Bobcats get locker room renovated

The locker room is a place that is often taken advantage of.

This holds particularly true for the football locker room, but for the Erath Bobcats they didn’t really have a locker room to take advantage of.

Due to the multiple hurricanes that have hit the coast of Louisiana over the past few years had caused extensive damage to the Erath football locker room.

So for the longest time the Bobcats football team had to dress out in a substandard locker room.

Enter Casey Blanchette and Shea Blanchette.

These two brothers stepped up and came together to fix the problem locker rooms.

“Due to the recent growth of the Erath football program, players were being forced to dress for games in multiple locations,” Casey Blanchette said. “During discussions with the Erath High School administration, we were
made aware of their desire to bring the entire team together under one roof. Based on our past athletic experience and realizing how much of a team sport football is, my brother and I agreed that this project was crucial in
aiding to the team’s success.”

The ties that bind Casey and his brother Shea to the Erath area strong.

The Blanchettes mother and father are graduates from Erath high, and both the Blanchette brother grew up in Erath.

“Growing up, my brother Shea and I always heard stories from our dad and his high school teammates about memories and experiences that occurred in the old locker room under the stadium,” Blanchette said.

The new Erath locker room is named after the third Blanchette brother, Kelly Andre’.

“We had a brother, Kelly Andre’ Blanchette, who was born on July 1, 1985 and lived for nine days,” Blanchette said. “My brother Shea and I played football from the time we were five years old through high school. Many of
our fondest childhood and high school memories were created with teammates on the football field. We feel strongly that if our brother Kelly would have gotten the chance he would have also participated in football. Donating
this money will perhaps give some high school athletes the positive experience with football that Kelly was never able to enjoy.”

The renovations to the Erath locker room was completed during this past football season.

The Blanchette brothers were very impressed with how quickly the renovation was completed, and more importantly how well they turned out.

“We were very impressed with how the renovation of the locker room turned out,” Blanchette said. “When we started this process it was hard to visualize the finished product. Multiple hurricanes had caused extensive
damage which resulted in the old locker room being completely gutted. Being able to go from an empty dreary space to what we have now is simply amazing and a testament to what can be done in a town like Erath when a
community pulls together.”

Now, the Erath football players will have a place that they can call home.

The Bobcat locker room that was built in the memory of Kelly Andre’ Blanchette will now stand as a testament to Erath pride.

Andy Bullard
Sports Editor