Sheriff (who arrived at the general store each morning and told jokes to Polycarp). Popularity KATC noted that, "Polycarp's much loved pals . . . [are] as familiar to the children of Acadiana as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck" and claimed that Polycarp was "ranked as the top children's TV personality in the state". As evidence of this popularity, Polycarp received over 3,000 letters and postcards from local children over a seven-day period during a fall 1967 Halloween costume giveaway promotion. In October that year, the University of Southwestern Louisiana's Alumni Association, Athletic Association and its band named Polycarp the first "Mr. Acadiana", an honor it bestowed annually during the school's homecoming American football game to the USL alumnus who best "fosters the tradition and the ideals of the school and of the area. . . .". (Plauché had graduated from the university in 1957.) By 1967, Polycarp appeared in Lafayette-area parades driving a restored 1935 International Harvester vegetable truck, dubbed by KATC the "Poly-Car" (a play on the Cajun French pronunciation of "Polycarp"). In 1976, the producer J. D. "Jay" Miller of Crowley, Louisiana, issued a 45rpm record on his Yule Time record label of Polycarp reading "The Night Before Christmas". Theme song Polycarp's eponymous theme song (rendered "Polycarp Phillip Pecot #II" on the 45rpm record label) was recorded in 1966 by the local swamp pop musician Johnnie Allan to the tune of The McCoys' 1965 Number 1 hit song "Hang On Sloopy". Broadcast schedule In spring 1969, Polycarp and Pals was broadcast for one hour each weekday and Saturday beginning at 7am CST (although on some weekdays it ran for an hour and a half, ending at 8:30am). There is some evidence that a short-lived spin-off program, The Polycarp Palace, was broadcast on Tuesdays from 3:30 to 5:50pm beginning in October 1967. Footnotes 1932 births 1978 deaths Fictional Cajuns American television personalities Male television personalities People from Lafayette, Louisiana