Tom Stagg
Encyclopedia
Thomas Eaton "Tom" Stagg, Jr. (born January 19, 1923), is a Louisiana
attorney, businessman, politician, and jurist who has served as a United States federal judge
for the Western District of Louisiana
since his appointment by President Richard Nixon
in the spring of 1974. Stagg's court is based in his hometown of Shreveport
, Louisiana
.
in Marion, Alabama
, and Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge, where he completed his Bachelor of Arts
degree in 1943.
Stagg served from a second lieutenant to captain in the United States Army
during World War II
, from 1943 to 1946. He was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge
, Bronze Star
for Valor, a second Bronze Star for meritorious service and the Purple Heart
with Oak Leaf Cluster for his wounds received in battle.
Stagg married the former Mary Margaret O'Brien on August 21, 1946. They have two daughters: Julie and Margaret Mary.
and then the LSU Law Center, where he received his Juris Doctor
in 1949. He began the practice of law with the firm of Hargrove, Guyton, Van Hook, and Hargrove, in Shreveport. He was a solo practitioner from 1953–1958; thereafter, he became the senior partner with Stagg, Cady, Johnson, and Haygood and the successor firm, Stagg, Cady, and Beard.
While he maintained his law practice, Stagg was vice-president of King Hardware Co., from 1955-1974. He was president of the Abe Meyer Corporation in Shreveport from 1960-1974. He was a managing partner of the Pierremont Mall Shopping Center from 1963-1974. He was president of Stagg Investments, Inc., from 1964-1974. He has been a managing partner of Camellia Trading Company since 1974. He hence divested himself of most of his business dealings when he was sworn in as judge.
since 1949, Stagg was the Republican National Committeeman from Louisiana from 1964–1972, a member of the executive committee of the Republican National Committee from 1964–1968, and a five-time delegate to GOP
national conventions, from 1956-1972. He served on the platform committees in 1960, 1964, and 1968. He is also a former member of the Caddo Parish Republican Executive Committee and the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee.
On February 6, 1968, Stagg ran unsuccessfully for the Louisiana State Senate when he sought one of three at-large seats from Caddo Parish. He polled 16,341 votes in the general election
, but he fell 6,536 votes behind the bottom-ranked Democrat
in the race, conservative
incumbent
Jackson B. Davis
, who, like Stagg, had supported Republican Barry M. Goldwater for president in 1964. Joining Davis in the Caddo Senate delegation were J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., and Joe LeSage
, two Shreveport attorneys.
In the 1968 Republican convention meeting in Miami Beach, Stagg supported Nixon's second bid for the party's presidential nomination. Time magazine quoted national committeeman Stagg: We've had our shot at a candidate who totally met our qualifications [Goldwater in 1964], and that candidate got six states. We've had our druthers. Now shall we win one?" Stagg described as "not viable" last-minute efforts by some party conservatives, including Louisiana Republican leader David C. Treen
, to draft then California Governor Ronald W. Reagan for the presidential nomination.
Jack P.F. Gremillion
, a protege of the late Earl Kemp Long, who had been eliminated in the 1971 party primary because of corrupt practices in office.
Stagg faced the Democratic primary winner, one-term State Senator William J. "Billy" Guste, Jr.
, of New Orleans, but party affiliation worked heavily to Guste's advantage. Guste and Stagg were virtually the same age. Stagg won the endorsement of the former Shreveport Journal: an editorial hailed him as "a man of considerable force. . . considered by his colleagues in the law fraternity to be a man of brilliance." The Journal also noted that for years Stagg had "fought for the southern viewpoint in national Republican party conventions."
Guste prevailed in the race with 763,276 votes (74.1 percent) to Stagg's 270,038 (25.9 percent). Stagg won only his native Caddo Parish with 54 percent of the ballots cast, and he finished with at least 43 percent in six other north Louisiana parishes. Guste went on to serve twenty years as attorney general. Two other statewide Republican nominees also won in Caddo Parish, Treen for governor and Robert L. Frye
, a native of Webster Parish
who was then a professor at Southeastern Louisiana University
in Hammond
, who challenged the Demcorat Louis J. Michot
of Lafayette
.
