Hildebrand, Part V: Keeping watch on the officials

     (Fifth in a series)
      In the last 16 years of his working days, Tynes Hildebrand did what he did so often as a basketball coach: He watched the officials.
      He was a lot less vocal and a lot less critical, and in his role as evaluator and trainer of college basketball officials, certainly more understanding of the difficulty of their jobs.

Clinics or games, Coach Hildebrand watched closely.

      Those who know Coach Hildebrand, though, know he was direct and earnest in his evaluations, and offering what he thought was best for the game.
      If that meant criticism, so be it. He was known to speak his mind.
      The job -- eight years covering five conferences and then eight more years as one of four regional evaluators for the NCAA -- kept him busy for at least five months a year, with lots of traveling -- to arenas and campuses all over the country --  and paperwork.
        Mrs. Hildebrand (Julia) made many of the trips and, says the coach, "helped me with tons of typing and computer input." He added that she "has been a great story and has had a great career."
        In 2013, nearing his mid-80s, Coach decided it was time to relax for good.
        "There just comes a time when you have to stop," he said. "It wasn't my health; I'm doing great. But the travel, the  schedule, and the paperwork got to be too much."
        OK, but when the next basketball season started, "I was watching games on TV and I missed it. I told Julia, 'I think I made a mistake.' "
        But the retirement stuck ... unlike his previous retirement.
---
        In 1996, when he was 65 and retired from the athletic director position at Northwestern State University -- after 39 years of work in Natchitoches -- he didn't think he'd work again.
        "I stayed out one year," he said. "It was a good time. Julia and I enjoyed ourselves. We traveled some, and we liked it."
        Then, again, his many connections kicked in. He got an interesting call from Dale Kelley, a longtime college basketball official, one of the best and most respected in the game.
        Kelley, who lives in Huntingdon, Tenn., where he is the longtime mayor, also involved in state politics, and the last few years the athletic director at Bethel University, in 1998 was coordinator of officials for five conferences (among them Big 12, Conference USA and Southland). He wanted Coach Hildebrand to evaluate officials in those leagues.
        Done deal. In addition, Coach would give presentations and be an instructor in off-season officiating clinics.
        The structure changed in 2006 when the NCAA decided to hire four regional observers of officials. He was recommended by Kelley, Big 12 administrator John Underwood and Kansas senior associate athletic director Larry Keating (who was on the NCAA basketball selection committee).
        "I was on a working [basketball] trip, so I was interviewed by phone," he recalled. "Eight people on the phone listening in. The last question I was asked was about the play when a ball was going out of bounds and a player in possession and in the air could call time out. They were thinking about changing that rule [eliminating the time out possibility]. I didn't like the rule and said so, and I think I made a lot of sense."
        A couple of days later, he got a call telling him he had the job. "An interesting way to be hired," he said.
        So he had eight Division I conferences to cover.
        "I was observing 75 live games or more each season, plus another 20-30 TV games," he said. "We could observe outside our eight conferences, but we had to be sure that two of us did not show at the same arena for the same game."
        And so scheduling was tricky, and had to be coordinated. "I would do games in swings trying to get five games or more on one trip," he said. 
        When Hank Nichols, another longtime college official who had worked the biggest games and was NCAA coordinator of officials for 22 years, retired in 2010 and was replaced by John Adams, Hildebrand was the only one of the four regional observers retained.
        "I think my administrative ability helped me with the committee," he said. "I did a lot of things for the other three regional advisors. Nichols recommended to Adams that he keep me on."
        Hildebrand feels he "was really good" at the evaluations and training, but the coach in him still looks at it with reservations.
        "No doubt having three officials [in a game] has helped basketball officiating," he said, "but it has allowed some officials not to work hard. Traveling, palming (carrying) the ball and post play, in my judgement, is poorly officiated. Players move their feet after a dribble and stop, they move their feet after a pass and before a dribble in the post, etc.
        "Post play is still very rough. [For officials] mobility and getting when they can see the play is big."
---
        Coach Hildebrand was a co-founder of the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches (LABC), served as its first secretary and its third president. He also was president of the Louisiana Athletic Directors Association.
        Among his honors: Louisiana Mr. Basketball (1981), N Club (Northwestern State) Hall of Fame (1985), LABC Hall of Fame (1992) and the Dave Dixon Award (2014).
        He often was a guest speaker or master of ceremonies at banquets or meetings, with a folksy, comedic touch.
        "Tynes and I shared a passion for speaking at banquets and other events," said Jerry Pierce, "and we shared a lot of our stories and other material. If a joke fell flat during a talk, I always mentioned that I got it from Tynes."

Bruce, Julia, Coach, Tynes Jr.

