Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame inducts 10 for 2023

On Tuesday night in Baton Rouge, the LHSAA held its annual Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame Ceremony with 10 inductees enshrined this year:

William “Bill” Bofinger
Coach
Lee/Liberty Magnet High School

Bofinger is a legendary wresting coach and started the acclaimed Louisiana Classic high school wrestling tournament. From 1971 to 1996, he had more than 300 victories and secured 10 Baton Rouge City titles. Bofinger was inducted into the national wrestling hall of fame in 2005.

Warren Capone
Competitor
Catholic-Baton Rouge

Capone was an All-State perfomer (1968 and 1969) and continued his football career for the LSU Tiger. He also played professional football with the Birmingham Americans (WFL), Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints.

As a coach, he led the now closed Christian Life Academy to the Class 1A Football runner Up title in 2008. He is a member of the LSU Sports Hall Of Fame 1998. Capone was named to the LSU All-Time Football Team in 2007.

Kate Ripple Cramer
Competitor
Parkview Baptist School

Cramer was a multi sport athlete at Parkview lettering in soccer, swimming, cross country, and track. She was all-state in the above sports numerous times. Ripple Cramer wasnamed an All-American swimmer three times (1997, 2000 and 2001), a Wendy’s High School Heisman state winner and national finalist in 2001.

She went on to play collegiate soccer at Texas A&M and at LSU. She won the Sprint Triathlon United States Championship in 2006. She is an inspiration to many.

Vic Dalrymple
Coach
Oak Grove High School

Dalrymple coached at Claiborne Academy, Newton High and at Oak Grove High School .

It was at Oak Grove where he made his greatest mark, winning 312 games from 1981-2012. He won four state championships, four state runner up titles and 19 District Championships. He also was named coach of the year twice.

Sandy Fussell
Coach
Assumption High

Fussell began her coaching career in 1981 in volleyball and softball. She also was a track coach for three years. During her head coaching career at Assumption, she had a record of 1,081 wins and eight state championships in volleyball between 1990-2009 plus eight state runner up titles. Her 1998 team posted a 44-0 record. She was named LVCA coach of the year nine times and 2021 put in the Bayou Region Sports Hall Of Fame.

She continue to work with young ladies as she is involved with the Thibodaux Regional Health System Rise Volleyball Club Program.

Jackie Laborde-Monkhouse
Coach
Pineville High

Laborde-Monkhouse is a graduate of Pineville High in 1965 and a Nw State Grad in 1971 and returned to Pineville High where she established the Girls Basketball, Softball, and Track teams while working to make sure they had the proper funding, equipment, and facilities.

In her 34 year career at Pineville, she won state championships in girls basketball and softbal. Laborde-Monkhouse earned state girls basketball coach of the year honors in 1983 and was a national coach of the year finalist in 1986. In 2000 she was named to the national Gatorade Coach Care Honor Roll. Her success as a trailblazer will not be forgotten.

Randy Livingston
Competitor
Isidore Newman School

A name most New Orleans and Louisiana sports fans will recognize is Randy Livingston. The player Randy Livingston led Newman to four state titles from 1992-1995. The awards rolled into Jefferson Ave as he was all state four times, mvp three times, and co-national player of the year. He was Louisiana Mr Basketball three consecutive years and in 1994 A McDonald’s All-American and the Gatorade National Player of the year.

Livingston played two years for the LSU Tigers and was drafted in 1996 by the Houston Rockets in the second round.

When his professional career was over he returned to Uptown New Orleans where he has coached and led the Greenies to two consecutive state championships in 2022 and 2023.

He is one of the greatest high school basketball figures in Louisiana history.

Janice Cole Outlaw
Competitor
South Beauregard High

Outlaw is a pioneer in Louisiana high school sports and in women’s basketball as well. She began her career at Ragley High from 1967-1970 where she excelled in basketball and track.

In 1970-1971, she was at the now consolidated South Beauregard High School to finish her high school career. She was all district basketball for four years and averaged 38 points, 21 rebounds and 11 blocked shots. Her team went undefeated with a 54-0 record was all tournament in 25 tournaments and mvp in 15 of them. She also was first in high jump in track regionals twice and third in state in 1970 and 1971.

She was the first head women’s basketball coach at McNeese State, serving in that capacity from 1974-1977.

Mitch Small
Contributor
LHSAA

In a 27-year tenure with the LHSAA spanning three Commissioners/Executive Directors, the Lutcher High and Nicholls State University alum elevated the LHSAA as its first marketing director. During his tenure, the high school football game of the week was started on Cox Sports Television along with other sports, and he developed the corporate sponsorships for the organization along with numerous friendships and partnerships formed throughout Louisiana and beyond.

Small retired from the LHSAA following the 2018-2019 sports season and as he has done for many years remains the voice of the LHSAA Prep Classic in the Superdome. A friend to high school sports in Louisiana, Mitch has left his mark with the LHSAA and High School Sports.

Dewain Strother
Coach
Florien High School

Strother has been at Florien High for 40 seasons where he has won 1,235 games in girls basketball and has made 21 appearances in the state tournament winning six and as the runner up five times.

He has been named district coach of the year 23 times and 4 class B coach of the year titles along with Shreveport times coach of the year five times and Shreveport Journal coach of the year three times. His team set the national record for points in a season and that record still stands today.

Strother has also been the head softball coach at Florien from 1980-1988 and also in addition to still being the head girls basketball coach from 1983-present he also is the head golf coach from 1988-present . His impact was mostly on the basketball court.

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Information Provided by the LHSAA