LSU sports lost one of its major proponents June 11, as Martin J. Broussard, athletic trainer and University employee for more than 50 years, died at the age of 84.
“It’s hard to put into words the people he touched here at LSU,” said Herb Vincent, an associate athletic director. “Almost every player or coach has been touched in some way by Doc Broussard.”
Vincent said he has known Broussard since 1979, and his method with student-athletes was “old school” but effective.
“He was tough, but he was tough on you to make you better,” Vincent said. “When athletes come back to LSU, they look for him.”
According to LSUSports.net, Broussard was a two-sport athlete and football trainer at the University in the 1940s, earning a degree in 1945. After playing professional baseball and serving as head athletic trainer at the University of Florida and Texas A&M, he returned to LSU in 1948 at the same position.
He received both a master’s degree in 1960 and a doctorate in 1967 from LSU.
Known around the world, Broussard was a trainer for the 1955 Pan American Games and the U.S. Olympic Team in 1960.
In 1963, Broussard was named athletic trainer of the year by the Rockne Foundation.
Broussard served on the board of directors for the National Athletic Trainers Association, an organization he helped create, and was named to the NATA hall of fame in 1978.
He was then named to the Louisiana Athletic Trainer’s Hall of Fame in 1982.
A full professor in the Health and Physical Education Department, Broussard taught for more than 40 years and worked on the field with football legends from the 1958 national championship team and Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon.
Director of Athletic Training Jack Marucci said Broussard’s forthright and opinionated demeanor complemented his desire to help friends.
“He was more of a mentor for running the training room,” Marucci said. “He’d tell you what he thought straight to your face, not after you walked out the door.”
Broussard was immortalized in LSU sports in 1998 when the University named its new, state-of-the-art multimillion dollar athletic training facility the Martin J. Broussard Center for Athletic Training.
The center stands in the shadow of Tiger Stadium, where Broussard himself spent many Saturday nights.
Donations can be sent to the “Doc” Broussard Student Trainer of the Year scholarship fund, P.O. Box 711, Baton Rouge, LA., 70821.