      One reward Coach Hildebrand received for his work evaluating officials was that he had a prime seat for many NCAA Tournament games. He was part of the process of selecting officials for March Madness games.
        For many years, Coach and his sons -- Tynes Jr. and Bruce -- shared their love of the game with an annual trip to the NCAA Tournament Final Four.
        Now live games are mostly part of the past, and TV is the easy ticket. Julia and Coach are into their new life in their new residential facility in Shreveport, entertaining and traveling when they want to, and taking pride in their family.
        Tynes Jr., who played guard for his father at Northwestern from 1969 to '73, has his own CPA business in Atlanta. His son is a Clemson graduate; his daughter will be soon.
        Bruce, while at Northwestern State, was a reliable Natchitoches correspondent for The Shreveport Times sports department. He tried coaching for a couple of years; just after graduation, he was hired as head basketball coach at Neville High in Monroe.
        Then, after taking accounting classes, he became a CPA and now is chief financial officer for a bank in Abilene, Texas.
       He and wife Nancy, whose father Dan Poole was a longtime Natchitoches High coach, have three sons -- all Texas A&M graduates, all married to Aggies.
        Julia and Coach have five great grandchildren.
        Tynes Hildebrand reflects on his school days, his military success, his coaching and subsequent careers, and he says, "What a great life ...
        "You work hard in school and that leads to good jobs, good rewards, a good life," he says. "I have preached that to young people always, and I am still telling them that." 

Coach, with daughter-in-law Nancy (left), Tynes Jr.
(front) and Bruce (right)

 

 

 

 

 



Hildebrand, Part IV: Innovative athletic director, mentor

         (Fourth in a series)
         He wasn't sure he wanted the job at first, but once he became athletic director at Northwestern State early in 1983, Tynes Hildebrand -- as he did in all phases of his life and career -- made the most of it.
          He had the job for 13 1/2 years and, as NSU sports information director Doug Ireland wrote a couple of years ago, he "used creative approaches that maximized resources" and "his tenure was marked by unprecedented competitive and fundraising success."
          But first, an interlude, and another job.
          His coaching career done in 1980, he stayed on the NSU campus in an administrative role for 2 1/2 years: placement director for students.
           "That meant getting jobs for graduates," he said, noting how much he enjoyed the position. "It was a time when plenty of jobs were available all over the country. I worked with every department on campus. Jobs were easy to get."
            And then, fortuitously, as the job market waned, the NSU athletic director position came open late in 1982 when  A.L. Williams was not retained as head football coach and AD (and moved on to become head coach at his alma mater, Louisiana Tech).
           "When they put athletics in my area in 1982," said longtime NSU vice-president Jerry Pierce, "my first call was to Tynes to see if he would take the AD position."
           Coach Hildebrand demurred.
           He recalled that when he was told that new NSU president Dr. Joseph Orze wanted to see him, and it was about the AD job, he wasn't ready.
           "Julia and I were co-chairs of the Natchitoches Christmas Festival that year, and we were so busy with that," he recalled. "I just didn't want to think about changing positions at that point. So I put off the meeting."
           Natchitoches is known for that annual holiday festival, with thousands coming in the first Saturday in December when the bright lights come on for the first time in the decorated downtown area (with the brick-paved main road next to the Cane River). It is a big deal there. 
         "I didn't want that damn job," Coach Hildebrand said of his initial feeling. "I was hoping he [Dr. Orze] would find someone else [in the meantime.]"
         Eventually, after the holiday season, he was convinced he was the right man for the job, and the job was right for him. And, as always, he transitioned into another phase.
         He became involved in NCAA committee work, including selection of the Division I-AA postseason selection panels; in 1987, he helped Northwestern move into the Southland Conference, where it remains today; and he was instrumental in installation of artificial turf at much-used Turpin Stadium, a $750,000 cost as NSU was among the first schools in the state to go that route.

Through the years Coach Hildebrand has been a
popular -- and often humorous -- public speaker.

        "Tynes and I were involved in three different conferences," said longtime coach/AD/conference commissioner Don Landry. "In each one, he was a leader and one of the most respected members. He always supported anything that was best for the league."
        Hildebrand had a plus in that NSU had only one head football coach, Sam Goodwin, in his time as AD -- a stable, consistently competitive program (highlighted by a 10-3 record in 1988).
        But as funding for athletics at the state's public universities (other than LSU) was trimmed through the years, fund-raising and smaller staffs were challenges for Hildebrand as AD.
        "Every day we had to think about money," he said. "At places like Northwestern, you have got to raise money or you don't survive. We'd have staff meetings every Monday and I'd ask everyone, 'How much money did you raise last week?'
        "But we were fortunate to operate at our own pace without killing someone."
        And he found a formula to supplement the short-staffed situation. His athletic director role was marked -- again -- by the connections he made and the people he mentored.
        "He was very innovative," Landry said. "With a small budget, he could not hire adequate number of fulltime staff members to do the work required. He started hiring young, bright graduates with sports administration degrees.
        "He would train them, give them lots of responsibility and let them grow into experienced sports administrators."
        "These young people were required to get a hands-on year to finish their [sports administration] degree," explained Hildebrand. So he had a spot for them.
        The list of Hildebrand trainees is impressive, and it's just a sample:
         • Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey, who went from NSU athletics (including two years as golf coach) to director of compliance and academic services on campus, then moved on to the Southland Conference and the SEC in various administrative roles.
        • Greg Burke, Hildebrand's assistant AD for six years at NSU and his successor who now has been in the job for 21 years, long-serving AD in Louisiana and respected far beyond the state.
        • Ross Cobb, who was at NSU 1993-97, now senior associate AD for business and facilities at University of Arizona.
        • Glen Krupica, former executive director of the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, now involved in fund-raising in Illinois.
        • Mark Molesworth, retired after 20 years as AD at Division III Wisconsin-Platteville.
        "He was a mentor and a role model," said Pierce.
        "I do wish I would have done the job without spending half my time getting money to operate," Hildebrand said recently of his AD days. "But it was a great time."
        And then in 1996, he retired ... or so he thought.
        (Next: Keeping watch on the officials)
       

