Harry "Rags" Turpin

Sport: Coach

Induction Year: 1974

University: Northwestern State

Induction Year: 1974

Through its first 50 years, Louisiana Normal and Northwestern State (since 1944) had three head football coaches: Dr. C.G. Pool (1907-1912); H. Lee Prather (1913-1933); and Harry “Rags” Turpin (1934-1956).

The Demons’ fourth coach, Jack Clayton, played for both Prather and Turpin in the 1930s. In his 23 seasons as the head coach, Turpin’s teams won 100 games, lost 90 and played 11 ties.

“His teams didn’t have a lot of talent,” recalled Walter Ledet, who won Little All-America honors under Turpin and then served as his line coach, “but they had plenty of spirit.”

In 1939, the Demons had plenty of both. Turpin’s sixth Normal team opened its season against Centenary College – a powerhouse that Normal hadn’t defeated in 15 years. The Demons hadn’t even scored in their last three encounters with the Gents.

Normal won the game, 15-0, and went on to capture the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship with an 11-0 record. The 1939 Demons, led by Parker Wiggins, had only two close calls. Willie Black ran 73 yards for the only touchdown in a 7-0 victory over Mississippi Southern (which is now Southern Mississippi) and Gus Boucher waded 69 yards through a sea of mud for the only score in a 6-0 victory over Southwestern Louisiana.

Turpin alternated two units by quarters in the championship season. But most of his teams didn’t have enough talent for one solid unit, much less two.

The Natchitoches school was located in the heart of basketball country. For most of Turpin’s career, Natchitoches High and Many were the only schools in Natchitoches Parish and neighboring Sabine Parish that participated in football. Traditionally a teachers’ school, with a nursing program added later, girls outnumbered boys two or three to one. With its outstanding physical education program, the school attracted its share of future coaches. But it couldn’t match Louisiana Tech in luring football players from Shreveport, Monroe, Ruston and Minden – stops along Highway 80 where King Football reigned supreme.