65 Notable alumni of
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Updated:
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is 825th in the world, 307th in North America, and 286th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 65 notable alumni from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Richard Simmons
- Occupations
- restaurateurradio personalityactorcomediandancer
- Biography
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Milton Teagle "Richard" Simmons is an American fitness personality and public figure, known for his eccentric, flamboyant, and energetic personality. He has promoted weight-loss programs, most prominently through his Sweatin' to the Oldies line of aerobics videos.
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Ali Landry
- Occupations
- television actormodelfilm actoractorbeauty pageant contestant
- Biography
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Ali Germaine Landry is an American actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 1996. She played Rita Lefleur on the UPN sitcom Eve and was the Doritos Girl in a 1998 Super Bowl commercial. In 1998, she was named by People magazine as one of 50 most beautiful people in the world.
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Elfrid Payton
- Enrolled in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
- Studied in 2011-2014
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Elfrid Payton Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Mad Ants of the NBA G League. He played college basketball at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where in 2014 he won the Lefty Driesell Award as the National College Defensive Player of the Year. Payton was drafted with the 10th overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, but was then traded to the Orlando Magic.
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Kathleen Blanco
- Enrolled in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
- In 1964 graduated with Bachelor of Science in business studies
- Occupations
- politicianteacher
- Biography
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Kathleen Marie Blanco was an American politician who served as the 54th governor of Louisiana from 2004 to 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first and, to date, only woman elected as the state's governor.
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Jonathan Lucroy
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Jonathan Charles Lucroy is an American former professional baseball catcher. Between 2010 and 2021, he spent 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) playing for the Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers, Colorado Rockies, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, and Atlanta Braves.
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Jeff Landry
- Enrolled in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
- In 1999 graduated with Bachelor of Science
- Occupations
- lawyerpolice officerpoliticianbusinessperson
- Biography
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Jeffrey Martin Landry is an American politician and attorney serving since 2024 as the 57th governor of Louisiana. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th attorney general of Louisiana from 2016 to 2024 and as the U.S. representative for Louisiana's 3rd congressional district from 2011 to 2013.
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Larry Blyden
- Occupations
- theatrical directorstage actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Ivan Lawrence Blieden, known professionally as Larry Blyden, was an American actor, stage producer and director, and game show host. He made his Broadway stage debut in 1948 and went on to appear in numerous productions on and off Broadway. In 1972, he won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance in the revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum which he also produced. That same year, he became the host of the syndicated revival version of What's My Line?
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Felecia Angelle
- Occupations
- voice actor
- Biography
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Felecia Angelle is an American voice actress and ADR director. She has provided voices for a number of English language versions of Japanese anime films and television series. Angelle is best known as the voice of Kohaku from Dr. Stone, the anime voice of Aoi Asahina from the Danganronpa series, Alex Benedetto from Gangsta, Mana Takamiya from Date A Live, Shikimi Shiramine from Love Tyrant, Sonia Summers from Bem, Alicia VII from Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor, Anzu from Ensemble Stars!, Rita Izumi from A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Kae Tojo from Shomin Sample, Funabori from D-Frag!, Frill from Wonder Egg Priority, Momiji from Code:Breaker, Lancelot from Sakura Wars the Animation, Waltrud Krupinski from Brave Witches, Fubuki from Kancolle: Kantai Collection, Nozomi Moritomo from The Rolling Girls, Miku Nakano from "The Quintessential Quintuplets", Shinoa Hīragi from Seraph of the End, Toru Hagakure from My Hero Academia, Emi Yusa from The Devil Is a Part-Timer! and Perona from One Piece.
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Andrew Toney
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Andrew Toney is an American former professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1980 to 1988. A two-time NBA All-Star, he won an NBA championship with the 76ers in 1983.
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David Begnaud
- Born in
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United States - Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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David Begnaud is an American journalist and news correspondent. Begnaud works for CBS News, and is currently based in New York City as the Lead National Correspondent for CBS Mornings. His reporting has been featured across CBS News broadcasts and platforms including CBS This Morning, the CBS Evening News, 48 Hours, CBS Sunday Morning, as well as CBS News Streaming, CBS News' 24/7 streaming news service.
