By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
When Father Jeff Bayhi, a retired Catholic priest in Baton Rouge, was asked to present the homily during the funeral mass of legendary LSU basketball coach Dale Brown, he knew he would have to take a vow of selection.
“Oh my,” Bayhi said during the mass Wednesday morning at St. George Catholic Church in Baton Rouge. “How do you describe the life of Dale Brown?”
Bayhi had a special view of Brown, who passed away at age 90 on Oct. 23 at his home in Baton Rouge with his wife of 67 years Vonnie near. Bayhi was on the LSU bench for home and away games for many seasons with Brown in the 1980s and ’90s. He saw the great, good and bad times with teams that Brown coached from 1972-97 – a run that including 10 straight NCAA Tournaments, two Final Fours, two Elite Eight finishes, four SEC regular season titles and the school’s only SEC Tournament crown.
“So many stories,” Bayhi said. “And I bet everyone of you out there has their own set of stories about Coach Brown. If it was open mic night here, we wouldn’t make it to the P-MAC by 6 p.m.”
The Celebration of Life for Brown begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, a place he regularly filled and made known as the “Deaf Dome” during his glory years. It is scheduled to go to 7:30 p.m., but there may be overtime.
“If Dale was able to give his own funeral, it would last much longer,” Bayhi said.
Dale’s first grandson, Christopher Prudhomme, the son of Robyn Brown Prudhomme and Chris Prudhomme, tipped off the funeral mass with an eulogy that was a crowd favorite as was Bayhi’s homily.
“Everyone called him Daddy Dale,” Christopher Prudhomme, an attorney in New Orleans, said. “To me, he was always Poppa. He was so much more than a legendary basketball coach to me. He was my hero. Coaching was his profession. It was never his life’s purpose. Helping people, the less fortunate was. His favorite saying that he said to so many was, ‘God doesn’t make any junk.’ He lived that. He believed every person was a child of God and should be treated with dignity. He was a little boy from Minot, North Dakota, who came into this world with so little and gave so much. He had an extraordinary gift for making people feel seen and feel valued.”
Impressive, emotional, poignant service at St. George Catholic Church https://t.co/y0JpOS83TG
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 11, 2026
Just running errands with his grandfather became a life altering experience for Christopher.
“He would transform the frowns of cashiers into smiles,” he said.
Imitating Brown’s voice, Prudhomme said loudly, as if speaking to a cashier at a store, “I HEARD only the most beautiful and most talented and intelligent people can work here. Is that true?”
Suddenly that cashier was smiling and laughing.
Or there is the one that still gives Prudhomme chills.
“While traveling, Poppa happened to stop at a rest area, and a man recognized him,” Christopher said. “They started talking, and Poppa noticed that the guy was down. So he gave him one of his books he was always traveling with – ‘Words To Lift Your Spirits’ (by Dale Brown). A few months later, the man sent him a letter and said he had been contemplating taking his own life until this unexpected moment of kindness by my grandfather made him reconsider.”
The theme of Brown’s funeral was more than remembering Brown. It was about letting the way Brown lived his life change others.
“Plant seeds with people,” Father Bayhi said. “That’s what his mother, Agnes (Marie Hennessy Brown) did with her son. She planted a seed in him. You never know what will happen when you do that. We’re celebrating Agnes Brown’s life today, too. He learned from her. He wanted to give everyone dignity, belonging. And that began with Agnes Brown. She’s the one who got that into Dale by planting faith in someone she loved. So, go out and plant a seed.”
Prudhomme hammered that home.
“Don’t hurry through people,” he said. “Linger. Listen. And love. To Poppa, no one was insignificant. He was forgiving. He even forgave his father, who left the family two days before he was born. He forgave some who were his enemies. In true Dale Brown fashion, he would want you to look past people’s differences and believe in people. Take time for strangers. And never underestimate one simple act of kindness. Carry that.”
LSU has even come up with a “Love Like Dale” logo for the Celebration of Life ceremony tonight at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for Daddy Dale.
“Carry that, love like Dale,” Prudhomme said. “I love you Poppa, and thank you for being a father to us all.”
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