Southern Arkansas University Athletics

Louis Blanchard, a retired professor of accounting at Southern Arkansas University, served for 33 years as faculty athletic representative to the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference and was the chairman of the Southern Arkansas Intercollegiate Athletic Committee.  After retirement, Blanchard was appointed as the interim president of SAU in 2001.
           
Blanchard grew up in Senatobia, Miss., 30 miles south of Memphis.  He earned his B.B.A. in accounting in 1953 and his M.B.A. in 1954 from the University of Mississippi.  After working at a CPA firm at Houston for two years, he accepted a faculty position at SAU in 1956.
           
A member of the Southern Arkansas faculty until 1998, Blanchard received numerous awards throughout his career.  He was named Honor Professor in 1986, the highest award a faculty member can achieve at SAU.  Blanchard served on 17 different faculty and administrative committees at SAU.  He also received the Arkansas Society of CPA’s Lifetime Achievement in Accounting Award in 1998, Alumnus of the Year at Northwest Mississippi Community College in 2000, and was honored with the fully endowed Louis J. Blanchard Professorship in Accounting.
           
Louis and wife Martha are retired in Magnolia.  The Blanchard’s have two daughters, Gail, who is married to Ken Michels of Parkville, Mo., and Alice, who is married to Mark Thomas of Rockville, Md., and two granddaughters, Lexi and Tricia Thomas.