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Felix Moncla
- Occupations
- military officeraircraft pilot
- Biography
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First Lieutenant Felix Eugene Moncla Jr. was a United States Air Force (USAF) pilot who disappeared while performing an air defense intercept over Lake Superior in 1953. His disappearance is sometimes known as the Kinross Incident, after Kinross Air Force Base, where Moncla was on temporary assignment at the time he vanished.
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Danny Farquhar
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Daniel Andres Farquhar is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox from 2011 to 2018. He experienced a brain aneurysm during his final game. Farquhar is currently the pitching coach for the Birmingham Barons.
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George Rodrigue
- Occupations
- painter
- Biography
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George Rodrigue was an American artist who in the late 1960s began painting Louisiana landscapes, followed soon after by outdoor family gatherings and southwest Louisiana 19th-century and early 20th-century genre scenes. His paintings often include moss-clad oak trees, which are common to an area of French Louisiana known as Acadiana. In the mid-1990s Rodrigue's Blue Dog paintings, based on a Cajun legend called Loup-garou, catapulted him to worldwide fame.
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John Breaux
- Enrolled in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
- In 1964 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianlawyer
- Biography
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John Berlinger Breaux is an American lobbyist, attorney, and retired politician from Louisiana. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1972 to 1987 and as a United States Senator from 1987 to 2005. He was considered one of the more conservative national legislators from the Democratic Party. Breaux was a member of the New Democrat Coalition.
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Charles Boustany
- Occupations
- politiciansurgeon
- Biography
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Charles William Boustany Jr. is an American politician, physician, and former congressman from Lafayette, Louisiana, who served as the U.S. representative from Louisiana's 3rd congressional district from 2005 to 2017 (numbered as the 7th district from 2005 to 2013). He is a member of the Republican Party.
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Eddy Raven
- Years
- 1944-.. (age 80)
- Occupations
- singer-songwriter
- Biography
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Edward Garvin Futch, known professionally as Eddy Raven, is an American country music singer and songwriter. Active from 1962 to 2019, Raven has recorded for several record labels, including ABC, Dimension, Elektra, RCA, Universal, and Capitol Records. After multiple albums which yielded few hit songs, his greatest commercial success came between 1984 and 1990, during which time Raven achieved six number-one singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. These were "I Got Mexico", "Shine, Shine, Shine", "I'm Gonna Get You", "Joe Knows How to Live", "In a Letter to You", and "Bayou Boys". Raven has a total of eighteen top-ten hits on that chart. Although his chart success diminished in the 1990s, Raven continued to record throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century. In addition to his own work, he has written singles for Don Gibson, Randy Cornor, Jeannie C. Riley, Connie Smith, and The Oak Ridge Boys among others. Raven's music is defined by mainstream country, country pop, Cajun music, and reggae, and he wrote a large number of his singles by himself or with Frank J. Myers.
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Charles B. DeBellevue
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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Colonel Charles Barbin DeBellevue is a retired officer in the United States Air Force (USAF). In 1972, DeBellevue became one of only five Americans to achieve flying ace status during the Vietnam War, and the first as a USAF Weapon Systems Officer (WSO), an integral part of two-man aircrews with the emergence of air-to-air missiles as the primary weapons during aerial combat. He was credited with a total of six MiG kills, the most earned by any U.S. aviator during the Vietnam War, and is a recipient of the Air Force Cross.
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Shawn Long
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Shawn Long is an American professional basketball player for Osaka Evessa of the Japanese B.League. He played college basketball for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and represented the United States at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.
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Scott Angelle
- Occupations
- politicianbusinessperson
- Biography
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Scott Anthony Angelle is an American politician who is the former director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement in Washington, D.C. From 2013 to 2017, he was the District 2 member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, an elected five-person utility regulatory body.
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Saad Khan
- Born in
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India - Occupations
- screenwriterfilm director
- Biography
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Saad Khan is an Indian director, screenwriter and acting teacher and Improv comedian who works in films and web series. He is the founder and creative head of FirstAction Studios that recently merged with Mumbai-based media conglomerate Rainshine Entertainment. Khan is known for his Kannada-English feature film Humble Politician Nograj, which became a hit and the first Kannada film to achieve world-wide digital audience presence on Amazon's PrimeVideo platform.