 

Hildebrand, part II: The road from Florien to Natchitoches

       (Second in a series)
       Sabine Parish is prime Northwestern State territory and prime small-town basketball territory, and Florien -- 38 miles southwest of Natchitoches -- is one of Louisiana's best small places for the sport.
        Tynes Hildebrand grew up in Florien, Julia in nearby Fisher. Those are villages (not towns). Their fathers each were involved in the lumber business, so prevalent then (1940/'50s) all over North Louisiana and still today.
        But timber yards and mills, or farming (his family lived on a farm) weren't for Tynes. Basketball was. He loved the game from the start, and he could play.
        He was a stocky (barrel-chested) kid (and adult), about 6-foot-1 by the time he got to Florien and eventually Northwestern State. From 1947 to 1950, he helped the Black Cats become a basketball power ... for the first time.
        Because Class B and C schools could begin playing in early November and played tournaments every weekend for the first couple of months, Florien in 1949-50 -- Tynes' senior season -- played 5-6 games a week. And it won 74 and lost 4. You read that correctly: 74-4.
        Coached by Joe Cavanaugh, the team won the Class C  state championship in the Armory Building on the LSU campus, where -- amazingly -- two courts were set up side by side (with a net in between), and games were played simultaneously.
        "You'd hear a whistle, and both games would stop," Coach Hildebrand remembered. "We have come a long way. The game has changed."
        Florien since that season has won six more state boys championships (Class B), played in 15 state finals and sent dozen of players into college basketball.
         Only a few years after Hildebrand, Jimmy "Red" Leach was a shooting star from Florien, a guard who in 1959 set the Northwestern State single-game scoring record (still stands) with 54 points, one game after he had set it with 43. (No  benefit of 3-point baskets then). He would return to Florien to coach four state championship teams in a long coaching career.
        "It [Florien] was always a good academic school," Hildebrand remembers. "We always had good teachers. What a blessing to have been from there."
         At Northwestern, he was a four-year regular under


Tynes Hildebrand at NSC (No. 15)

Coach Charles "Red" Thomas, who had been a star Demons' player (one of three whose jersey number -- 5 -- is retired). NSC (it was a college then) went 15-11, 17-14, 22-10 and was the Gulf States Conference champ in Tynes' senior year (23-9 record).
        "You didn't have all the knowledge, all the theories, etc., about the game then that you would later," he said. "In practice, Coach Thomas would say, for example, 'Tynes, you guard Sammy Booras,' and he'd pair off people to guard each other.
         "He'd get so mad at me because I'd always say, whoever I was paired with, "Coach Thomas, you know he can't guard me.'
     "I enjoyed the game; [college] was an enjoyable time," Hildebrand said. "I enjoyed Northwestern and the town, and I loved the competition."
         How good a player was he? He laughed, and said, "I was in the middle, you could say. Some nights I was good, some nights not so good. But I loved playing.'
      A few years ago, he was selected as one of NSU's top 100 players all-time.

Tynes Hildebrand, second row, far left, next 
to NSC track/field coach Walter Ledet.

     He also was a track athlete for four years, running the 220, 440 and on the relay teams and helping Coach Walter Ledet's Demons to the first two of five consecutive GSC championships.
     He took pride in his school work, was an honor graduate, and obviously showed promise as a basketball student, too. He was hired as Natchitoches High School's basketball coach (and football assistant) soon after graduation.
         But that job was put on hold for two years. The Army intervened. "I had an ROTC obligation I had to fulfill," he said.
         So after basic training, the U.S. Army assigned him to the Hanford Project site in south-central Washington state, alongside the Columbia River. This was a plutonium development site, part of the Manhattan Project that produced the world's first atomic bomb in the mid-1940s.
         "Very secretive place, I had to have military clearance to be there," Coach Hildebrand said. And, as he noted, the cleanup for -- according to a story I saw -- "the biggest, most toxic nuclear waste site in the Western Hemisphere" (56 million gallons of radioactive liquid waste" on a 586 square-mile site) continues. Estimated price tag: $120 billion.
         Basketball had to be more fun.
---
          In 1957, he was back at Natchitoches High, joining a staff with head coach Trent Melder, Dan Carr and another young coach and Army veteran, Jim Bruning (subject of my Aug. 30, 2016, blog piece). 
      In his first basketball coaching season, Hildebrand's Red Devils -- led by Raymond Arthur, later an NSC player and guard Don Beasley (later his assistant coach at Northwestern) -- didn't have a sterling record (26-14), but finished strong and took the Class AA state championship, winning the final game 44-38 at New Iberia.
          Question: Did you think it would be that easy every year?
          "You think you're pretty good," Coach answered, "then you find out differently pretty quickly."
         But his Natchitoches teams held their own against the tough and bigger Shreveport-Bossier schools over the years and they won six district titles in eight seasons.

