ST. AMANT – To the very end, James Itturalde was touching lives. Family, friends, fellow coaches and former players packed St. George Catholic Church Friday afternoon to pay their final respects to a man who coached the St. Amant Lady Gators softball team to their first state championship in 2002 but was a bigger winner in the game of life. Itturalde, 40, passed away Wednesday morning after a battle with liver cancer at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge. He was laid to rest in St. George Catholic Church cemetery Friday. “What amazed me was how much of an impact this guy had in such a short time in the community and at the school,” Ascension Parish School Superintendent Robert Clouatre said. “He was a great coach but more importantly he was the kind of person you would want your child to have as a coach. The kids loved him. His personality was one reason why he was successful.” Clouatre’s daughter, Teri, was a senior on the state championship team. “I felt like he was not only a great coach but a great person,” Teri Clouatre said. “He cared for each person. He would go out of his way to do anything for me. He will really be missed by a great deal of people at St. Amant. We won state because of him. He brought us all together. He was an awesome person in general.” Iturralde, a native of New Roads, was born Jan. 21, 1962 in Guantanamo, Cuba. He is survived by his mother, Mrs. Guillermo Iturralde; a sister, Bertha Iturralde Taylor and husband, Travis Taylor, and her daughter, Autumn LeSieur; a brother, Fernando Iturralde, and wife Joy Harvey Iturralde and daughters, Leah and Meggie Iturralde; a brother, William Iturralde; a sister, Claire Iturralde Lemoine and husband Steve Lemoine and children, Steven, Elizabeth and Patrick Lemoine; and a sister, Lourdes Iturralde.  Itturalde coached at Catholic High School of Pointe-Coupee in New Roads, Livonia High School and Lee High School in Baton Rouge before coming to St. Amant High in 2001. In his first season, he led the Lady Gators to a 36-4 record and the District 4-5A championship. St. Amant went on to defeat Comeaux in the Class 5A state championship game in Sulphur in April, the first state title won by a girls’ program at the school. Iturralde was named the Class 5A Coach of the Year following the season. He was also the Class 1A Coach of the Year in 1996 after leading Catholic-Pointe Coupee to the Class 1A state softball runner-up. But as successful as he was on the field, those who knew him agreed that he was a bigger winner off of it. “I was very excited when we got him over here to coach softball because I knew what kind of coach he was,” said Gary Duhe, St. Amant’s assistant softball coach and head boys’ basketball coach who knew Itturalde for over 20 years. Iturralde’s brother, Fernando, was Duhe’s assistant coach at Chapel Trafton in the mid 1980s.  “But as good a coach as he was, and he was a great coach, he was 10 times as good a human being.” Duhe recalled the last words Itturalde said to him. Duhe went to see him in the hospital Jan. 4. A group of the coaches were there talking and watching the Green Bay-Atlanta playoff game when Iturralde recognized Duhe and said, “You better beat Catholic High Tuesday night.” “It was fitting he would say something like that,” Duhe said. “He never thought of himself. He always cared for others and wanted them to have success. And he was always looking for that next challenge.” St. Amant principal Doug Moreau told the story of when he went to Sulphur for the state tournament last year and he and his wife had to park a ways from the field. They were walking toward the park when the team’s bus pulled up and Iturralde told them to hop in and catch a ride. “I coached for 20 years and my wife had never been on a team bus before,” Moreau said. “She was feeling a little self-conscience about riding on the bus. ‘Coach I’ got out of his seat and told her, ‘Sit right here, ma’am, I’ll stand up, we just have a little ways to go.’ My wife had never been formally introduced to ‘Coach I’ but she knew what kind of man he was because of that. Anybody who ever met him can relate a story like that. He was an extremely caring person. “He certainly knew the game of softball. But he knew the people business better than that. He always had a smile on his face. People who came into contact with him came to care about him because they knew he cared about them.” Among those who Iturralde cared about the most were his players who affectiately called him “Coach I.” Duhe said that players he coached 10 years ago came to visit him in the hospital in recent weeks. “The impact he had here, it was like that all over in the places he was at,” Duhe said. Courtney Hope, another senior on the state championship team, remembered Iturralde for his positive attitude. “He was so friendly,” Hope said. “He wanted to help so many people and influence as many people as he could.” Hope agreed that while he was known as “Coach I,” his first thoughts were always on the team. “It was all about the team,” Hope said. “He was always thinking about the little things he could do to get us ready.” Hope recalled that on the bus ride back to the hotel after the semifinal win over Covington last April, Iturralde said the team would wear their black, silk uniforms for the state championship game that night against Comeaux. Hope, the team’s co-captain, asked if they could instead stay with the white uniforms that they had been wearing all tournament. Iturralde agreed to the players’ requests. “It was important to me that we got to wear that,” Hope said. “He listened to us and respected what we wanted.” Moreau said that respect for his player’s wishes was one reason Iturralde was so successful as a coach. “Coach I was an outstanding coach,” Moreau said. “I’m not saying that because he won a state championship but because of the love and respect his players had for him. He knew how to get his players to play as hard as they could play without any kind of negative motivation. They truly played for him. The softball team he coached here, he got the maximum potential and the maximum ability out of them.” Hope said she recently watched the highlight video of the team’s championship season and listened to the interview Iturralde did with the television reporters following the win over Comeaux. “He didn’t take credit for it,” Hope said. “He said it was all us. We really respected that.” Last summer, Iturralde sent a thank you card to his players. The final words on Hope’s were “You were the ultimate captain.” “I’m so glad I have that now,” Hope said. Iturralde knew many of his players looked up to Alana Addison, a former St. Amant High standout and a star at Louisiana-Lafayette. Iturralde contacted Addison and had her autograph a ball for the team and send an e-mail to them the week of the East Ascension game. “He really did a lot for us,” Hope said. “He cared for us a whole lot. He was coaching us for the first time and he didn’t have to. It’s not like he had been here four years and had gone through a lot with us. But he formed a real quick bond with us.” That bond showed in the stories his players had of Iturralde. Teri Clouatre remembered when the Lady Gators were coming back from the Comeaux Tournament in Lafayette early in the season and the bus was low on gas. The players kept telling Iturralde that they were not going to make it and to pull over. Iturralde, always the optimist, said they were going to make it to Highland Road and fill up. Sure enough, the bus stopped at Highland and as luck would have it, in front of a gas station. Just as he was getting ready to put it in the bus, the players stopped him, telling him the bus took diesel so he had to go back to the gas station. “We kidded him after that, asking ‘Hey coach, you need gas, you need diesel,” Clouatre said. Itturalde’s care for his players went right down to the end. “His whole concern was that his softball team was taken care of,” St. Amant athletic director David Swacker said of Iturralde’s final months. “He wanted to make sure there was somebody there to help out, to pick up where he left off.” Iturralde earned the respect of not only his players but his fellow coaches as well. “He was a very caring man with a passion for the game but very competitive,” Denham Springs head softball coach Robbie Spangler, who coached against Iturralde in District 4-5A last season, said. “This is a true loss for St. Amant High School, his fellow coaches and high school softball in Louisiana. He will be missed.” Swacker recalled when Iturralde first came to St. Amant.

