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People SearchFind an individual who either played a sport or was a member of a support group. Search by last name by clicking on the first letter of the person's last name.
Mr. Glenn "Parakeet" Lafleur
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Home Phone: 337-363-2573 Table of Contents: Glenn Update October 29, 2015 Glenn Update October 29, 2008 Glenn Update August 22, 2009 Bobby Ardoin, The Advertiser, Oct. 29, 2015 Instead of tracking squirrels and casting for bass or sac-a-lait, Lafleur is occupied more with stalking the Sacred Heart High practice field and fishing for tacklers. It’s been 22 years since Lafleur last coached a football player, but at 67, the former USL (now UL) two-time Little All-America linebacker is serving as a defensive coach and veteran mentor for kids that could easily be grandchildren. Lafleur feels he’s reached a place in life where he wants to feel comfortable with what he does. That would include coaching, he said. “I’ve got to want to enjoy what I do. And this year I am coaching again and it’s pleasing to me to be back in it. I’m enjoying (coaching) as much as I ever have,†said Lafleur. Lafleur, who coached from 1971-92, is no stranger to parish athletics. He was Ville Platte’s head coach from 1977 to 1983 before serving as Basile High head coach (1989-92). Lafleur left coaching after that and was employed in the Evangeline Parish school administration from 1993 until 2007. Then several years ago he came to Sacred Heart as an algebra and mathematics teacher. Returning to a classroom was both a re-education and a satisfying experience, said Lafleur. “I’m certified in math but I hadn’t been in a classroom for something like 23 years. It was fun, the kids were working hard and I tried to make it enjoyable for them,†said Lafleur. During the past several years Lafleur has remained at Sacred Heart as a teacher, but in those previous years when the bell ended the day, Lafleur left campus. Didn’t he find that situation a bit strange? “I did. I wasn’t going to ask anybody. I didn’t want to be a head coach anymore. If you give me a job though, I’m going to go do it. “At my age I don’t have anything to prove. I just want to be able to get the kids ready to play and work. I have no limit about when I might want to stop,†Lafleur said. The desire to coach never disappeared, he said. “I’ve wanted to get back into coaching. I like to coach and I thought I might get back into it again someday. I like the game and I want to coach and do my part,†Lafleur said. Sports and football in the Ville Platte area were never far off Lafleur’s radar even when he wasn’t on the sideline. “I missed (coaching) the first two or three years away from it. I was in administration then, but I was always at the games. “It’s hard to explain, but I still had the feel of the game with me when I was watching them; it never left, even though I wasn’t coaching,†he said. Lafleur’s stepdaughter, Dawn Shipp, is also a first-year principal at the school and when August arrived, Lafleur was there again on the practice field, assisting first-year head coach Josh Harper. “I’ve been working with the offensive line and calling the defense. We’re young right now, small and inexperienced. We’re 2-6, but we could be 5-3. We’ve lost three close games and we’ve had a lot of injuries,†said Lafleur. What’s been motivational, said Lafleur, is the work ethic of the players. “You hear a lot of negatives about the kids right now, but the kids I have work as hard as any that I’ve coached and I really have worked them hard. “They do for me whatever I ask them to do,†said Lafleur. This spring Lafleur’s career will enter another dimension when he coaches Sacred Heart softball, a program that has been successful for nearly two decades. For those who think Lafleur might be a novice at that sport, he has another opinion. “I coached (softball) at Ville Platte and I know the game,†said Lafleur. This weekend is somewhat of a throwback in several ways for Lafleur. It’s homecoming at Ville Platte High and he and his former Bulldogs teammates are being honored for their senior football season 50 years ago. Then it’s also UL’s homecoming. If Lafleur attends the game Saturday with ULM at Cajun Field, he could view the stadium area where his No. 28 jersey hangs illustrated as one of few retired in school history. Lafleur, though, said he will probably miss both festivities. Where will he be? Not even fishing at Chicot, Miller’s Lake or in the woods with a shotgun available? Probably not there either. “I’ll be coaching. We play Catholic High (New Iberia) this week,†Lafleur said. * * * * * Football: History is today’s theme for UL (Includes Greatest Moments Page) Glenn LaFleur: A Coach’s Player, A Player’s Coach (from Prides of Acadiana) * * * * * * * * * * * I