Louisiana High School and College boxing were extremely popular between the years of 1931 through 1958. During this time, boxing was only second to football in Louisiana. The collection was assembled by Don Landry while in the process of writing “Boxing: Louisiana’s Forgotten Sport”, a book on the glory days of boxing in Louisiana. Donald Landry graduated from cathedral High School in 1956. While at Cathedral, Landry was a five-sport letterman and a boxer at varsity level for two years. He then attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette), graduating in 1960.

Landry was a basketball coach at Nicholls State University from 1966-1979. Afterwards, he served as the athletic director from 1979-1987. He was the commission of the Southland Conference from 1987-1990 and the commission of the Sunshine State Conference in Florida from 1994-2004. He was also the Texas Ranger’s Director of Special Projects from 1993-1994, helping plan Nolan Ryan’s retirement activities and the opening of the Ballpark in Arlington.

As a boxer, Landry says he took more punches than he landed. He was the founder of the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches, and also enjoyed a long run in athletic administration. The only reason he quit boxing was that basketball was played at the same time.