NATCHITOCHES - The home radio booth at Northwestern State's Turpin Stadium will be named Saturday to honor legendary Natchitoches broadcaster and Northwestern alumnus Norm Fletcher, whose booming voice described NSU sports to radio listeners in five decades.

"The Norm Fletcher NSU Radio Booth" in the press box at Turpin Stadium will be formally dedicated during a brief ceremony an hour before the kickoff of the Demon football team's home opener Saturday at 5 against Samford. Fletcher will greet friends Saturday afternoon at the Graduate N Club tailgating lot, Nos. 30-31, and will be recognized on the field during the game. Due to very limited space in the press box, the dedication ceremony is invitation-only.

A proud Northwestern alumnus and a lifelong Natchitoches resident, Fletcher has had one of the state's most remarkable broadcast careers since the late 1940s. He began calling Demon games at the age of 18 in 1949 after a knee injury aborted his ambition to pay for his college tuition by playing for Northwestern and his next-door neighbor, head coach Harry "Rags" Turpin. Other than time sandwiched around his service in the 1950s in the Far East with the Armed Forces Radio Service, Fletcher was the "Voice of the Demons until 1979, and again in 1990-91. He is still involved with production work and occasional studio hosting duties with the Demon Sports Network, and hosts two weekly morning radio shows on 100.7 KZBL FM in Natchitoches.

"A group of alumni and friends who have the greatest admiration for Norm approached us this summer about naming the home radio booth in his honor.  It took almost no time at all to generate the financial support to accomplish this richly deserved recognition for one of the iconic figures in our athletic history," said NSU director of athletics Greg Burke. "His memorable broadcast style is just part of his impact. Norm was an avid fan and ardent supporter of the student-athletes and coaches whose games he called, and became like a family member to an incredible number of them through the years.

"As fans, we thrill at athletes who leave their hearts out there on the field or court. Anybody who ever heard Norm Fletcher broadcast a Northwestern game enjoyed that kind of performance from the man behind the microphone, each and every broadcast," said Burke.  "He was and is the consummate professional, and for many reasons, we're very pleased to pay tribute to him in this very appropriate way."

Contributions to the NSU Norm Fletcher Fund will provide assistance to student workers in the NSU Athletic Department and Sports Information office, along with benefiting media relations functions. Over $5,000 already has been raised from a small circle of friends, with an initial goal of $10,000 to endow the fund. Contributions can be made by mailing a Norm Fletcher Fund check to the NSU Sports Information Office, Prather Coliseum Room 112, Natchitoches, LA 71497, or by calling 318-357-6467 to use a credit card or make arrangements for a bank draft or payroll deduction.

In June, he received the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism, the most prestigious honor offered by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association to sports media in the state. Recipients are chosen by the 30-member Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame selection committee based on their professional accomplishments in local, state, regional and even national arenas, with leadership in the LSWA a contributing factor and three decades of work in the profession as a requirement. 

Distinguished Service Award winners join the "writers and broadcasters wing" of the Hall of Fame and are recognized in the Hall along with the 277 athletes, coaches and administrators chosen for enshrinement since 1959. Only 46 prominent figures in the state's sports media have been honored with the Distinguished Service Award since its inception in 1982.

Fletcher became only the fifth broadcaster to enter the Hall as a Distinguished Service Award winner, joining Hap Glaudi and Buddy Diliberto of New Orleans, LSU's John Ferguson and 2009 recipient Bob Griffin of Shreveport. Fletcher and Ferguson are the only two play-by-play broadcasters honored so far.

He continues to enjoy the work of two of his protégés, LSU Sports Network announcer Jim Hawthorne and Cox Sports Television lead announcer Lyn Rollins, whose broadcast careers began under Fletcher's guidance in Natchitoches.

From 1949-79, he also broadcast local high school sports, doing every Natchitoches High/Natchitoches Central football and basketball games, except for time spent in the U.S. Air Force. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Radio Service Far East Network in the 1950s as chief news and sports announcer. He broadcast major sports events throughout the Far East, including football, baseball and boxing.

For a quarter-century after he returned home to Natchitoches, he did either prep or college basketball game broadcasts five nights a week from mid-November until early March, and returned back to the studio early the following mornings to anchor the local news and sports reports and a talk show. Broadcasting sports including football, basketball, baseball, boxing, boat races and even two Gulf States Conference track and field championship meets, his total of play-by-play events is over 4,000 broadcasts. As co-owner of KNOC-AM and KDBH-FM, Fletcher helped launch the broadcast careers of dozens of NSU students, including Hawthorne and Rollins.