LSU baseball players and pro-athlete Gavin Dugas bring national attention to local foundation with custom “Riley John Cleats”

Louisiana athletes are bringing national attention to the Blue Boot Foundation’s life-saving mission.

Gavin Dugas, Tommy White, Alex Milazzo, Brady Neal, Josh Pearson, and Will Hellmers; who gained national attention as a vital part of the Louisiana State University (LSU) baseball team that won the NCAA Men’s College World Series in 2023; were named “Baseball Ambassadors” for the popular Blue Boot Foundation in Grand Isle in between 2021-2024. Houma-born Dugas (who is now playing for the Fredericksburg Nationals in Virginia) and his former teammates at LSU are still proudly bringing attention to the mission of the Blue Boot Foundation in unique ways.

“Before our third annual event, I reached out to Gavin Dugas and asked if he would be interested in coming to the Blue Boot Rodeo and signing some autographs for local baseball fans who watched him play for LSU,” explained Corey Hebert with the Blue Boot Foundation. “Gavin showed up with his family and really just fell in love with the mission, and signed more than 400 autographs. He came back the next year with more LSU baseball players to sign autographs and support the mission, and things really grew from there. These players were wearing our Blue Boot Rodeo hats and shirts up in Baton Rouge, and helped to spread the word about what we were doing in Grand Isle to prevent childhood drowning.”

Things picked up even more when the tigers won the NCAA Men’s College World Series in 2023, and the autograph booth featuring Dugas and his teammates drew over 2,000 people to the festival. “The line was backed up to the road,” chuckled Hebert. “It was amazing to see. Those guys signed autographs for 5 hours and didn’t turn a single person away.”

The Blue Boot Foundation team decided to take this partnership to the next level, and recently designed custom cleats for these 5 LSU baseball players to wear during their games, affectionately titled the “Riley John Cleats” — whose life the Blue Boot Foundation honors yearly with their Rodeo.

“When we ordered these custom Blue Boot cleats, Gavin told us he didn’t want to be left out just because he was playing pro-ball,” said Hebert. “So now, he is playing professional baseball and bringing national attention to the Blue Boot Foundation with his cleats and as our ambassador. This is amazing publicity for a small organization like us.”

For those in the Blue Boot Foundation, seeing Dugas and other LSU players support the mission has been significant. “So many young people look up to these athletes as role models,” said Hebert. “We couldn’t be more grateful for all they are doing, and we hope we can use this momentum to continue to grow and raise as much safety about water awareness as we can.”

About the Blue Boot Foundation – The Blue Boot Foundation was born from a profound personal tragedy that transformed into a beacon of hope and action against childhood drowning. In memory of Riley John Bourgeois, whose vibrant life was tragically cut short in a drowning accident, our foundation strives to prevent such heartbreak for other families. Riley’s fearless spirit and joyous love for life inspire our mission: to educate, advocate, and implement water safety measures that ensure children everywhere can explore the world with the same zest as Riley, but with the safety and knowledge to protect them.

The Blue Boot Rodeo is our annual fishing tournament held in Grand Isle, Louisiana. It is a family orientated event with the goal of raising awareness to the dangers of childhood drowning. Blue Boot is currently the largest fishing rodeo in the state of Louisiana and is growing at a rapid pace. Besides the fishing, we have tons of activities for the kids and classes to teach them drowning prevention and water safety. Each child that buys a ticket to the rodeo can get a free life jacket as part of our Life Jacket For Life Program. The Blue Boot Rodeo is the driving force behind the Blue Boot Foundation and driving awareness in the community. 2024 will mark our 6th year and we look forward to another successful event for everyone, taking place July 11-13, 2024. Our goal is to be able to expand the Blue Boot Rodeo to other cities in the upcoming years as we drive our mission to save lives. Learn more about the Rodeo or the Foundation by clicking the respective links.