McNeese State Football – 1983 Corbett Award Winner
Buford Jordan, who stands as Louisiana’s all-time leading rusher with his 4,156 yards at McNeese State, reigns as the 1983 winner of the Sugar Bowl’s Corbett Memorial Award as the top amateur athlete in the State of Louisiana.
The 6-1, 219-pounder gained 1,007 yards, with a 4.8 average, as a senior to become the first player in the history of the Southland Conference to rush for 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons. In his last year, he had seven 100-yard games, with a high of 177 against West Texas State.
During his four years with the Cowboys, he was named to the All-Southland Conference team four times, grabbing the “most outstanding freshman” honor in 1980 and the league’s “most outstanding player” honor in 1982. His senior season, he was named the outstanding player in the state by the Louisiana sportswriters.
For his career, his rushing average was 5.4 and he scored 44 touchdowns for a McNeese record. He also holds the Cowboys career marks for most rushes (763), yards rushed (4,156), points scored (272), and all-purpose running (4,888).
Jordan was the first athlete from McNeese to win the honor.
"I'm honored. I never thought anything like this would happen," said Jordan.
He said he felt he would be overlooked for any such honors "because McNeese was a small school."
His earlier experiences conditioned him to think that way. He was overlooked by college recruiters, too, he said.
"I guess they didn't think I could play ball, so none of them came. I was from a real small school and town, Iota, and I guess that was the real reason," he said. "Maybe if I'd been at a bigger school, they might have come looking."
If they had, they'd have seen an all-around athlete who lettered in three sports and starred in track and football.
Weighing 215 pounds in his senior year at Iota, he high jumped 6 feet 6 inches, finished second in his region in the shot put and third in the 100-yard dash.
Although he said he wasn't distressed that the major schools ignored him, "I was just glad somebody noticed," it did serve as a psychological spur at times.
"Sometimes I felt I just wanted to show them they were wrong about people coming from a small school not being able to play," he said.
The other nominees for the 1983 honor included: Eric Martin, split end at LSU; Willie Jackson, a 6-6 forward at Centenary; Sandra Hodge, a 5-9 forward at the University of New Orleans; Paul Thompson, a 6-6 forward from Tulane; Joyce Walker, a 5-8 guard at LSU; Karl Malone, a 6-9 center from Louisiana Tech; and Kim Mulkey, a 5-4 guard from Louisiana Tech (and an Olympian).
The award, which was incepted in 1967, is named in memory of the late Jim Corbett, the Louisiana State University director of athletics at the time of his death, who contributed so much of his time and talent to the Sugar Bowl during his tenure as an administrator of intercollegiate athletics.
