Scooter Hobbs column: Home will always be where Ganno is
Melanie Hebert will probably have to double-check her address book.
It’s a tough, seemingly never-ending job keeping track of the whereabouts of her ever-moving family.
Where are they all this year?
But coordinating their regular get-togethers may have gotten easier when the New Orleans Saints hired Kellen Moore as their head coach and brought her son-in-law, Doug Nussmeier, with him from the newly crowned Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles as the Saints’ new offensive coordinator.
At least it’s in the state.
It will be the 15th different address for Nussmeier since he married Melanie’s daughter. Doug met Christi while she was on the Saintsations dance line and he was the Saints’ backup quarterback for four seasons in the 1990s.
It was the beginning of a long and wandering journey led by the Oregon native who played college ball at Idaho — here, there, almost everywhere. There was year playing in Indianapolis before two coaching gigs in Canada, then (take a deep breath) Michigan State, St. Louis (NFL), Fresno State, Washington, Alabama, Michigan, Florida, then back to the pros at Dallas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and now, finally, back in New Orleans.
Of course, it doesn’t really matter how far-flung the family is scattered. Never has, never will.
For her close-knit brood, Melanie’s home in Lake Charles will always be the central meeting point.
Her friends call her “Doodle,” but the grandchildren call her “Ganno.” It’s the name her children used for their grandmother and Christi wanted her children to call Melanie the same.
And no matter where they come in from, her homeplace will always be home to them.
It’s why her grandson, Doug and Christi’s son Garrett, LSU’s starting quarterback, with a dozen addresses to choose from, lists Lake Charles as his “hometown.” Never mind that, before his wandering began, he actually “lived” in the city for only a few months after he was born here in 2002.
“Lake Charles was really the only constant place in my life that stayed with me as we moved from place to place,” Garrett explained last August. “That’s why I call it home.”
LSU may be the first school in Louisiana that Garrett ever attended, but his roots were always deep in the bayou, mainly Southwest Louisiana, where his mother’s side of the family first settled in Cameron in the 1880s.
Christi made sure of that — for the annual crawfish boils, trips home every Easter and all but one Christmas, not to mention long summers.
“Every chance she got they came home and were here,” Ganno said.
That one Christmas away from home the whole family convened in San Diego for the Holiday Bowl when Doug was coaching with the Washington Huskies.
Gonna’s late husband Paul — the kids called him “Poppy” — had a special bond with Garrett growing up.
“They were thick as thieves,” Ganno said. “That’s where he learned to fish and hunt, he did all those things with his Poppy.
“He played t-ball in Lake Charles, all of it. When people don’t understand why he calls Lake Charles home, that’s why.”
And now, finally, the gang is all getting geographically closer to the home place and …
Well, there are complications.
Garrett’s brother, Colton, stayed behind in the Dallas area with Christi two years and three moves ago, when Doug left the NFL Cowboys for his job with the Chargers, then with Philadelphia.
“Colton is very established there,” Ganno said.
That, too, is probably temporary, subject to change.
Colton, a quarterback of course, is a sophomore at Garrett’s alma mater, Duncan High School in Flower Mound, and already has scholarship offers from most of the usual college football suspects, including LSU. He’s also quite adept at basketball.
Ganno asked him if he’s leaning toward any particular school and he said no.
“Whatever is best for him, that’s where I want him to go,” she said.
Garrett and Doug feel the same way, she added.
They’ll adjust no matter where Colton ends up. It’s become a routine.
“They changed colors quite often,” Ganno said. “Wherever they are, that’s the team we support. Whenever they’d change, wherever they were going, in 15 minutes they all had those jerseys for the next team.”
It’s almost a full-time job.
The family has a condo within walking distance of Tiger Stadium, which makes Garrett’s LSU games more convenient.
Gonna a proud grandmother for all the Tigers’ games, but her special-needs daughter, Heather — Garrett’s aunt — is his No. 1 fan.
“That’s me!” she shouts during this interview.
There are perks for Ganno.
She was not only at the Superdome cheering on Doug for the Eagles’ Super Bowl victory, she seemed to have carte blanche for the myriad of parties leading up to the game, even got to go to the Eagles postgame celebration.
Garrett’s agent, sometimes Doug’s, took care of everything.
“Garrett was our way in,” Gonna laughed. “They’d meet us at the door, step right up, go right in.”
Garrett was the good grandson.
“I’m no spring chicken anymore,” Gonna said. “They keep me young, keep me active, going to all these things.”
But en route to the postgame party, the driver couldn’t find a parking spot — “All the roads were blocked off,” Gonna said. They were let off, assured that the party at the Eagles’ Hilton Riverfront hotel was only two blocks away.
“It wasn’t any two blocks,” Gonna said. “Two blocks, two more blocks, still not there, and then there were all these all stairs and ramps to go up.”
Somehow, some way and from somewhere, Garrett procured a wheelchair.
“He said, ‘Come on over here.’ He put me in that wheelchair and, honey, we went up all those ramps quick as can be.
“Went right in (to the celebration). VIP seating, right next to the bar. It was lovely.”
There is more to come.
Garrett, of course, is projected as a high NFL draft pick next year after his senior year at LSU.
For that matter, Ashlynn Nussmeier, Garrett’s sister, is a sophomore at LSU and is dating All-American offensive tackle Will Campbell, who’s expected to be a first-round pick in the upcoming NFL draft.
Campbell, who delighted Heather by showing up for her recent 50th birthday party, could end up anywhere in the NFL.
Heather and the family will just have to adopt another color, another jersey to cheer for.
They know the drill by now.