Senior defensive tackle Marlon Favorite said he has “vivid memories” following Hurricane Katrina.He recalled one man in particular, whom he described as “scratched up from the storm” after losing his house.”He almost didn’t make it out,” Favorite said. “I remember he had on an LSU T-shirt. He was like ‘Go Tigers.’ I remember seeing him, and that made me really think, ‘Man, let’s do this for the state.’ There [are] a lot of people who lost everything but still have faith in this program.”Favorite is one of 22 LSU football players who were on the team when Katrina hit three years ago.Five of those players are from the Greater New Orleans area.Favorite, a Harvey native, called Katrina an “extremely emotional event” that became a learning experience for the team.”It made us work harder because not only were we playing for ourselves, we were playing for … Louisiana,” he said. “A lot of people had lost a lot of things during that event … We know a lot of people that were LSU fans were just really leaning on us to keep the state up.”Football players, along with many other LSU athletes, helped evacuees that came to the LSU campus, moving supplies and patients as they packed into the PMAC.Sophomore safety Chad Jones was not on the team in 2005 but attended St. Augustine High School in New Orleans when Katrina hit.Jones, a 2007 graduate of Southern Lab in Baton Rouge, said he remembers when he first heard he needed to evacuate.He said his team’s jamboree was canceled the day of the game.”They canceled the game while I was getting dressed,” Jones said.Jones and his family moved to Baton Rouge where he thought everything would be all right.He thought all New Orleans would see was “just a lot of rain.”But Jones never moved back to the Crescent City.”A few days later we see New Orleans shut down and our house has seven, eight feet of water,” Jones said. “[We] had to start all over.”Jones’ outlook on the tragedy is much more subdued three years later, saying “everything’s fine now.””[We] sold the house, moved out here,” he said. “[We’ve] still got a little apartment in New Orleans, go back and forth.”Junior cornerback Jai Eugene is from St. Rose, about 18 miles west of New Orleans.He attended Destrehan High school but had to move to Houston once the storm hit. He relocated to Destrehan once it reopened.”I was in Houston for almost a month,” Eugene said.Many sporting events, including LSU’s football schedule, took a backseat to the storm’s aftermath.LSU’s season opener against North Texas was postponed, and its game against Arizona State was moved to Tempe, Ariz.LSU athletes had to focus on recovery efforts as more people moved to Baton Rouge in search of a place to stay.But senior defensive tackle Charles Alexander said they realized the importance of Saturday nights in Tiger Stadium after Katrina.”It made me realize that it’s not just me that I’m playing for,” Alexander said. “When you suit up with that purple and gold on Saturday nights, you’re playing for the state.—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]
Players recall Katrina struggles
By Robert Stewart
Sports Writer
Sports Writer
August 28, 2008