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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3bW72lPNyI[/youtube]
For LSU lineman T-Bob Hebert, Tiger blood runs thick
By Jim Kleinpeter, The Times Picayune
http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2012/ ... ert_t.html
[wrapimg=right]http://media.nola.com/lsu_impact/photo/10426655-large.jpg[/wrapimg]For years, Cutoff native Robert Joseph Hebert had hoped, without pushing him, that his grandson Robert Joseph "T-Bob" Hebert III would become an LSU Tiger. T-Bob knew in his heart what his grandfather wanted; the link between the two Heberts, although separated by one generation and 500 miles, is uncommon and strong.
Sure, the elder Hebert reveled heartily in the success of his own son -- Bobby Hebert Jr. -- as a homegrown New Orleans Saints quarterback who led the franchise to its first winning record and playoff appearance. He also attended all of Bobby's home games in Atlanta when the quarterback became a Falcon.
But the vein of purple and gold ran as deep as the family's Lafourche Parish Cajun roots. It even extended well into Georgia, where that state's favorite sons wear Bulldog red and where T-Bob grew up, sharing a love of the Tigers with his grandfather.
Along with Bobby Jr., "Papa" is one of the two biggest influences on T-Bob's life, although his Georgia roots eliminated all traces of their thick Cajun brogues. He keeps his south Louisiana heritage close, however, with T-Bob, a French nickname of endearment
that means petite, or little, Bob.
There could be no more perfect ending to the story than a victory tonight for Robert Joseph Hebert, 73, an LSU graduate. He will watch T-Bob, a fifth-year senior and one of the No. 1 Tigers' heart-and-soul leaders, try to put a finishing flourish on what would be the greatest LSU season in its 118-year history against No. 2 Alabama in the BCS championship game in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
"I take a little piece of him out there with me every game," said T-Bob, an offensive lineman who began the season as a starter but has been in and out of the lineup while battling a knee injury. "Knowing he's in the stands, I want to make him proud. That's why this year has been storybook as far as what the team has done, being undefeated.
"He's a very important part of my life and always has been."
Despite suffering a stroke in the past year, the elder Hebert made road trips to Dallas for LSU's opener against Oregon and West Virginia. He also was there for every home game with his wife Paula, T-Bob's grandmother. Before LSU home games, T-Bob would seek them out for good-luck hugs and kisses as he walked down the hill to the stadium in coat and tie.
They were both there when T-Bob attended junior day at LSU and were in Coach Les Miles' office when their grandson was offered a scholarship. A month later, Miles called for Bobby Sr. to drive to Baton Rouge so he could be there when T-Bob called with his commitment.
They were on the floor of Tiger Stadium on Nov. 25 for LSU's Senior Day for more hugs and kisses. T-Bob handed his grandfather a commemorative football, now proudly displayed on his coffee table.
And each time, tears of joy flowed profusely from the classically emotional Cajun.
"It's hard to explain how I feel," Bobby Sr. said. "It couldn't be any better."
It was tough for Bobby Sr. when his son was released by the Saints and signed with the Falcons. T-Bob was 4, but Papa never stopped working the LSU angle. When he wasn't sending T-shirts and wall posters to Georgia, he was taking T-Bob to LSU games and talking up the Tigers. T-Bob always enjoyed flaunting his outsider colors around his Georgia friends. The Heberts would squeeze in hunting and fishing trips when T-Bob visited Cutoff.
They went to LSU's first two Southeastern Conference championship game appearances in 2001 and 2003 in Atlanta and heckled Tennessee together when the Tigers upset the Vols in 2001. After the game, 11-year-old T-Bob was signed to an unofficial LSU scholarship on the back of a napkin by a friend of Papa's. Whenever the family would return to Louisiana for Thanksgiving, T-Bob had a ringside seat for the Tigers' annual battle with Arkansas, or they'd watch together on television.
As T-Bob grew into one of the top high school linemen in the South, recruiting letters came from all over the country, from Boston College to University of California, Berkeley, where his sister, Cammy, was a student. Every SEC school but Tennessee offered him a scholarship. Even after LSU's offer, T-Bob waited a month before committing because he wanted to be sure of his decision. But deep down, he knew. And he knew his grandfather knew.
