Alexander the great proof history repeats itself

Published 5:22 am Wednesday, January 25, 2017

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The question came up to Justin Vincent — one without a wrong answer — as to whether Leonard Fournette or Charles Alexander was LSU’s all-time best running back.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">There may even be others in the conversation.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But the question at hand was only between those two.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Vincent, a former Tigers running back of some note himself who was MVP of LSU’s national championship game victory over Oklahoma following the 2003 season, squirmed a bit, seemingly trying to find a way to be diplomatic.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">There was almost an awkward pause before he was interrupted.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Leonard Fournette!” came a defiant, throaty shout from the back of the room.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It was none other than … Charles Alexander.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Oh, being LSU, circa 1978, he may need an introduction to many current-day LSU millennials — “Thank God for Google,” Alexander said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But Alexander, who was in Lake Charles Tuesday night for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Glory Road Tour, knows whereof he speaks.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The Lake Charles stop was the first of the Hall of Fame’s statewide tour — hopefully it will become an annual event — which will also include events with appearances by various Hall of Fame members in Shreveport, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Houma.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">For a fledgling event, it got off to an encouraging start with a nice crowd on hand.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">They heard from the likes of Alexander, along with local legends like former major league pitcher Terry Burrows who went on to be the head coach at McNeese, not to mention legendary retired MSU Sports Information Director Louis Bonnette, who offered to tell tall tales as long anybody would listen.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Former LSU All-American tight end David LaFleur remembered, after being drafted in the first round by the Dallas Cowboys in 1997, that head coach Barry Switzer and quarterback Troy Aikman came to his hometown of Westlake to work him out.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“My high school coach, coach Max (Caldarera) just gave me the key thinking it was just me working out. Boy, was he mad when he found out Troy Aikman was passing on his football field and he didn’t’ see it.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Vincent gave a stamp of approval to new LSU head coach Ed Orgeron, remembering when he was in the football operations department, with an office right across from Orgeron when he first got the job as the Tigers’ defensive line coach.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Vincent remembered Orgeron telling him everyday: “Justin, how awesome is it to come here to work here — at LSU ?— everyday?”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“He didn’t know then Les Miles was going to get fired … we got the guy we were supposed to get. He gets it. He knows what LSU means.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But back to the original argument.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Alexander was the only current member of Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame on hand — Class of 1993 — although it’s obvious he expects Fournette to join him one day in the new building in Natichitoches.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Probably Derrius Guice, too.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“I think the kid (Fournette) is a lot better than I was,” Alexander told the gathering “He knows how to leverage. I can imagine a lot of those defensive backs had nightmares.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Guice, I don’t see much difference.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Alexander always was humble, almost to a fault, most of the way en route to being elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Vincent pointed out what Alexander accomplished in a totally different game than today’s point-a-minute shootouts.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Probably so.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But there was a similar circumstance during Alexander’s time as LSU has today.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Alexander was in a role similar to what Guice has been doing — and is expected to continue to do — in concert with Fournette.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Alexander and Terry Robiskie had a pretty seamless passing of the baton from one great running back to another way back in that mystical time when a 1,000-yard season was real, big-boy yardage.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Alexander mostly bided his time for a year behind Robiskie as a freshman running in 1976, then took a fair number of Robiskie’s carries the following year, Robiskie’s senior season.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It was still Robiskie’s show, however, and he finished as LSU’s all-time leading rusher with 2,517 yards, the first to crack off a 200-yard game while being named the SEC’s most valuable player of 1976 by the Nashville Banner.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But he and Robiskie more and more shared the load.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Once they were co-SEC backs of the week, just as Fournette and Guice both won the awards on separate weeks last season.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“It was a perfect situation for me as a freshman,” said Alexander, who for some odd reason had been a blocking back with 4.3 speed at Galveston (Texas) Ball High. “I wasn’t ready. I was a raw back. Terry took me under his wing. I learned gradually that year.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But when Robiskie graduated, LSU fans at the time didn’t seem that concerned about losing the school’s all-time leading rusher.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Sound familiar?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">They’d seen enough of Alexander to know something special was in the offing.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And he was — breaking Robiskie’s school record career total by the end of his junior year and eventually cracking the 4,000-yard mark.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“My sophomore year gave me a lot of confidence,” Alexander said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It was similar to why there was only a faint moral outcry when Fournette skipped the Citrus Bowl.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">LSU fans had seen enough of Guice to know there wouldn’t be a big drop-off.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“I love the way he runs,” Alexander said of Guice. “He runs likes he’s angry. Those feet never stop moving.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~AZaphdingbatdot7pt">l</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Scooter Hobbs</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">covers LSU</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">athletics. Email him at</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">shobbs@americanpress.com</span>