Never met him, but went to my highschool a few years after me. I only heard great things about him. June 17, 2005 Reported by Marty Briggs A local man who starred as a baseball player at Barbe High School and with the LSU Tigers, passed away early Friday morning after being involved in a single vehicle crash. News of Johnnie Thibodeaux's death has come as a shock to those who knew him best, but friends and family say he'll be remembered for far more than what he accomplished on the baseball diamond. At 1:35 Friday morning, Thibodeaux was driving his GMC Yukon southbound on Nelson Road when he crossed the northbound lane and left the roadway on the east side. The vehicle proceeded into a field, flipping several times, ejecting Thibodeaux. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead at approximately 2:30 A.M. Thibodeaux was a 1996 graduate of Barbe, and played baseball for Glenn Cecchini. "A true friend. Just a great guy. Just a really good person. Johnnie made you feel alive and he lived, he lived life, I can tell you that. His friends will tell you he was always fun to be around, the life of the party. Just a great guy, a true friend." Thibodeaux was drafted by the Chicago White Sox after high school, but instead decided to go play for Skip Bertman at LSU. He was a four-year letterman for the Tigers and played on LSU's 1997 and 2000 National Championship squads. For Cecchini, he's still coming to grips with the fact that Thibodeaux is gone. "Shock. Just disbelief. I thought it was a nightmare. You know, you just don't expect someone as vivacious as Johnnie Thibodeaux, full of life. You just don't think something like that is going to happen." Thibodeaux would later earn his degree from LSU, and would settle back into the lake area. A visitation for Thibodeaux is scheduled for Sunday evening, followed by funeral services at 11:00 A.M. on Monday. Thibodeaux will be buried in Consolata cemetery, just beyond the right field wall of the Bucs baseball stadium.
