Bobby Hebert, Sr., died Saturday due to complications of COVID-19, the family has announced. He was 81 years old.
Bobby, Sr., was the patriarch of the Hebert clan, a prominent football family in Louisiana.
Bobby Hebert, Jr., played quarterback at Northwestern State in the early 1980s -- he was a teammate of Ed Orgeron‘s -- before becoming the most decorated player in USFL history and a 12-year quarterback for the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons.
Bobby’s grandson, T-Bob Hebert, played center at LSU from 2007-11. He was a redshirt on the Tigers’ 2007 title team and started on the 2011 LSU team that won that season’s SEC title and reached the BCS National Championship.
Bobby, Jr., is now an afternoon host for WWL-AM sports radio in New Orleans, and T-Bob hosts mornings for the ESPN Radio affiliate in Baton Rouge.
This is my namesake Bobby Hebert Sr
— T-Bob Hebert (@TBob53) March 28, 2020
He is the wisest, kindest, and most tactful person I have ever known
He passed this morning and I love him and I will miss him
He loved LSU to his core and instilled that love in me
“Jolie l’lait d’vivre” pic.twitter.com/g484pHIyYz
“You can be tough and the virus can still overwhelm you,” Bobby, Jr., said on WWL on Friday.
“I’m kinda numb and shocked. You get numb and then sometimes you don’t want to accept reality and what you are dealing with.”
Through tears, Hebert, Jr., described his father as a “fighter” who survived colon cancer, multiple strokes and a birth defect that required open-heart surgery.