Organizers for Bogalusa Summer Jam III have said they want to join in the community-wide efforts to Build a Better Bogalusa by offering a positive, family-friendly event. As part of that project, during the Summer Jam on Saturday they will present a Lifetime Achievement Award to a man they consider a role model, Eugene Butler.

“Mr. Butler was the head baseball coach and an assistant football coach at Central Memorial High School during the ’60s until full integration when he took over as the head football coach at the Bogalusa Junior High School in the fall of 1969,” Thomas Kates said. “In addition, he was a civics teacher at Central Memorial High School and a physical education teacher at Bogalusa Junior High School.”

Butler has two championships, the Louisiana State Baseball Championship in 1967 and later a Louisiana State Junior High School Championship in football, to his credit. 

But his influence reached beyond sports. When Butler arrived at BJHS he arranged for students to vote on a new team mascot to represent the changing times, and the team went from being the Rebels to the Timberjacks, Kates said.

“Also, he was an outstanding husband, citizen and long-term resident of Bogalusa, and we want to present him with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to our community,” he added.

The presentation will take place between 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. during Summer Jam III at Bennie’s Amphitheater on Martin Luther King Drive Saturday.

For additional information, call Kates at 750-8061.