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Brian Mitchell
- Occupations
- player of American football
- Biography
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Brian Keith Mitchell is an American former professional football player who was a running back and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Washington Redskins in the fifth round (130th overall) of the 1990 NFL Draft. He played college football at Louisiana (then known as University of Southwestern Louisiana) where he was a quarterback. Mitchell is considered one of the greatest return specialists in NFL history.
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B. J. Ryan
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Robert Victor "B. J." Ryan Jr. is an American baseball coach and former relief pitcher. He played college baseball at Louisiana, where he played for coach Tony Robichaux in 1997 and 1998. He also played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1999 to 2009.
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Judith Ford
- Occupations
- modelbeauty pageant contestanttrampoline gymnast
- Biography
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Judith Anne Ford Nash is a retired teacher who was Miss America 1969. Judith Anne Ford moved to Belvidere, Illinois at age three with her parents and brother. In 1968 she won the title of Miss Boone County, held at the Boone County Fairgrounds. She also worked as a lifeguard at the city's public pool and was a swimming instructor during this time.
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Roy Bourgeois
- Occupations
- Catholic priestmilitary officerhuman rights activist
- Biography
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Roy Bourgeois is an American activist, a former Catholic priest, and the founder of the human rights group School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch). He is the 1994 recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award and the 2011 recipient of the American Peace Award and also has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
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David Patrick
- Occupations
- basketball playerbasketball coach
- Biography
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David Patrick is an Australian college basketball coach who is the head coach for the Sacramento State Hornets men's basketball team. He is the former head coach of the UC Riverside Highlanders men's basketball team. He is the godfather of NBA player Ben Simmons.
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Steven L. Bennett
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
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Steven Logan Bennett was a United States Air Force pilot who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Vietnam War on August 8, 1974.
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Kevin Roberts
- Enrolled in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in study of history
- Occupations
- historianuniversity teacheracademic administrator
- Biography
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Kevin D. Roberts is the president of The Heritage Foundation. Prior to assuming his current role, he was the CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin, Texas. Roberts served as the president of Wyoming Catholic College from 2013 to 2016.
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Hedwig Gorski
- Occupations
- choreographerwriterpoet
- Biography
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Hedwig Irene Gorski is an American performance poet and an avant-garde artist who labels her aesthetic as "American futurism." The term "performance poetry," a precursor to slam poetry, is attributed to her. It originated in press releases for experimental spoken word and conceptual theater Gorski created during 1979. She is a first-generation Polish American academic scholar and accomplished creative writer. The innovative poetry, prose, drama, and audio works are published and produced in a variety of media using standard and experimental forms.
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Jefferson Caffery
- Occupations
- diplomatlawyerhead coach
- Biography
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Jefferson Caffery was an American diplomat. He served as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador (1926–1928), Colombia (1928–1933), Cuba (1934–1937), Brazil (1937–1944), France (1944–1949), and Egypt (1949–1955).
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Jose Alvarez
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Jose Lino Alvarez is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He played four seasons at the major league level, pitching for the Atlanta Braves. He played for the Braves in 1981 and 1982, then spent five seasons in the minor leagues before returning to the Braves in 1988 and 1989. After a successful season in 1988 and earning the Atlanta Braves Most Outstanding Pitcher Award, Jose began the 1989 season in fine fashion with 2 wins and a save.
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Paul Bako
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Gabor Paul Bako II is an American former professional baseball catcher. He is an example of a baseball "journeyman", having played for 11 different teams during his 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career. During his playing days, he was listed at 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) and 210 pounds (95 kg).
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Chase Lambin
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Chase Morrow Lambin is an American professional baseball coach for the Nashville Sounds in the Texas Rangers organization. Lambin retired as a player in 2014, after playing in several Minor League organizations, as well as for the independent Sugar Land Skeeters. He played in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2009.
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Jimmy Hayes
- Enrolled in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
- In 1967 graduated with Bachelor of Science
- Occupations
- lawyerreal estate developerpoliticianlobbyist
- Biography
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James Alison Hayes is an American politician and lawyer. He is a Republican from Louisiana.