The young coach at Natchitoches High
(yearbook photos provided by
 Donald Mayeaux)

         In 1961 and 1962 -- the first two years of the Top Twenty state tournament in Shreveport -- the Red Devils made the Class AA championship game, beaten by powerful Ruston teams both times. Natchitoches' records those seasons: 20-10 and 25-4. 
          It was during this time that he caught the attention of Don Landry, later a college coaching opponent and good friend.
          "My first impression of Tynes came during the Louisiana high school coaching clinic on the LSU campus in the 1960s," Landry said. "He was one of the guest speakers. Instead of giving his talk in front of a blackboard, as most coaches did, he took his entire team and the coaches in attendance to the Gym Armory. He explained his system and his players demonstrated his offense and defense. It was one of the best clinic sessions I ever attended."
          Among the many Natchitoches players who appreciated him is Baton Rouge resident Bill Beyer, known as Willie in high school.
         "He was a great coach and a mentor and we have remained good friends over the years," Beyer said. "Always a treat to see him and Julia. Allen Posey and I attended his induction in the Louisiana Sports of Hall Fame in 2014 and saw them at a LSU basketball game this year. And, I always looked for him on TV at the NCAA finals.
        "I guess you always love your high school basketball coach," Beyer added. "I sure did. We had a pretty good team at Natchitoches High in 1963. In the state quarterfinals, we got beat badly by Neville. I remember fouling out with no points and walking off the court. Coach told me to get my head up. A teaching point I never forgot.
         "We ran the Auburn Shuffle offense. The first minute of my first junior varsity game, I ran a give-and-go and made a layup. I thought the game was easy."

         Hildebrand's '65 Natchitoches team (23-12 record) made it to the Class AA semifinals in Shreveport, where it couldn't hold a late lead and lost to Gonzales. It was his last high school game.         
          Among the many Hildebrand fans among his ex-players are twins Donald and Ronald Mayeaux, who were on the 1965 team (Ronald was an All-State selection.)
          Donald's remembrances of their coach:
          "Commanded respect from his players.
          "Was a deacon at First Baptist Church in Natchitoches and very visible in the everyday activities.
          "Always had us prepared for our next opponent even to the point we knew their players' names.
          "He believed in sagging man-to-man defense patterned after Hank Iba (Oklahoma State). We ran complicated offenses against both man-to-man and zone defenses patterned after the 'pinwheel offense' designed by Garland Pinholster of Oglethore University. But Coach designed options if any pass was blocked, what we could do next. In practice we ran these over and over until it was clockwork.
          "I will say, I never saw these run by him at the college level. He always told me they were too complicated.
          "The Natchitoches High Class of 1965 has had many reunions. He has attended every one of them and always takes the opportunity to address the class with words of wisdom.
          "One memory that stands out was seeing his hurt when his brother was killed in a hunting accident. We were at a Saturday practice when he received the news."
---

          At Northwestern State, Huey Cranford -- succeeding Thomas -- had done well, with two conference titles in his first three years and teams built with players mostly from the surrounding area. But personal issues diminished Cranford's coaching ability, the program sagged, and by March 1965, the job was open.
          The next challenge and the next NSU coach were a perfect fit. Natchitoches High was located on the road leading to the main NSU campus entrance.
          Tynes Hildebrand just had to move a few hundred yards to the almost-new Prather Coliseum.
          (Next: The coaching years at NSU)

Coach Hildebrand: A man of many seasons

           (First of a series)
        He is one of the most recognizable people in athletics in North Louisiana -- and the state as a whole -- and has been for 6 1/2 decades.
        Tynes Hildebrand's work -- finally -- is done after some 57 years in athletics. He has a career of memories and achievements, and friendships and connections to cherish.
        So many connections, such as: Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey began his sports administrative career as an assistant to Hildebrand; Notre Dame basketball coach Mike Brey played for him at Northwestern State University and calls him one of his major influences.
        Most people will remember him for the connection with Northwestern State -- student/basketball player (1950-54) and head coach (1965-80), placement director (2 1/2 years) and athletic director (13 1/2 years, 1983-96) -- and the city of Natchitoches, La.

Julia and Coach: This was at a wedding celebration.