have retired from coaching and am now a Principal at Pine Prairie High School for the past two years & have been in the public school system for the past 38 yrs.. I still reside in Ville Platte, LA. & still love to hunt & fish, I also have three grown children of my own & my present wife, Jean has two grown children. Between Jean & me we have seven grandchildren & five of them attend school at Sacred Heart Elementary here in Ville Platte. Every ULL Homecoming brings back memories of my 4 years of college there & “great memories of my football years & accomplishments”. When I attend some Homecomings at ULL, I always see friends that were there when I was there & also some of my former football buddies & people that remember me from my football career. It really means a lot to me when they introduce themselves & start talking about football “back when”. ULL & the city of Lafayette are part of my family then & always will be. Posted October 29, 2008 * * * * * * * * * * * * I graduated from Ville Platte High School in 1966 and played football for four seasons at USL, 1966-69. Named to the All Gulf States Conference Teams in 1967-69, I was also selected 2nd team Little All-American in 1968 and 1st team in 1969. After graduating with a degree in Health and Physical Education in January, 1971, I taught at Notre Dame of Crowley during the Spring, 1971. I moved to Fatima during the Fall, 1971, joining the staff of Jimmy Edney. In the Fall, 1972, I coached at Comeaux High School where I served as the defensive coordinator for Coach Mike Simmons. Our 1972 team was 10-0 during the regular season and the 1973 team was 9-1. After the 1973 season, I left Comeaux High School and returned to Ville Platte High School as an assistant football coach and remained there for three seasons. I received my Masters Degree in Administration and Supervision from McNeese State University in 1974 and a Masters Plus 30 hours distinction in 1976. In 1977, I became the head football coach at Ville Platte High School and, although we made it to the playoffs, we lost our first round game. In 1979 and 1983, we reached the quarter finals, losing both times to the eventual state champions, John Curtis, by scores of 12-7 and 26-6. During the 1988-89 school year, I coached at Abbeville High School. From 1989-1992, I coached at Basile High School. After coaching for twenty-three years at the high school level, in 1993, I became a school administrator in Evangeline Parish and presently serve as principal of Pine Prairie High School. Please find enclosed a listing of some of the years and administrative positions held: An avid duck, dove, deer and squirrel hunter, I also enjoy bass and sacalait fishing and have the use of a camp at Miller�s Lake. So viewers will know how I have been blessed, I offer the following family information: Glenn�s wife of 28 years is Jean Thompson Lafleur. Nicole Renee� Lafleur Lee is Glenn�s oldest daughter. She is the mother of Grant 13 and Blake 11. Nicole is employed at Ville Platte Medical Center where she is in charge of taking MRIs. Dirk Davis Lafleur, Glenn�s son, is married to Dina Pasamante of San Antonio. Jamie Ann Lafleur Fontenot, Glenn�s youngest daughter, is married to Stokie Fontenot and they have four children: Mallory (10), Gabe (6), Matthew (5), and Zachary (3). She is a physical therapist for Evangeline Home Health in Ville Platte. Dawn Marie Cox-Shipp, Glenn�s step-daughter, and her husband, Danny Shipp, have two children: Logan (10) and Cody (8). She is the Assistant Principal of Sacred Heart High School in Ville Platte. Chad Eric Lafleur, Glenn�s step-son, is married to Christy Dicapo. Chad was in the Air Force for 5 � years and is currently employed in Baton Rouge as an inspector for Exxon. Updated August 22, 2009 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Football: History is today’s theme for UL (Includes Greatest Moments Page) Joshua Parrott � jparrott@theadvertiser.com � November 1, 2008 An avid hunter and outdoorsman, Glenn Lafleur missed UL’s first two home football games this season at Cajun Field. But with the program’s 1,000th game taking place at 4 p.m. today against Florida International, the legendary Cajun linebacker will be sure to make his way down to Lafayette for the historic homecoming event. Now the principal at Pine Prairie High, the 60-year-old Lafleur plans to travel from his Ville Platte home for the game with wife Jean, three of their five children, their spouses, and eight grandchildren. “All milestones are great for any city or university,” Lafleur said on Thursday night. “This game is something that will be remembered forever. “I think it’s a great thing for UL.” There are plenty of side notes for today’s game between UL (4-3 overall, 3-0 Sun Belt) and FIU (3-4, 2-1). The Cajuns join Troy as the league’s only two