LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / November 4, 1998

PARADIS – Hahnville High sports fans know Wilton “Voo” Comardelle. Theymay not know him personally, but they know his face.

He’s the “Tiger Man,” the guy who, for 10 years, has his face painted for every football game in tiger-face pattern, using colors of purple and gold and with glitter.

And it’s all done in honor of his beloved HHS Tigers football team.

He makes all the games where possible, home and away, and has likely been photographed more than any other Tiger fan, appearing in dozens of newspaper photos.

Comardelle, 36, a Paradis resident and a 1981 graduate of Hahnville High, is an employee of the St. Charles Parish Public Works Department. Whydoes he do it, one may ask? “Why? I love Hahnville football!” he said, grinning. “I just try to bring alot of spirit to people out here.”Before every game Comardelle can be seen sitting behind his pickup truck, parked in front of the old Betty’s Music Box lounge, being painted and prepared for the game by his wife of 15 years, Eva.

She would regularly paint children’s faces at school and church fairs. Oneevening, before a game, “Voo” asked her to paint his face.

“He asked me to paint him like a tiger,” she recalled, and added the design has been refined over the years to where it’s almost automatic.

To his children – Wilton III “T-Voo,” 14, Elaine, 12, and Tiffany, 10 – this is old hat. It’s something Daddy does.The design is almost a clown mask, with triangles and shadings. “It takes15 minutes, tops, to put on,” he said. He often has an audience of childrenwatching the paint job. He uses a ceramic paint which “just peels off”after every game.

Comardelle, while in school, made his mark in other ways. He still holdstwo school records – most solo tackles with 142 and a bench-press record of 450 pounds.

Nowadays, though, he’s a celebrity at every football game, enjoying the attention and happily cheering on the Tigers, win or lose.