Brought To You By NSU; Written by Jason Pugh
Northwestern State’s annual Long Purple Line induction ceremony will have a distinctly athletic feel in 2024.
Of the six inductees into the university’s Alumni Hall of Distinction announced Wednesday, four have direct ties to the Northwestern State Athletic Department.
Former Demon student-athletes Jack Brittain Jr., Dr. Chris Maggio and Robert “Skeeter” Salim along with legendary NSU sports information director Doug Ireland make up two-thirds of the induction class, which will be honored with a 12 p.m. luncheon Oct. 25 at the Natchitoches Event Center. Doors open at 11:15 a.m. Tickets are available at https://nsulalongpurpleline.eventbrite.com.
This year’s class pushes the number of Long Purple Line honorees to 152.
“The Northwestern State Athletic Department sends its congratulations to all six inductees, especially the four who have helped shape NSU athletics,” Director of Athletics Kevin Bostian said. “No one loved NSU and the Demons more than Jack Brittain – and few if any did more to celebrate our university and community. Chris Maggio has been a part of just about every piece of this university possible. His dedication and versatility are second to none. Doug Ireland is a Natchitoches and NSU institution. His tireless promotion of our student-athletes, coaches and staff in three decades put Northwestern State in the regional and national spotlight. Skeeter Salim’s on-court record as a tennis player speaks for itself and his generosity and largesse toward both the university and our department is indicative of his loyalty and his legacy.”
The late Brittain was a four-year football letterman who spent another 18 years as the sideline reporter for football games on the Demon Sports Network, conveying reports in a unique but passionate style.
A relentless promoter of Northwestern State and Natchitoches, Brittain was named the N-Club Distinguished Service Award winner in 2013 and was the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s Mac Russo Award winner in 2017. The Russo Award is given to an individual to “contributes to the progress and ideals of the LSWA.” Following Brittain’s death in July 2023, the LSWA renamed the honor the Mac Russo-Jack Brittain Award.
Following his playing career, Brittain was Northwestern State’s foremost advocate on behalf of his NSU teammate Joe Delaney, following Delaney’s 1983 drowning death while trying to save three children. Brittain became a fixture at Kansas City Chiefs’ events honoring Delaney and represented NSU at the 2004 Chiefs’ Ring of Honor ceremony where the organization honored Delaney.
Ireland served his alma mater for 30-plus years as the assistant athletic director for media relations and sports information director before retiring in May 2019.
In addition to spearheading publicity efforts for track and field national champion Trecey Rew-Hoover, the 2005-06 Demons of Destiny men’s basketball team that upset No. 3-seed Iowa in 2006 and Southland Conference football championship teams he was an instrumental part of the efforts leading to the opening of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum in Natchitoches in 2013.
Eight years later he was enshrined into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame as a winner of the LSWA’s Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism and has served as the chairman of the organization since 1990.
Ireland was inducted into the N-Club Hall of Fame in 1999, is a recipient of the Southland Conference’s Louis Bonnette Sports Media Award, which he earned in 2016, was named “Mr. Louisiana Basketball” by the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches and honored by NSU’s Department of New Media, Journalism and Communication Arts as a Distinguished Communications Professional.
Maggio, who served as NSU’s 19th president from 2017 until his retirement in 2021, has seen Northwestern State from every angle beginning with his time as a student in the 1980s where he was a member the Demons’ cross-country team.
He later served as coach of the women’s track and field/cross country team and assistant athletic director before transitioning to roles in academics that included positions in admissions, enrollment services, alumni and student experience before leading the university as its president.
During his tenure as president, Maggio drove NSU to a record enrollment of 11,447 in the fall 2020 semester while also pushing private funding to the highest level in NSU’s history.
Salim was a four-year letterman on the Demon tennis team before becoming one of the top trial lawyers in the country.
A founding member of The Class Action Trial Lawyers Association, Salim also was named to America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators.
His decades-long support of Demon baseball has been pivotal, resulting in significant enhancements to Brown-Stroud Field. He also has been a significant supporter of NSU men’s and women’s basketball. His fundraising efforts and promotion of Northwestern State athletics netted him the 2019 N-Club Hall of Fame’s Distinguished Service Award.
Salim has established four $100,000 endowments across the past two years, including three that honor those with athletic ties at NSU – Jerry Pierce, Richard Ware and Brittain.
GRAPHIC Credit: Brad Welborn/NSU Sports Information