Francis “Hank” E. Lauricella, a star football player for the Tennessee Volunteers who later served in the Louisiana Legislature from Jefferson Parish from 1972 to 1996, died Tuesday. He was 83.
Lauricella was born in Harahan and attended Holy Cross High School in New Orleans, starring on the team that won the city football championship in 1947.
Picking the Volunteers over home state schools LSU and Tulane, he played under legendary coach Robert Neyland at the University of Tennessee from 1949 to 1951.