Legendary Tulane University administrator and New Orleans and campus ambassador
M.L. Largarde passed away on January 22.
See two features on Largarde which are displayed below:
M.L. Lagarde was all heart, gentle spokesman for Tulane athletics
Tulane Family Mourns the Passing of M.L. Lagarde
Lagarde, 82, was a fixture in his native city and around Tulane University for 31 years, first as the school's sports information director and later as assistant athletic director, associate athletic director and special assistant to the athletic director, before retiring in June 2005.
He joined the Green Wave staff in 1974 as sports information director and served as SID for 10 years before being named assistant AD. He received the Scoop Hudgins SID Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 from the All-America Football Foundation and also served as a member of the Final Four Media Committee for 10 years.
The family has requested a private funeral service and asks that donations be directed to the American Heart Association and correspondence to the email address
rememberingml@gmail.com .
M.L. Lagarde was all heart, gentle spokesman for Tulane athletics
by Peter Finney, New Orleans Times-Picayune
25 January 2011
If you asked Rick Dickson how he'll remember M.L. Lagarde, it took Tulane's athletic director only a few words.
"Mel had a weak heart, and he was all heart," said Dickson, speaking for a long list of athletic directors and coaches, who not only passed through Tulane, but came to know the gentleman who enjoyed being a gentle spokesman for Green Wave athletics.
"Man, I lov
e this place," Mel once told me.
At the time, he was well into a job he would hold for 31 years, going from sports information director to assistant athletic director, to associate AD, before retiring in 2005.
In a way, he was still, as he liked to put it, "talking up the Wave," when his 82-year-old heart finally gave out last week.
"A Tulane football coach had no better friend than M.L.," said Vince Gibson, who spent four years coaching the Green Wave. "I liked telling him he had a tougher job than the coaches who had perks in their contracts regarding having an automobile on loan. It was part of M.L.'s job to sell the car dealers. Losing seasons didn't help, of course, but M.L. always came through. He was the type of person you just couldn't refuse. He had a down-home personality that reminded me a lot of Coach Bobby Bowden. If you knew him, you liked him - and it seemed like he knew everybody."
Former Tulane athletic director Hindman Wall talked of receiving a phone call from M.L. on Christmas Eve.
"We hadn't spoken in some time," Wall said. "We talked for almost an hour and, the more we talked, I began to get the feeling he was calling friends to say goodbye. When I came to Tulane, you can't= imagine how many doors he opened for me, how I came to cherish his advice."'
The advice came from someone who touched many bases in the world of sports, athlete, high school coach, in basketball, baseball and football, and a member of the media, covering Tulane athletics and high school sports for The Times-Picayune.
Former Tulane basketball coach Perry Clark told me "M.L.,'s behind-the-scene work to secure legislative approval of the New Orleans Arena played a major role in making it a reality."
"Without M.L.'s help, I know I would never had the success I had at Tulane," Clark added. "Any time I had a problem, he was there. He was always there for the coaches, for Tulane."
I'll never forget the glowing look on M.L.'s face the night in 1973 the Green Wave upset LSU 14-0 before an overflow crowd of 80,000-plus at Tulane Stadium, ending a losing streak stretching back into the 1940s.
"This has to be the happiest day of your life," I said to M.L.
"You bet it is," he said.
Then M.L. said something that said something about M.L.
He thought of the coach in the losing locker room, Charley McClendon.
"You know what?" M.L. said. "This is gotta be a tough one for Coach Mac."
Tulane Family Mourns the Passing of M.L. Lagarde
Lagarde was a Tulane student-athlete, administrator for over 31 years
by Katie Urbaszewski, The Times-Picayune
New Orleans - Legendary Tulanian M.L. LaGarde, a former TU student-athlete and long-time Green Wave administrator, passed away on Saturday, Jan. 22. He was 82.
Born September 8, 1928 in New Orleans, Lagarde was a fixture in his native city and around Tulane University for 31 years, first as the school's sports information director and later as assistant athletic director, associate athletic director and special assistant to the athletic director, before retiring in June 2005.
"We are saddened to learn the news of the passing of M.L Lagarde," Tulane Director of Athletics Rick Dickson said. "He was beloved by Tulane student-athletes, coaches and administrators for many generations, and was always a true friend to all. We have lost a good friend."
Lagarde graduated from St. Aloysius High School in 1945 and moved on to Tulane, where he became a part of Emmett Pare's nationally renowned tennis program. Health issues limited Lagarde to play just one season at Tulane, but before his playing career was halted, he was named to the U.S. Junior Davis Cup team and was nationally ranked among junior players.
Lagarde earned his bachelor's degree in history from Tulane in 1952 and went on to earn a master's in education from Loyola University. While still in college, he began a successful high school coaching career as a high school basketball, baseball and football coach at St. Aloysius and Jesuit high schools. In all, he was a part of six city and four state championships in baseball, four city and state titles in basketball and two city championships in football.
In 1959, Lagarde retired from coaching to open Lakewood School, where he served as headmaster for 15 years. During that time, he also covered Tulane athletics and high school sports for the Times-Picayune. He also co-founded the Catholic's Youth Organization and New Orleans Recreation Department's tennis programs.
His life's journey led him back to his alma mater when he joined the Green Wave staff in a full time capacity in 1974 as the sports information director and served as the SID for 10 years before being named an assistant athletic director in 1984. He was later promoted to associate athletic director in 1992.
Lagarde's work at Tulane did not go unnoticed by his peers. He received the Mac Russo Award from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association in 1984 and earned the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Distinguished Service Award in sports journalism in 1993. Lagarde received the Scoop Hudgins SID lifetime Achievement Award from the All-America Football Foundation in 1999.
He coordinated media and press box activities for the Sugar Bowl for 12 years, spent 10 years on the NCAA Final Four's media committee and another four years working with CBS' coverage of the event. He also served as media coordinator for the first Final Four in the Superdome in 1982, part of his role at Tulane. On Tulane's behalf, Lagarde worked behind the scenes to secure legislative approval of the New Orleans Arena in 1993.
He was elected to the Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.
Lagarde is survived by his wife, Jean, and two sons, Mel and Gary. The family has requested a private funeral service and asks that donations be directed to the American Heart Association and correspondence to
rememberingml@gmail.com .