After his race for attorney general, Stagg vacated the position of Republican national committeeman in favor of David Treen. Stagg also announced that he was considering running for the U.S. Senate in 1972 for the seat held by Democrat Allen J. Ellender
, who died during the primary campaign. Stagg said that he would need "money, support, and possibilities of success, rather than just running as an exercise." Stagg never ran for the Senate, and the position was taken for eighteen years by Stagg's former rival for the state Senate, J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.
Stagg did win one election: a nonpartisan
contest in the summer of 1972 as a delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1973. He served as chairman of both the Temporary Rules Committee and the Executive Department Committee.
to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
vacated by Benjamin C. Dawkins, Jr.
. Stagg was confirmed by the United States Senate
on March 7, 1974, and received his commission on March 8, 1974. He was sworn in as judge on April 26, 1974. He served as chief judge from 1984 to 1991, and assumed senior status
on February 29, 1992, but still maintains a full staff and case assignment. In addition to trial court duties, he has served on panels in several federal circuit courts of appeal. His full-time position was filled in 1994 by Tucker L. Melancon
, appointee of Democratic
President Bill Clinton
.
As a judge, Stagg has handled a plethora of cases in a career that exceeds thirty-five years.
In 2006, Stagg sentenced Chevelle “Big Mook” Hamilton (born 1978) to sixteen years in federal prison without parole for his role in drug trafficking and weapons violations in the Shreveport area. Hamilton had pleaded guilty to the charges. Judge Stagg denounced Hamilton from the bench as "the leader of a group of criminals that brought cocaine to this market regularly on a kilo basis. . . This will take Mr. Hamilton off the street long enough to where his lust for freedom will succeed his lust for criminal behavior."
Federal indictments had been brought against Hamilton and six others in August 2005, as a result of an intense investigation that spanned some eighteen months and involved several law enforcement agencies. Police said that they had broken up a major drug-trafficking ring that had a propensity toward violence.
The Post had revealed something that many Americans did not know: that federal judges, like congressmen, also take junkets, which are often never reported, that are sometimes of questionable value to the taxpayers who underwrite their salaries and benefits.
In 2004, Stagg was presented the LSU Paul M. Hebert
Law Center's Distinguished Alumnus award, which came on the 30th anniversary of his judicial service. A fellow Shreveporter, Robert G. Pugh
, who had served with Stagg at the Constitutional Convention, received the honor in 2003. Therefore, a joint recognition service was held a the Shreveport Petroleum Club on October 14, 2004, in honor of both Pugh and Stagg. Stagg expressed surprised on his selection: "Upon considering the merit of those recipients who have preceded me, I am very proud to be named the distinguished alumnus for 2004."
Stagg's papers, including his constitutional convention activities, are filed in the archives section of Louisiana State University at Shreveport. The collection includes working papers, committee proposals, resolutions and memoranda, files of newspaper clippings, correspondence, pamphlets, and published notes and studies on developing the Louisiana Constitution of 1974.
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
attorney, businessman, politician, and jurist who has served as a United States federal judge
United States federal judge
In the United States, the title of federal judge usually means a judge appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate in accordance with Article II of the United States Constitution....
for the Western District of Louisiana
United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
The United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana is a United States federal court with jurisdiction over approximately two thirds of the state of Louisiana, with courts in Alexandria, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe and Shreveport...
since his appointment by President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
in the spring of 1974. Stagg's court is based in his hometown of Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
.
Education and military record
Stagg was born to Thomas Eaton Stagg, Sr., and the former Beulah Meyer. He graduated from C.E. Byrd High School in Shreveport in 1939. He attended Marion Military InstituteMarion Military Institute
Marion Military Institute, often abbreviated with the initialism MMI, is the official state military college of Alabama. Founded in Marion in 1842, it continues at its original location.-History:...
in Marion, Alabama
Marion, Alabama
Marion is the county seat of Perry County, Alabama. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city is 3,511. First called Muckle Ridge, the city was renamed after a hero of the American Revolution, Francis Marion.-Geography:...
