Honorary Doctorate
Mr. Donald Mosing
Honorary Doctorate
Systems Engineering
In 1950, Donald Mosing graduated from the University of Louisiana Lafayette, known at that time as the Southwestern Louisiana Institute of Liberal and Technical Learning, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. While at SLI,he also lettered in football, and Track & Field.
After graduation, Donald went back to work for the company he had been employed at since he was 14, Frank’s Casing Crew & Rental Tools, Inc. The oilfield services company was founded in 1938 by his father, Frank Mosing, and mother, Mrs. Jessie Mosing, to “run casing” in connection with the drilling of oil and gas wells. The company was started here in Lafayette on a shoestring budget and a leap of faith. The first casing jobs were run out of the Mosing home located off Moss Street.
Donald, the eldest of the Mosings' three sons, unofficially started working for Frank's in 1943. Frank's was short-staffed during World War II, and Donald was cheap labor. In 1950, with several casing jobs under his belt and a freshly-minted engineering degree from SLI, Donald became a paid Frank's employee. He became President in 1989, and retired in 2011.
Along the way, Donald worked in every aspect of the company’s operations, from casing hand to the executive suite, from flying a float plane to call on customers in the bayous to designing and managing the manufacture of the company’s oilfield tubulars handling equipment. Today, Frank’s International, N.V., as the company is now known, is a publicly-traded company with 3000 employees in 40 locations across the US and around the world.
Donald has 40 patents, the most recent of which issued within the past month. He was honored with the Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition (“LAGCOE”) Looey Award for 1997-1999, and in 2011, he received World Oil Magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mr. Lloyd J. "Red" Lerille
Honorary Doctorate
Educational Leadership
For more than 50 years, he has helped Acadiana residents get in shape and stay healthy through exercise and sound nutrition.
He has inspired by example and by operating one of the largest and most complete health clubs in the South, Red Lerille’s Health & Racquet Club. It’s more commonly known just as “Red’s.”
A New Orleans native, Lerille began weight training when he was a boy. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served on two submarines as an interior communication electrician.
From 1955 to 1959, Lerille earned several bodybuilding titles before winning Mr. America and Mr. Universe titles in 1960.
In 1959, he moved to Lafayette and worked at Mike’s Gym. In 1963, he opened a small health club on Johnston Street with only $200 and handmade equipment.
He purchased two acres on Doucet Road in 1964 and built a 4,000-square-foot health club that debuted in 1965. That club now sits on sits on 20 acres and has grown to about 200,000 square feet. It has about 200 employees.
A 1987 graduate of USL, Lerille received the UL Lafayette Alumni Association’s Outstanding Alumni Award in 2002 for his dedicated service to the Lafayette community and ongoing commitment to the continued success of the University and its students. In 2011, Lerille was the UL Lafayette Alumni Association’s Spring Gala honoree.
He and his wife, Emma Davis Lerille, established the Red Lerille’s Health & Racquet Club/BORSF Endowed Professorship in Health and Physical Education.
Red Lerille’s Health & Racquet Club has hired thousands of UL Lafayette students and alumni over the years. It sponsors many paid internships for students in the School of Kinesiology. And, it has championed UL Lafayette athletics and student events.
Emma Lerille and their four children, Kackie, Christine, Mark, and Stanley, all hold degrees from UL Lafayette.
Lerille received the Club Industry 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award, which is conferred annually to an individual who has had a significant and sustained impact on the health club industry.
In 2013, he received the Civic Cup Award, an honor given each year to someone who has made significant contributions to the community. Established by the Young Men’s Business Club, it was first awarded to Oil Center developer Maurice Heymann in 1933.
A pilot, one of Lerille’s hobbies is restoring antique airplanes. He has restored 17 of them since 1968; he has donated one to the Louisiana State Aviation Museum. Lerille also has owned a motorcycle since he was a boy and maintains several classic Harley-Davidsons.