July 19, 2006

By Louis Bonnette

The number 76 that David Poche wore during an all-American career at McNeese State is one of only two in football that have been retired by the university.

It's ironic, however, that the only pictures of Poche in a McNeese uniform have him wearing No. 77.

"Ask Mike Johns," Poche said of the number twist.

Johns, now the head football coach at St. Louis High in Lake Charles, was the team manager when Poche was playing for the Cowboys.

"It seems," said Poche, "that my jersey No. 76 was missing the day we took pictures so I had to dress in 77."

Jersey No. 77 is still going strong for the Cowboys. In fact, freshman tackle Casey Richter will dress in that this season. But No. 76 is in the McNeese Hall of Fame accompanied by the No. 82 that Charles Kuehn, the Cowboys first all-American, wore as a defensive end.

That Poche, a native of Baton Rouge, would become an all-American at McNeese State and have his jersey retired probably never entered the mind of a seventh grader sidelined with polio.

"I had it, my older sister had it and my brother had it all at the same time," Poche said of his early years. "I was in the seventh grade when I caught it. I never had to wear braces but did have back and leg problems and remember having to sleep on the floor for a full year."

He would also find out later that one leg was shorter than the other, an effect of the disease.

As a sophomore at Baton Rouge High School, he tried out for the football team.

Poche said he was 135 pounds and couldn't run a lick.

"They tried to chase me off, making me haul in tackle dummies at the end of each practice."

A new assistant coach by the name of Nobby Daigle joined the staff that year and made Poche a special project.

"He told me that if listened to him, I could be playing football the next year. He said that he couldn't make me faster but he could make me quicker, but he said that I would have to work at least three hours each and every day and that was seven days a week," Poche said.

"The first 30 minutes of those three hours he had me working on a trampoline to strengthen my legs and my agility."

The work was long and hard but as a junior he reported at 205 pounds, earned a starting role and was named to the all-state team. It was continued success as a senior with more accolades as he filled out to 225 pounds and went 6-4, playing both offensive and defensive tackle.

LSU came calling and he signed with then head coach Paul Dietzel. However, Dietzel soon departed for West Point and Charlie McClendon became head coach.

"Back then, freshmen in college could only play freshman ball and that?s what I did that first year. In the spring though, I moved up to where I was alternating between the first and second team along with George Rice," he said.

A summer job, though, brought an end to his LSU career.

"Coach Mac wanted me to quit my job and work on football but I needed the job to help out the family. When I came back in the fall of my sophomore year, I was on the fifth team."

Throughout Poche's days at LSU, McNeese State coach Jim Clark had kept in touch with him. In the 1960s, the Cowboys had numerous players become standouts after starting their college football at LSU.

"They had a bunch of them on the team then," Poche said. "There was Darrell Lester, Tommy Thompson, Charles Anastasio, Merlin Walet, Paul Guidry, Carol LeBlanc...all of them had started their careers at LSU.

"Coach Clark called me just about every night and I made a visit to McNeese that fall. They were playing at Lake Charles High against Northwestern State and after trailing 28-7, came back to win. I told Coach Clark that night that I was coming."

Poche got eligible for the 1965 season by taking 18 hours in the spring and six in the summer. In two seasons he became one of the top linemen in McNeese and Gulf States Conference history (he would later be named to the GSC anniversary team).

And, for those two seasons he was a two-way performer, starting at both offensive and defensive tackle. He also became the team's place kicker.

"There were two of us ? me and Norman Porche ? who literally stayed on the field all the time," he said.

"I had placed kicked in high school and Coach Clark told me that he wanted me to do the same at McNeese. I started with kickoffs and then began to do the place kicking. In our first game I missed a PAT and a FG but then against Louisiana Tech in Ruston I kicked a 42 yard field goal and we won the game 10-7, the first time that McNeese had ever beaten Tech up there."

Later that season he also booted a successful onside kick, a PAT and a last second field goal to beat then Northeast Louisiana 18-17.

Following his senior season he was a first team all-Gulf States Conference selection as both an offensive and a defensive tackle and he was named to numerous all-America teams.

He was also drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles but forego a professional career.

"I was just worn out," he said. "My legs just couldn't take it any more."

Poche, who also answers to the nickname of Sac (given to him during his early years), spent a season as a graduate assistant coach at McNeese State and then served as coach at S. J. Welsh and Oak Park middle schools before becoming defensive coordinator at Lake Charles High under head coaches Thomas Mitchell, Nolan Moore and David Moore.

He would later take a position with the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Department and for the past 25 years has been in sales, now serving as a regional sales manager and living in Frisco, TX with Debbie, his wife of 30 years. Four children and six grand kids all live within driving distance.

"Looking back on it I wish that I would have played four years of football at McNeese," said the McNeese Hall of Fame member. "I went to school and played with a great group of people. The coaches really took an interest in you. Coach Clark influenced me more than anyone. He would push you to the hilt but then he wasn't above putting an arm around you and walking you off the field. If it wouldn't have been for him I probably wouldn't have gone on to play my final two years of football in college.

"I remember when he told me about my jersey number being retired. He called me to his office and when I got there pushed all of this stuff at me....my jersey, helmet, pants, things that I had worn my senior year.

"I said, thanks coach and began to walk out. He said, 'no, you don't understand. No one will ever again wear your No. 76 here at McNeese. I could have cried."