On Saturday, February 15th, friends, colleagues and Northwestern State University officials gathered at the NSU Office of Development in Natchitoches, LA to pay tribute to Jonesboro native, Doug Ireland, whom a $100,000.00 scholarship endowment was named for.
“This scholarship is so appropriate in that Doug Ireland dedicated so much time and effort to the NSU Sports Information Office. Doug went from the NSU student to the real Mr. NSU, but he’s known by many names: Mr. Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, Mr. Natchitoches, Uncle Dougie, “Penguin” to his friends in Jonesboro, and the best friend of all who always answers their call.”
So said Natchitoches Parish Clerk of Court David Stamey during the event to announce the Doug Ireland Endowed Scholarship, created by Robert “Skeeter” Salim with a $100,000 gift to the Northwestern State University Foundation. The scholarship honors NSU’s long-time Sports Information Director who continues to serve the university as an advisor to NSU President James Genovese and is a devoted ambassador of his alma mater.
“When you have people like Doug Ireland, you have an abundance of institutional knowledge,” Genovese said. “We are so glad to have him. He is a great member of our team.”
The scholarship will benefit undergraduate and graduate students pursuing careers in communications, media and/or journalism. The Feb. 15 announcement drew friends, colleagues and NSU supporters together to acknowledge Ireland’s long commitment to NSU with contributing comments from Genovese, Salim, Louie Bernard, Buddy Wood, former NSU Women’s Basketball Coach James Smith and NSU’s Associate Athletic Director of External Operations Jason Pugh.
“For those of us who have known Doug all this this time, soon to be 47 years for me, we started praying for him then and we haven’t stopped,” Wood remarked in a preamble to his invocation. “But this is a very special occasion and we’re so honored to be a part of it and to share in this outstanding event.”
“We all gather to honor a man who was born in Pennsylvania but became a Louisiana legend and, more to the point, a national legend, a figure whose attachment to Northwestern began as a student and stretched throughout three decades in his career as an athletic administrator. He is one of his alma mater’s most ardent supporters,” Pugh said.
Ireland, who graduated from Jonesboro-Hodge High School in 1978, retired from NSU in 2019 after 30 years of service. During his career, he earned numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association and was enshrined in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame as a winner of the LSWA’s Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism.
Since 1990, he has been chairman of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and spearheaded efforts leading to construction and the 2013 opening of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum in Natchitoches. Since 2021, Ireland has been the sports director for Online Journals LLC, which encompasses 14 parish journals in northwest and central Louisiana including the Jackson Parish Journal.
“It’s good talk about generosity, commitment and compassion for NSU and Natchitoches,” Ireland said. “Some of us can’t give $1,000. Some of us can’t give $100, but we can all give something, if it’s just our time and promoting the university. I’m proud to have an example like “Skeeter” doing this for our university.”
Friends can contribute to the scholarship by visiting https://northwesternstatealumni.com/ireland-scholarship/