The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inducted the class of 2025 Saturday night. Headlining the class was former LSU coach Nick Saban. Saban says when he arrived in Baton Rouge, he knew there would be work to do, but his new school, players and fans bought in to something great.
“There was no greater feeling in my life professionally, to that point, when we won the national championship, in the Sugar Bowl, in New Orleans, and saw on some city LSU up there and made everybody in this state proud,” Saban said.
Saban arrived in Baton Rouge in 2000 and took a Tigers program that had gone 3-8 the year before to a national championship three years later. LSU, of course, would go on to be a perennial competitor in the SEC.
“Every time I see LSU, all the time I coached at Alabama, I know it was a great rivalry. But I was always proud because I felt like we did something to raise the bar here, and the program has been outstanding ever since,” Saban said.
One of the leaders of Saban’s 2003 National Championship team was offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, who was also inducted Saturday. The West Monroe product was drafted by the Bengals in 2006 and, after 15 years in the NFL, won a Super Bowl with the Rams in his final career game — ironically, against the Bengals. Whitworth says he shared the support he grew up with in Louisiana in his career.
“Let’s get some of the guys who don’t have big contracts. Let’s feed them. Let’s create an opportunity to host them. To me, that’s our way of life in Louisiana. We make everyone feel special. We make everyone feel apart. And that’s why when you come from this and you go on to other places, you’re set up to be successful,” Whitworth said.
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