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Barry Jean Ancelet
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teacherlinguistfolklorist
- Biography
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Barry Jean Ancelet is a Cajun folklorist in Louisiana French and ethnomusicologist in Cajun music. He has written several books, and under his pseudonym Jean Arceneaux, including poetry and lyrics to songs.
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Bo Lamar
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Dwight "Bo" Lamar is a former professional American basketball player. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, he graduated from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Lamar was a leading NCAA scorer and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1973 American Basketball Association Draft.
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Charlie Melancon
- Enrolled in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
- In 1971 graduated with Bachelor of Science
- Occupations
- politicianbusinessperson
- Biography
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Charles Joseph Melançon is an American politician and the former secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
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Farooq Kperogi
- Occupations
- linguistjournalistacademic
- Biography
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Farooq Adamu Kperogi, is a Nigerian-American professor, author, media scholar, newspaper columnist, blogger and activist. He was a reporter and news editor at many Nigerian newspapers including the Daily Trust, Daily Triumph and the now defunct New Nigerian.
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Nannette Jolivette Brown
- Occupations
- judgelawyer
- Biography
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Nannette V. Brown is the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. She previously served in the role of city attorney for the city of New Orleans from the time that Mayor Mitch Landrieu hired her in May 2010 until becoming a federal judge in 2011. As city attorney, Brown was responsible for all city contracts and oversaw all legal matters for the city.
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Joe Aillet
- Occupations
- basketball coach
- Biography
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Joseph Roguet Aillet was an American football and basketball coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Louisiana Tech University from 1940 to 1966, compiling a record of 151–86–8. Additionally, under Aillet, the Bulldogs won nine conference championships. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989. Joe Aillet Stadium, the home of the Louisiana Tech football team, was dedicated in Aillet's honor in 1972.
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Leigh Hennessy
- Born in
- United States
- Occupations
- trampoline gymnaststunt performer
- Biography
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Leigh Hennessy also known as Leigh Hennessy Robson, is a stunt woman, author, and trampoline gymnast. She was a two-time double mini-trampoline world champion, and won a silver medal in synchronized trampoline at the World Trampoline Championships, (1976). In the late 1990s, she translated her athletic career into one as an actress and stunt performer for film and television.
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Ja'Marcus Bradley
- Occupations
- player of American football
- Biography
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Ja'Marcus Bradley is an American football wide receiver for the St. Louis Battlehawks of the United Football League (UFL). He played college football at Louisiana.
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James Domengeaux
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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James R. Domengeaux, known as Jimmy Domengeaux, was a lawyer from Lafayette, Louisiana, who served in the United States House of Representatives for Louisiana's 3rd congressional district from 1941 to 1949. He was a cultural activist of Cajun and Louisiana Creole descent who is best remembered for his efforts to preserve the French language in his native state.
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Blake Trahan
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Blake Matthew Trahan is an American former professional baseball shortstop. He played for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB).
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Albert H. Crews
- Occupations
- aerospace engineeraircraft pilotmilitary officer
- Biography
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Albert Hanlin "Al" Crews Jr., (Col, USAF, Ret.), is a former American chemical and aeronautical engineer, and U.S. Air Force astronaut.
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Wiley Cash
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Wiley Cash is a New York Times best-selling novelist from North Carolina. He is the author of three novels, A Land More Kind Than Home, This Dark Road to Mercy, and The Last Ballad. His work has won numerous awards, including the Southern Book Prize three times, and the Crime Writers' Association's CWA New Blood Dagger and Gold Dagger.
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Jason Fletcher
- Occupations
- sports agent
- Biography
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Jason Fletcher is an American sports agent. A graduate of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Science. Fletcher played football and also participated in track and field during his time at school. Former New York Giants General Manager Jerry Reese was a College Scout in 1997, Fletcher was clocked at 4.36 and 4.41(40) during a private workout at Bourgeois Hall. Fletcher was an NFL undrafted free agent from 1998 to 2000, having opportunities with several NFL teams and eventually playing in the arena football league with the Los Angeles Avengers under Stan Brock.
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Scott Dohmann
- Occupations
- professional baseball player
- Biography
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Christopher Scott Dohmann is an American former baseball pitcher. Dohmann graduated from St. Thomas More High School (LA) where he was a member of two district champion teams. He attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where he pitched in the 2000 College World Series.
