By LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / Febuary 1, 1999

LAPLACE – Former National Football League star and Lutcher native Lionel Washington was tapped Tuesday as the new recreation director for St. John the Baptist Parish.

He succeeds Louis Lipps, himself a former professional football player, who was dismissed in September after his budget was overspent. SinceLipps’ departure Parish President Arnold Labat has supervised the program.

Washington’s appointment wasn’t unanimous, as Councilman Steve Thornton refused to vote for his confirmation. He said simply replacingone former NFL player with another was not acceptable.

Labat told the Parish Council he made his choice from among four candidates and cited Washington’s organizational skills, character and enthusiasm for youth development.

“I’ve always set goals for myself, and this is another stepping stone,” Washington told the council. “I’m excited right now.”Washington, a resident of LaPlace, graduated from Lutcher High School in 1979 and from Tulane University in 1983 with a degree in physical education.

While at Tulane, he earned numerous athletic honors, including two years’ all-conference selection. He was also team captain in both football andtrack and field.

He earned a spot on the National Football League’s All-Rookie team in 1983 while playing defensive back and cornerback for the St. LouisCardinals. His career took him to the Los Angeles Raiders, Denver Broncosand Oakland Raiders, and he left the NFL in 1997 after becoming the third- longest serving cornerback in the NFL with 15 years.

Locally, he founded the Lionel Washington Football Camp in 1992 for children ages 6-13. Each year he’s attracted 1,000 campers and a host offellow NFL players to work the camp which, besides football fundamentals, also stresses academic excellence, drug prevention, good citizenship and other life skills.

Tuesday he asked for the community’s support and commented: “I’m not going to allow myself to fail. I’m not a person who likes to just talk aboutthings but to make things happen.”When voting against Washington’s appointment, Thornton said he would like to have seen a more extensive search for candidates, noting the parish recreation board didn’t support the move.

“You could’ve done a lot more,” he told Labat.

Labat, a bit peeved, declared, “The people elected me not one, not two, but three times to makes these decisions! We should be more than honored to have a man of his caliber.”Labat added, “This is the kind of person I want on my team!” Thornton said there may be public resistance to the appointment of yet another former NFL player and commented he had trouble with Washington’s “demographics.”Nevertheless, Thornton said later, “Now that he’s confirmed, I’m behind him 100 percent.”

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