 There are about 25 coaches on this staff and right off the bat, he fit in real well,” Swacker said. “He was very loyal to me and to our program. He was very likeable.” Swacker said when he was interviewing Iturralde for the head softball job, one of the first questions he asked him was to tell him about himself. “I’m a single man, never married,” Swacker recalled Iturralde saying. “I consider myself a ‘5’ but I’m looking for a ‘10’ to marry. He had me right there - this guy has a personality. He’s going to be a fun guy to be around. And he was always moving those numbers around.” Swacker retold that story at a tribute to Iturralde prior to the service Friday. Swacker, along with Teri Clouatre and Courtney Kelleher, a member of the state championship squad, along with Catholic Pointe-Coupee principal Marsha Langlois and former players, told stories about Iturralde. “God, You were expecting a ‘5,’ Swacker said in closing. “But You got Yourself a ‘10’.” Swacker said he visited Iturralde in the hospital every day and there was always a stream of visitors - friends, family, former players and players and coaches he coached against throughout the years. Swacker noticed a couple of folks who sat with Iturralde every day. When he asked if they were family, they replied that they were parents of players he coached in 1992. “That’s the ultimate compliment right there,” Swacker said. “He left a lasting impression on a lot of folks, especially the kids.”

Newspaper Articles

Ed Aycock

MIKE KIRAL
The Ascension Citizen 

‘Coach’ Aycock remembered for his intensity, compassion

GONZALES - Ed Aycock always went by the nickname “Coach.”Dutchtown athletic director Benny Saia said it was a nickname that certainly fit. “When you say ‘coach,’ it applied to Ed,” Saia said. “He truly was a coach. He was an asset, not only to Dutchtown High School but to the whole community.” Aycock, 53, died at his home in Lutcher Saturday morning after a six-month battle with liver/pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his wife, Angelique “Angel” Levet Aycock; his son, Martin Joseph Aycock; and his brothers Dr. Charles Aycock and Dr. Philip Aycock. Aycock worked in education for 31 years, serving as a baseball, softball and football coach throughout southeast Louisiana. Schools he taught and coached at included St. Edmund’s, St. John of Plaquemine, Vandebilt Catholic, St. Charles Catholic, Archbishop Hannan, St. James, East Ascension and Dutchtown.  Aycock was inducted into the Louisiana Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame last month. He is the only coach to be named a head coach for both the baseball and softball All-Star games, having been named the head coach for the East squad in the 2001 softball game. He was the coordinator for the East at last month’s game and threw out the first pitch.

