourth on the Cajuns’ all-time tackles list among down linemen with 261 in his career, 146 of which were solo tackles. His 36 career tackles for minus yardage also still ranks third in Cajun history.

Twice he led the Cajuns in tackles and in stops for minus yardage, with his best tackle season coming in 1981 when he had 99 tackles, a mark that still stands fourth in Cajun history. His 15 tackles for minus yardage also ranked tied for fifth in the Louisiana record books.

Martin helped lead the Cajuns to records of 7-4 as a sophomore in 1980 and 7-3-1 as a senior in 1982 under coach Sam Robertson, serving as team captain in that final year and being named the team’s Most Valuable Player. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1983.

The Ragin’ Cajun Lettermen Club is comprised of men and women who lettered as student-athletes at Louisiana, and is a constituent chapter of the Louisiana Alumni Association while retaining close ties to the Cajun athletic department.