L.D. "Buddy" Napper

Laurice Dean Napper, known as L.D. "Buddy" Napper (born ca. 1918), is an attorney and civic figure in Ruston, Louisiana,^[1] who served as a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1952-1964.^[2]

A graduate of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish, Napper played semi-professional baseball for the Winnsboro Red Sox in Winnsboro, the seat of Franklin Parish south of Monroe. One of his teammates was future legislative colleague Lantz Womack, a banker and businessman from Winnsboro.^[3] Still other semi-pro baseball players who later became known in Louisiana politics during the era of what was once called the "Big Eight" were former Lieutenant Governor Bill Dodd, who served from 1948–1952,^[4] and W.W. Dumas, the mayor-president of East Baton Rouge Parish from 1965-1981.^[5] The Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell also played semi-pro a generation after Napper.

Napper entered the legislature with the election of Robert F. Kennon as governor of Louisiana. He succeeded Carroll G. Jones, who served from 1950–1952, following the resignation of Ragan D. Madden. Napper was succeeded in 1964 by George B. Holstead,^[2] also a Ruston attorney and a track and field runner at Louisiana Tech.^[6]

For several years prior to 1979, Napper was a law partner of Otho Lloyd Waltman (1923–2010), a former city attorney in both Ruston and historically black Grambling who also served as a state district court judge from 1979-1982.^[7] In 2003, Napper and Waltman jointly received the prestigious Robert E. Russ Award, named for the founder of Ruston, and presented annually by the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.^[8]

Napper was a Louisiana delegate to the 1960 Democratic National Convention, which met in Los Angeles, California, to nominate the Kennedy/Johnson ticket.^[9] However, Richard M. Nixon, the Republican nominee, polled 54.1 percent of the ballots in Napper's Lincoln Parish.^[10] Napper later donated to various GOP candidates, including former U.S. Representative John Cooksey, whose former Louisiana's 5th congressional district includes Lincoln Parish, and who ran unsuccessfully in 2002 for the U.S. Senate. He also gave that year to the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee.^[11]

Napper is married to the former Sara Baskin (born ca. 1927).^[12] Napper is United Methodist and is a life member of the board of the Louisiana Methodist Children's Home in Ruston.^[13]

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