EUNICE — On the brink of his 30th coaching anniversary, Eunice head baseball coach, Scott Phillips, has a void going into the season.
"Coach, to me, was more than a Coach", says Phillips. "He was a good friend... kind of like a father figure."
A father, husband, educator and friend... the Bobcats lost a pillar of their family in long-time coach, John Burson.
Burson tasted success early in his career. After graduating from then, USL, in 1971, he along with Coach Clarence Merricks, began the baseball program in '73 leading the first-ever team to the semi-finals that year. Burson was also apart of the Bobcats' only championship team in '79.
"He was apart of everything important dealing with Eunice high baseball. Dealing with the state championship, the state tournaments we went to, the district championships. Coach was apart of all of it."
A devout historian, Burson also taught history while using his knowledge as a statistician late in his career. Between baseball, softball, football and girls' basketball, 'til this day, Burson kept every stat from every game.
"He has every stat of the baseball team, from the time it started, to the time he got out. He loved that stuff. That was his thing."
"He stopped teaching in 2012 but yet, he stayed along with the baseball team through 2020 and covering the other sports", says head football coach and former player, Andre Vige. "So, when you think of Coach B, you think of Eunice High sports and it kept him going."
Burson was inducted into the Eunice Sports Hall of Fame and retired in 2020, before dementia began to take a toll.
As former players, Phillips and Vige says it hurt to see their "father figure" slowly fade.
"Ended up being in the nursing home for care purposes and stuff, visited him several times and I don't think he really knew who I was but tried to pretend like he knew who I was", says Phillips. "It wasn't his fault is what I'm getting at, he just didn't know."
"If you sit down and talk to him about Eunice sports... I used to talk to him about the history of Eunice high.. players, coaches stats... and for him to have all of that knowledge and you could see it was not there all the time", says Vige. "For a guy that knew so much he started to lose that and it was painful to see."
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