LSU’s tuba-playing center garnering national attention

Many LSU sports fans in Baton Rouge are already familiar with the brass-to-basketball story of 7-foot-3 Andrew Del Piero, who began his time in Baton Rouge as a scholarship tuba player with the Golden Band from Tigerland and has since become a scholarship athlete. Now the national press is beginning to take notice of his incredible story, too. On Sunday, The New York Times included a lengthy feature story on Del Piero, who played a total of 12 minutes all season last year but has taken on a more significant role on the team this year—starting several games at center. The Austin, Texas-native—who attended Westlake High School, which is also Drew Brees’ alma mater—tells The New York Times that he began feeling pressure to try out for the Tigers basketball team shortly after arriving in Baton Rouge in 2009. “On game days here, it kind of turned into a big deal,” says Del Piero, who played one season of admittedly unsuccessful basketball in high school and decided to pursue music instead. “A lot of people [were] saying things like, ‘Hey why aren’t you on the basketball team?’ and heckling me and stuff.” At the Tigers’ recent home game against Chattanooga, at which Del Piero started, he had an ally-oop dunk, two blocked shots and a tipped-in offensive rebound in the span of less than a minute as the game came to a close. The crowd of 6,000-plus gave Del Piero a standing ovation, many chanting “Tu-ba! Tu-ba!” as the smiling center came off the court. Read the full story here.