Roger Cador took over the baseball program at Southern University in Louisiana in 1984 and went on to build one of the most respected college baseball programs in the region and nation, retiring in 2017 with a career record of 913-597-1 (.604).
Over the course of 33 seasons, Cador’s teams won two HBCU national championships (2003, 2005), captured 14 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) championships and made 11 NCAA Regional appearances. Along the way, he racked up 13 SWAC Coach of the Year awards and coached 10 players to All-America honors. Cador had 62 players drafted by MLB teams with seven reaching Major League Baseball, including 2003 Golden Spikes Award winner and future MLB All-Star Rickie Weeks.
Among the many highlights in his illustrious career, Cador holds the distinction of leading Southern as the first HBCU team to win a game in an NCAA Regional, upsetting No. 2 Cal State Fullerton, 1-0, in New Orleans in 1987. Over his career, Cador added two more NCAA Tournament victories en route to posting a dozen 30-win seasons.
One of Cador’s crowning achievements was spearheading the development of Weeks. A two-time NCAA batting champion, Weeks received the 2003 Golden Spikes Award as the top collegiate baseball player in the county, the first from a predominantly black school. Weeks was taken with the second overall pick in the 2003 MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers and went on to have a stellar 14-year MLB career, playing 1324 games with four teams. Fred Lewis was a second-round draft pick in 2002 and played 535 games over seven seasons in MLB, mostly for the San Francisco Giants.
Cador, a Louisiana legend, has also been active in increasing the exposure for both college baseball and HBCU coverage nationally. He helped organize the Urban Baseball Invitational (now known as the Andre Dawson Classic), which has featured HBCU schools in live national telecasts on ESPN and the MLB Network from Los Angeles, Houston and New Orleans.
Throughout his career, Cador also helped organize efforts to promote baseball in inner- city communities, working with Major League Baseball’s diversity task force.
A standout for the Jaguars from 1970-73, Cador led Southern with a .393 batting average as a junior in 1972. He played professionally in the Atlanta Braves organization from 1973-77, advancing all the way to the Class AAA Richmond Braves. Following his professional career, Cador returned to Southern where he served as an assistant baseball coach from 1978-84 and assistant basketball coach from 1980-84 before becoming head baseball coach.
Cador was inducted to the Southwestern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 2018 and was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in the fall of 2019.
