Obituaries of OCTOBER 1984 Thibodaux, Lafourche Parish, La. NOTE: THE OBITUARIES BELOW MAY NOT BE A COMPLETE LISTING FOR THE MONTH. Submitted by: As listed with each Obit Source: Unless otherwise noted, this file was derived from publications of the Terrebonne Genealogical Society. TGS has granted permission to re-format and publish this data on Genweb Archives. The TGS file was derived from sources as noted with each record Last modified: 9 Sep 2006 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. ********************************************** The date preceding the obituary is the date of the newspaper, not the date of death. ============================================================================ Oct. 29, 1984 Daily Comet, Lafourche Parish, La. Submitted by: Chris Tidwell Nicholls coach, teacher dead at 72 [GEORGE "GEE" MITCHELL] George "Gee" Mitchell, a longtime faculty member at Nicholls State University, died at 4 a.m. Saturday. He was 72. Mitchell was a pioneer in the health and physical education fields at Louisiana State University, Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now USI.) and Nicholls where he was both a coach and professor. He taught under the State Board of Education for 38 years. In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Mitchell headed up academic programs at both USL and Nicholls. When he came to Francis T. Nicholls Junior College in 1950, it was as head coach and athletic director. He later served as head of the men and women's physical education programs. "Gee Mitchell's contributions to Nicholls since I've been here have been insurmountable," said former Nicholls President Dr. Vernon F. Galliano in 1982. "He has been outstandinig in all his efforts and endeavors. Gee Mitchell was born in Monroe and was graduated from Rayville High in 1930. He then went, to LSU where he played running guard on the 1932 and 1933 Tiger football teams. In 1935 he went to Southwestern where he was head football line coach, an instructor in physical education and head boxing coach. Although he had never boxed before, Mitchell borrowed a boxing notebook from the LSU boxing coach and soon ended up with one of the best boxing records in the south. He produced runner up national champion in 1942-43 and two national champions. Louis Campbell, 1942 NCAA heavyweight champ and Donald Harper, national NCAA bantam champ. While there Mitchell was known for once asking on a final exam, "Who is the greatest boxing coach in the country and why am I?" Mitchell's career at Southwestern, was interrupted by World War I when he was drafted into the army. He met his wife, Angelina Mannuccia while he was stationed in Sicily and married her in her hometwon of Barcelona, Spain in 1945. After the war, Mitchell returned to Southwestern. In 1950 he left to come to Nicholls, which was then in its second year and part of the junior college system under LSU. The fledling football team lost all six games and the next year the football program was dropped at Nicholls. Mitchell devoted himself to other interests, and was named head of the men's and women's physical education department in 1950. Mitchell's staff grew from two to 15 by 1968, when he resigned as department head to become a full-time teacher. In addition to his years of teaching, Mitchell belonged to the Thibodaux Lions Club, American Legion, VFW, and the Louisiana Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. He was also a member of Delta Phi national honorary fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega social fraternity, the LSU "L" Club, and .was an honorary member of the USL "S" Club. Mitchell was honored at a Nicholls s Athletic Banquet, when he was made an honorary member of the "N" Club, an honorary coach and an honorary member of the NSU Alumni Federation. Services were held for Mitchell at 10:15 a.m. today from Landry's Funeral Home. Interment was to be in the St. Joseph Cemetery. Mitchell was the husband of Angelina Mannuccia and the father of Linda Schaff, Angela Hammerli, Jimmy Mitchell and the late Albert Mitchell. He is also survived by four grandchildren. The family has established a memorial fund with the Nicholls State University Foundation in memory of George "Gee" Mitchell.