Aycock coached cross country and softball at Dutchtown in 2002-03. He was named both the District 7-4A and Class 4A Softball Coach of the Year after leading the Lady Griffins to the district title and the Class 4A quarterfinals in their first season. Previously, Aycock was the head softball coach at East Ascension where he rebuilt the Lady Spartans program, leading it to the Class 5A quarterfinals in 2001 and 2002. He was named the district coach of the year in 2001 after the Lady Spartans captured their first outright district title.

“He was a good guy,” Ascension Parish School Superintendent Robert Clouatre said. “He did a lot for the kids. He was looked up to by both the student-athletes and their parents. He did a great job for our system and will be sorrily missed as an individual and a coach.” Clouatre said the thing he remembered about Aycock was his attitude and how his teams fed off of it. “He was just so fired up all the time,” Clouatre said. “And his teams reflected his personality. They never got down. They played hard all the time.” St. Charles Catholic coach Gary Zeringue, who coached with Aycock with the Comets in the 1980s and early ‘90s, said he first saw that personality when Aycock was the team’s defensive coordinator.

“He was the perfect defensive coordinator with his intensity and passion and personality,” Zeringue said. “He reflected what you look for in a defensive coordinator.” Zeringue said those traits were also seen as Aycock fought the battle of his life these last couple of months. “He didn’t try to hide anything,” Zeringue said. “If he got good news, he told you. If it was bad, he told you. The way he handled that challenge – he never complained, never once said ‘why me?’” Zeringue noted that Aycock kept up with people. On the mornings that Zeringue had a big game, Aycock would come to visit and wish him good luck before going to school. Aycock’s fellow coaches and players said that was typical of the coach. “He was a really good coach,” said Kandice Marchand, who played for Aycock for three years at East Ascension and for one at Dutchtown. “He always had a way to make us laugh and he cared about us so much.

“Before every game, he would be in my face, saying I can’t beat the other team. It got me fired up. But he would always come right back and say that he loved you and that you were doing a good job.” Zeringue said he saw that mutual love between Aycock and his players wherever he coached. “In the coaching profession, you are not going to get everybody to like you. But for the 18 years I’ve known him, everywhere he went, everybody loved him.” Lutcher head football coach Tim Detillier had Aycock on his staff for six years at St. Charles Catholic and coached against him in baseball.  “I always said the best tribute for a coach was to say his players played hard for him,” Detillier said. “And his players always played hard for Ed.” Aycock is the second Ascension Parish high school softball coach to die of cancer this year. St. Amant coach Jimmy Iturralde died of liver cancer in mid January, just two weeks after his friend Aycock was diagnosed with his cancer. “This is a very devastating loss to everybody who has been touched by Ed and that is so many people,” St. Amant softball coach Scott Nielson said. “Coming back to back with Jimmy’s situation, it’s a tremendous blow to the community.