undefeated teams in conference play. With five games left in the regular season, they need two victories to become bowl-eligible. On another note, running back Tyrell Fenroy needs 30 rushing yards to become only the seventh player in NCAA history with four 1,000-yard seasons. “After I finish playing here, this game will be something I can look back at with my family,” Fenroy said. “I’m definitely going to enjoy it.” FIU has turned around its program under second-year coach Mario Cristobal. The Golden Panthers have already won two more games this season than they did in 2006 and ’07 combined, when they went 1-23. But a large part of the spotlight falls on this being the 1,000th game in UL history dating back to then-Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute’s 6-5 victory at Opelousas on Dec. 21, 1901. “That’s part of some good things that are happening this year,” UL coach Rickey Bustle said. “When you’re doing something else and raising your grandchildren and they have this group back from the 1,000th game, we’ll all come back.” Wide receiver Richie Falgout grew up in Lafayette and attended Lafayette High, so he knows about the history at UL. “Being raised in Lafayette and living here all my 21 years, I’ve probably been to 50 to 60 of the 1,000 games,” Falgout said. “It means a lot to me to be able to be participating in the 1,000th game. “There’s a lot of history in this game, and a lot of great people have played here.” Quarterback Mike Desormeaux, a native of New Iberia, appreciates the opportunity to be involved in such a historic event. “It (this game) is a big deal to be a part of,” said Desormeaux, expected to return from a sprained knee for today’s game. “The school has such a long history of playing football. I’m just honored to be a part of it. “We want to go out there and try to make this game memorable with a win.” Lafleur’s story is one of the most memorable at UL, which was known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana when he lettered from 1967-69. While battling injuries throughout his career, the Ville Platte High grad earned All-Gulf States Conference honors in each of his three seasons as a starter. Lafleur was a second team Little All-American as a junior in ’68, leading the Cajuns to the conference title. The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder garnered first-team honors in his senior season after averaging nearly 20 unassisted tackles per game. Lafleur saw his No. 28 retired after his senior season, becoming the first Cajun to earn such an honor. He later signed with the Denver Broncos but failed his physical because of a lingering ankle injury and never played pro ball. Instead of sulking about it, he refocused and spent 23 years as a high school football coach. He was an assistant at Fatima (1971), Comeaux (1972-73) and Ville Platte (1974-76) before taking over at Ville Platte. After the 1993 season he stopped coaching to focus on being a school administrator and plans on putting in another five years before retiring. One thing Lafleur missed in college was a chance to play at Cajun Field, which opened in 1971. But he doesn’t plan on missing the chance to go back to Lafayette this weekend and cheer on his school and rekindle some old memories. “I left my heart at USL, making all-conference three years in a row and Little All-American two years in a row,” Lafleur said. “It’s an honor for me to go back for homecoming and the 1,000th game. “It’s going to be a great honor to be back and celebrate with the university.” Click here for Greatest Moments in UL Football History: * * * * * * * * * * * * Glenn LaFleur: A Coach’s Player, A Player’s Coach (from Prides of Acadiana) Prides of Acadiana by Bruce Brown (1980) is a copyrighted enterprise. Glenn LaFleur learned two things playing football at the University of Southwestern Louisiana- When LaFleur played at USL (1966-69), coaches found that a good way to get mileage out of players was to physically intimidate and, at times, even assault them. While LaFleur prospered under such treatment, gaining All-American honors as a senior after earning second team laurels as a junior, he also learned much about the game from the USL staff in hours and hours of intense film study each week. But at the same time, LaFleur has mellowed with the times as a high school coach. “I had enough of getting hit in the helmet when I was playing� he said after practice at Ville Platte High School, where he starred in his prep days and where he is the head coach of playoff caliber teams after assistantships at Fatima (1971), Comeaux (1972-73), and Ville Platte (1974-76). “Plus,” he added, “you have a different sort of kid today. He has more of what he wants than I had when I was younger. Kids have cars in high school. I didn’t get a car until I finished school and got married. They