Al Robicheaux????

There is an Al Robicheaux who lived or is living in Opelousas. His kids played football at Opelousas Catholic in the late 1970's and 1980's. Big guy. I believe he is the person you are referring to. His boys were all very good High School football players. Very tough.

I grew up with "Big Al's" sons, one of which is a business partner. He passed away in Opelousas a little over a year ago. He had a short stint in the NFL I'm told. A good man who along with his wife raised five sons and a daughter--All fine individuals.

Yeah, the Robicheaux's of Opelousas. Knew one of his sons, Vance, and unfortuately another one of his sons was killed in a truck accident while serving in the Marines.

-Heard Big Al was a bad mofo.

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Don't know if Al Robicheaux is who your talking about, but MIKE Robichaux was a monster DE at LSU in the 60's. Played 1965-66 was All-SEC 66'.

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Did he play DE Opposite side of the line with DE Norm Garlington? If so they both made All Sec then Robichaux gave up football after his Jr year to devote full time to his studies/career.

Over the summer I was on a plane and sat next to a gentleman that had played football at Texas as a OL. He saw my LSU hat and mentioned that the hardest game of his career had been against LSU and he particularly remembered a big, mean, nasty DL. I wonder if he was talking about Al.

Al Robichaux was my dad. He played ball at LSU from '50-'53.Freshmen were ineligible to play back then, but dad started and lettered in '51,'52,and '53. He was an offensive tackle. He also played freshman basketball but dropped that after one year. Dad was a very tall man especially for the 1950's. His senior year the roster listed him at 6'4" or 6'5"(Mom has the scrap book). This made him the tallest on the roster. It hard to comment on my dad's "toughness", he didn't say too much about his playing days at LSU.

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you are wrong about the name. dudes name was Art Cantrell

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I think he's actually talking about a different person, but that Cantrell thread had some amazing stories in it.

I knew Al Robichaux for 39 years and 3 days. He was as tough as they come. He made Chuck Norris look like Clay Aiken. He would have John Wayne quivering in his boots. Borrowing one of his favorite expressions "He could eat nails and $h!t rails!".

Big Al's toughness was born out of the cane fields of St James and St Charles parishes. Back then he was known as "Denis" or "Denis Boy" (pronounced "Denny"). He and his 2 sisters and 2 brothers were raised by a single parent (Edna) in the years after the Great Depression. They lost their father (Al Sr.) to Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in 40s. You want to talk about poor, this guy grew up dirt poor. He was lucky enough to have some athletic skill and got a scholarship to LSU in the early 50s. He always told me that education was his way out and that football was just a means to that end. I guess that is why he never really talked about his days at LSU. This is something he preached to all of his kids "Education is your way out". His kids took this lesson to heart.

According to his sister Joan, after his LSU days he was contacted to attend training camp with Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers, but this was during the Korean War and he had already been drafted by Uncle Sam. I guess it was fortunate for some that he never made it Green Bay.

After his stint in the Army he began his career as a coach and educator, but that did not last long. He had an opportunity to go into the trucking business. This took him and his expanding family through places like Lake Charles, Slidell, Haughton, and finally to Opelousas. This would be his home for 30+ years. This is where he built a good living as a business owner, and this is where he would raise his family.

This guy was tough. One day we were clearing some trees on a deer lease around Forked Island. He was about 20 yds from me cutting some logs with a chain saw. I heard his chain saw stop and looked over and saw him on the ground cussin' up a storm. By the time I got to him he was on his feet with blood running down his leg. Then I looked at the chainsaw and the chain was mangled and saw completely broken. He had cut through a log and caught his leg, but the chain saw got the worst of the encounter. He grabbed another saw and went back to work. This is just one story.

I am sure his old hunting and fishing buddies have many more Big Al stories. And let me tell you most of them are probably true. He was like a cajun Paul Bunyan.

I can tell you with out a doubt that Al Robichaux is the the toughest man I ever knew. He was a great man, father and friend. He was my hero and I miss him dearly.

I am his youngest son.