Windell Dobson: Louisiana Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2023

How impressed was long-time UL assistant track and field coach Tommy Badon with future Ragin' Cajun great Windell Dobson during the recruiting process?

Badon spent part of his Jamaican honeymoon sitting in Dobson's house in Spanish Town, about a half-hour from where he and wife Susan were honeymooning in Kingston.

"Susan went scuba diving, which I don't do," Badon said, "and I went to Windell's house. And, yes, I'm still married to her."

That trip came when Badon was an assistant for Blinn College's nationally-known junior college track program, and was trying to make Dobson's coming to America happen.

Flash forward a few years, after Badon returned to his alma mater and joined the Cajun staff, and Dobson justified those recruiting efforts many times over – an All-American, five individual conference titles and two more in relay competition in a three-year career, and several sprinting and jumping marks that still rank among the top efforts in Cajun history.

More importantly, and despite a serious injury that could easily have derailed his entire career, Dobson was never a part of a UL team that finished below first in conference championships competition. He helped carry the Cajuns to three straight indoor and three straight outdoor titles from 1991-93.

It is for those accomplishments that Dobson will be honored with induction into the UL Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday as part of the university's Homecoming celebration and one day before UL meets Sun Belt rival Georgia State in the annual Homecoming game. He will be inducted along with seven other former athletes, coaches and staff members in a 7:30 p.m. ceremony at Warehouse 535 in Lafayette.

It won't be the first time the Spanish Town, Jamaica, native and current Atlanta resident has been honored for his Cajun career. More than a dozen years after his final collegiate competition, Dobson was named to the Sun Belt Conference's 30th-anniversary all-time track and field team in 2006 as one of only five Cajuns so honored.

But it was that team success and that streak of conference titles that stands out.

"We had a culture of people that had a chip on their shoulder, and Windell was definitely one of those," Badon said. "We had people that maybe weren't recruited as heavily by some of the bigger track schools, they were offered but not on as big a scholarship. We were blessed with Windell because he really had talent but not a lot of big schools went after him really heavily.

"But he always that that potential, a guy that could compete on a high level and a guy that could excel in multiple events jumping and sprinting."

Dobson was a six-time all-conference selection in the American South Conference (1991) and Sun Belt (1992-93), and made a huge impact on the UL program in his first year. He won three events in the American South outdoor championships in 1991, capturing the long jump (25-1 ¼), the 200-meter dash (20.72) and as part of the winning 4x100-meter relay team (39.64). A few months earlier, he had won the ASC indoor long jump title and was one of the top scorers for the Cajuns' indoor championship team.

"He was a juco All-American at Blinn as a jumper and I turned him into a sprinter," Badon said. "We had sprinters at Blinn but didn't have many jumpers. But more than anything we were trying to cultivate relationships in Jamaica, and Windell was exactly what we were looking for – a good all-around athlete, somebody that really wanted to come to America and did everything he could do to make that happen. Everyone told us about his work ethic and how good a person he was, respectful and delightful to be around, and he turned out to be all of those things."

That work ethic was sorely tested after his stellar 1991 sophomore season and shortly after he won the 1992 Sun Belt indoor title in the 200-meter and was All-Sun Belt in the indoor long jump. A week later the Cajuns were making their 1992 outdoor debut at the Texas Southern Relays in Houston on a rainy afternoon.

Dobson was anticipating a stellar outdoor season, but on one of his first trips down the rain-slick runway in the long jump competition, he hit the takeoff board badly.

"I remember it like it was yesterday," Badon said. "He hit the sand and he didn't bounce up. He knew something was wrong and so did we when we saw it. It was an ugly, ugly injury."

Dobson had actually dislocated his heel, with the back of his foot completely out of socket. Just like that, his 1992 season was over and his track future was in question. But one year later, he was back with a vengeance, earning All-Sun Belt honors in the 100-meter and 200-meter as well as on the 4x100-meter relay.

"That whole 1993 season was a redemption for him," Badon said. "He came off a really bad injury and it was a long haul coming back. But he won at the indoors and then had a great outdoor season. He proved to everybody that he wasn't going to quit and he was going to do what it took to come back."

Thirty years after his career, Dobson still ranks in UL's all-time top five in four events – fourth in the 200 (20.67), fifth in the long jump (25-2), and second and third on the sprint medley and 4x100 relays.

"That 1993 team was maybe the best team UL's ever had," Badon said, "and Windell may not have gotten the credit he deserved as part of that. He was such a humble guy, he didn't have that cocky, star personae. But he had huge confidence in himself, and when it came to peaking for conference he was as good as anyone we've ever had."

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University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

Windell Dobson: Louisiana Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2023

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