Athletic standouts from the past and the present gathered in the Campbell Auditorium Sunday night to celebrate the academic achievements of almost 200 current student athletes.
The event, sponsored by Cox Communications, Cox Sports Television and Tiger Athletic Foundation, also honored a long list of former athletes who stood out both in their sports and academics in their days at the University.
Past and present athletes reminisced as the gala in the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student Athletes opened with a video presentation, featuring them in their finest moments on the competition field and in the college classroom.
The list of Academic Hall of Fame honorees included Ignazio “Nacho” Albergamo, football; Eddy Furniss, baseball; Madeline Doucet-West, women’s basketball; Suzana Rodriguez, tennis; John Tudor, men’s basketball; and Warren Morris, baseball.
Tim Brando, CBS sports commentator and the event’s emcee, announced LSU football player Rodney Reed, men’s basketball player Brian Green, women’s golfer Devon Day and women’s track and field athlete Candice Gonzalez as winners of the recently renamed Wally Pontiff Jr. Academic Excellence Award. The Athletic Association renamed the award in memory of the baseball standout who died last summer of heart problems.
      Before Chancellor Mark Emmert presented the award to the four athletes, Brando invited Wally Pontiff Sr. on stage, and Emmert presented him with a plaque in memory and honor of his late son. As Pontiff wiped tears from his eyes, the crowd rose to their feet for an emotional and thunderous standing ovation.
The gala also recognized basketball and football standouts Collis Temple III and Bradie James for their efforts in academics and athletics.
Temple is the only student-athlete in LSU history to complete both his undergraduate and graduate degrees and pursue a doctoral degree while still participating in a sport.
The NCAA named James, a First-Team All-American linebacker, as one of only six Division I-A recipients of the National Scholar-Athlete Award in 2002. The award, which is presented by the National Football Foundation, comes with an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship.
The gala honored the men’s golf, volleyball and women’s golf teams for having the highest team GPAs during the 2001-2002 school year.
Aaron Neville, renowned Louisiana musical artist, provided the evening’s entertainment with familiar songs such as “Everybody Plays the Fool” and “Louisiana.”
As the evening drew to a close, John Ed Bradley, a former football player and a current author and writer for Sports Illustrated, read an excerpt from his article titled “The Best Years of his Life.”
The piece Bradley read reminisced about his time at LSU and his realization later in life it would live with him forever.
“The truth is, I’ve had more success as a writer … but it wasn’t as good as running through the goal post at Tiger Stadium,” Bradley read. “Everything, it seemed, paled in comparison to wearing the purple and gold.”
As soon as Bradley read the last words, the auditorium erupted into the sounds of the Tiger Band drum corps. After the band filed out, the crowd raised to their feet and cheered as pregame echoed loudly through the room.
As former and current athletes left the room to mingle with their family and friends, some of Bradley’s words echoed in their minds: “How will any of us who played at LSU ever be done with it?”