have more things going on that they can go do. If a player today gets fed up with you, he’ll just walk off.” LaFleur, of course, never walked off of any one’s football team-except one time at USL when he felt he was being pushed too hard to come back from an injury. No one who saw the Cajun linebacker play would ever question his courage, as he played an entire season on the same injured ankle that necessitated rehabilitation the next summer, and he would not stay out of a game in which his nose was broken twice. That LaFleur played football at all is a testament to his persistence, and to his desire to stay out of the fields on his father’s farm. “When I was young,” he said, “I had some sort of muscle problem in my legs. I’m not sure what it was, and the doctors couldn’t figure it out either. It wasn’t polio; they didn’t know what it was. So I didn’t play when I was real young, and I kept bugging my Daddy to let me play. My mother didn’t want me to go out, but I kept working on my Daddy. Finally, he said ‘If they’ll give him a uniform, let him go.’ ” Coach Tony Misita, now at Ole Miss, gave LaFleur a Bulldog jersey and the 15-year old tryout made no one sorry except opposing ball players. He started as a freshman defensive end on a 1-9 team, then played center as a sophomore. Ville Platte was 1-9 in LaFleur’s junior year, but then broke through with a 9-0-1 campaign in his final season. Despite that mark, the Bulldogs did not play enough district games and were not league champs. LaFleur was an outstanding fullback and a linebacker with haymaker hitting power. He and teammate Richard “Red” Vidrine, who later made Little All-America at McNeese State, spearheaded the fine year. Interestingly enough, once LaFleur was out for football, his father was his biggest booster, and the second-biggest force behind his son’s career next to LaFleur himself. “Daddy pushed me,” LaFleur said. “I was named Glenn Davis LaFleur, after the All America at Army. My brother is named Bobby Layne LaFleur. But I wanted to stay out of the fields.” LaFleur, who exploded into ball carriers with enough force to attract numerous state schools as a light but tough linebacker, chose USL over Tulane, Southeastern, Northeast, and McNeese. “Tulane was for doctors and lawyers,” LaFleur noted. “They didn’t have a physical education degree at that time, and I wanted to be a coach. Tony Misita was at SLU, so some people thought I would go there. “Other schools’ coaches would threaten you about USL, saying that the coaches beat you there. But I decided to go there anyway, because it was close to home.” When LaFleur arrived at USL from Ville Platte, a country boy in fine shape who knew he liked football, he discovered just how serious that USL coaching staff was about the game. “The first day I got there was August 28, 1966,” LaFleur recalled. “I was a country boy, scared to death. And, being a country boy, I was used to getting up at six and going to bed at six. “The first night, around 10 o’clock, Jimmy Edney and the rest of the linebackers knocked on my door and said Coach (Ray) Blanco wanted to see us on the field at 10:30. “We got out there, and Coach Blanco told us, ‘We want the linebackers to be tough. ” Blanco then proceeded to put his linebacking crew through its paces in pass defenses-over and over, and over, until the wee hours of the morning. “I was in shape’ LaFleur insisted. “I could have gone on all night. I was scared and ready to “Finally, we got off about 2:30 in the morning.” But that, crazy at it may seem, failed to faze the young LaFleur. “I lived, ate, and slept football,’ he said. “You can’t make anyone play football if he isn’t willing to give what it takes.” It took that at USL in the 1960’s, and LaFleur obviously was willing to give to the fullest. He was injured and therefore had an uneventful freshman campaign. In the following spring, only twenty-three players were out for the squad, so those players on hand went both ways in drills. “They had me at slotback, and one time carrying the ball I fumbled,” LaFleur recalled. “They gave me the ball again, and I fumbled again. I did the fumble drill for what seemed like hours. “When I fumbled for the third time, they got disgusted with me and moved me to defense behind Edney at linebacker.” He remained on the second unit until the final day of drills, when Edney was clipped and tore up his knee. So LaFleur was a starter as a sophomore, on the way to three straight All-Conference honors in the Gulf States Conference, second team Little All-America as a junior and first team Little All-America as a senior. Then LaFleur was clipped himself in a 9-0 win at Southeastern, and tore ligaments in his ankle. The answer for a player like LaFleur was to simply keep his ailing ankle in a bucket of ice for the rest of the season each time he came