, and Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in Baton Rouge, where he completed his Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in 1943.
Stagg served from a second lieutenant to captain in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, from 1943 to 1946. He was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge
Combat Infantryman Badge
The Combat Infantryman Badge is the U.S. Army combat service recognition decoration awarded to soldiers—enlisted men and officers holding colonel rank or below, who personally fought in active ground combat while an assigned member of either an infantry or a Special Forces unit, of brigade size...
, Bronze Star
Bronze Star Medal
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the...
for Valor, a second Bronze Star for meritorious service and the Purple Heart
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
with Oak Leaf Cluster for his wounds received in battle.
Stagg married the former Mary Margaret O'Brien on August 21, 1946. They have two daughters: Julie and Margaret Mary.
Legal practice and business activities
After the war, Stagg briefly attended Cambridge University in Great BritainGreat Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and then the LSU Law Center, where he received his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
in 1949. He began the practice of law with the firm of Hargrove, Guyton, Van Hook, and Hargrove, in Shreveport. He was a solo practitioner from 1953–1958; thereafter, he became the senior partner with Stagg, Cady, Johnson, and Haygood and the successor firm, Stagg, Cady, and Beard.
While he maintained his law practice, Stagg was vice-president of King Hardware Co., from 1955-1974. He was president of the Abe Meyer Corporation in Shreveport from 1960-1974. He was a managing partner of the Pierremont Mall Shopping Center from 1963-1974. He was president of Stagg Investments, Inc., from 1964-1974. He has been a managing partner of Camellia Trading Company since 1974. He hence divested himself of most of his business dealings when he was sworn in as judge.
Political activities
A RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
since 1949, Stagg was the Republican National Committeeman from Louisiana from 1964–1972, a member of the executive committee of the Republican National Committee from 1964–1968, and a five-time delegate to GOP
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
national conventions, from 1956-1972. He served on the platform committees in 1960, 1964, and 1968. He is also a former member of the Caddo Parish Republican Executive Committee and the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee.
On February 6, 1968, Stagg ran unsuccessfully for the Louisiana State Senate when he sought one of three at-large seats from Caddo Parish. He polled 16,341 votes in the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
, but he fell 6,536 votes behind the bottom-ranked Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
in the race, conservative
American conservatism
Conservatism in the United States has played an important role in American politics since the 1950s. Historian Gregory Schneider identifies several constants in American conservatism: respect for tradition, support of republicanism, preservation of "the rule of law and the Christian religion", and...
incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Jackson B. Davis
Jackson B. Davis
Jackson Beauregard Davis is an American attorney based in Shreveport, Louisiana, who served as a Democrat in the Louisiana State Senate from 1956 to 1980. Now in his nineties, Davis still practices law and is active in community affairs, often addressing public gatherings...
, who, like Stagg, had supported Republican Barry M. Goldwater for president in 1964. Joining Davis in the Caddo Senate delegation were J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., and Joe LeSage
Joe LeSage
Joseph Carnahan LeSage, Jr., known as Joe LeSage , is an attorney in Shreveport, Louisiana, who served as a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate for a single term from 1968 to 1972....
, two Shreveport attorneys.
In the 1968 Republican convention meeting in Miami Beach, Stagg supported Nixon's second bid for the party's presidential nomination. Time magazine quoted national committeeman Stagg: We've had our shot at a candidate who totally met our qualifications [Goldwater in 1964], and that candidate got six states. We've had our druthers. Now shall we win one?" Stagg described as "not viable" last-minute efforts by some party conservatives, including Louisiana Republican leader David C. Treen
David C. Treen
David Conner "Dave" Treen, Sr. , was an American attorney and politician from Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana – the first Republican Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana since Reconstruction. He was the first Republican in modern times to have served in the U.S...
, to draft then California Governor Ronald W. Reagan for the presidential nomination.
