The Joe Nagata Memorial football jamboree was spearheaded by Tony Fuselier who served as jamboree chairman with its first games played in August 2013.
Fuselier died at age 64 on April 14, 2017 and the jamboree board will honor his memory Friday night at Eunice High School.
Eunice High booster club president Roger Pedigo said the legacy that Fuselier left is immense.
“This year we are dedicating the jamboree to Tony,” Pedigo said. “It was his dream to see the Joe Nagata jamboree happen.
“He had great ideas on how to raise the money and he was quick to involve former players, former coaches and anyone who was associated with Joe Nagata.”
In this year’s fifth annual jamboree, St. Edmund will face Scared Heart of Ville Platte at 6 p.m. while Eunice High takes on Iota in the finale.
“It is not just co-spirit,” Fuselier once said in an interview about the jamboree.
“It is a house united. We are bringing our two schools together for the benefit of our kids and our schools and at the same time we are honoring an individual who meant so much to both Eunice High and St Ed’s.”
Eunice High athletic director Paul Trosclair said Fuselier was a man with a passion and served the Nagata Jamboree well to help it become one of the premier jamborees in Louisiana.
“He and the committee made it great for both Eunice High and St. Edmund,” the coach said. “Tony was a hard worker when it came to getting sponsors.
Trosclair said it took a few years to get it all together,” he said of the process. “But I think the committee has gained over $150,000 – it has helped both athletic programs.”
St. Edmund head coach Andy Hargroder said the jamboree is a testament to how Fuselier was able to get the community together.
“It is good for the city to have both schools playing in the same jamboree,” Hargroder said. “It shows the common ground which both schools have which is the city of Eunice.
“This shows the two schools can work together,” Hargroder said. “This is a good thing for everyone.”
Fuselier served one term from 1987 to 1990 as police chief.
Former Eunice mayor Curtis Joubert was interviewed for the April 20th edition of the Eunice News.
“He did a good job,” Joubert said of Fuselier as polic chief.
“He was a very popular young man and when he lost he kept right on doing his civic work and did a good job.”
Fuselier loved both schools in Eunice, “but in particular he really felt like St. Ed’s was his own,” Joubert said.
He was a Safety Project Manager, a former Chief of Police, enjoyed cooking and doing for others. He was an honorary sideline trainer for at least thirty five years as well as one of the founders of the Joe Nagata Memorial Jamboree. Tony was a good and faithful servant. He will be truly missed by all the lives he has touched.
Accoring to his obit, “Tony was a loving brother to four siblings, Denise Nelson, Michelle Andrus and husband, Mike and Patrick Rainville all of Eunice and Scott Neal of Texas; a wonderful godfather to Scott Nelson, Ivan Rainville, Lindsay Cleland and William Nelson, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Cagey and Willie Mae Fuselier and a nephew, Ross Michael Andrus.”