off the field. That bout with the ankle was further evidence of courage already displayed in an earlier 1967 game with Lamar, in which LaFleur and Cardinal fullback Tom Smiley met head-to-head for most of the contest. “He broke my nose in the first quarter, but I wouldn’t stay out� LaFleur said. “I told them to put it back. No sooner did I get back but he broke it again. I didn’t know where I was after that.” Where LaFleur was in the middle of the Lamar attack most of the night, despite a 13-14 loss. He zeroed in on opposing runners twenty-five times in that game, a game which established his character and his mode of operation for the rest of his career. Once that sophomore season was over, Lafleur’s ankle was placed in a cast for two months. Then Dr. Tom Moore in Houston took a foot muscle and had that serve as the needed ligament, so that LaFleur could move again. The surgery was completed just eight weeks before the team�s first game, and trainer Larry “He pushed me too hard,” said LaFleur. “I did everything he asked, but he just pushed too hard, so I went home. Then Coach Blanco called and said let’s talk, and I came back.� “I played the first game of my junior year. I was ready.” More of the same head-hunting followed for Lafleur, as he continued his search-and-destroy tactics throughout the GSC and against any other USL. His best efforts seemed to be saved for conference and state foes. “I dreaded losing to McNeese,” he said. “I had a fellow linebacker (Red Vidrine) over there, and I couldn’t see losing to them. And I can say we never did.” In 1967, USL won 31-6 in Lafayette. It was 12-7, USL, in 1968, and 21-17 for the Cajuns the next season. “We beat them 31-6 when they won the GSC” he recalled proudly. �I also couldn’t dream of losing to Southeastern.� LaFleur personally pulled his club out in that 1967 encounter with a late interception after ripping up his ankle. Louisiana Tech was a superb passing team while LeFleur was at USL, with Terry Bradshaw hitting Tommy Spinks time and again against befuddled defenses. In 1968, Bradshaw’s passing carried Tech to a 24-7 halftime margin. But it was a different story in the second half, as the defense buckled down and allowed the offense to come back for a rousing 28-24 victory. “We smashed Terry in the second half,” LaFleur said. “And Dwight Sevin caught Spinks in the neck one time and Spinks didn’t come back.” But there was also the time USL played Roger Staubach and the Pensacola Naval Station team, and held a 21-10 advantage at half. “That was before Roger started passing,” laughed LaFleur. Staubach’s passes carried his team to a wild 39-35 triumph-one occasion when not even In 1969, his senior year, LaFleur became almost a player-coach as injuries of one sort or another curtailed his weekly practice activities but never kept him out of the games. Wishing to continue the tradition he had helped build, LaFleur served as a freshman linebacker coach and spent hours upon hours in studying films. “I loved it-it was what I wanted to do,” LaFleur insisted. That senior year, although marked by a disappointing 5-5 record after an 8-2 1968 mark, did afford LaFleur and his senior teammates the opportunity to finally get to know Head Coach Russ Faulkinberry. “He let his assistants do all the detail work and all the talking to the players,” LaFleur recalled. “He had senior ball clubs. When players got to be seniors for Russ, it was their ball club. “He treated you like adults as seniors, had you to his house to cook duck, spoke to you, and communicated with you.” But, while he got to know Faulkinberry better, his acquaintance with Blanco continued on its old, even course. We had one game against Northwestern, where their guard blocked me one time and ran over me. He weighed 240 pounds, and I was around 185. Well, Blanco kept running the film over and over, telling everybody ‘Look at your All-American.� That was Blanco. He’d make you hate him, then he’d make you like him. He got close to all his players.” LaFleur’s coaching ideas now center on other ways of letting his player know the job is not being done. “I sit him down. There’s no better way to make him want to play better than to bench him in front of his family, friends, and girlfriend.� “I don’t yell. I don’t strike a player. We don’t curse, although I’ve been tempted at times.” LaFleur is coaching now, hoping someday possibly to return to USL in that capacity. But he had one brief fling at pro football, with the Denver Broncos. He failed the physical because further playing on that same ankle he hurt as a sophomore could have crippled him for life. Glenn LaFleur learned about coaching at USL. But he knew courage long before that honored career. Prides of Acadiana by Bruce Brown (1980) is a copyrighted enterprise.
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