RIP Hokie Gajan

[dixiehack]

Former Saints fullback who grew more famous as the team's color commentator for 16 years.

Saints legend Hokie Gajan, fan favorite on field and in broadcast booth, dead at 56

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Very good player on those colorful Saints teams of the early 80s, along with guys like Guido Merkens. RIP

 

[outofplace]

That was when the Saints still seemed too concerned with local boys and fun-sounding names, but Gajan could play. He was a beast in 1984, but he was never really healthy after that.

Damn, this sucks. That is too damn young.

 

[Songbird]

Old Saints falling by the wayside lately.

Answer: Hokie Gajan.

Question: Names you didn't expect to hear after waking up this morning.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Between this and Will Smith, Whodat Nation is reeling. RIP.

 

[Songbird]

Couldn't find many Hokie Gajan vids but stumbled onto this. Who different time and place, when you could still park cars on the perimeter of the field. Great line about Hoge:

"Why are they running the rookie inside the 2?"

This is really the essence of football: 22 guys banging heads to win 1 measly yard of turf.

 

[Songbird]

There is a pretty good video of Gajan in this:

Watch Hokie Gajan's highlights from his all-Louisiana career

 

[dixiehack]

Jim Henderson, the Saints pxp guy, was on air last night sharing a story of how they got in a small bar fight years ago when the Saints had training camp down in Thibodaux. After hearing about it the next day, Tim Floyd (!) prank called Gajan, pretending to be the parish DA and saying he was going to have to recommend him for anger management class.

 

[Steak Snabler]

My favorite NFL player for a brief period in the mid-1980s. Like nearly every Saints running back of that era, he tore up his knee on that god-awful artificial turf in the Superdome and was never the same.

RIP.

 

[albert77]

This is going to sting for awhile. Hokie loved the Saints, and he was a true-blue (or, rather, purple) Coonass, but he was no homer. He wasn't afraid to tell it like it was, good or bad.

 

[Stoney]

Was he the Louisiana-est player ever? Had the Cajun-ish sounding name and accent. Spent his whole life and playing career in the state. College LSU. Pros Saints. Then longtime Saints broadcaster. Can't get more Louisiana football than that.