This September, Southern University opens Lacumba’s Lair and honors a coach who defined an era.
There is a particular feeling that settles over the Bluff on a September Saturday. The smell of smoke from a hundred grills. The Human Jukebox warming up somewhere in the distance. Old classmates finding each other in the crowd like no time has passed at all.
This fall, Southern adds something new to it.
Lacumba’s Lair, the Chancellor’s Executive Tailgate Experience, debuts on Saturday, September 5, at the Southern University Welcome Center. It is a Southern tailgate at heart, with all the energy and noise and joy that implies, but held in a space designed for guests who want a little more comfort in their celebration. Chef-curated Louisiana food. A live DJ. Room to sit, to talk, to be photographed in your best all-white before you make your way to the stadium.
Think of it as the front porch of game day, and everyone on it is family.
Honoring Coach Pete Richardson
The inaugural Lair belongs to Pete Richardson.
For a generation of Jaguars, Coach Richardson was Southern University football. He built teams that carried themselves with discipline and expected to win, and he built men who went on to lead in every field imaginable. Ask any player who came through his program and you will hear less about the games than about the standard. He held one, and he held everyone around him to it.
That standard is still part of what Southern means. Honoring him at the first Lacumba’s Lair is a way of saying so out loud, in a room full of the people whose lives he shaped.
Why It Matters Beyond Saturday
Every ticket to Lacumba’s Lair supports the Chancellor’s Access and Opportunity Fund.
The fund exists for a familiar Southern story: a student who has done the work, earned the grades, and is a few hundred dollars away from having to walk away from all of it. The fund closes that gap. It keeps students enrolled, in class, and on the path to a degree.
So the afternoon does double duty. You celebrate a legend, you catch up with people you have missed, you eat well and you laugh a lot, and somewhere in the middle of that, a student you will never meet stays in school because you showed up.
That is a good way to spend a Saturday.
Join Us
Lacumba’s Lair is advance sale only, and space is limited. Two experiences are available, including a premium tier with reserved seating and added hospitality that we expect to fill quickly. Full details, pricing, and tickets are on the registration page.