GARYVILLE — There were no concerns about concussions, heat strokes or hydration when Laury Dupont was a football player in the 1960s.

“I come from the days when you weren’t allowed to drink water,” said Dupont, who graduated from E.D. White High School in Thibodaux in 1969. “They used to have a bucket of water and a big towel. You’d soak the towel in the bucket and suck the water out. That was all the water you’d get.”

Even once he started coaching, there was little attention paid to players who suffered head injuries. Even players who got knocked somewhat unconscious were regularly sent back onto the field.

“You’d pop an ammonia tablet under their nose and tell them to get back out there,” he said.

Times have changed and so has Dupont.

After more than 30 years as a coach and athletic director at several high schools, including an 18-year stint at West St. John High, Dupont retired in 2012.

That doesn’t mean he has stopped.

Dupont is working as a marketing liaison for the Sports Medicine Center of Thibodaux Regional Medical Center.

More often than not, he is with his fellow “retired” coach, Don Rodrigue, lately of St. James High, who is his current teammate and running buddy.

Together, this dynamic duo is helping schools throughout the region hire certified sports trainers under the sponsorship of Thibodaux Regional Medical Center.

Larry D’Antoni coordinates the program.

Both former coaches believe trained specialists are vital to high school athletics. Actually, they believe they have been vital to sports all along.

“I’m qualified to put a band-aid on it,” Rodrigue said. “That’s about it.”

Dupont and Rodrigue currently sponsor seven schools, including Riverside Academy, and work with nearly two dozen more schools. Together, they attend track meets, Friday night football games and basketball tournaments and more — plus, they play a good bit of golf.

“All of our schools have golf tournaments,” Dupont said. “We go to those and help with sponsorships.”

While it may all seem like fun and games, what Dupont and Rodrigue do is important because there is so much concern about head injuries and the later repercussions of concussions.

“Nobody even said the word ‘concussion’ back then,” Rodrigue said. “You’d say, ‘They got knocked cuckoo’ and give them smelling salts.”

For years, many schools relied on student trainers, teenagers who had received some training then were given the task of assessing everything from simple sprains to broken bones to head injuries. If an injury was severe enough to warrant a trip to the hospital, one of the assistant coaches usually was designated to accompany the injured player.

“Now, you’re one coach short on the sideline,” Dupont said. “If you have a trainer, it’s their responsibility. They act as the liaison between the parent and the hospital, making sure they’re attended to.”

Both ex-coaches consider themselves fortunate never to have seen a serious injury on their watch but have heard stories and talked to coaches who have.

“It’s always tragic,” said Rodrigue, who reached out to his friend, former St. James High assistant coach Barry Sebren, now the head coach at Franklin Parish, after his player, Tyrell Cameron, died in the first game of the 2015 season.

They also are helping educate. Recently passed state legislation requires all coaches complete an annual concussion education course. Thibodaux Regional Medical Center will offer one from 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesday. Topics will include serious sports injuries and emergency action planning, recognizing and managing heat illness, concussions and basic first aid.

Call 985-859-4546 for more information.

Neither sees a rocking chair in their near future.

“I miss coaching,” Dupont said. “This gets me as close to the sideline as I can be without actually being in the huddle.”

Added Rodrigue: “Once a coach, always a coach. This is the next best thing.”