Former basketball standout Waggoner named Saturday’s Exchange Bank Demon Great of the Game

NATCHITOCHES – A member of one of the most storied NSU athletics families will be recognized on the Turpin Stadium field Saturday.

Wayne Waggoner, who is the most athletically accomplished of the Waggoner clan, is the Exchange Bank Demon Great of the Game. Waggoner will be honored during the first quarter of the McNeese football game.

Waggoner, an N-Club Hall of Famer on the basketball court, followed in the footsteps of his father Bernard to Natchitoches.

Both Waggoner’s were voted to the 100-man All-Century Team that marked NSU basketball in 2013.

Wayne’s son Jackson hopes he can add to his family’s legacy as a freshman on this year’s Demon squad.

Wayne Waggoner played two seasons at NSU after transferring from Centenary, averaging 16.8 points per game in 56 contests while shooting 57 percent as a guard.

That career scoring average would rank fifth all-time among players who scored 1,000 career points, which doesn’t include Waggoner (939 in two seasons).

His career 85.5 percent free throw shooting ranks second all-time at NSU.

The two-time All-Trans America Athletic Conference player was a sixth-round NBA Draft pick (Dallas Mavericks) in 1983 after helping NSU to a 19-9 record as a senior.

At that time, the 19 wins was the most since NSU became a Division I program in 1976 and wouldn’t be bested until coach Mike McConathy led the 2004-05 Demons to a 21-win season that included a regular season Southland Conference championship.

Waggoner also served as an NSU assistant coach for six years (1983-88).