Nicholls State will honor five former Colonels at halftime during the homecoming game Saturday night as part of the Hall of Fame.This year’s inductees include Mike Knight, Jack Barton, Clint Conque, Romana Tedjakusuma and the late Paul Vaccaro.
Inductees can include former coaches as well as athletes, and Nicholls State Athletics Director Rob Bernardi said this is a great honor for these five individuals.
“Our athletics Hall of Fame is, in my mind, the highest honor we can bestow on a former coach or student-athlete,” Bernardi said.
Knight, a former Colonel baseball coach, is credited with being one of Nicholls’ most successful coaches. Under Knight, the Colonels went 518-390-5 while advancing to the NCAA regionals twice. In 1984 and 1985, Knight led the Colonels to two consecutive conference titles.
“I’m honored to have the committee nominate and select me,” Knight said. “I’ve been a Colonel almost half my life. It’ll be a great honor for me and my family.”
In addition to serving as baseball coach, Knight also served as Nicholls athletics director for five years and is one of the longest tenured coaches at Nicholls.
Tedjakusuma, a former Lady Colonel tennis star from Surabaya, Indonesia, finished her senior season in 1999 nationally ranked. In her four years as a Colonel, Tedjakusuma compiled a 115-12 record, while also participating in the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta.
Tedjakusuma said she is honored to receive the award, but when she first arrived at Nicholls it was difficult to adjust to a different culture.
“I was really close to my teammates, and they helped me through my time at Nicholls,” Tedjakusuma said. “Things got better as my time went on.”
Besides a baseball coach and tennis player, the Colonels will honor a former Colonel football star as well.
Conque played from 1981-1982 and led the team in tackles, recording 66 tackles in 1981 and 58.5 in 1982. Now living in Arkansas, Conque is the head football coach of Central Arkansas University, which was recently given an invitation to join the Southland Conference.
Since he’s a head coach, Conque will have to be with his team on Saturday, but he said his son Chase will accept the award on Conque’s behalf.
“I was very humbled when I heard the news,” Conque said. “It is the highest honor anyone can receive from their alma mater. I was married on that campus, and my oldest son was born in Thibodaux, so I have a lot of ties there. I’m looking forward to coming back as a member of the Southland Conference and rekindle old rivalries.”
In basketball, Barton was a three-year letter winner scoring 41 points in one game against Mississippi College during his sophomore season in 1961. Barton left the Colonels after his junior year, in which he averaged 15.9 points per game, to join the efforts in Vietnam. He returned for his senior season in 1966.
“College was a growing-up time for me,” Barton said. “I came from Missouri and learned to love the Cajun way of life because I’m sill here today.”
The award for Vaccaro, who is deceased, will be accepted by his wife Peggy. Vaccaro is the first ever four-year letterman at Nicholls, lettering in both basketball and baseball. Vaccaro led the baseball team in numerous statistical categories including RBIs with 20 and home runs with six. In 1962, Vaccaro was a member of the Colonels baseball team that finished No. 30 in the country and included a win over No. 2 ranked Florida.
With the addition of this year’s five inductees, the total number of Hall of Fame members is 52.