        He figures, at age 85, he has had "a great life" and "beaten the odds." Still, he and Julia, his bride of 65 years, are into a new phase. 
        Last October, they made an admirable late-in-life decision -- to give up the home they had built and lived in for 43 years, and make a move. So long, Natchitoches; hello, Shreveport.
        Their sons, Tynes Jr. and Bruce, long ago left home (and Natchitoches) and now have successful certified public accountant careers, and families. So two daughters-in-law and five grandchildren are part of the Hildebrand family.
        In a note to friends, Coach and Julia wrote, "2016 has been a year of change for us. While we are still healthy, and very thankful for that, we decided to downsize and leave a house, yard and pool that required constant care. We moved to ... a residential independent living facility in Shreveport.
         "We have a nice apartment ... and enjoy the benefits of multiple dining options, spa and wellness center, walking trails, theatre, maid service, and many choice of things to do. We seem busier now than ever. Leaving [the house in Natchitoches] wasn't easy, but we are enjoying our new home."
       A couple of weeks ago, Coach told me that "we did not want to leave the house and so much we had accumulated for the kids to deal with eventually." Thus, the move.
       And so while we talked one afternoon last week -- after their morning workout -- Coach and Mrs. Hildebrand were making plans for a theatre visit and a lunch date with a basketball official coming through Shreveport on his way to work a game.
        Coach remains sharp, his story-telling and connections intact, and the meeting with the basketball official isn't coincidental.
         Because for the last 16 years of his working life, Tynes Hildebrand evaluated and trained college basketball officials -- half that time for a five-conference combination, the second half as one of the four nationwide NCAA advisors.
         If you watched enough college games on television, and knew to look for him, Coach Hildebrand often had a seat at the [courtside] table. This was especially true during the NCAA Tournament, when he was part of the group selecting the officials working the games.

As a coach, he was known
for his intensity.

         Let's interject this: Those of us who watched Coach Hildebrand bluster along the sidelines -- eight years at Natchitoches High (1957-65), 15 years at Northwestern -- know he was not Coach Congeniality.
         Maybe before games and a few hours/days/months after games, he got along with the officials working his teams' games, but ...
         "When I coached against Tynes," remembered Don Landry, who was at Louisiana Tech two years as an assistant to Scotty Robertson and then head coach at Nicholls State in the late 1960s and 1970s, "he often showed a temper, sometimes even throwing a chair around."
         A friend remembers a coat being tossed from the vicinity of the visitors' bench at Centenary's Gold Dome and landing on the playing floor and the Northwestern coach standing there, well, coatless.
         (Confession: At Tech in the late '60s, I had a friend who did a spot-on Tynes imitation -- chest puffed out, stomping toward an official, blankety-blank comment. Of course, we also had our Scotty imitation.)
         So when I first heard that Coach Hildebrand was evaluating officials, my thought was "fox guarding the hen house."
          Laugh intended there. But the serious thought was who was better qualified to judge officials. Because we all knew that Tynes Hildebrand knew the game, and even more, that he loved the game almost as much as he loved his family and friends.
          Basketball and athletics have done so much for him, and he has done so much in return. And many people know that.
        "I think of Tynes as a leader, a competitor, and a success at everything he did," said Landry, who after his comment above added, "after each game we were always friends. We had great respect for each other.
        "Lucille and I have been friends with Tynes and Julia for over 50 years. They are a special couple."
        Jerry Pierce was in his first year as sports information director at NSU when Hildebrand was the first-year basketball coach (1965-66). It was the start of Pierce's 51 years on the university staff, the last 26 at vice-president of external affairs, with overseeing athletics part of his responsibilities. So he had a large role in Hildebrand's becoming athletic director.
       "Tynes Hildebrand is a giant in the history of Northwestern State University," Pierce said last week.
       "It was a tremendous pleasure to work with Tynes for more than four decades. He was fastidious in every element and aspect of his job as a coach, athletic director and in his work with the NCAA.
       "We worked closely together at Northwestern, went to the same church for decades and are still close friends. He is a class act who deserves all of the honors and accolades that reflect the success of his long career in college athletics." 
        The list of honors is long, and a significant one was the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame's Dave Dixon Award -- for leadership and contributions benefiting the state -- in 2014, at ceremonies at the new Sports Hall of Fame Museum (fittingly) in Natchitoches.
        Receiving the award that night, Coach Hildebrand said he was "humbled to be in the presence of so many  great sports people. It sort of makes me look like a midget among a bunch of giants."
        No, we'll choose giant over midget for this man.
        (Next: The road from Florien to Natchitoches)      
  

In Natchitoches, a macho man with a soft heart

       The calls still come in, not quite as frequently and not quite as boisterously, but once in about six weeks, I hear the familiar voice.
    "Chinaman, [blank] [blank] you," he says. "You little [blank]. Why don't you ever answer your phone? I can't ever get you. ... When are you going to come down here and see me?

