Sports fans in the Acadiana area may not realize how big an honor it is to be enshrined in Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park.

New York fans, though, know how special that is. And they remember how special Ron Guidry was to that franchise.

“The fans were amazing,” said Louisiana baseball coach Tony Robichaux, who was part of a large group of friends and family in New York Saturday to take part in “Ron Guidry Day” activities. “They all kept shouting ‘Gator,’ and there were a lot of standing ovations. When we first got to the stadium, people were lined up and already hollering for him.”

Robichaux and fellow Ragin’ Cajun athletic staff member Gerald Hebert were on hand for Saturday’s ceremony.

“When you’re there, looking at the magnitude of what’s happening, you can’t believe it,” said Hebert, who played for the Cajun squad one year before Guidry’s arrival.

“To think it’s somebody from your community, your city and your school, especially when you think of the great players who have played for the Yankees.”

Former Cajun baseball coach and long-time area high school coach Bobby Banna knew how exceptional the Carencro native was a long time before he donned Yankee pinstripes.

“I knew he was something special,” said Banna, who coached Guidry from 1969-70 at Louisiana. “I was very fortunate in being able to coach Ronnie those two years, and I remember being very careful at the time and not doing anything that might injure his arm.

“But I didn’t know that he’d get to this kind of level, because very few do. It’s a long, hard road, and even Ron had trouble in the minors for a while.”

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com