"He knew down deep in his heart he was going to be a Tiger," Papa Hebert confessed. "I have to take credit for that, but I never pressed him or even mentioned it when he'd get all those letters.
"ESPN called to ask what would happen if he went to Ole Miss. I said I would support what ever he did -- but remember I'm from the era of 'Go to Hell Ole Miss.' "
Said Bobby Jr.: "He wasn't as devastated when I went to the Falcons as he would have been if T-Bob had gone to Ole Miss."
Proud of LSU education
Papa Hebert said he was a "brainwashed" LSU fan at an early age, but there was far more to it than playing football. Education was important to his father, Paul, a boat captain who worked the oil fields and later was a farmer before a tractor accident claimed his life at age 45.
Papa Hebert, who started working on a tugboat at the age of 9, played some ball for Larose-Cutoff High School, now South Lafourche, as a 165-pound tight end, but that was all of his athletic career. He enrolled at LSU in 1956, spending his freshman year living in a Tiger Stadium dormitory before earning a civil engineering degree in 1961.
Hebert never missed a home game in those days, when proper game attire was a coat and tie. He first caught the LSU fever during the 1958 national championship season and said his biggest claim to fame was having an ROTC class with icon Billy Cannon, the school's lone Heisman Trophy winner.
"He used to say, 'Hey, Hebert, how you get down the bayou?' " Papa Hebert said of Cannon, a Baton Rouge native. "I'd say, 'I get in a pirogue in Raceland and paddle all the way down.' "
His LSU education continues to be a main source of pride.
"At our family gathering for my graduation, we were joking around that we were better than the rest of the family because we were the only two LSU alumni," T-Bob said. "He was more happy about me being an LSU graduate than having played football.
"He's one of the most caring individuals I know. He has so much love in his heart, a great Catholic man. He really is an inspiration to me on how to live your life and treat people.
"You talk to him for five minutes, and it's like you've been best friends for years. I've seen how people just love him. He truly seems to get great joy out of life and meeting people."
Father became folk hero
Bobby Jr. admits his son is more like his grandfather than himself. He said that people often joke he seems more like a brother than a father to T-Bob.
The former Saints quarterback is now a broadcaster for WWL-AM sports shows, often sounding more like a caller than a host. He laughs about the time he was put on one-game probation by LSU for cheering in the press box during a last-play victory over Auburn in 2007.
Bobby Jr. could have been in T-Bob's shoes, but the timing wasn't right. He also was raised on LSU football, born in Baton Rouge and tailgated through the 1970s. After leading South Lafourche to the 1977 Class 4A state championship, he got only one scholarship offer, Northwestern State, which he accepted. He excelled, triggering an offense that featured future pros Mark Duper at receiver and the late Joe Delaney at running back.
As a pro, Bobby Jr. led the Michigan Panthers to the inaugural United States Football League title in 1983 before the league folded. He then joined the Saints in 1985, where he achieved statewide folk-hero status.
T-Bob loves listening to his dad on the radio, but will turn it off when he gets off the Saints and onto LSU.
"It's never been hard being his son, never had a problem with it," T-Bob said. "It's been nothing but a positive my entire life. He's been in every situation I've been in, and then some. Every time I have an issue or problem, he's there. He never pushed things. He didn't want me to play football until I was 13. When I was 9, I had to beg him. He's been an incredible father in general.
"He's like a big kid. I remember one time he took me out of school when they re-released the 'Star Wars' movies in the '90s. We saw them all in one day. Then we went to Toys R Us and he told me I could pick out one toy. Then he said, 'What about this one and this one and this one.' He ended up buying one of every single 'Star Wars' toy."
As good-natured as he is off the field -- he's a huge media favorite for interviews -- T-Bob learned to be nearly as tough as his father on it. Bobby Jr. once continued playing against Tampa Bay after having his front teeth knocked out during the game.
He remembers the day T-Bob made a leap of faith. Bobby Jr. was coaching his 10-year-olds team in Duluth, Ga. It was 30 degrees and raining. T-Bob's hand got smashed, and he was crying.