MIKE KIRAL
The Ascension Citizen

Aycock had an impact wherever he coached

Vandebilt Catholic head softball coach Margaret Johnson had the best description of Ed Aycock when she introduced him into the Louisiana Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame last month. “Coach Aycock can appear to be hardball on the outside but deep inside, I know he’s softball all the way,” Johnson said.  Aycock could appear rough when he was arguing with an umpire or giving his infamous “look” to one of his players. But those who knew Aycock knew him for what he really was – a compassionate man who loved his players – and who was loved by them in return. My favorite memory of Aycock came last fall when he was coaching the Dutchtown High cross country team. It was getting late in the afternoon and practice was coming to a close but Aycock told the team to line up for one more lap around the school.  There was some good-natured complaining but the runners quickly did what they were told. They were just taking off when Aycock stopped them and said that was it for practice that day. In those few moments two things were shown – Aycock’s lighter side and that his players, both literally and figuratively, were willing to go the extra mile for him. When Aycock passed away this past Saturday after a courageous six-month battle with cancer, the community not only lost a highly successful coach but also a man who had made a difference in nearly every life he came in touch with. He was often kidded about how many schools he coached at - at least 12 by last count. But that only allowed him to touch that many more lives. The diagnosis that Aycock had cancer came as a surprise in January. That he fought the disease to the very end wasn’t. Anybody who knew Aycock or had played against any of his teams knew what a battler he was. Aycock’s teams – whether it be his baseball teams at Vandebilt, his defenses at St. Charles Catholic or his softball squads at Archbishop Hannan, East Ascension and Dutchtown – fought you to the last out or to the last second on the clock. Those teams were also seldom out-guessed. Aycock had them prepared whether on the football field or on the diamond. And when his teams lost, he didn’t put the blame on his players or the officials, commending the other team’s performance instead. He usually followed those loses with one of his favorite sayings “We’ll be all right, we’ll be all right, we’ll be all right.” Another favorite saying was “This one’s for you, my love,” usually given after he gave one of his “looks” to one of his players. Aycock could stay angry with a player for about as long as it took the next pitch to be thrown. Aycock spent 31 years in education and coaching, guiding generations of young men and women. In the late 1990s and early in this decade, he resurrected the East Ascension softball program, leading the Lady Spartans to their first two Class 5A state tournaments. In his final season, he took over the Dutchtown softball program and led it to a district title and the Class 4A quarterfinals in its first year of existence. A state title eluded him over those years but the class and compassion he had for his players made him a bigger winner than any trophy ever could have. Aycock took time to thank me after every game for the coverage. The pleasure was always mine. Goodbye, our friend. And thanks.

MIKE KIRAL
The Ascension Citizen

Students, coaches welcome Aycock into LSCA Hall

BATON ROUGE – It was a night full of memories and advice for the future as Dutchtown head softball coach Ed Aycock was inducted into the Louisiana Softball Coaches Hall of Fame Friday at The Embassy Suites Hotel. Vandebilt Catholic head softball coach Margaret Johnson remembered the first time she got “The Look” from Aycock as a student in his class. Sulphur head coach Julie Mancuso recalled telling Aycock that his East Ascension team would be in the state tournament two years after playing it in a playoff game. That prediction turned out to be right on the mark. And Aycock, with his wife Angel and son Martin by his side, thanked the organization for its work throughout the years and advised the members of the East and West All-Star and All-State Academic teams in the audience to set even higher goals for themselves. Aycock, who coached both East Ascension and Dutchtown to the state tournament, went into the LSCA Hall along with former Woodlawn head coach Bonnie Hunter at the LSCA’s 12th annual banquet. Along with the Hall of Fame inductions, the members of the Louisiana High School Coaches Association/ LSCA All-Star teams were introduced and presented with watches. Also introduced and receiving plaques were members of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Composite All-State Academic teams. Dutchtown’s Kandice Marchand and Jana Jones and St. Amant’s Erin Brown played in the All-Star doubleheader Saturday on the East squad. Aycock served as the coordinator for the East and threw out the first pitch prior to game one. Friday’s highlight was the Hall of Fame inductions in which Aycock and Hunter became the 20th and 21st members to enter the Hall. Johnson and Mancuso introduced Aycock. Johnson remembered Aycock coaching family members at Vandebilt Catholic and how scared she was of him. Lo and behold, when she got to Vandebilt, she learned that Aycock would be her ninth-grade Civics teacher. Aycock, then the baseball coach, was reading a paper one day when Johnson and some other girls began whispering among themselves. “Coach Aycock looked around the newspaper and gave me the eye,” Johnson recalled. “We called it ‘that look.’” Years later, when Johnson returned to Vandebilt as the softball coach, she received a call from Aycock, now the softball coach at East Ascension, wanting to schedule a game. “I was nervous because everybody was telling me how strong they were and because I was playing against my former teacher. But from that day on, he was no longer my teacher. He became my colleague and a close friend.” Johnson said Aycock never blamed others for a loss and that he always took time to tell her how good her players were. “Coach Aycock can appear to be hardball on the outside but deep inside, I know he’s softball all the way. Thank you for making me a better person,” Johnson said in closing.  Mancuso remembered first meeting Aycock prior to a playoff game in 1999. Aycock didn’t meet Mancuso before the game but went afterwards to ask her for a comment on his team. Mancuso predicted that in two years, he would take the Lady Spartans to the state tournament. Sure enough, in 2001, East Ascension made its first trip to the state tournament in Sulphur.

