Sports Person of the Week - Dr. Daryl Burckel

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - How often did you see your university president? Maybe sometimes around campus, or potentially at a school sporting event? What about officiating a high school football game? The answer to that one is probably not, that is unless you went to McNeese State University, and had Dr. Daryl Burckel as your university president. Dr. Burckel has been the president at McNeese State University for the past six years, but has been officiating high school football games for the past 12 years.

“I’m not sure in terms of if it helps my role as the president, but it does give me a presence in the community as giving back in a way that I really enjoy, you know especially to sports and to football, it gives me a way to be connected other than as a president, you know you see the president of a university out there refereeing football, it’s odd, but it’s a way that I feel connected back to our athletic community” said Dr. Burckel.

Dr. Burckel also played football at McNeese, the school he is now the president at, and he says that when he accepted the job to become president, one thing he wanted to continue doing, is officiating high school football.

“Well I wanted to continue, but I really didn’t know if it would work with my schedule, but once I realized that it would work with my schedule, that there would be some Fridays that I would have to not take games, but a majority of the Fridays that I could I realized that I wanted to keep doing that, it’s something that I really enjoy, and am kind of passionate about” said Dr. Burckel.

So next time you’re out at a high school football game, take a look at the referees, you might just see McNeese State University President, Dr. Daryl Burckel.

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