Louisiana UnLimited – John Bordelon
John Bordelon had a very personal and a very specific reason for helping make possible a $1 million donation from his long-time employer Home Bank to the Louisiana Athletic Department's future renovation of Cajun Field.
Bordelon was a four-year Ragin' Cajun football letterman in 1973-76 and was a part of that program's improvement from 0-10 in his freshman year to the stunning and memorable 9-2 campaign in his senior season. That record – Louisiana's best since World War II and still the best until the runaway success of the last two seasons – was only a pipe dream when he joined the squad of legendary coach Russ Faulkinberry and quickly became familiar with Cajun Field's west side upper deck.
"I was 17 years old and a freshman when we were having a scrimmage," Bordelon said. "We had a pregame meal, and when I walked in Coach said (as Bordelon broke into his best Faulkinberry impression), 'You're two seconds late, see me after practice.'
"I had to run two weeks after that, and I had to run the entire stadium including the upper deck. So I'm glad as hell we're tearing down that upper deck. I'll be glad to see that thing gone."
Fast forward, just short of 50 years from the time he missed Faulkinberry's deadline and ran that first circuit around Cajun Field, and Bordelon was at a podium announcing the seven-figure gift from Home Bank where he serves as President and CEO.
"We've been partnered for a long time with Home Bank," said Louisiana Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Bryan Maggard. "But today, this partnership has been taken to an entirely new level."
The major gift announcement is the latest in a growing number of corporate supporters who have come onboard to help fund the planned renovation of the Cajuns' football facility. Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center kicked it off and acquired naming rights with a 15-year, $15 million planned gift in 2021, and IberiaBank/First Horizon announced a $2 million donation last year.
The contributions are part of the largest fundraising campaign in UL history. "Together: The Campaign for UL" aims to raise $500 million university-wide, and among the campaign's priorities are the renovation and maintenance of training and competition areas for Ragin' Cajun student-athletes.
The proposed West side upper deck will feature premium suites, club level and seats, loge boxes and a new press box. The club area will also serve as the dining facility for Louisiana's 400-plus student-athletes throughout the year, and additional projects include a new scoreboard, lights, sound system, renovated upper-deck seating, a new East side façade and office and operations spaces for athletic staff.
For Bordelon, the announcement of the gift that also included the renaming of one facility as the Home Bank Soccer and Track Facility was a very personal moment on several levels. Not long after his Cajun career ended, he started at Home Bank on Feb. 16, 1981 – one day short of exactly 51 years prior to the gift announcement. At the time, he was controller, and Home Bank was in trouble.
"We were about to fail," he said. "But one of the things that I learned from competing in athletics I saw on a banner on our high school wall. It said that luck is when preparation meets with opportunity. Based on that, I was lucky in that I was prepared to take over as president and help save it from failing."
He became president in 1989 and still holds that title 33 years later, even though he almost looks youthful enough to step back on the field. But Bordelon's also held other titles, most notably president of the Alumni Association for one term, a founding member of the Ragin' Cajun Athletic Foundation and first president/chairman of the board of that group, and most recently the university's Outstanding Alumni honor he received at last fall's Homecoming.
"What I learned from the university and what I learned from the community and from the people at Home Bank, is that here you give back," he said. "Not that I did a lot of that prior to my college experience, but I truly believe that the University and Lafayette taught me how important it was that if you're successful, you give something back.
"My interest in the university and to continue to be around athletics and its fund-raising came about when I graduated, and I've been engaged with it ever since. It's been a wonderful experience for me to see all the transition that this university has made over the last 50 years, and I can't wait to see what the next 50 are going to be like."
The timelines between the institutions are strikingly similar. Home Bank was founded in 1908, a few years following Louisiana's first academic semester in 1901. And Bordelon's timeline at the University included making one significant acquaintance.
It's been almost 50 years since Bordelon and a student named Joe Savoie crossed paths on the campus. Savoie is now better known, of course, as Louisiana president Dr. E. Joseph Savoie.
"I didn't think much of the Kappa Sigmas back in 1975," Bordelon said of the fraternity that Savoie pledged. "But the stories I could tell. He was very studious and I was not, he had all the women and I did not."
Savoie, of course, had a rejoinder.
"Remember in 1973 when John was in his first year on the football team and they went 0-10," Savoie said. "He's personally responsible for every one of those losses, so he's been working for almost the last 50 years to get people to forget that. But he's done a little better since then."
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