This year’s class, the fifth such since the department began honoring players, coaches and umpires in 2004, is no different. The Class of 2008, featuring Al Breaux, Louise Domingues, Yvette Girouard, Richard Pellerin, Ron Piontek, Michael Rose and Nolan Theriot, brought a bit of humor, a touch of humility, some tears, and an appreciation for their roots to Wednesday night’s induction banquet at the Sliman Theater.
“If I have to talk about my prior life, I’d like to borrow from Garth Brooks,” said Domingues, who was forced to retire from nursing because of severe arthritis, among other things, that might stem in part from her playing days. “Looking back on all of my memories, ‘I could have missed the pain but I’d have had to miss the dance.’”
 LSU softball coach Yvette Girouard speaks with a television news crew prior to the New Iberia Recreation Department Softball Hall of Fame Banquet on Wednesday. Girouard was among seven new inductees into the hall of fame. - Chris Landry / The Daily Iberian Advertisement
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Breaux, a second baseman, played for 21 years with such teams as Cooper Brothers, BB&C Electric, Sorrell Electric, Jerry Hucks Gulf, Royal Construction, Pneumatic Services and in the U.S. Navy in Jacksonville, Fla., Gulfport, Miss., Spain, Sicily and Vietnam.
Breaux was a great hitter, said Escuriex, but self-admittedly only had warning-track power “until he joined the 50 and over league and, as he put it himself, he got fat and started hitting home runs.”
He played in a number of national tournaments in Rhode Island and Oklahoma, as well as regional tournaments throughout Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. His accomplishments included playing on championship teams in Louisiana and at his various stations in the navy.
Breaux was inducted by his longtime friend Mike Blanchard, who has known him since the two were seven or eight years old.
“We’re best friends. Our wives are best friends. A couple of our kids grew up together,” said Blanchard, adding to a big laugh from the attendees, “It seems like just 50 years ago I met Al.”
Breaux said he was especially honored to be on the stage with the other 2008 inductees, adding that he’s become good friends with many of the teammates and opposing players he faced through the years. He also thanked his wife and family for allowing him to spend so much time at the ballparks.
“I played for a long time, and I noticed these two kids kept following me, waving at me and acting like I’m somebody special,” Breaux noted. “After about 15 years, Charlotte (his wife) reminded me they were my kids, and that’s why they were following me.”
Domingues played for Burger Chef, Defco and “too many pick up teams to mention,” said Escuriex, beginning in 1960. She played left field and right field for 18 years, raising nine kids in the process.
“I remember she always made sure she had money for vacation every summer,” said her daughter Brenda Oubre, who inducted Domingues into the hall. “I remember stories of her having a knee pop out of place while playing, and popping it back in place to keep playing. That, to me, is dedication.”
After getting three of her kids into school, she then turned that dedication to becoming a nurse as she’d always wanted, returning to school herself and getting her degree, which she put to use in the geriatric field.
Domingue related several memories of her playing days, and said that while attending the 2005 induction ceremony where her son-in-law was being honored, she listened to all the honors achieved by Margaret Romero, the first female inductee into the hall. She thought she’d never be qualified to become a member of the hall after hearing of Romero’s accomplishments.
Escuriex corrected that mistaken impression. Domingues was a member of a first- or second-place team nearly every year she played, he added, and earned Outstanding Player honors, Outstanding Outfielder honors and Most Home Runs in tournaments she played, and was twice voted the Outstanding Player in mother-daughter tournaments. She earned nine trophies in days when they were hard to come by, said Escuriex.
“In fact, she said, listen to this, we must have run out of names for the Hall of Fame” when told she was being inducted, Escuriex said. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Girouard is surely the most well-known member of the Class of 2008, and perhaps in all the hall, by virtue of her success as a college softball coach, first at then-USL for 20 years and now at LSU for the past eight seasons.
A native of Broussard, Girouard began playing in New Iberia at age 18, and credits her future career to those formative years. As a youngster, Girouard said, there were no sports for girls in Broussard, so she was the bat boy for her brother’s baseball team. The first time she played an organized sport was in high school, where she played volleyball at Comeaux High, the only sport offered for girls at the time.
She then walked on to the team at USL, because there were no athletic scholarships for female athletes at the time, and she wanted to continue playing sports. But softball was what drew her, having grown up in a baseball family.
“My parents never saw me play volleyball, but when I started playing softball, my dad never missed a game, because he was such a baseball man,” said Girouard.
Romero, who coached Girouard and was her teammate in the recreation league here, inducted the three-time national coach of the year into the hall of fame.
“I know you people see Yvette’s name in the paper or see her on TV, and are impressed,” said Romero. “But I just see her as good old ‘Y,’ who would do her best to stop that ball at third base, and wind up, and you never knew how long it was going to take but the ball always beat that runner to first base.”
Girouard started the softball program at USL with $3,000 from a booster, leading the Cajuns to three Women’s College World Series appearances. In eight years at LSU, she’s led the Tigers to two WCWS appearances. She’s been named Louisiana Coach of the Year 13 times, and is one of only three coaches to lead two different teams to the World Series. She also is one of six coaches with 1,000 NCAA Division I wins, and has coached 38 All-Americans and 13 Academic All-Americans.
None of that would’ve been possible without her start playing softball in New Iberia, Girouard said. She recalls that a cousin asked her to play on a team in Lafayette, and she originally said no because “they only wanted to drink beer and have fun, and I wanted to win.”
Girouard did play on that team, and that’s how she was noticed, while playing at a tournament in New Iberia. Romero and coach Junius “T-June” Delahoussaye recruited the “pony-tail swinging girl” that Romero recalls to play for their team, setting in motion her softball career.