"I looked at his hand and said, 'I don't think it's broken, we'll get X-rays after,' " Bobby said. "He was crying and said, 'Dad it's hurting.' I said, 'I'm not saying it's not hurt, but if you want to play football, this is part of it.' He looked at me, went back out there and never said nothing again.
"You can't force a kid to play football. He has to decide for himself. T-Bob embraced it from that point on."
That's pretty much how T-Bob remembers it, too. He has turned into a durable player who has battled injuries and often played hurt while serving as a utility man along the offensive line. He lost his starting center job two years ago after an injury during the spring and a DWI arrest.
He stepped in at right guard one play into the 2010 season opener, having never played the position, to take over for Will Blackwell. This season, T-Bob was expected to play a backup role again, but Josh Dworaczyk went down for the season in fall camp. He was enjoying his best season when a knee injury hobbled him, but he came off the bench before he was healed to fill in for injured center P.J. Lonergan, who missed the next three games.
T-Bob said he's 100 percent for tonight's game, but Josh Williford has started the last three games at left guard.
"One way I've been able to play hurt is I feel him over my shoulder," T-Bob said of his dad. "I just remind myself it's not about me, it's about the other 100 guys on the team. What we've done together.
"My way to help the team isn't to complain and be upset about not starting, it's to come back refocused and get ready, make sure I'm as sharp as I can be at all three of those interior positions, be ready to help in whatever way I can."
T-Bob has played that role well. Teammates say he was instrumental in rallying the Tigers from the negative publicity of the August bar fight and keeping them focused on the season's goals.
"T-Bob's a tough guy and one of the best leaders we have, as well as my good friend," Blackwell said. "He's one of the biggest reasons we are where we are today."
It has all come full circle for T-Bob. His grandfather and dad were in the stands at the Superdome when LSU capped its 2007 season with a BCS title. Hebert, then redshirting as a freshman, only watched from the sideline.
His two biggest influences will be at the Dome again tonight, watching through binoculars when, or if, he gets into the game.
"(Papa's) been a trooper and my dad, too," T-Bob said. "Now we've got to finish it out for them."
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3bW72lPNyI[/youtube]
For LSU lineman T-Bob Hebert, Tiger blood runs thick
By Jim Kleinpeter, The Times Picayune
http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2012/ ... ert_t.html
[wrapimg=right]http://media.nola.com/lsu_impact/photo/10426655-large.jpg[/wrapimg]For years, Cutoff native Robert Joseph Hebert had hoped, without pushing him, that his grandson Robert Joseph "T-Bob" Hebert III would become an LSU Tiger. T-Bob knew in his heart what his grandfather wanted; the link between the two Heberts, although separated by one generation and 500 miles, is uncommon and strong.
Sure, the elder Hebert reveled heartily in the success of his own son -- Bobby Hebert Jr. -- as a homegrown New Orleans Saints quarterback who led the franchise to its first winning record and playoff appearance. He also attended all of Bobby's home games in Atlanta when the quarterback became a Falcon.
But the vein of purple and gold ran as deep as the family's Lafourche Parish Cajun roots. It even extended well into Georgia, where that state's favorite sons wear Bulldog red and where T-Bob grew up, sharing a love of the Tigers with his grandfather.
Along with Bobby Jr., "Papa" is one of the two biggest influences on T-Bob's life, although his Georgia roots eliminated all traces of their thick Cajun brogues. He keeps his south Louisiana heritage close, however, with T-Bob, a French nickname of endearment
that means petite, or little, Bob.
There could be no more perfect ending to the story than a victory tonight for Robert Joseph Hebert, 73, an LSU graduate. He will watch T-Bob, a fifth-year senior and one of the No. 1 Tigers' heart-and-soul leaders, try to put a finishing flourish on what would be the greatest LSU season in its 118-year history against No. 2 Alabama in the BCS championship game in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
"I take a little piece of him out there with me every game," said T-Bob, an offensive lineman who began the season as a starter but has been in and out of the lineup while battling a knee injury. "Knowing he's in the stands, I want to make him proud. That's why this year has been storybook as far as what the team has done, being undefeated.
"He's a very important part of my life and always has been."