Running for Louisiana attorney general, 1972
In 1972, Stagg became the Republican nominee for Louisiana attorney general on a ticket headed by gubernatorial candidate David Treen. Stagg was seeking to fill the seat being vacated by long-term Democratic incumbentIncumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Jack P.F. Gremillion
Jack P.F. Gremillion
Jack Paul Faustin Gremillion, Sr. , was the Democratic attorney general of Louisiana from 1956-1972. He was a member of the Earl Kemp Long political faction. Though he opposed school desegregation, he was a party loyalist and was an elector for the John F. Kennedy--Lyndon B. Johnson presidential...
, a protege of the late Earl Kemp Long, who had been eliminated in the 1971 party primary because of corrupt practices in office.
Stagg faced the Democratic primary winner, one-term State Senator William J. "Billy" Guste, Jr.
William J. Guste
William J. "Billy" Guste, Jr., is a New Orleans attorney, businessman and popular Democratic attorney general of Louisiana from 1972 to 1992. He succeeded the scandal-plagued Jack P.F. Gremillion, a fellow Democrat who had held the position since 1956. Guste received recognition for molding the...
, of New Orleans, but party affiliation worked heavily to Guste's advantage. Guste and Stagg were virtually the same age. Stagg won the endorsement of the former Shreveport Journal: an editorial hailed him as "a man of considerable force. . . considered by his colleagues in the law fraternity to be a man of brilliance." The Journal also noted that for years Stagg had "fought for the southern viewpoint in national Republican party conventions."
Guste prevailed in the race with 763,276 votes (74.1 percent) to Stagg's 270,038 (25.9 percent). Stagg won only his native Caddo Parish with 54 percent of the ballots cast, and he finished with at least 43 percent in six other north Louisiana parishes. Guste went on to serve twenty years as attorney general. Two other statewide Republican nominees also won in Caddo Parish, Treen for governor and Robert L. Frye
Robert L. Frye
Robert Lafayette Frye was an educator and politician from the U.S. state of Louisiana.-Early years and education:Frye was born to Jennings Bryan Frye, Sr...
, a native of Webster Parish
Webster Parish, Louisiana
Webster Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The seat of the parish is Minden. In 2010, its population was 41,207....
who was then a professor at Southeastern Louisiana University
Southeastern Louisiana University
Southeastern Louisiana University is a state-funded public university in Hammond, Louisiana, United States. It was founded in 1925 by Linus A. Sims, the principal of Hammond High School, as Hammond Junior College, located in a wing of the high school building. Sims succeeded in getting the campus...
in Hammond
Hammond, Louisiana
Hammond is the largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,049 at the 2009 census. It is home to Southeastern Louisiana University...
, who challenged the Demcorat Louis J. Michot
Louis J. Michot
Louis Joseph Michot, Jr. , is a prominent Lafayette, Louisiana, businessman, entrepreneur of the former Burger Chef restaurant chain, philanthropist, and a former Democratic state representative , member of the Louisiana Board of Education , and Louisiana State Education Superintendent...
of Lafayette
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
.
After his race for attorney general, Stagg vacated the position of Republican national committeeman in favor of David Treen. Stagg also announced that he was considering running for the U.S. Senate in 1972 for the seat held by Democrat Allen J. Ellender
Allen J. Ellender
Allen Joseph Ellender was a popular U.S. senator from Houma, Louisiana , who served from 1937 until his death. He was a Democrat who was originally allied with the legendary Huey Pierce Long, Jr.. As Senator he compiled a generally conservative record, voting 77% of the time with the Conservative...
, who died during the primary campaign. Stagg said that he would need "money, support, and possibilities of success, rather than just running as an exercise." Stagg never ran for the Senate, and the position was taken for eighteen years by Stagg's former rival for the state Senate, J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.
Stagg did win one election: a nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
contest in the summer of 1972 as a delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1973. He served as chairman of both the Temporary Rules Committee and the Executive Department Committee.
