Longtime Natchitoches resident Doug Ireland is being honored by the establishment of an endowed scholarship totaling $100,000 at Northwestern State University, commemorated by an announcement ceremony Saturday, Feb. 15 hosted by the NSU Foundation.
Natchitoches attorney Robert “Skeeter” Salim is making a $100,000 gift to the NSU Foundation to create the scholarship endowment. It is the latest in a series of $100,000 scholarship endowments Salim has made honoring friends who have served the university.
Friends and Northwestern supporters are invited to join Ireland, Salim and Northwestern’s president. James T. Genovese, at a brief ceremony 11 a.m. Feb. 15 in the Office of Development Conference Room, 520 University Parkway.
Former Louisiana State Sen. Louis Bernard will be the master of ceremonies. Speakers will be Genovese, longtime NSU Lady Demon basketball coach James Smith, Natchitoches Parish Clerk of Court David Stamey, Salim and Ireland.
To RSVP, contact Courtney Thompson at (318) 357-4430.
Contributions to supplement the scholarship can be made by visiting the https://northwesternstatealumni.com/ireland-scholarship/ link.
Later on Feb. 15, Northwestern will officially name its basketball court at Prather Coliseum in honor of coaching legend Mike McConathy during a halftime ceremony at the Demons’ 3:30 home game against Stephen F. Austin. Ireland and McConathy worked together from 1999-2019 and McConathy concluded his career after the 2022 season with a state record 682 collegiate coaching victories.
Salim has previously established four $100,000 endowments over the past two years, scholarships in memory of Jerry Pierce, Richard Ware, Jack O. “Britt” Brittain Jr. and H.N. & Inez Towry.
Brittain, Salim and Ireland were among six people inducted last October in the university’s Alumni Hall of Distinction, the Long Purple Line, raising the total to 158 graduates receiving the honor over the past five decades.
Last fall, Salim was appointed by Gov. Jeff Landry to the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System, which oversees operation of nine state universities including Northwestern.
He is a former member of Board of Governors of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Since 2007, he has been selected as one of the 100 Top Trial Lawyers as determined by The American Trial Lawyers Association. Salim is a founding member of The Class Action Trial Lawyers Association and was recently named to America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators.
In 2019, he was inducted into the N-Club Hall of Fame as a winner of the Distinguished Service Award for his extensive support of NSU Athletics, particularly baseball, men’s and women’s basketball and tennis.
Ireland was sports information director and assistant athletic director at Northwestern when he retired in 2019 after 30 years serving his alma mater. He has been chairman of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame since 1990, just over a year after he left the Alexandria Town Talk sports staff to launch an acclaimed career as NSU’s SID.
Ireland spearheaded efforts leading to construction and the 2013 opening of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum in Natchitoches.
He recently returned on a parttime basis to serve Northwestern as a special advisor for President Genovese since the new president took office Aug. 5.
In 2021, he was enshrined in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame as a winner of the LSWA’s Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism.
In 2008 the North Louisiana National Football Foundation S.M. McNaughton Chapter gave him its “Distinguished American Award” and in 2016, he received the Southland Conference’s Louis Bonnette Sports Media Award for career accomplishment. He was named 2022 “Mr. Louisiana Basketball” by the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches.
Ireland was named one of the 100 most impactful members of the Greek community at Northwestern for his service from 2007-22 as advisor for the Beta Omicron Chapter of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity. In 2022, he was honored by NSU’s Department of New Media, Journalism and Communication Arts as a Distinguished Communications Professional.
Since 2021, Ireland has been the sports director and content contributor for Online Journals LLC, which encompasses 14 parish journals in northwest and central Louisiana.