BATON ROUGE – Longtime state representative Donald Ray Kennard, who served as athletic academic advisor and spotter for the LSU Sports Radio Network, passed away early Friday morning at the age of 73.
Kennard died following complications from a brain aneurysm that he suffered this past Saturday. He was six days shy of his 74th birthday which would have been on Aug. 11. He was born in 1937.
The personable Kennard received his master’s degree in education from LSU and taught for two years at UNO (then LSUNO) before coming to LSU in 1963 to serve as academic advisor for the department’s student-athletes, a position he would hold for over two decades. He would continue in various roles for the department through 2001.
The Central, La., native began his long tenure as a spotter during his grad school days when Bud Johnson, a member of the LSU sports information staff from 1958-71, recruited Kennard to work with visiting broadcast teams who wanted someone familiar with the Tigers to spot LSU.
In the mid-1960s, the late Voice of the Tigers, John Ferguson, asked Kennard to spot for LSU’s network broadcasts and a long relationship began with Kennard and the LSU network. The only time he would not be in the LSU booth would be when he spotted for ABC-TV when it came in for college telecasts.
He remained the spotter when Jim Hawthorne became the present-day “Voice of the Tigers” in 1983 and remained in that position through the 2008 season.
“Donald Ray was a dear friend in addition to a very valuable part of the radio broadcast team,” said Hawthorne. “He always took a lot of pride in his part on our broadcast and did an excellent job. He will be very much missed by all of us.”
Even after retiring as spotter, Kennard remained a popular figure in the press box, visiting with writers and broadcasters from his new location on the second row of the main media area.
Kennard earned 13 letters in football, basketball, baseball and track at Central High, attending Southeastern Louisiana on a basketball scholarship where he attended Southeastern Louisiana.
“When Donald Ray was a graduate student at LSU, he coached the freshman basketball team (1958-60),” said Johnson. “And before (head coach) Jay McCreary hired a full time basketball assistant, Donald Ray served in that capacity. On a trip to Alabama and Auburn, McCreary was hospitalized with kidney stones. DRK coached the varsity against Alabama. It was a losing effort, but McCreary, who listened to the game from his hospital bed, said Donald Ray called timeouts at the right time and made good substitutions.”
According to a February 1959 story in The Advocate the next day, the Tigers, led by the 22-year-old Kennard had their best offensive performance of the season, shooting 53 percent from the floor, losing by a score of 89-84 in Tuscaloosa.
Kennard represented part of East Baton Rouge Parish in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1976-2008 (eight terms, ending his career when term limits didn’t allow him to run again). Originally a Democrat, Kennard switched his party affiliation to Republican in 1995. He is former vice-chairman of the Houston Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice where he pushed for stricter driving while intoxicated laws. He is a former chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council and past president of the American Professional Guidance Association and member of the National Association of Academic Advisors.
“He enjoyed doing favors for people more than anyone I’ve ever known,” said Johnson, who now works for the LSU Alumni Association overseeing the Andonie Museum on campus. “Donald Ray never met a stranger. He was a natural for political campaigns. When he polled nearly 70 percent of the vote in his district once, I praised him for his effort. Ever the optimist, he said, ‘I’ve got to work on that other 30 percent.'”
Services are pending as of early Friday afternoon. He is survived by his wife, Ramona “Mona” Norris, two children (Robin Lisa Kennard and Stacy Rae Kennard Doucet) and four grandchildren.