Media: Quebedeaux awarded for dedication to sports journalism

Dan McDonald, The Advertiser, June 28, 2015

Glenn Quebedeaux

NATCHITOCHES – He got into the sports journalism business because he loved it.

Glenn Quebedeaux definitely wasn’t in it for the money. The Abbeville Meridional and the New Iberia Daily Iberian weren’t much more financially rewarding than his earlier stint in the Air Force.

It wasn’t the awards, even though he won more than 50 from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association and the Associated Press. And it wasn’t for the easy hours, since for years the vagaries of AM-versus-PM newspapers made being a sports editor nearly a 24-hour job.

He did it because, next to his family, it was his greatest passion, and he never failed to remember that.

“This morning, I passed a cleaning lady in the hotel,” Quebedeaux said Saturday night. “I asked how she was doing, and she said ‘blessed.’ I said, ‘Lady, you don’t know.’”

Saturday, the Crowley native received the highest honor that his Louisiana sports peers can bestow, as he was presented with the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism during the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame’s Induction Ceremonies at the Natchitoches Events Center.

“Everyone thinks sports writing is a glamorous job ,” he said during his acceptance speech to the nearly 800 on hand for the ceremonies. “But you ask those guys in the back of the room, it comes at a price. I apologize to my wife and my kids for the times I was gone, out having fun, and I was. But it comes at someone’s expense. It takes away from your time with family.”

Quebedeaux, an innovative editor and skilled writer who helped usher in the modern era of Louisiana sports coverage during a 38-year career, took his place in the “Walk of Legends” across the stage with Saturday’s other inductees — football standouts Jake Delhomme, Kevin Faulk and Leonard Smith, coaching legends Yvette Girouard, Pat Collins and Otis Washington, basketball star Avery Johnson, thoroughbred trainer Frank Brothers and Sugar Bowl executive director Paul Hoolahan.

An impressive group, to be sure, but what made Saturday more special for Quebedeaux was sharing the Distinguished Service Award honor with longtime friend Bobby Dower. Dower, the former sports editor of the Lake Charles American Press, passed away last summer after a brief and tragic battle with stomach cancer.

“He was perhaps Bobby’s best friend,” said “voice” of the Hall of Fame Lyn Rollins in introducing Quebedeaux. “It’s only fitting that they are together here tonight.”

“The week Bobby died,” Quebedeaux said, “I whispered in his ear when I was leaving one of those last times. I said I need a favor, one day when I’m out at my lake fishing, I want you to send me a big beautiful butterfly to let me know you made it.

“I was supposed to be here Thursday, but I had to be at the doctor, and Yvette and I went to our camp Thursday evening to unwind and I went fishing yesterday morning. I’m out in the middle of the lake, a mile from land, and I’ll be darned, the biggest butterfly comes by, the same color as the tie I bought for Bobby’s funeral. Some say it’s coincidence, but it was Bobby coming by to say I made it OK, I’m where I need to be and you’re where you need to be.”

Quebedeaux joined the Abbeville Meridional staff in 1975 and two years later took over as sports editor of the Iberian. Over the next decade and a half, the small South Louisiana daily became known for its innovations in writing and design. He kept up with national trends, long before they became part of the regular makeup of other Louisiana newspapers, and the most radical was the paper’s use of an “agate” page with all of the box scores, standings and listings grouped together in one location instead of scattered throughout the paper.

“People laughed at us,” Quebedeaux said. “Everyone said that nobody would ever look at a page like that.”

Not long afterward, USA Today made that format a fixture, and the vast majority of papers around the country followed suit.

The Iberian also was one of the South’s first to run entries and results from local horse tracks, realizing the impact that the racing industry had on South Louisiana. Quebedeaux also made regular use of betting lines in his listings, something considered taboo at the time.

He left the Iberian to go into the insurance business, but didn’t leave sports. He served for more than a decade as a featured correspondent for area papers. More importantly for the state sportswriters group, he has remained active in the organization that he served as president for two years, including yeoman duties as the LSWA’s contest chairman and a key part of the Hall of Fame selection committee.

Throughout that time, his peers were universal in their admiration, especially the people who worked most closely with him.

“So many people helped me get to this place,” Quebedeaux said. “I’m so proud of my Cajun heritage. Our culture is special because we remember where we came from. God puts you here for a lot of reasons, and it will pay off if you do the right things.”

Athletic Network Footnote by Ed Dugas. Congratulations to Glenn and thanks to Dan for a wonderful story.

Click here for the Athletic Network profile of Glenn Quebedeaux.

Click here for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame website.