Jacques Doucet and WAFB Sports Director Steve Schneider were on the field at Super Bowl XLIV in Miami as the Indianapolis Colts attempted to drive for a fourth-quarter, game-tying touchdown against the New Orleans Saints. They were behind the south end zone as the Colts drove north. Schneider suggested they stay put, figuring the Colts probably were about to score, and they’d be in a good position to watch the Saints try to drive for the win.
A few plays later, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning throws a pass that New Orleans cornerback Tracy Porter intercepts and returns 74 yards for a touchdown, all but sealing the Saints’ first Super Bowl victory.
“When [Porter] struck a pose and dropped the football, it rolled and hit me in the foot,” Doucet recalls. “That was a pretty surreal moment, for the Saints to be nailing down the game-winning touchdown, and me to be within an arm’s length of the guy that ran it in.”
Within minutes, the game was over, and the stadium PA system was blaring “Top of the World,” by Van Halen, Doucet’s favorite band. For a Louisiana boy, the song might as well have been chosen just for him. And if he had accepted a job opportunity in a bigger market in Minnesota the year before, he might have covered the Vikings that season and missed out on this moment.
As a child, Doucet idolized LSU quarterback Tommy Hodson. He also recorded his own play-by-play for LSU and Saints games, and occasionally annoyed his friends while narrating their Tecmo Bowl matchups. By age 13 it was pretty clear Doucet’s future would be wielding a microphone, not lobbing a football.
Playing sports remains a big part of his life, however. Sunday afternoon softball games with a handful of high school buddies in Maurice have evolved into Red, Rock & Blue, a weekend-long event featuring softball and kickball tournaments, a concert at The Varsity Theatre, and the “Celebrity/Sorta Celebrity Softball Game,” which has featured a number of football, basketball and baseball stars with Louisiana ties. All the events benefit two nonprofits: The Blue Star Mothers of Louisiana and Support Our War Heroes.
“We all love sports, but our local sports mean a little bit more to us,” Doucet says. “The troops are the same way; we love all our troops, but our Louisiana troops are closer to home.”
As the years went by, it was quite evident I wasn’t going to be a big-time athlete. It was pretty clear from about 12, 13 years old that I was going to try to be in sports broadcasting of some kind.
I would love to be a sober, clean, healthy rock star.
It’s kind of cliché, but I would say chase your passion and not dollars.
The sports in this town just make this town go ’round.
Each sport has its own charm… Nothing really quite matches a Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.
I would make people more supportive of original music.
Staying ahead of the Internet. News is instantaneous now.
I’ve never applied for another job since I’ve been here. I could write a book about the golden era of Louisiana sports. I plan on sticking around as long as they’ll have me.
