By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU baseball coach Skip Bertman would have been proud of “Dougie Boy” on Tuesday night.
Doug Thompson, who pitched for Bertman in 1997 and ’98 and was the winning pitcher in the Tigers’ national championship victory over Alabama in 1997, joined Tiger Rag Radio on Tuesday night to discuss Bertman, who passed away last Friday at age 88. Bertman used to call him “Dougie Boy.”
“I’m trying to focus on the fact that I had a special relationship with coach, like so many others had,” said Thompson, who lives near Bertman’s home and had been driving him to games and lunches over the last several years. “It’s been infinite and immeasurable in terms of how he has affected my life. He’s the most important man in my life right there with my dad.”
And Thompson did not want to stop talking about Bertman. In fact, Thompson asked if he could stay on on through his guest time slot so he could talk to the next guest – former LSU second baseman and 1993 national champion Todd Walker.
The answer naturally was yes, and soon Thompson and Walker were basically hosting the show as regular host Jeff Palermo of the Louisiana Radio Network left the mound, so to speak.
The complete Thompson appearance and that of Walker can be heard by clicking the red box with the white arrow above.
“It goes without saying,” Walker told Thompson. “Skip was like a father figure to me.”
Walker also told Thompson and the audience about the night country music star Garth Brooks played the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Dec. 9, 1993, before Walker’s junior season with the Tigers and after he was the MVP of the ’93 College World Series won by the Tigers.
“And the one person Garth Brooks sought out during the concert was Skip Bertman,” Walker said. “He was the special guest of Garth Brooks. We knew Skip was legendary, but we were saying at the time that this catapults him into a whole other realm.”
That same Assembly Center will host the Celebration of Life ceremony honoring Bertman on Tuesday, April 25, at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. for an event that will be televised live on the SEC Network and ESPN+.
Seating will be general admission in the upper bowl. The entrance will be at the top of the exterior ramps. The floor and lower bowl seating will be reserved for guests of the Bertman family. Concessions will not be available, but attendees can bring their own sealed water bottle. General public parking is recommended in lots 401 and 404, as well as other available lots surrounding the PMAC.
“I just really hope that the LSU community shows up,” Thompson said. “I hope it ends up being an historic event.”
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