“She really did change my life,” Girouard said of Romero. “I wouldn’t have been hired at USL if I had not played for Allain’s Gems.”
Girouard said she always felt she could hit better than she could field, as related in a story involving the late Lynette Viator, a former teammate in New Iberia who played first base for the Gems.
“I remember a tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn., where a ground ball was hit to me, and I threw the ball into the next field, over center field,” said Girouard. “Lynette said, ‘Y, throw it anywhere near me, and I’ve got it. But I can’t catch it if you throw it in the next field.’”
Girouard became teary-eyed remembering her parents, and added that Delahoussaye also had been a father figure to her. She also was thankful for her inclusion in the hall of fame.
“I feel like I’m home,” she said. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the honor.”
Pellerin, whose wife Dianne Marie passed away last week, also fought back tears in remembering her.
“My sidekick left me, and I love her very much,” he said.
A sponsor, coach and manager for years in the recreation department’s softball leagues, Pellerin coached both men’s and women’s teams, said Escuriex.
“For the women’s side, his favorite tactic was to walk up and down the length of the bench, saying, ‘You don’t want to play, you just want to participate in a fashion show,’” recalled Wayne Dugas, who inducted Pellerin into the hall. “Then he’d get down to the end where his wife and daughter were, turn around and go back the other way, doing the same thing.”
Pellerin coached and managed for 22 years, with such teams as Bayou Oilfield, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McCullough Oilfield, Bayou Bandits and the Jaycees. His women’s team placed second in a tournament in Houston, while he coached six teams to major state tournaments in the 1980s, including one that won it all. Three of his former players are in the Louisiana Softball Hall of Fame.
He also was instrumental in bringing several traveling teams to the area for exhibition games, including some featuring Hollywood celebrities and pro football players. One of the most memorable of those was the Skoal Bandits, featuring movie star Burt Reynolds.
“I was fortunate,” said Pellerin. “There are a lot of good softball players in Louisiana, and locally, I met so many good people, both men and women.”
Piontek began playing baseball on the streets of Chicago in 1948, and is still playing softball today as a member of the 70-plus league. Among his teams were Chapman’s of Chicago, Air Force teams in England, Vermilion Creamery, Carencro Merchants, Together of Baton Rouge, Safeway Trucking, Francis Drilling Fluids, Leroy LeBlanc and now for Hardy Landry Floors.
A second baseman and shortstop, Piontek was a member of the Air Force’s UK championship team in 1957, and his team won the USSSA World Championship in 1966. He also played on teams that won the AA championship in Hot Springs, Ark., in 1998 and ’99 and was named to the All-Tournament team after his squad won the 2002 Softball Players Association World Championship (AA) in Plano, Texas. His teams were National Softball Association world champions in 2002 and 2003, and in 2002 he was named the best defensive player of the tournament.
“He’s our fearless driver,” said J.J. Bernis, a teammate who inducted Piontek into the hall, who related several humorous stories of the team’s adventures on the road, including one trip in a jeep that shifted itself into reverse while Piontek had stepped out of the vehicle to get directions for the crew, which was lost.
“I don’t know if I made a mistake (having Bernis induct him),” said Piontek. “I think my reputation went down.”
While not from Louisiana, he added, and didn’t play with most of the players in the room as a younger man, he has come to know most now through the senior leagues.
Rose was unable to attend after his mother passed away this week.
“When I talked with him yesterday, he wanted me to tell you his true feelings about playing softball,” said Escuriex. “He said his role models were actually living in his own home. His father was his coach and manager. His brother Elwood was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004.
“The things that he treasures most are the friendships that he formed, both on his own team and with his opponents.”
Rose began playing in 1963 at West End Park, playing for 14 years and collecting numerous trophies and championships. Despondent when his team disbanded, he decided to form his own squad, reorganizing the Charlie Rose’s Old Spoilers in the 35-plus league. That team won the league and advanced to state.
“First of all, I admire the man here (Pellerin) whose wife just passed away,” said Rose’s son, Benji, who inducted his father and accepted the trophy and certificate on his father’s behalf. “I really am truly blessed to be up here.”
Theriot began playing in 1960 and was a member of the Veterans (a group of military veterans who were in night school), Louis Cartimiglia, Romero Music and Iberia Electric teams.
He was a member of the first team to win a district championship, MVP of one district tourney and loved the competition and fun he had with his teammates, said Escuriex.
“Several of the guys that coached me when I was playing hardball back in the day at the air base, are here,” said Nolan Theriot Jr., who inducted his father into the hall. “If only I had a dollar for every time someone would say, ‘You should’ve seen your dad play.
“I don’t know how I ended up at third base (his father’s position), but every time I missed a grounder I would hear about how someone (referring to the elder Theriot) would have made the play.”
Theriot began playing with the fast-pitch Dalton Touchet team and moved to slow-pitch when the fast-pitch league disbanded.
“He loved it because then he had all the action at third base that he could handle,” said Escuriex.
Among his teammates over the years were Dalton Touchet, Ricky Dartez, Mike Blanchard, John Jolet, Pliny Walet and Frank Minvielle, all of whom are in the hall of fame.
Nolan Theriot Sr. recalled one trip to see the Houston Astros play in the newly-built Astrodome. As soon as the vehicle got to Beaumont, one of his teammates said that they should be able to see the top of the dome from there. The rest of the way, he gave the same comment.
“When we got about a block from the Astrodome, I said, there’s the top, Bob,” said Theriot, to a roar of delight from the attendees.
“I want to thank everybody. I’ve made a lot of good friends (through softball).”
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