Bettye and Jim Bruning, in good times

    Few have ever said Jim Bruning was subtle, or politically correct. And, yeah, you can fill in the blank-blanks.
    It has been almost three decades since he was Coach Bruning -- the head football coach at first Natchitoches, La., High School and then, after integration, Natchitoches-Central High.
    And he was a darned good football coach. He coached at those schools for 20 years -- the last 12 (1966-77) as head coach. He spent practically his whole life in Natchitoches, and those were his only coaching jobs.
    Most years, he was a big part of winning teams. But one year was special -- 1969. Natchitoches High, in its last year, won the only state championship (Class AA) in the program's history. 
    The people in that mid-sized North Louisiana city remember that. Bruning's players that year still relish it, still get together to celebrate the good times.
    Bruning was a big man in Natchitoches, and still is. More than football, what people know, what his players and ex-students know, is he was a true friend, an endearing personality.
    He was gruff and tough, an old-school disciplinarian ... and he was funny, and fun, and full of mischief.

The young couple, with baby Janyce

    He is 83 now, and his health has been -- is -- a concern. Walking is difficult and even breathing is a problem. I'll spare further details, but being in an assisted-care facility and in a hospital isn't his choice.
    It's been a lonely existence of sorts since 2009 when Bettye, the attractive dark-haired girl he married in 1956, died of breast cancer, eight years after the first diagnosis. They spent a lot of their last two decades traveling together.
    The three children -- Janyce, 59; Harryette, 55, and Jim Jr. ("Bubba" to everyone), 52 -- are long gone from Natchitoches. Two live in Texas, one relatively closeby in North Louisiana, but they check on Dad often. So do his many friends. 
    And he'll call those friends, anytime he feels like it. One of those is a retired sportswriter -- also in Texas -- who he entertains with, well, a practically one-way conversation -- Coach's hearing is almost nonexistent -- but so what?
    I'm expecting analysis of LSU football and the Northwestern State Demons in the coming weeks. Because Bruning is not shy of [blank-blank] opinions.
---
    Covering high school athletics for The Shreveport Times or Shreveport Journal in the '60s, '70s and '80s meant lots of visits to schools -- particularly in the immediate area -- and phone calls to coaches, particularly those farther from Shreveport-Bossier. 
    So I covered games involving Bruning's teams only a few times, but the first was memorable -- the 27-7 Class AA state-title victory against Tallulah at old Demon Stadium in Natchitoches in December 1969. That was at the end of my first football season as a fulltime employee at The Times. 
    I'd see Bruning and his assistant coaches scouting games, and he'd always have some clever things to say (OK, some BS), and we'd laugh. 
    But our friendship became more than writer-coach because of a story I did before the 1973 season opener. Because Jim Bruning was bold and brash in a hilarious way.
    His 1972 team had been 10-2 and shared a district championship, but the 1973 opener was a real challenge -- at Neville (Monroe).
    That was never an easy game for any visitors (and still isn't). But Neville then was the defending Class AAAA state champion and, as always, a formidable opponent.
    So I called Bruning early that week and asked how he felt about his team going to play at Neville.
    "We're going to beat their butts," he said (don't think he used "butts"). Of course, I laughed and said, "You want me to print that?"            
    "Yeah, I don't care," he replied, and then went on to say that his guys wouldn't be scared, wouldn't be intimidated, that they had a game plan to win, that Neville was just a good opponent but could be had, etc., etc.
    Disbelieving -- and laughing -- I asked again if he was sure that I could use these quotes. Sure, he said.
    Neville's coaches always loved using the "us against the world" hype to pump up their players, so this bulletin-board stuff was perfect for them.
    "Hey, next time you're down here, stop by and I'll buy you a steak," Bruning said.
    The story ran -- on a Wednesday, I think -- with the quotes, a little toned down. 
    On Friday night, Neville beat Natchitoches-Central 42-0.
    On a trip back from South Louisiana to cover a playoff game late that season, I called Bruning ... and he (and Bettye) bought me a steak dinner.
    "If you ever need a place to stay when you're coming this way, you can stay with us," Jim said. (Their new home was big enough to house his starting lineup.)
    Took him up on that -- several times. I was single and hungry, and so Bubba -- then about 10 or 11, but already bigger than me (there's a laugh) -- was my roommate.
    It was during one visit that he said, "What kind of name is that you have? Are you from China?" And, from that point, I was "Chinaman." (Who knows why? I think Dutchman would have been more accurate. But not for Jim.)
    Let's see, I think the steak or catfish dinner count is up to about a dozen. I have been reminded of this, oh, about 150 times over the years. But there is no way that Bruning would ever let me pay, even if I offered.
    Of course, I reminded of Neville, and 42-0, and butt-beating a few times.     
    And the phone calls -- when I was living in Florida, Tennessee or Texas -- always came. Coach Bruning liked talking about sports, and life.
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The coach and his kids: Janyce, Jim Jr. ("Bubba")
and, at her wedding, Harryette 

