SLS 21RS-939 ORIGINAL
2021 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 73
BY SENATOR BERNARD
COMMENDATIONS. Commends Doug Ireland for receiving the 2021 Distinguished
Service Award in Sports Journalism and on being inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall
of Fame.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To commend and congratulate Doug Ireland for receiving the 2021 Distinguished Service
3 Award in Sports Journalism and on being inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of
4 Fame.
5 WHEREAS, it is with great pride that the citizens and Senate of Louisiana have
6 learned of the prestigious honor bestowed upon Doug Ireland for receiving the 2021
7 Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism and on his induction into the Louisiana
8 Sports Hall of Fame; and
9 WHEREAS, at the age of fourteen, Doug Ireland began writing as a sportswriter and
10 columnist at the weekly Jackson Independent and broadcasting for the local radio station
11 while playing two sports at Jonesboro-Hodge High School; and
12 WHEREAS, between 1981 and 1982 while an undergraduate at Northwestern State,
13 Doug Ireland worked as chief of the Shreveport Times Natchitoches Bureau coordinating
14 news coverage of an eight parish region along the Red River; and
15 WHEREAS, from 1982 to 1985, Doug worked as the assistant sports information
16 director at Southwestern Louisiana, now UL Lafayette, working with a mens basketball
17 program that made three straight post season tournament appearances; and
18 WHEREAS, from 1985 to 1986, Doug was the sports editor of the Natchitoches
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SLS 21RS-939 ORIGINAL
1 Times; a 1986 Northwestern State University broadcast journalism graduate, he attended
2 graduate school at Northeast Louisiana, now UL Monroe, before joining the Alexandria
3 Town Talk sports staff in 1987, wherein in eighteen months at the Town Talk he covered both
4 NSU and LSU sports and won fifteen writing awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers'
5 Association; and
6 WHEREAS, in January 1989, Tynes Hildebrand, the athletic director of
7 Northwestern State, hired Doug Ireland which launched his thirty year run as the acclaimed,
8 innovative sports information director at his alma mater, Northwestern State University; and
9 WHEREAS, armed with nearly a decade's worth of experience in newspapers and
10 as an assistant sports information director at UL Lafayette, Doug quickly put his stamp on
11 NSU athletics; and
12 WHEREAS, his talents, institutional knowledge, and relationships in sports circles
13 have been invaluable to Northwestern and has earned Doug a reputation as an icon in sports
14 media in Louisiana and far beyond, making him the recipient of numerous highly coveted
15 awards, including his 1992 football media guide which earned Best in the Nation honors in
16 the Football Championship Subdivision ranks from the Collegiate Sports Information
17 Directors of America; and
18 WHEREAS, Doug has received many other notable awards, including a 1997
19 historical event marking Demon great Joe Delaney's induction in the College Football Hall
20 of Fame, as second in a national CoSIDA contest; in 2008 Doug received the "Distinguished
21 American" award given by the Northwest Louisiana's McNaughton Chapter of the National
22 Football Federation; four years later he was named the Town Talk's CENLA Sportsman of
23 the Year; and in 2016 the Southland Conference tabbed him as the winner of the Louis
24 Bonnette Sports Media Award, named for the former McNeese sports information director;
25 and
26 WHEREAS, while serving at Northwestern State, Doug held a dual role as chairman
27 of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, housed in Natchitoches, where he managed all aspects
28 of the annual Hall of Fame selections and inductions from 1990-2010, and since has
29 continued to coordinate elections while collaborating with LSHOF Foundation leaders to
30 stage the Induction Celebration each year; and
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SLS 21RS-939 ORIGINAL
1 WHEREAS, his volunteer efforts with the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame helped lead
2 to the development and construction of the $23 million Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and
3 Northeast Louisiana History Museum, which opened to international architectural acclaim
4 in June 2013; and
5 WHEREAS, Doug Ireland is a dedicated friend, colleague, an administrator in the
6 true sense of the word, an advocate, and a public servant in the finest sense, and is totally
7 involved in his community, state, and country on behalf of the betterment of his fellow man.
8 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
9 does hereby recognize the numerous accomplishments and extraordinary career of Doug
10 Ireland and commends and congratulates him for receiving the 2021 Distinguished Service
11 Award in Sports Journalism and on being inducted in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
12 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
13 Doug Ireland.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Michael Bell.
DIGEST
SR 73 Original 2021 Regular Session Bernard
Commends Doug Ireland for receiving the 2021 Distinguished Service Award in Sports
Journalism and on being inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
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