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Locals Hope to Bus Down for Tribute to Ernie Ladd

Posted: Mar 16th 2007 By: CMBurnham

Organizers are attempting to have a bus available to go to Ernie Ladd's funeral on Saturday.

The Grambling great, 68, died last week after a long bout with cancer. His funeral will be held at 11 at the West St. Mary Civic Center in Baldwin, near the small Louisiana town of Franklin where Ladd spent his retirement.

"Mr. Ladd was an outstanding citizen and athlete," President Horace A. Judson said in a new press release from GSU. "He worked constantly to enhance the quality of life for mankind. Grambling State University and the nation will miss him."

The bus would leave Monroe's Pecanland Mall near the Olive Garden at 6 a.m. Saturday and return after the funeral. The cost is $33 per person.

Anyone interested in going should call Ezzard Burton at 680-9057 or Curtis Armand at 325-0194.

"This is tremendous loss for the Grambling State University family," said GSU Director of Athletics Troy Mathieu. "Our prayers are with his family and we're going to miss his presence and the support he has provided Grambling State."

Born Nov. 28, 1938, in Rayville, and raised in Orange, Texas, Ladd helped former Coach Eddie Robinson to his first-ever Southwestern Athletic Conference championship at Grambling then keyed San Diego's run to the 1963 American Football League title.

Later, Ladd moved into professional wrestling, where he became known as "The Big Cat," and emerged as one of the sport's first signature African-American stars.

Ladd remains the only person in both the American Football League and former World Wrestling Federation halls of fame. He was also a 1994 inductee into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, and joined the San Diego Hall of Champions in 2004.

Ladd, married to wife Roslyn for more than 45 years, was a father of four and grandfather to over a dozen more.