Mancuso said she and Aycock formed a friendship and commented on how she admired how he has handled adversity since being diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. “Ed didn’t strike out when a curveball was thrown to him,” Mancuso said. In his acceptance speech, Aycock first commented that he must not have taught Johnson very well because he never beat one of her teams. He then talked about going to softball after 27 years as a baseball coach and wanted to know where his program stood when he faced Mancuso and Sulphur in the playoffs. “And she was honest and forthright,” Aycock said. Turning to Hunter, he noted that it was her and other members of the LSCA who had done the hard work through the years, putting the organization where it stands now. “There is no finer organization under the umbrella of the LHSCA than the softball organization. I’m a better person for being a member of this organization,” Aycock said. Aycock thanked his wife and son and other family members in the audience as well as the people he had come to know at East Ascension, Dutchtown and St. Amant. Aycock looked out at St. Amant coach Scott Nielson, who had taken over for the late Jimmy Iturralde and led the Lady Gators to a second straight state championship. “I couldn’t have done what you did this year and I’m not talking about winning state,” Aycock told Nielson, referring to having to replace Iturralde after he died of cancer in January. Aycock then turned to the members of the All-Star and Composite teams and quoted Bobby Knight – “The will to win is not as important as the will to prepare to win.” “You all want to win tomorrow,” Aycock said. “You all want to get an ‘A’ in physics. You can’t make an ‘A’ in physics if you don’t hit the books. If you don’t prepare of yourself, your dreams won’t come true.” Then with eyes throughout the room tearing up, Aycock closed by remarking “In the last four months, I have learned the four greatest words in the English language when they are put together – ‘We’re praying for you.’”

 MIKE KIRAL
The Ascension Citizen

 Tears, laughter flow at Aycock tribute

LUTCHER – Tears flowed freely but in the end, laughter and memories won out at the tribute to Ed Aycock held Sunday afternoon at the Lutcher Public Relations Building. Former players and coaches spoke of their experiences with Aycock and a video presentation of his career and life were shown. Lutcher head football coach Tim Detillier and St. Charles Catholic coaches Gary Zeringue and Don Fernandez, all of whom coached with Aycock at St. Charles Catholic in the 1980s, organized the event. “When Tim, Don and I put this together, we wanted it to be a celebration,” Zeringue said. “We’re offering a celebration of life.” Aycock, who was diagnosed with cancer in January, attended the tribute with his wife, Angel, and son, Martin. St. Charles Catholic head softball coach David Lowery read a resolution from the Louisiana State Legislature, designating June 22, 2003 as Ed Aycock Day in Lutcher and St. John, St. James and Ascension parishes. Tracy LeBoeuf, who played softball for Aycock at East Ascension and was one of his assistant coaches this past season at Dutchtown, was one of the guest speakers. “What do you do, what do you say about a person who if they hadn’t come into your life, you would be a totally different person,” LeBoeuf asked. LeBoeuf recalled trying out for the Lady Spartans as a freshman and being cut three days later. A few days after that, Aycock came into her class and asked if she wanted to be on the team. LeBoeuf would go on to receive a scholarship to Louisiana College. LeBoeuf remarked that Aycock drove over two hours to see her play in college but laughed that he left too early because she later hit a triple. “I want to thank you for seeing something in me and making me want to be my best,” LeBoeuf said. “I hope to one day follow in your footsteps and make a difference in a person’s life like you did in mine.” Conrad Braud, Aycock’s principal at both East Ascension and Dutchtown, compared Aycock to Bob Hope. Whereas Hope’s signature was his golf club, Braud said Aycock’s was his mannerisms when debating a call with the umpires, recalling his belly flop at third base. Braud also noted Aycock’s familiar phrase, “We’ll be all right, we’ll be all right, we’ll be all right.” Stephanie Seargo, who played for Aycock at Archbishop Hannan in the mid 1990s, read a poem by her and her teammates. St. Charles Catholic boys’ basketball coach Jeff Montz talked about his days coaching football with Aycock in the 1980s and early ‘90s. “Ed taught me it’s not what you say, it’s what you say and how you say it that counts,” Montz said. Montz recalled when he was in the hospital in 1992, Aycock came to visit him and give him encouragement. “That is what Ed is, an encourager,” Montz said. Montz closed by recalling one of Aycock’s favorite sayings in practice. “Repetition, repetition, repetition. Do it right. I tell you what Ed, you do it right,” Montz said. Detillier brought laughs with his “silent slide show” of Aycock’s career and life. Jason Ledet, who played for Aycock at St. Charles Catholic, remembered Aycock as a coach who always demanded 110 percent and who wasn’t satisfied with anything short of excellence.  But Ledet also remembered him as a man who while fighting the biggest battle of his life, led Dutchtown to the district championship in its first season and was named the Class 4A Coach of the Year. Ledet also spoke the words that were probably on the minds of all in the packed room.  “Coach Ed used to tell us in practice that once you become satisfied, you might as well give up. Coach Ed, don’t ever be satisfied. I want to say thank you and that I love you.”