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Patrick T. Caffery
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Patrick Thomson Caffery, Sr., known as Pat Caffery, was an attorney from New Iberia, Louisiana, who formerly served as a Democrat in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1964 to 1968 and then as a U.S. representative from Louisiana's 3rd congressional district from 1969 to 1973.
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Chad Beck
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Chad Lee Beck is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He has played in Major League Baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays.
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Royd Anderson
- Occupations
- filmmakerfilm director
- Biography
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Royd Anderson is a Cuban-American filmmaker and historian based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He specializes in documentary films pertaining to tragic Louisiana events often overlooked by historians.
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Cindy Courville
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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Dr. Cindy Lou Courville was the U.S. Ambassador to the African Union from 2006 to 2008. Previously she was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council where she helped craft United States policy towards Africa.
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Alex McCool
- Years
- 1923-2020 (aged 97)
- Biography
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Alexander A. McCool Jr. was manager of the Space Shuttle Projects Office at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. During his career, McCool contributed to several space developments including the Apollo Program, Skylab and the Space Shuttle program.
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Joey Durel
- Occupations
- politicianbusinessperson
- Biography
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Lester Joseph Durel Jr., known as Joey Durel, is the former mayor of Lafayette, Louisiana. Elected in 2003, he became the second Republican mayor of his city and the second person elected as "City-Parish president" of the combined City of Lafayette and Lafayette Parish government.
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Julie Emerson
- Occupations
- politicianbusinessperson
- Biography
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Julie Cathryn Emerson is an American small business owner and politician. She is from Carencro, Louisiana. She is a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 39 in Lafayette and St. Landry parishes in South Louisiana.
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Weldon Humble
- Occupations
- player of American football
- Biography
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Weldon Gaston "Hum" Humble was an American football guard who played five seasons in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL) for the Cleveland Browns and Dallas Texans in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
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Richard T. Haik
- Occupations
- judgelawyer
- Biography
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Richard Theodore Haik Sr. is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
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Antwain Spann
- Occupations
- player of American football
- Biography
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Antwain Joquan Spann is a former American football safety. He was signed by the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He played college football at Louisiana–Lafayette.
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Kevin Eyster
- Occupations
- poker player
- Biography
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Kevin Eyster or "1$ickDisea$E" is a professional poker player, born in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States. He learned the game at the age of 15 years during his schooldays. After graduating, he trained his skills mainly by playing online and in local games. He started his real poker career in 2007.
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Robert L. Mouton
- Years
- 1892-1956 (aged 64)
- Occupations
- politicianbusinesspersonmilitary officer
- Biography
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Robert Louis Mouton was a U.S. Representative from Louisiana.
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Patricia Brown
- Occupations
- engineer
- Biography
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Patricia L. Brown was the first female chemical engineer to graduate from Southwestern Louisiana Institute. She was one out of a total of two female chemical engineers at Stephan Company in 1993.
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Georgette LeBlanc
- Occupations
- writerpoet
- Biography
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Georgette LeBlanc is a Canadian poet and translator, most noted for serving as the Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate in 2018 and 2019.
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Meredith Blackwell
- Years
- 1940-.. (age 84)
- Occupations
- botanistmycologist
- Biography
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Meredith May Blackwell is an American mycologist, known as one of the world's leading experts on fungi associated with arthropods.
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Paul Devenport
- Occupations
- golfer
- Biography
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Paul Dale Devenport is a semi-retired professional golfer from New Zealand.
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Brod Veillon
- Years
- 1950-.. (age 74)
- Occupations
- air force officer
- Biography
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Brigadier General Joseph "Brod" Veillon is the assistant adjutant general-air for Louisiana. He has served on active duty in the United States Air Force since 1978. He joined the Louisiana Air National Guard in 1992. In 2005, Veillon coordinated the Louisiana National Guard's support of Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries search and rescue efforts in response to Hurricane Katrina.
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Dorothy Pocklington
- Enrolled in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
- Graduated with Bachelor of Science in Nursing
- Occupations
- nurse
- Biography
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Dorothy Pocklington was a United States Army nurse. She was the first female member of the Army Reserve to attain the rank of brigadier general.
