Men’s golf coach J. Perry Cole, who guided the Tigers to NCAA national championships in 1940 and 1942, is a member of the 2025 LSU Athletics Hall of Fame induction class and will be formally enshrined on Friday, September 19, at the Manship Theater in downtown Baton Rouge.

The other members of the 2025 class are men’s basketball coach John Brady, who directed the Tigers to the 2006 Final Four; gymnast Rheagan Courville, a 23-time All-American; three-time All-SEC men’s basketball forward Ronald Dupree, who helped lead the Tigers to the 2000 NCAA Sweet 16; women’s basketball All-American Cornelia Gayden, the most prolific three-point shooter in school history; and four-time LSU women’s basketball All-American Temeka Johnson, who led the Tigers to Final Fours in 2004 and 2005.

At Louisiana State University, the word champion is a very familiar one. The university’s athletics programs have a tradition of excellence and a constant pursuit of winning championships. However, long before the colors purple and gold represented national titles, Colonel J. Perry Cole was already laying the foundation for this victory culture.

Cole, rightfully known as the “Father of LSU Golf,” led his players to numerous victories that made history, building a standard of champions that continues to inspire LSU Athletics today. His legacy lies not only in his success as a coach, but in the contributions he made to his country, his state, and the LSU community.

Cole became the head men’s golf coach at LSU in 1933, a time when southern schools were typically excluded from the sport’s elite teams. However, Cole was determined to change that standard. When he arrived at LSU, men’s golf wasn’t an official sport yet, it was just a club team. Thus, for an entire decade, Cole dedicated himself to building and coaching a team that could not merely compete, but excel.

His passion and efforts clearly paid off, as Cole led the Tigers to five Southeastern Conference Championships (1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1942). Most notably, under Cole, the LSU men’s golf team won two NCAA team national titles in 1940 and 1942. Without his leadership, none of this would have been possible, and it is likely that another decade or more would have gone by without an SEC school winning a national title. In this way, he paved the road to greatness and dominance in all SEC athletics, extending beyond his impact on LSU.

Not only did Cole’s teams at LSU win countless trophies, but his players also earned individual honors. Notably, Fred Haas Jr. won the national medal in 1937, followed by Earl Stewart’s individual national title in 1941. Both players became ambassadors for LSU, living out Cole’s lessons of dedication and composure on the biggest stages.

For Cole, golf wasn’t just a game where you chase victory, it was a place of formation where individuals learn patience, respect, and integrity and carry those lessons with them for the rest of their lives.

Chris Garcia, who accepted Cole’s LSU Athletics Hall of Fame honor on the behalf of the family, shared that “Col. Cole stood out because he was a teacher at heart. He was a person of service – to his country, his family, his community, and LSU. He was known as always giving, selfless, and dedicated to the people around him.”

Cole himself had faced adversity early in his life, being orphaned by the age of nine. Yet, he didn’t let this break him down and instead grew into a figure of compassion and strength. To his grandchildren, he was fittingly nicknamed as “Honey,” a name by which they still refer to him today.

Cole’s impact reached far beyond his career as a golf coach. In addition to his coaching role, he taught as a professor at LSU. He had served in World War I, where he was injured in combat and could not return to the battlefield in World War II. In 1943, he was instead asked to serve from home by helping start the Louisiana State Guard. In this service, Cole was elevated from the rank of Major to the honorary rank of Colonel.

He also helped establish Boys State and Girls State, as well as Boy Scout troops, continuing his service to educating and mentoring Louisiana’s youth. After retiring in 1960, Cole soon sat down to record two hours of cassettes about his life, giving future generations the opportunity to share his story.

Along with these achievements, he made a tangible mark on LSU. This can be seen by a building on campus named in his honor, his place in the College of Science Hall of Distinction, and the Memorial Oak Grove that he planned and planted by the Student Union which LSU students still walk by every day.

“He was a leader in battle, in his family, and in the classroom,” Garcia reflected, “but above all else, he was dedicated to LSU.”

As Tiger fans read this feature, many will come across Cole’s story for the first time. Yet, his accomplishments and service remind all of us that LSU’s championship culture wasn’t built overnight.

LSU’s athletic success took years in the making and was led by visionaries like J. Perry Cole, who believed that LSU was a name that belonged among the very best. His life reminds us that the measure of champion goes beyond titles and lies in the values he lived by. Cole’s legacy will forever embody the best of LSU – service, discipline, excellence and victory.