Forget the QB and WR: LSU’s breakout star this season is a 66-year-old playing the tuba in the marching band
Kent Broussard is the star of LSU, but not for his on-field action.
When Kent Broussard stepped onto the field with LSU’s Golden Band, he wasn’t just another musician. At 66, he became the oldest person ever to march with the famed college band, fulfilling a dream that had lingered in the back of his mind for decades.
Broussard’s musical roots go back to his high school years, when he first learned to play the sousaphone, the hefty tuba that wraps around one’s body.
After years of playing and giving it up due to life’s commitments, retirement finally arrived, and Broussard made a decision. He enrolled at LSU to meet the band’s eligibility rules and dusted off his instrument after more than 40 years.
“As you get older, you contemplate where your life is going to head in retirement,” Broussard told The Associated Press. “I think back about how fast life has gone by ... and thinking about something that I always wanted to do, but just didn’t get a chance to do it.”
“Walking down the hill — it was a great feeling”
However, marching across a football field while hauling a brass instrument weighing more than 40 pounds demanded stamina.
To prepare, Broussard took up running with a weighted vest and even practiced carrying the horn around his neighbourhood to simulate game-day conditions.
All of that work led to his debut during LSU’s season opener: he marched down Victory Hill with the band and stepped onto the field he had admired for so long from the stands. “Walking down the hill — it was something I’ve always seen and it was a great feeling to be a part of it,” Broussard told AP.
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“I’m doing this because I want to be part of something great, because that’s what they are.”
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