Join the Waitlist
The 94th Annual Lafayette Civic Cup is officially sold out. If you would like to attend, we invite you to join the waitlist. Each year, we are often able to accommodate additional requests as availability changes, so we encourage you to add your name to the list.
Thank you for your continued support of this longstanding Lafayette tradition!
Sponsors
2026 Lafayette Civic Cup Recipient
Nick Pugh, III
2026 Lafayette Civic Cup recipient Nick Pugh III’s life and career have been marked by innovation, determination, and generosity. His work as a regional telecommunications pioneer and a champion of the power of quality education are well known, and those themes connect his story of achievement and civic engagement.
Pugh believes that tough problems require thoughtful and thorough solutions, and he has received many accolades for his volunteer efforts. Born on New Year’s Day 1945, the 94th Civic Cup honoree grew up in Lafayette and graduated from Cathedral High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, in 1968. He also is a 1998 graduate of Harvard’s Owner/President Management program.
Two years after graduating from USL, he established the first microwave telecommunications loop in the Gulf of Mexico. Over 25 years he and his wife JoAnn grew their companies to approximately 200 employees across 11 time zones.
Nick and JoAnn founded the Pugh Family Foundation (PFF) in 2000, and Nick chairs its board of directors. To date, their family foundation has committed up to $9.1 million to support the implementation of the Accelerating Campus Excellence (ACE) school turnaround model in three north Lafayette elementary and middle schools. That commitment is believed to be the largest private gift to a public school district in Louisiana in more than 170 years. As a result, students, teachers, and administrators at J.W. Faulk Elementary, Dr. Raphael Baranco Elementary, and Alice Boucher Elementary are achieving historic gains. PFF is also the first funder of UL Lafayette’s Learning Lab School.
Nick has also served as the volunteer leader of the university’s Cajun Advanced Picosatellite Experiment (CAPE) since 2005. As a result, UL Lafayette is the first and only Louisiana school to build and launch satellites, and students are currently preparing for a fourth mission. In 2018, he founded the Nick Pugh Aerospace Electronics Research Lab at the university. He also advised the David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy high school team that placed a biological experiment on the International Space Station, and he has served as chairman of the external advisory board of UL Lafayette’s electrical engineering department.
Nick has served as chair of Habitat for Humanity Lafayette, and he and JoAnn served on its board together for a decade. He also is a founding member of Acadiana Open Channel and a graduate of Leadership Lafayette Class XXVII. A licensed ham radio operator since the age of 13, Nick has helped teach amateur radio classes in Lafayette. He is a member of the Acadiana Area Radio Association and the Lafayette Computer Club.
The Pugh Family Foundation is a co-founder of Love Our Schools, which works to rally community support for Lafayette’s public schools. Nick and JoAnn received the 2018 Leaders in Philanthropy Award for Lafayette Parish from the Community Foundation of Acadiana, and they have also been honored as Distinguished Donors by the UL Lafayette Foundation.
Nick is the son of the late Nick Pugh, Jr. and the late Marie Donlon Pugh, and he and JoAnn have three children and two grandchildren.
Past Lafayette Civic Cup Honorees
1933 Maurice Heymann
1934 T.M. Callahan
1935 F.E. Davis
1936 Dr. L.O. Clark
1937 Gaston Hebert
1938 Dr. Joel L. Fletcher
1939 Inez Neyland
1940 R.H. Martin
1941 Edith Garland Dupre
1942 A.M. Bujard
1943 J.J. Davidson, Jr.
1944 Gus Trahan
1945 J.J. Fournet
1946 Paul Kurzweg
1947 Mr. & Mrs. W.H. Chiquelin
1948 J.W. Simon, Jr.
1949 Burl Logan
1950 M. Lartigue “Tigue” Moore, Jr.
1951 Louise Judice Chargois
1952 L.J. Dore
1953 Felix Kurz
1954 E.J. Chatelain
1955 Ernest A. Landry
1956 Sidney C. Ory
1957 Paul Blanchet
1958 Henry Busch
1959 Dr. Frank H. Davis, Sr.
1960 Herbert Heymann
1961 Yvonne Gassie Hilton
1962 Frem Boustany
1963 Walter Schroeder
1964 Edward Abdalla
1965 Judge Kaliste Saloom, Jr.
1966 U.J. Gajan
1967 Albert “Mickey” Domingue
1968 D.S. Shine Young
1969 Richard D’Aquin
1970 Jewell Lowe
1971 Alex Sterling
1972 J.Y. Foreman
1973 Robert Decoux
1974 Louis Mann
1975 Jack Scarbrock
1976 Leon Moncla
1977 Jules Menou Arceneaux
1978 Granvel Salmon
1979 George Crouchet, Jr.
1980 Herbert Abdalla
1981 J. Rayburn Bertrand
1982 James Ardoin
1983 C.O. Theriot, Jr.
1984 Mario Mamalakis
1985 Msgr. Alexander Sigur
1986 Paul Fournet
1987 Doug Ashy
1988 Alfred Lamson
1989 E. Glynn Abel
1990 Marcelle Citron
1991 Dr. Ray Authement
1992 William “Bill” Patton
1993 J. Hubert “Red” Dumesnil
1994 Louis Michot
1995 Edward Abell, Jr
1996 Richard Zuschlag
1997 Virginia Yongue
1998 Robert Trahan
1999 Bill Fenstermaker
2000 Dr. Jean T. Kreamer
2001 Madlyn Boustany Hilliard
2002 Matthew Stuller
2003 Paul Hilliard
2004 Clive “Rusty” Cloutier
2005 Greg Davis
2006 John J. Burdin, Jr.
2007 James Prince
2008 Ann Knight
2009 Dr. Paul Azar, Jr.
2010 Gary McGoffin
2011 Robert D. “Bob” Lowe
2012 Dwight S. “Bo” Ramsay
2013 Red Lerille
2014 Kevin Moody
2015 Henry C. “Hank” Perret, Jr.
2016 Clay M. Allen
2017 Dr. Mary Neiheisel
2018 Randy Haynie
2019 Jerome “Jerry” K. Greig
2020 Fredrick “Fred” Prejean, Sr.
2021 Barry Berthelot
2022 Lenny Lemoine
2023 Rodney Savoy
2024 Dr. William C. “Kip” Schumacher
2025 Robert “Bob” E. Giles