College Sports Information Directors of America

* Veterans Committee Hall of Fame inductee.

LSU

Carl "Ace" Higgins was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame during the 2009 convention in San Antonio, Texas, at the Marriott Rivercenter. He was part of the inaugural induction class of the CoSIDA Veterans Hall of Fame. 

Veterans Committee Hall of Fame inductees represent former sports information professionals of distinction from the past whose professional and personal deeds and accomplishments helped make possible the stature of the sports information profession today.

Higgins spent three years as sports editor of a small Louisiana daily, The Baton Rouge Journal, before he joined the LSU staff in 1953. He was a graduate of the LSU School of Journalism (1950) and an Air Force veteran of World War II. Higgins served as president of the Southeastern Conference Sports Information Directors and was a member of CoSIDA, the Football Writers Association of America and Sigma Delta Chi. He and his wife, Pat, had three sons – Johnny, Ron, and Steven, and a daughter, Heather.

When he was a student at LSU, Higgins was hired as a student worker by Jim Corbett. Higgins would replace Corbett when Corbett resigned to go work for the NCAA. Higgins served as sports information director at LSU from 1954 until his death in 1968. In a time where sports information offices consisted of small staffs, he managed to get it done with just one assistant to help him.

He publicized a Heisman Trophy winner in Billy Cannon in 1959 and a Heisman runner-up in Jerry Stovall in 1962. During Higgins’ time at LSU, the Tigers had 13 first-team All-Americans and 29 first-team All-SEC performers. He was also the SID when Pete Maravich played basketball for the Tigers. Higgins was even 1-0 as the school's emergency basketball coach, taking over duties early in one game when head coach Harry Rabenhorst was tossed from a game.

Higgins excelled in a time when his job often demanded extreme multi-tasking. He not only ran the press venues, but often served as public address announcer and made sure every detail was handled. At a time when LSU's athletic program jumped into the national spotlight, Ace Higgins was responsible for keeping the Tigers there. The Louisiana Sports Writers Association gives a scholarship annually in the name of Ace Higgins to the outstanding sports information student assistant at a Louisiana university.

In December of 1968, Higgins died of a heart attack at the age of 45. His title at that time was Sports Publicity Director and Director of Special Events.

This page was last updated Sept. 19, 2018.