SLS 22RS-1572 ORIGINAL
2022 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 54
BY SENATOR BERNARD
COMMENDATIONS. Commends Claney Duplechin on being inducted into the 2022 class
of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To commend Claney Duplechin on being inducted into the 2022 class of the Louisiana
3 Sports Hall of Fame.
4 WHEREAS, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in Natchitoches, Louisiana, each year
5 collaborates with the Louisiana Sports Writers Association in selecting a limited number of
6 sports figures who embody the character, skill, and talent worthy of being named to the Hall
7 of Fame; and
8 WHEREAS, the 2022 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class includes
9 Claney Duplechin; and
10 WHEREAS, Claney Duplechin is a track and field and cross country coach at
11 Episcopal School of Baton Rouge, and currently in his forty-sixth year coaching and
12 forty-third year at the Class 2A school; and
13 WHEREAS, a native of Mamou and a graduate of Mamou High School, Claney
14 Duplechin wanted to be a coach since he was in eighth grade; and
15 WHEREAS, while attending Mamou High School, Duplechin played four sports with
16 baseball being his best; and
17 WHEREAS, Claney attended Louisiana State University where he earned a Bachelor
18 of Science in physical education, social studies, and drivers' education, and a Master of
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SLS 22RS-1572 ORIGINAL
1 Education in educational supervision and administration; and
2 WHEREAS, Duplechin spent three years at Catholic High School as an assistant to
3 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inductee Pete Boudreaux; and
4 WHEREAS, in 1977, Duplechin left Catholic High to become head football and track
5 coach at Episcopal School of BR; and
6 WHEREAS, Duplechin has had tremendous success as a coach and is especially
7 recognized for his record as a track and cross country coach; and
8 WHEREAS, at the middle of the 2021-22 school year, already having sixty-four
9 Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) state titles in track and fifteen
10 runner-up finishes, added an additional two cross country titles: one indoor track title, and
11 one outdoor track title; and
12 WHEREAS, MaxPreps ranked Duplechin's total number of titles at sixth nationally
13 in all sports in May 2021; and
14 WHEREAS, the boys cross country team had a streak of twenty-five consecutive
15 LHSAA titles end by four points in November 2021; the only streak that was longer,
16 twenty-seven in a row by Arizona-based Keams Hopi, ended in 2016; and
17 WHEREAS, Episcopal has won thirty-three of the last thirty-six Class 2A boys cross
18 country titles and has been voted the top team in all classes six times; and
19 WHEREAS, Duplechin's boys teams have won seventeen outdoor track titles, nine
20 indoor track titles, swept Class 2A boys cross country, Division II indoor track (Class 3A
21 and below), and Class 2A outdoor track for five years, losing a chance at a sixth in a row
22 when the coronavirus eliminated all LHSAA outdoor meets in 2020; and
23 WHEREAS, Duplechin added girls cross country to his duties in 2018, and has won
24 four straight titles; and
25 WHEREAS, Duplechin has been recognized as a national coach of the year three
26 times: the Gill National Track Coach of the Year in 2012, the National Federation of High
27 School Coaches Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2013, and the National High School
28 Athletic Coach of the Year for cross country in 2018; and
29 WHEREAS, MaxPreps rated Claney Duplechin as one of the nation's top one
30 hundred coaches in all sports in 2020.
Page 2 of 3 SR NO. 54
SLS 22RS-1572 ORIGINAL
1 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
2 does hereby commend Claney Duplechin on being inducted into the 2022 class of the
3 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
4 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
5 Claney Duplechin.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Kathy Liberty.
DIGEST
SR 54 Original 2022 Regular Session Bernard
Commends Claney Duplechin on being inducted into the 2022 class of the Louisiana Sports
Hall of Fame.
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