           His children will tell you that the coach was much the same at home as in football.
    "He was pretty demanding," said Janyce Bruning Kinley, a social studies/world languages coordinator in the Bryan (Texas) school district. "He was very loving and crazy, doing stuff that drove mother crazy, like when it was snowing and the roads were icy, and he's doing donuts in the street.
    "He was the disciplinarian of the house, but also the fun one."
    On Janyce's Facebook page, a friend -- Danelle Moon -- posted this: "Your Dad wore a football helmet on the day I started driver's ed and he made a statement in front of other students, 'Well, Lusby" is driving today, looks like I'm gonna be eating my knees!' He was the best instructor ever ... and a hoot!"
    "A great daddy," said Harryette Tinsley, who lives near Arcadia, La., and teaches computer classes at Ruston High School. "He was there to support us, no matter what I did or screwed up. He was very stern, believed in right or wrong.
    "He loved my mother with all his heart. He might act rough and tough, but he had such a big heart."
    And, as Harryette noted, one of Jim's fondest wishes is that all four of the Bruning grandchildren earn their college educations.
    "Caring," said big Bubba Bruning, a tax accountant for an oil company in Humble, Texas. "He'd do anything for you, but he wanted you to learn to do things for yourself. He was a disciplinarian; he wanted you to do things right.
    "I learned to iron because of him," he added. "He wouldn't let me out of the house (for school) unless I was neatly dressed."
    Bettye and Jim loved to travel, always, so they hitched the trusty camper to Jim's truck and "they showed us much of the country," Bubba said. "Mom being a librarian (research librarian at Northwestern State, then school librarian for a dozen at Natchitoches-Central), we had to learn all that [history]."
     Son-in-law Allen Kinley, who played and coached at Woodlawn High in Shreveport, played at Northwestern and for a couple of decades has been a weight-training coach for Texas A&M athletics, said Bruning "has been like another Dad."
      When Allen met Janyce in his first week at NSU and they began dating, Coach Bruning soon pulled out the game film from a Natchitoches-Woodlawn game and checked out Woodlawn's No. 84 at linebacker, "and then he called [Woodlawn principal] Bubba Cook" for a scouting report.
      He received approval. "If I had not gotten along with him," Kinley said, "I don't think his daughter would have stayed.
      "He's been very accepting of me. He gave me a hard time about being from Woodlawn, but we've always had mutual respect from the beginning."
      Kinley said that he "amazed that every time we visit, there are a lot of his ex-players there to visit with him."
      And even in the assisted-living facility and the hospital, Janyce said, "He's very social. The more people around, the more he likes it.
      "He cares about people. He'll tease them, get on them about their bad habits, and so on, but he has a bigger-than-life personality.
       "At the hospital, a nurse asked him, 'Is there anyone in town who doesn't know you?' "
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    James Lindwind Bruning grew up in Clarence, a village seven miles east of Natchitoches. He was known there as "Sonny" and he grew tall and slim, and was a talented athlete -- especially in baseball, and good enough in football at Natchitoches High in about 1950 to earn a scholarship to LSU.
    But when LSU wanted him to redshirt as a freshman, after about a week he went home to Natchitoches -- and to Northwestern State. He lettered as an end in 1952, but messed around in school and ended up in the U.S. Army and a stint mostly served in Germany.
    He came home, back to Northwestern, and Bettye -- engaged to someone else -- soon was his wife. He lettered for the Demons in 1955-56-57, and his field goal to beat McNeese State 23-20 in 1957 helped coach Jack Clayton's first NSC team share a conference championship.
    The next year, with the Bruning family growing, Jim joined the coaching staff of his own coach, Trent Melder, at Natchitoches High. He was there to stay.
    In 1958 and '59, the Red Devils were district champs, with a 10-0 regular season in '59 but a state semifinals loss. In 1960, a 9-1 record wasn't enough to make the playoffs (only the district champ qualified then).
    Then came a decline, and Melder stepped out of coaching after the 1965 season. Bruning took over the program, and the first year was rough -- a 2-8 record.
    But he was building discipline, and a stable, loyal coaching staff, and what followed was six playoff years in succession -- records of 9-2, 9-3-1, 14-0, 9-3, 8-3, 10-2.
    After four district titles (or shares) in six years, Bruning's last five seasons of coaching were so-so. Still, he got out -- into a decade of work for an oil distributor in town -- with an 80-50-3 record over a dozen seasons ... and a lot of respect.
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    The 1969 Natchitoches High team produced a magical, once-in-a-lifetime season.
    Led by a talented backfield -- All-State quarterback Gene Knecht Jr., tailback Rand Dennis and junior fullback Jim Knecht -- that was as big as the Red Devils' linemen, the team survived a close call in the season opener (7-6 vs. Mansfield), routed its next seven opponents (scoring 28 to 42 points each time), then survived five close games in a row (its first three playoff games) before dominating the state-title game.
    Gene Knecht made All-State; so did center Steve McCain (also the next season), linebacker Ricky Whittington and defensive back Joe Beck Payne. 
    Dennis and Jim Knecht went on to play at LSU; Gene Knecht also signed with LSU, but after a year there, transferred to NSU, which Gene Knecht Sr. was the longtime defensive backs coach.
    Bruning was selected Class AA "Coach of the Year."
