Sulphur Family Wins Big on Family Feud
The T-Boy Breaux Fund is created with the winnings
A family from Sulphur got a chance to win big on Family Feud and they’re donating all their winnings back to the community. Melissa Breaux Padgett and her family worked with the Community Foundation of SWLA to set up a fund in her father’s honor to help underprivileged children afford sports equipment and/or pay tournament fees so nothing stands in the way of a child’s ability to play.
The team included Melissa, her former husband Keith Portie, their grown children Chris and Lizzy, and Melissa’s mom, Linda.
From L to R: Keith Portie, Lizzy Portie, Melissa Breaux Padgett, Linda Breaux Burns, Chris Portie.
The family appeared on a May 15, 2023, episode after a lengthy audition process. The process began with them submitting an audition tape back in 2019, after which they didn’t receive a call back until 2021 to audition virtually with a producer. Finally in early 2022 the Porties were invited to Atlanta to tape the game show that’s hosted by Steve Harvey.
“The taping day was filled with excitement and fun! We so enjoyed the filming process and meeting other families as well as getting a front row seat to Steve Harvey’s humor,” exclaims Melissa.
The Porties knew from the get-go they wanted to create a fund if they won and told the show exactly that. The T-Boy Breaux Fund is in memory of Melissa’s father, Clifton Lee Breaux whom everyone knew as T-Boy.
T-Boy was one of four children raised in Sulphur, a community he loved, by his father, a construction painter with no education and his stay-at-home mom. An amazing athlete, one day he showed up for baseball tryouts but was told by the coach that he couldn’t play because he didn’t have any shoes or a glove. The Sulphur Parks and Recreation Athletic Director at the time, Ms. Juliette Benglis, saw he didn’t have any and told him “I have some in the lost and found. If no one claims them, then you can have ‘em.”
He simply wanted to play ball and someone was kind enough to help him find the few things he needed that stood in the way.
T-Boy played baseball and basketball throughout his childhood and as an adult added tennis and golf. He played in the Knights of Columbus league as well as a recreational league where he had a large community of friends. He loved sports so much that he worked for Ms. Benglis as a basketball referee and softball umpire for 30+ years in addition to his full-time job as a warehouseman for Olin. She ran Sulphur Parks & Rec for a very long time, and they had a great relationship. He called her “Mom” because she took care of him like a mother would her own child.
“Playing sports shaped everything about who he was,” says Melissa, T-Boy’s daughter. “We wanted to pay it forward to those kids who don’t have the means to pay those tournament fees or purchase new equipment.”
Ninety days after the Portie’s episode aired, the Family Feud winnings were dispersed, and the T-Boy Breaux Fund was formed. The family and Community Foundation are working on the process of helping kids who love sports be able to play.