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