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LPJ Sports Report
RUSTON, La. — Ruston High School is recognizing Louisiana National Bank as the Official Bank of RHS Athletics after the company renewed its sponsorship of every athletic team on campus.
Last week, LNB representatives and RHS alumni Tanner Frasier, Reed Sexton and Brian Woodard presented RHS Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Jerrod Baugh with the sponsorship renewal check.
Baugh said the annual commitment from LNB has become a foundation for the athletic department, giving every program a starting point it can count on regardless of what happens on the field.
“The LNB sponsorship is so important to the success of all our athletic programs and to all of our kids,” Baugh said. “Without their annual sponsorship, all of our programs would start basically at ground zero every year.”
Baugh said the department benefits from a number of sponsors, but the consistency of LNB’s support sets it apart for coaches across every sport at RHS.
“There are a lot of others that are very beneficial also, but all our coaches know that they can count on this every year regardless of wins, losses, coaching changes, or whatever the reason,” Baugh said. “We surely appreciate Brian Woodard and LNB.”
Woodard, LNB President and CEO and a Ruston High graduate, said the sponsorship reflects a deep bench of RHS alumni within the bank’s own ranks.
“We have a lot of proud alums. We have employees, directors, officers at the bank — I don’t even know how many we have at the moment — but we have a huge number that went to Ruston High,” Woodard said. “I don’t know how many years in a row we’ve been the official sponsor of Ruston athletics, but it’s just something we proudly do for Ruston High School.”
Woodard said watching the athletic program’s recent success has been rewarding for the bank, which has backed RHS athletics through a stretch that has included four consecutive trips to a state championship game.
“That has dawned on me — we have been the official bank, I’m not sure how many years in a row, but there has certainly been a pretty good run, with both basketball and, of course, the four trips in a row to the state championship games,” Woodard said. “It just makes you feel good knowing we may have been a small part of helping that all happen.”
