GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Two voices synonymous with LSU football for multiple generations have been replaced by the young and talented who hope to be as great.
Doug Moreau, the former All-Southeastern Conference LSU tight end (1964) and the color analyst for the LSU Radio Network and TV broadcasts from 1972 through 2023, will not be returning to the booth after taking last year off for health reasons. Moreau, 80, decided not to return for this season and has been replaced by former All-SEC (2007) LSU running back Jacob Hester, who filled in for Moreau all of last season.
Hester, 40 and already a rising star on the SEC Network and a daily national talk show on Sirius and on 104.5 FM in Baton Rouge, makes his debut as Moreau’s permanent replacement tonight when No. 3 LSU (1-0) hosts Louisiana Tech (1-0) at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+ and SEC Network+.
Meanwhile, Dixon McMakin also was to make his debut as the Voice of Tiger Stadium, replacing Dan Borne’, who sat out last season with an illness and has stepped down. Borne’ was a very popular Tiger Stadium public address announcer from 1985 through 2023. He replaced the beloved Sid Crocker, who was Tiger Stadium’s voice from 1954 through 1984. McMakin, 39, has experience as P.A. announcer for LSU men’s basketball and Catholic High football most recently and has done LSU softball, volleyball, soccer and spring football games.
“My memories of LSU football are truly sitting in the living room listening to Jim Hawthorne and Doug Moreau,” Hester, a native of the Shreveport area who played at Evangel Christian Academy before signing with LSU in 2004, told Tiger Rag before Saturday’s game.
“Everything wasn’t on TV back then,” Hester said. “That’s how we took in LSU football listening to those guys on the call. So, to be here in this position is a dream, and certainly something I never thought would happen.”
McMakin was preparing for his first time on the microphone in front of a near-full Tiger Stadium, which seats 102,321.
“It will be my first time on the microphone in front of so many,” McMakin said on the LSU Radio Network’s pre-game show Saturday. “Ready to go.”
McMakin had lunch with Borne this week at Baton Rouge’s classic Phil’s Oyster Bar to discuss the passing of the mic.
“He told me 40 years ago that him and Sid Crocker did the same thing,” McMakin said. “Went to lunch talked it out. And Dan was very clear. He said, ‘Keep it simple. Keep it concise.'”
And Borne’ quoted William Shakespeare to McMakin, “The play is the play.”
McMakin plans to hold to that.
“The game is the game,” he said. “I’m not there to make my voice known or my name. Bring excitement when it’s needed.”
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