NATCHITOCHES -- Tynes Hildebrand had to travel over some dirt roads to get from his home in Florien to Northwestern State so he could enroll and play basketball for legendary coach H. Lee Prather's Demons in 1950. Since then, he's paved the way for many others.
 
His far-reaching impact as a coach, director of athletics and nationally-renowned college basketball administrator have earned Hildebrand a spot in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. He will be enshrined as one of two recipients of the 2014 Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award on Saturday, June 21, at the Natchitoches Events Center, along with nine other inductees.
 
The Induction Dinner and Ceremony culminates the June 19-21 Induction Celebration with a complete schedule and reservation information for events available at LaSportsHall.com or by calling the Hall of Fame Foundation office at 318-238-4255. Events are approaching sellouts and no tickets are available at the doors.
 
Except for two years of military service (1955-57), Hildebrand has been rooted in Natchitoches, but his impact has been far-reaching and especially in recent years, so have his travels. Since 1997, after retiring a year earlier following 13 years as athletic director at Northwestern, Hildebrand has been on the road frequently, particularly in the winter as a monitor, trainer, observer and evaluator of NCAA Division I college basketball referees. Since 2006, he has been one of four regional advisors who spends the regular season traveling the Midwest and South to rate officials, helping improve their performance and participating in choosing the referees for the NCAA Tournament
 
"Tynes has been a dearly valued member of the national officiating effort serving as an NCAA Men's Basketball Regional Advisor for the last several years. The respect that the officiating and coaching communities have for Tynes is enormous," said Dan Gavitt, vice president of the NCAA's men's basketball championships. "His success and experience as a head coach and athletic director at Northwestern State have been invaluable in his role in officiating.
 
"More than anything, Tynes has been a genuine friend and mentor to so many in intercollegiate athletics with a warmth, class, and style that is unique and personal," said Gavitt.
 
"His openness in sharing his wisdom makes me feel good about college athletics," said John Underwood, the Big XII Conference supervisor of officials since 2002. "I am proud to be among the many student-athletes and co-workers that he has influenced over the years to be the best you can be. One of his comments that I use every day is a 'short pencil is better than a long memory.' "
 
His current role in college basketball has kept him busy year-round, not just during the season, at a time in life when many people in their early 80s are resting and reflecting. If he were spending time looking back, it would be reviewing a career marked with significant achievement and great influence in coaching and administration.
 
Hildebrand was recently named one of the Top 100 Players in Demon Basketball History during NSU's hoops centennial celebration in 2013. As head coach at Natchitoches High School from 1957-65, he guided the Red Devils to six district championships and the 1958 state title. He was hired as Northwestern's head coach in 1965 and won 191 games in 15 seasons, making four NAIA postseason tournament appearances before steering the program into NCAA and Division I status. USA head coach Henry Iba had Hildebrand and Bob Knight, among other young coaches, helping evaluate players in tryouts for America's 1972 Olympic basketball team. Along the way, Hildebrand became good friends with iconic UCLA coach John Wooden. He coached current Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey, who calls Hildebrand one of his three major influences in coaching, along with two Basketball Hall of Fame members, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Morgan Wooten of DeMatha High School.
 
After three years as the university placement director, helping graduates find jobs, Hildebrand became NSU's athletic director in 1983, using creative approaches that maximized resources while developing a virtual incubator for some of today's more successful athletic administrators with an intern program. Hildebrand helped broker admission of NSU and other institutions such as Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State, Nicholls State and Southeastern Louisiana into the Southland Conference, which has evolved into a highly-regarded league thanks in part to his influence.
 
"Very few sports figures in Louisiana have played a more important role, for such a long time, than Tynes," said Don Landry, the 2009 Dixon Award winner. "I first knew him as a championship high school coach and then competed against him as a college basketball coach. We later worked together as athletic directors.  When I was the commissioner of the Southland Conference, he was a leader that I could always count on.  I appreciated his advice, counsel and loyalty.  And finally I am amazed the he is still contributing to college athletics in his role in basketball officiating. 
 
"Tynes was a mentor for so many young people and he helped so many become successful in their careers.  He was always willing to share the knowledge that he had gained to guide these future leaders in college athletics," said Landry.
 
Those young people who began their professional careers as interns for Hildebrand at NSU include Greg Sankey, the executive associate commissioner of the Southeastern Conference; Greg Burke, wrapping up his 18^th year as Hildebrand's successor in the AD's office at Northwestern; and Mark Molesworth, also in his 18^th year as AD at Division III power Wisconsin-Platteville.
 
"No one really understands, unless you have done it yourself, how much time and commitment is involved in helping and supporting young people launch their career," said Sankey, who was Southland Conference commissioner from 1996-2002 and is now the No. 2 in command in the SEC behind commissioner Mike Slive. "While Tynes was desperate for help in the Northwestern State athletics department, he was equally focused on helping us all learn and succeed.
 
"It has been and still remains clear that he cares deeply about Northwestern State, Natchitoches and the state of Louisiana. To be clear, he wanted to play and beat all the other universities in the state, but he cared about the people associated with those campuses," said Sankey. "He was a great leader. Tynes let his coaches coach, he supported his staff in their work, and he provided leadership nationally and in the Southland Conference in ways that were critically important for both Northwestern State and the Southland."
 
NSU vice president Jerry Pierce, who was inducted in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2000 as a journalist, has known Hildebrand well for nearly 50 years. 
 
"He is gritty and competitive but also extremely compassionate and rational, which has always allowed him to keep things in a proper perspective.  He could throw a folding chair across a basketball court and a few minutes later share with a sports writer at the press table one of the corny jokes he liked to use as an after-dinner speaker.
 
"People who played for him, and worked for him and with him, appreciate and respect him not only as a coach and administrator but also as an individual who always had their best interests at heart and did everything possible to help assure their success in life," said Pierce.
 
"He has become a legendary sports figure in Louisiana both for his achievements in athletics and the esteem in which he is held by former players, coaching colleagues and others that have been fortunate enough to be associated with him over the years."
 
Burke, like countless others in and outside athletics, can't imagine the direction his life and career would have taken without Hildebrand's influence.
 
"It has been my honor and privilege to have Coach Hildebrand as a friend and mentor for nearly 30 years.  I, however, am far from being alone with that sentiment.  From coast to coast, there are many, many others who have also benefitted from his influence and guidance," he said. "That is what makes it special to see him so rightfully honored by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame."
 
Tom Burnett, who succeeded Sankey as Southland commissioner some six years after Hildebrand's last day as NSU's AD, said the conference owes much to Hildebrand's influence and continues to benefit from it.
 
"Tynes has served as a mentor and colleague for so many of us in the Southland Conference.  More importantly, he's been a great friend to everyone that's crossed his path in athletics administration, and he's rightfully enshrined in the Southland's Hall of Honor," said Burnett. "Personally, he has always been a great resource for me on all matters, and I'm very honored to have had the opportunity to work with him and been fortunate to seek his advice on many occasions."
 
Hildebrand's influence broadens as those he has personally mentored, like Molesworth, are helping shape careers of many more young people.
 
"I can not go to a national meeting without running into a successful member of the fraternity who learned under Tynes Hildebrand. Daily, I still use many of the lessons I learned from him. I can say without a doubt he has been the greatest influence on my career," said the Ohio native, who interned at NSU in the late 1980s.
 
"Tynes is one of the most caring, honest and ethical people I have ever met. He is a great example of how we should conduct ourselves in college athletics."