re: We lost a great Tiger today

I'm so sorry to hear this. I only knew him causally, but he seemed to be a really good person and had a wry sense of humor.

As I'm sure you know, he was the building inspector for the town of Pass Christian. After Katrina, things were pretty fouled up around town. Mr Wittmann was able to see the "big picture" and was very helpful with permitting and getting work completed. Not everyone in the city administration had his helpful attitude.

One day he was at my aunt & uncle's home that I was helping to rebuild. We had met a few times previously and I usually had an LSU cap on. He asked me if I was a football fan. I said I was. He asked me if I knew who Jimmy Taylor is. Of course I know who Jimmy Taylor is, and not only do I know who he is, but I delivered his newspaper when I was a kid. Well, let me tell you a Jimmy Taylor story...

At this point, I have know idea Mr. Wittmann played football for LSU. He was probably about 65 or 70 years old and looked like he had had a stroke in the past. He was not a real big guy. He proceeds to tell a story about showing up at summer camp after transferring to LSU from Hinds County Junior College as a 185# LB and getting run over by Jimmy Taylor during his first practice. I'm not doing him justice in this re-telling of the story, but he had everyone in the house laughing at a time laughs were hard to come by.

He never mentioned playing on the '58 Nat'l Championship team. It wasn't until 2007 that I found that out, talking to his daughter-in-law about LSU going to the NC that year.

RIP - Kenny Wittmann