Lineman Bubba Bellais enjoys shrimping, boxing

Herman “Bubba” Bellais spends his workdays troubleshooting as an electric service lineman in Biloxi.

It’s something he’s wanted to do since he was a child.

“I was always interested in electricity,” said Bellais, pronounced “buh-lie.”

“I remember watching two company bucket trucks work on a pole in front of my home and I watched them from start to finish. I was around eight years old.”

He eventually entered the field 19 years ago, with the last nine years on the job at Mississippi Power.

“I provide service to commercial and residential customers,” he said. “Interacting with customers is easily the most interesting aspect of my work.”

For Bellais, life is quite interesting away from the job as well. He and his wife Kacee have four children — Caitlin (16), Koby (15), Laini (15) and Christian (12).

“If I’m indoors, I’ll be watching the Saints play football,” Bellais added. “I’m also an amateur boxer.”

His record as a boxer is an impressive 11-1, although he says “most of those wins were when I was younger.”

He noted that his one loss was against a 22-year-old fighter. “And it was a very convincing loss,” he said.

Bellais enjoys spending time with his family on the water, especially on his shrimp boat named “Miss Virginia.”

Shrimp season opened on June 6, so it’s a good bet he’ll be on the water more often, provided things go smoothly.

“One time another shrimp boat ran over my net,” he said. “It took three hours to get it untangled. Another time I caught a 400-pound barge bumper in the ship channel.”