2023 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 17
BY SENATORS BERNARD AND BOUDREAUX
A RESOLUTION
To commend Bruce Brown upon receiving the 2023 Distinguished Service Award in Sports
Journalism and on being inducted into the 2023 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 Distinguished Service Award is the most prestigious honor offered
to sports media in the state and recipients are carefully chosen after an extensive deliberation
by a forty-member expert panel based on professional accomplishments in local, state,
regional, and national arenas; and
WHEREAS, Bruce Brown, an acclaimed south Louisiana writer and editor, has been
selected for the 2023 Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism from the Louisiana
Sports Writers Association and is a member of the 2023 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame
Induction Class; and
WHEREAS, Bruce Brown served on the sports staff of the Lafayette Daily
Advertiser for 21 years, worked 37 years overall as a part of the editorial staff, served as
sports editor for 20 years, and helped guide the Daily Advertiser through radical changes in
both that newspaper and in the industry; and
WHEREAS, Bruce Brown began his writing career as a part-timer in January of
1975, covering a prep basketball game between Pecan Island and Meaux as his first
assignment; and
WHEREAS, Bruce joined the Daily Advertiser staff full-time in August of 1975 and
one year later he took over as sports editor, serving in that capacity for two decades; and
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WHEREAS, in 1995, Bruce left the sports editor role to concentrate on writing and
covered prep, college, and pro sports as well as military, faith and values, and nonprofit
organizations for the Daily Advertiser; and
WHEREAS, during his career with the Daily Advertiser, the sports department won
more than 100 Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA) awards for writing, layout, and
photography, numerous Louisiana Press Association honors, and won a coveted national
Best of Gannett award in 2005 for its coverage of Lafayette's team in the Little League
World Series; and
WHEREAS, in 1980, Bruce wrote Prides of Acadiana, a book about legendary
University of Louisiana in Lafayette (ULL) standouts including Walter Imahara, Ron
Guidry, Bo Lamar, Harold Porter, and Chris Cagle; and
WHEREAS, he served two years as LSWA vice president and another two as
secretary and has been a member of the Hall of Fame selection committee for two decades;
and
WHEREAS, Bruce returned to full-time sports coverage in 2011 before retiring in
2012; and
WHEREAS, in his retirement Bruce has become an award winning radio talk show
host, a freelance writer for the ULL Athletic Network, for Quick Slants, and Tiger Rag
magazines, the Crowley Post-Signal and the Abbeville Meridional, and still contributes
articles to the Acadiana Advocate.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby commend Bruce Brown for receiving the 2023 Distinguished Service Award
in Sports Journalism and on being inducted into the 2023 class of the Louisiana Sports Hall
of Fame.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Bruce Brown.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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