ASHLAND — In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a pipeline of players made the long trek from Ashland to Lafayette, La.

Dean Church, a 1960 graduate of Ashland, followed in the footsteps of former Tomcats Howard Humphries, Dale Griffith and Dean’s brother, Don, who all graduated from Ashland in 1957. All attended what was then known as Southwestern Louisiana Institute — it became University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1960, and later Louisiana-Lafayette in 1999.

The younger Church joined USL in the fall of 1960. By the spring of 1965, he was the school’s record holder in several categories.

On Saturday, Feb. 25, Church will become the fourth player in school history to have his jersey number retired. The 69-year-old will be recognized during halftime of Louisiana-Lafayette’s home game against Louisiana-Monroe.

“This is the highest honor you can get, retiring a jersey is the ultimate,”’ˆsaid Church from his home in Luling, La.

Church wore No. 4 at Ashland, and then he donned No. 10 for the first two seasons as a USL’ˆBulldog. Finally, by his junior season, he was able to wear his lucky number, 12.

Church will join Dwight Lamar, Marvin Winkler and Andrew Toney on the school’s jersey retiree list.

The 6-foot-2 guard was a three-year starter, steadily racking up accolades along the way including:

‰Becoming the school’s first male All-American.

‰Being named to two All-America first teams — Associated Press Small College All-America and NAIA’ˆAll-America.

‰Earning Gulf Coast Conference Player of the Year twice.

Upon the conclusion of his career, Church held single-season records for most points (701), points per game (23.4), field goals made (237), field goal percentage (57.0 on 237-of-416 shooting), free-throw percentage (83.2), most games in double figures (30)’ˆand 30-plus point games (eight). In total, Church scored 1,546 career points, 12th all-time on the Ragin’ Cajuns’ scoring list.

In 1981, Church was inducted into the Louisiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

“That was something voted on by the coaches, so it really meant a lot,”’ˆChurch said.

Church played for coach Beryl Shipley, who ended up being Church’s Best Man in his wedding, at USL.

Shipley reminded Church of Ashland coach Bob Wright, for whom he played just one season.

“There were a lot of similarities,”’ˆChurch said. “Both were relatively young coaches, in their 30s.”

Church played for Fred Anson at Ashland before Wright took over in 1959-60.

“(Wright) changed everything,”’ˆChurch recalled. “Everything he brought in was new to us. It was a much more loose feeling and more upbeat.”

Along with seniors David “Ditto”’ˆSparks and Gary Wright, Church played an important role in helping the Tomcats earn a 16th Region championship and a state tournament berth in 1960. The ’Cats fell to Maysville in the first round.

The next season, when Church was a freshman in college, Wright guided Ashland to the 1961 state championship.

“They had a heck of a team that year,”’ˆChurch said.

Church was a 10th-round selection by Philadelphia in the 1965 NBA Draft, but he didn’t feel like he had what it took to play professionally.

“I’ˆreally didn’t have all the physical abilities you need,”’ˆChurch said. “You know the old saying, ‘White men can’t jump?’ I fall into that category. I talked to them and told them I wasn’t interested.”

Church, who was born in Ashland, decided to stay in Louisiana after his illustrious college basketball career. He worked for Avondale Shipyard for nearly 34 years.

AARON SNYDER can be reached at asnyder@dailyindependent.com or (606)’ˆ326-2664.

Athletic Network Footnote: Please click here for the Dean Church Jersey Retirement Page on the Athletic Network.