Despite suffering a stroke in the past year, the elder Hebert made road trips to Dallas for LSU's opener against Oregon and West Virginia. He also was there for every home game with his wife Paula, T-Bob's grandmother. Before LSU home games, T-Bob would seek them out for good-luck hugs and kisses as he walked down the hill to the stadium in coat and tie.
They were both there when T-Bob attended junior day at LSU and were in Coach Les Miles' office when their grandson was offered a scholarship. A month later, Miles called for Bobby Sr. to drive to Baton Rouge so he could be there when T-Bob called with his commitment.
They were on the floor of Tiger Stadium on Nov. 25 for LSU's Senior Day for more hugs and kisses. T-Bob handed his grandfather a commemorative football, now proudly displayed on his coffee table.
And each time, tears of joy flowed profusely from the classically emotional Cajun.
"It's hard to explain how I feel," Bobby Sr. said. "It couldn't be any better."
It was tough for Bobby Sr. when his son was released by the Saints and signed with the Falcons. T-Bob was 4, but Papa never stopped working the LSU angle. When he wasn't sending T-shirts and wall posters to Georgia, he was taking T-Bob to LSU games and talking up the Tigers. T-Bob always enjoyed flaunting his outsider colors around his Georgia friends. The Heberts would squeeze in hunting and fishing trips when T-Bob visited Cutoff.
They went to LSU's first two Southeastern Conference championship game appearances in 2001 and 2003 in Atlanta and heckled Tennessee together when the Tigers upset the Vols in 2001. After the game, 11-year-old T-Bob was signed to an unofficial LSU scholarship on the back of a napkin by a friend of Papa's. Whenever the family would return to Louisiana for Thanksgiving, T-Bob had a ringside seat for the Tigers' annual battle with Arkansas, or they'd watch together on television.
As T-Bob grew into one of the top high school linemen in the South, recruiting letters came from all over the country, from Boston College to University of California, Berkeley, where his sister, Cammy, was a student. Every SEC school but Tennessee offered him a scholarship. Even after LSU's offer, T-Bob waited a month before committing because he wanted to be sure of his decision. But deep down, he knew. And he knew his grandfather knew.
"He knew down deep in his heart he was going to be a Tiger," Papa Hebert confessed. "I have to take credit for that, but I never pressed him or even mentioned it when he'd get all those letters.
"ESPN called to ask what would happen if he went to Ole Miss. I said I would support what ever he did -- but remember I'm from the era of 'Go to Hell Ole Miss.' "
Said Bobby Jr.: "He wasn't as devastated when I went to the Falcons as he would have been if T-Bob had gone to Ole Miss."
Proud of LSU education
Papa Hebert said he was a "brainwashed" LSU fan at an early age, but there was far more to it than playing football. Education was important to his father, Paul, a boat captain who worked the oil fields and later was a farmer before a tractor accident claimed his life at age 45.
Papa Hebert, who started working on a tugboat at the age of 9, played some ball for Larose-Cutoff High School, now South Lafourche, as a 165-pound tight end, but that was all of his athletic career. He enrolled at LSU in 1956, spending his freshman year living in a Tiger Stadium dormitory before earning a civil engineering degree in 1961.
Hebert never missed a home game in those days, when proper game attire was a coat and tie. He first caught the LSU fever during the 1958 national championship season and said his biggest claim to fame was having an ROTC class with icon Billy Cannon, the school's lone Heisman Trophy winner.
"He used to say, 'Hey, Hebert, how you get down the bayou?' " Papa Hebert said of Cannon, a Baton Rouge native. "I'd say, 'I get in a pirogue in Raceland and paddle all the way down.' "
His LSU education continues to be a main source of pride.
"At our family gathering for my graduation, we were joking around that we were better than the rest of the family because we were the only two LSU alumni," T-Bob said. "He was more happy about me being an LSU graduate than having played football.
"He's one of the most caring individuals I know. He has so much love in his heart, a great Catholic man. He really is an inspiration to me on how to live your life and treat people.
"You talk to him for five minutes, and it's like you've been best friends for years. I've seen how people just love him. He truly seems to get great joy out of life and meeting people."