Federal judicial service
On February 18, 1974, Stagg was nominated by President Richard NixonRichard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
The United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana is a United States federal court with jurisdiction over approximately two thirds of the state of Louisiana, with courts in Alexandria, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe and Shreveport...
vacated by Benjamin C. Dawkins, Jr.
Benjamin C. Dawkins, Jr.
Benjamin Cornwell Dawkins, Jr. was a United States federal judge.-Biography:Born in Monroe, Louisiana, Dawkins received a B.A. from Tulane University in 1932 and an LL.B. from Louisiana State University Law School in 1934...
. Stagg was confirmed by the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
on March 7, 1974, and received his commission on March 8, 1974. He was sworn in as judge on April 26, 1974. He served as chief judge from 1984 to 1991, and assumed senior status
Senior status
Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges, and judges in some state court systems. After federal judges have reached a certain combination of age and years of service on the federal courts, they are allowed to assume senior status...
on February 29, 1992, but still maintains a full staff and case assignment. In addition to trial court duties, he has served on panels in several federal circuit courts of appeal. His full-time position was filled in 1994 by Tucker L. Melancon
Tucker L. Melancon
Tucker L. Melancon is an American judge who serves on the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in Lafayette, Louisiana. He joined the court in 1994 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton. He is serving on senior status.-Education and career:Melancon graduated...
, appointee of Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
.
As a judge, Stagg has handled a plethora of cases in a career that exceeds thirty-five years.
In 2006, Stagg sentenced Chevelle “Big Mook” Hamilton (born 1978) to sixteen years in federal prison without parole for his role in drug trafficking and weapons violations in the Shreveport area. Hamilton had pleaded guilty to the charges. Judge Stagg denounced Hamilton from the bench as "the leader of a group of criminals that brought cocaine to this market regularly on a kilo basis. . . This will take Mr. Hamilton off the street long enough to where his lust for freedom will succeed his lust for criminal behavior."
Federal indictments had been brought against Hamilton and six others in August 2005, as a result of an intense investigation that spanned some eighteen months and involved several law enforcement agencies. Police said that they had broken up a major drug-trafficking ring that had a propensity toward violence.
Defending a 1993 "junket"
Stagg came under fire from the Washington Post for his attendance at a Law and Economics Center seminar in 1993. The judge defied his critics, dismissed complaints about propriety, and declared that he would be eager for a second stay at the island resort, Hilton Head, South Carolina. "The food was wonderful; the teachers were wonderful. If somebody doesn't like it, I'm sorry."The Post had revealed something that many Americans did not know: that federal judges, like congressmen, also take junkets, which are often never reported, that are sometimes of questionable value to the taxpayers who underwrite their salaries and benefits.
Honors from his alma maters
In 1990, Judge Stagg was named to the Byrd High School Hall of Fame.In 2004, Stagg was presented the LSU Paul M. Hebert
Paul M. Hebert
Paul Macarius Hebert was the longest serving Dean of the LSU Law School , serving in that role with brief interruptions from 1937 until his death in 1977...
Law Center's Distinguished Alumnus award, which came on the 30th anniversary of his judicial service. A fellow Shreveporter, Robert G. Pugh
Robert G. Pugh
Robert Gahagan Pugh, Sr., known as Bob Pugh , was a prominent attorney in Shreveport, Louisiana, who, as his local bar association president in 1970–1971, initiated the first prepaid legal services plan in the United States...
, who had served with Stagg at the Constitutional Convention, received the honor in 2003. Therefore, a joint recognition service was held a the Shreveport Petroleum Club on October 14, 2004, in honor of both Pugh and Stagg. Stagg expressed surprised on his selection: "Upon considering the merit of those recipients who have preceded me, I am very proud to be named the distinguished alumnus for 2004."
Stagg's papers, including his constitutional convention activities, are filed in the archives section of Louisiana State University at Shreveport. The collection includes working papers, committee proposals, resolutions and memoranda, files of newspaper clippings, correspondence, pamphlets, and published notes and studies on developing the Louisiana Constitution of 1974.