About the Story
The chapter-by-chapter feature story on Charles Vicknair at CoachVicknair.com is the brainchild of Blayne Rush, who played on the offensive line for Vicknair in the 1980s at Sam Houston High School in Moss Bluff, La. Rush, who wanted to memorialize the man he said turned his life around, offered the opportunity to write about Vicknair to Carl Dubois, who covered his high school career and the end of his college career at McNeese State University. Rush reconnected with Carl when the latter was unemployed and trying to build a client base as a freelance writer. During that time, Rush came up with the idea of having someone write about Vicknair and his influence upon high school football and its players and coaches in Southwest Louisiana.
“I am the man that I am because of him,” Rush said in an e-mail to Carl. “He was the most impactful person in my life, and I grieve because I did not have the chance to show him just how much of an impact he has on my life.”
Before they discussed a Web site and story devoted to Vicknair, Rush sent assistance to Carl when he was in need, and in a subsequent e-mail he acknowledged Carl’s thanks and gratitude.
“Consider it a gift from one Cajun brother to another,” Rush wrote.
“Pay it forward,” he said later.
That was in May 2009. Soon after they began a partnership when Rush revealed his idea for a Web site and tribute to Vicknair, seeing it as a win-win opportunity Rush would have his story, and he’d be helping someone who needed the work. From there through most of December 2009, they planned the Web site while Carl researched and wrote the story Rush commissioned for CoachVicknair.com.
Thanks go out to everyone who agreed to be interviewed or provide information for the story. Their names can be found in the stories they tell from chapter to chapter, and without them the story would be nothing more than a dry accounting of historical facts and dates. A debt of gratitude is owed to the ladies at Calcasieu Parish Library branches on Pujo Street in Lake Charles and Mulberry Street in Westlake, to the American Press newspaper for its many types of assistance and its extensive online archive system, to Louis Bonnette and McNeese State University for photos and other cooperation, and to Dave Hooker of the Knoxville News Sentinel newspaper in Knoxville, Tenn. There are not enough ways to thank Roger Demary, Webmaster for AmericanPress.com and a supportive friend throughout the project. Special thanks, of course, to the Vicknair family for sharing their stories and opening up their homes and hearts to help convey their memories of Coach Vic.