Father became folk hero
Bobby Jr. admits his son is more like his grandfather than himself. He said that people often joke he seems more like a brother than a father to T-Bob.
The former Saints quarterback is now a broadcaster for WWL-AM sports shows, often sounding more like a caller than a host. He laughs about the time he was put on one-game probation by LSU for cheering in the press box during a last-play victory over Auburn in 2007.
Bobby Jr. could have been in T-Bob's shoes, but the timing wasn't right. He also was raised on LSU football, born in Baton Rouge and tailgated through the 1970s. After leading South Lafourche to the 1977 Class 4A state championship, he got only one scholarship offer, Northwestern State, which he accepted. He excelled, triggering an offense that featured future pros Mark Duper at receiver and the late Joe Delaney at running back.
As a pro, Bobby Jr. led the Michigan Panthers to the inaugural United States Football League title in 1983 before the league folded. He then joined the Saints in 1985, where he achieved statewide folk-hero status.
T-Bob loves listening to his dad on the radio, but will turn it off when he gets off the Saints and onto LSU.
"It's never been hard being his son, never had a problem with it," T-Bob said. "It's been nothing but a positive my entire life. He's been in every situation I've been in, and then some. Every time I have an issue or problem, he's there. He never pushed things. He didn't want me to play football until I was 13. When I was 9, I had to beg him. He's been an incredible father in general.
"He's like a big kid. I remember one time he took me out of school when they re-released the 'Star Wars' movies in the '90s. We saw them all in one day. Then we went to Toys R Us and he told me I could pick out one toy. Then he said, 'What about this one and this one and this one.' He ended up buying one of every single 'Star Wars' toy."
As good-natured as he is off the field -- he's a huge media favorite for interviews -- T-Bob learned to be nearly as tough as his father on it. Bobby Jr. once continued playing against Tampa Bay after having his front teeth knocked out during the game.
He remembers the day T-Bob made a leap of faith. Bobby Jr. was coaching his 10-year-olds team in Duluth, Ga. It was 30 degrees and raining. T-Bob's hand got smashed, and he was crying.
"I looked at his hand and said, 'I don't think it's broken, we'll get X-rays after,' " Bobby said. "He was crying and said, 'Dad it's hurting.' I said, 'I'm not saying it's not hurt, but if you want to play football, this is part of it.' He looked at me, went back out there and never said nothing again.
"You can't force a kid to play football. He has to decide for himself. T-Bob embraced it from that point on."
That's pretty much how T-Bob remembers it, too. He has turned into a durable player who has battled injuries and often played hurt while serving as a utility man along the offensive line. He lost his starting center job two years ago after an injury during the spring and a DWI arrest.
He stepped in at right guard one play into the 2010 season opener, having never played the position, to take over for Will Blackwell. This season, T-Bob was expected to play a backup role again, but Josh Dworaczyk went down for the season in fall camp. He was enjoying his best season when a knee injury hobbled him, but he came off the bench before he was healed to fill in for injured center P.J. Lonergan, who missed the next three games.
T-Bob said he's 100 percent for tonight's game, but Josh Williford has started the last three games at left guard.
"One way I've been able to play hurt is I feel him over my shoulder," T-Bob said of his dad. "I just remind myself it's not about me, it's about the other 100 guys on the team. What we've done together.
"My way to help the team isn't to complain and be upset about not starting, it's to come back refocused and get ready, make sure I'm as sharp as I can be at all three of those interior positions, be ready to help in whatever way I can."
T-Bob has played that role well. Teammates say he was instrumental in rallying the Tigers from the negative publicity of the August bar fight and keeping them focused on the season's goals.
"T-Bob's a tough guy and one of the best leaders we have, as well as my good friend," Blackwell said. "He's one of the biggest reasons we are where we are today."
It has all come full circle for T-Bob. His grandfather and dad were in the stands at the Superdome when LSU capped its 2007 season with a BCS title. Hebert, then redshirting as a freshman, only watched from the sideline.
His two biggest influences will be at the Dome again tonight, watching through binoculars when, or if, he gets into the game.
"(Papa's) been a trooper and my dad, too," T-Bob said. "Now we've got to finish it out for them."