    "He was an exceptional coach," said Jim Knecht. "A good motivator. He motivated you to go beyond what you thought you could do.
    "He expected you to do your best. If you didn't, he'd let you know. He got the best out of his players."
    Dennis said Bruning was "a figurehead type head coach" who let his assistants handle the details, such as Levi Thompson devising different offensive schemes each week.
    "We had kids who had brains," said Jim Knecht, "... who were smart, fast and strong. We lined up in slots and trips (formations); no other teams had seen those then."
    "We had good players across the board," said Dennis.
    "Smartest group of kids I ever coached," said Dan Poole, for a decade the school's defensive backs and track/field coach until -- in his words -- he was "demoted" to school principal. "It was the whole team, and they were also very competitive, adjusted to changes very quickly."
    And he credits Bruning for this: "I don't know how he could read the kids so well. We had kids who didn't look very good in practice, but Jim would play them. He knew which ones would come through in critical situations; he would pick the right ones. He was just great at picking personnel.
    "He grew up here, so he knew the families and the kids."
    The connection started early. Stuart Wright, Natchitoches-Central's starting quarterback for three seasons (1970-72) and as a freshman the backup to Gene Knecht in 1969, remembers that "what made a difference in our program (in high school) was that he was at every one of our junior high games. He knew us better than we knew him."
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   His kids, and his players, will tell you: Coach Bruning kept up with everyone.
   "The main thing I remember," said Wright, "is he'd get on your case in a heartbreak; he got on everyone. But he was a really genuine great guy. His bark was a lot worse than his bite. He really loved the kids through the years. He's been like a second father to all of us."
   Same from Jim Knecht: "He's a guy who was almost like a father. He's kept up with all of us; showed true interest in our lives. He really cares, and that makes a difference."
   Wright is an attorney in Natchitoches and was first assistant district attorney in Natchitoches Parish. Knecht has been a family medicine doctor for 30-plus years in Natchitoches, and a team physician for Northwestern State and Natchitoches-Central's football teams for decades.
   "He really cared about his players; he would do anything to help them in their lives," added daughter Harryette.
   "What we remember is he always had such a gruff exterior," said Rand Dennis, for 35 years a litigation attorney in Baton Rouge and now living in San Antonio. "He would bark at you, but you know there'd be a smile right behind that."
    Knecht and Dennis played together at LSU in the early 1970s, giving Natchitoches half of the Tigers' starting defensive backs -- a proud Coach Bruning watching them often.
    What the players also knew was that their coach's concern covered more than football.
    "If we were playing hooky from school," recalled Dennis, "he'd come out in town and find us. He'd watch out for us."
    "I remember him many nights calling parents to check on the players, make sure they were home," recalled daughter Janyce. "Same on the weekends. And if they weren't home, he went into town to find them."
    Wright, who often has treated the coach to meals in recent years said Jim's memory " is better than mine. He remembers games, and people. You go in and he recognizes you immediately."
    He credits Bruning's influence for helping pave a smooth transition in a rough period when court-ordered integration forced the merger of practically all-white Natchitoches High and all-black Central High in 1970.
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    The new school emerged on the west side of town on the Highway 1 bypass. The old Natchitoches High, located on the Northwestern State campus along University Parkway, became the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts.
    With that in mind, Bruning felt as if the 1969 state championship trophy belonged to old Natchitoches High and the team players. For years, that trophy sat in the Bruning home, in the large recreation room/den; I kidded him about it often. Later, it began being rotated among the players. Word is that John Williams, in Tyler, has it now.
    That '69 team, with some from preceding and succeeding classes, reunites every June for an outing at nearby Toledo Bend.
    "It's been a wonderful thing," said Dennis, saying that while he was able Bruning brought crawfish to the Friday night gathering. "He thinks of us as his boys, and we like that he does. It's been rewarding."
    The 1978 Natchitoches-Central yearbook includes a copy of a letter written on behalf of Bruning's players in his final season of coaching. Harryette provided it, it is entitled "Coach" and it reads:
    "In the past years the senior football players have given our head coach an award. This year's award, which represents our love, respect and admiration, has been, and is, much more meaningful because we are coach's last group of seniors.
    "Coach Bruning's overall record speaks for itself; however, no won or loss record can ever reveal the success that this man has had in the growth and development of young men. Records are for statisticians or spectators and never can be used to judge the value of a man. No won or loss record can ever picture the father image of Coach Bruning. Prints are just numbers on a scoreboard and are short-lived, whereas Coach Bruning's image of a man will live with us forever.
    " 'Macho' is a Spanish word meaning 'all man.' Until eternity, we seniors will remember you as our coach who was, and is, 'macho.' "
    My friend, macho.
    I am waiting for the next call, the next blank-blank politically incorrect opinion ... and the next steak dinner.