The Louisiana Sports Writers Association

RUSTON — In his Hall of Fame sports writing career, O.K. “Buddy” Davis wrote countless thousands of stories, many which earned him awards and all which earned him affection from those he covered in Lincoln Parish, and far beyond.

It was a two-way love affair. As much as his subjects treasured the tales Davis typed for publication over a half-century in the Ruston Daily Leader, Buddy savored the chances to spotlight them and built lifelong friendships along the way.

Almost six years to the day after a debilitating stroke in July 2013 – which slowed, but certainly did not halt, his prolific content output — Davis passed away this summer at age 72. Even considering his incredible legacy, it turned out he saved his most remarkable story for last.

His estate has donated over a half-million dollars to causes dear to Davis. The list of recipients is headed by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, which will receive $100,000 to support the six-year-old, 27,000-square feet, world-class Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum at 800 Front Street in Natchitoches.

He also willed monetary gifts to the Eddie G. Robinson Museum on the Grambling campus, Louisiana Tech Athletics, and other Ruston-based entities: the Louisiana Methodist Children’s Home, the North Louisiana Military Museum, the Ruston High School Alumni Association, and 4 Paws Rescue.

Recently, Buddy’s longtime friend Rick Hohlt, the former Ruston Daily Leader publisher, joined several Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame members and family members, along with LSHOF Foundation officials and sports writing companions of Davis, as a $94,500 check was presented from the estate. The remainder of the gift will be completed next spring.

It is the second-largest individual gift ever to the Hall of Fame Foundation, said Hall of Fame chairman Doug Ireland.

Davis, himself enshrined in the LSHOF as a 2009 recipient of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism, became a legendary figure far beyond Lincoln Parish in his 55-year writing career based in Ruston.  He covered everything from the Olympics to NBA All-Star Games, Super Bowls, Final Fours and T-ball tournaments. He crafted tens of thousands of bylined stories, winning well over 100 awards in national, regional and statewide contests.

He was named Mr. Louisiana Basketball by the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches in 2010. In 2013, he was inducted in the Louisiana Tech Athletics Hall of Fame and was named the University’s College of Liberal Arts Alumnus of the Year (he graduated in 1969). Davis was honored by the Ark-La-Tex Museum of Champions. He earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Football Writers Association of America, and was recipient of the LSWA’s highest honor, the Mac Russo Award, and held a Life Membership from that organization. Davis was a Hall of Fame selection committee member since the panel’s inception in the mid-1970s and remained engaged until his passing.

Already a part-time member of the Ruston Daily Leader staff while in college, he became sports editor after graduating and never left, despite several appealing offers to move up in the sports journalism world. He wrote stories for several national publications, including Basketball Times and Sports Illustrated, but had no desire to leave his hometown, his friends and family, and the remarkable sports landscape in Lincoln Parish.

“It was my job – and it was my pleasure. I made special friends for life, doing what I was supposed to do,” Davis told his acclaimed LSWA friend, Marty Mule, for a chapter in Mule’s 2013 book “Game Changers – The Rousing Legacy of Louisiana Sports.” Davis and trailblazing African-American sports journalist R.L. Stockard of Baton Rouge were the only two non-athletes featured among 78 chapters penned by Mule’.

Davis was extremely proud, and amazed, that 57 of the 433 members of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame hailed from his home parish, including athletes, coaches and staff at Grambling and Louisiana Tech (four more are among the Hall’s Class of 2020). Each time that number grew, he took out an ad in the Hall of Fame commemorative program welcoming the newest star he had covered, and listing all of the others.

Ten of those attended or were represented at the check presentation, with many others sending regrets due to schedule conflicts or other obligations.

Taking part were LSHOF members Leon Barmore, Fred Dean, Aaron James, Bert Jones, Keith Prince and Willis Reed. Barmore and Reed are enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Dean is part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Family members attending were Dr. Pat Garrett, representing his father “Hoss,” the great Ruston High football coach; Nan McJamerson, niece of the Grambling basketball coaching legend Fred Hobdy; Betty Lou Robertson, representing her late husband, former Tech and NBA basketball coach Scotty Robertson; and Eddie Robinson III, on behalf of his grandfather, Grambling’s iconic “Coach Rob,” who Davis considered “like a father to me.”

Also on hand were Buddy’s colleague and successor at the Ruston Daily Leader, Scott Boatwright, and his dear friend Teddy Allen of Louisiana Tech, along with LSHOF Foundation CEO/President Ronnie Rantz, Gracen McDonald of the LSHOF Foundation, and Ireland.

The gathering was held in the O.K. “Buddy” Davis Media Room at Tech’s Joe Aillet Stadium. The area was named for him at the outset of the 2017 football season. The room’s large rear wall, measuring 12 feet tall by 40 feet wide, includes five panels of photos, each panel representing a decade and documenting Buddy’s career with photos of Lincoln Parish competitors he covered, some with personal inscriptions.

Davis’s career is already documented in the inductee data base at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame museum. A special acknowledgement of his gift will be added in the shrine, which he was thrilled to see in its grand opening at the end of June 2013, just two weeks before he was stricken at his home in Ruston.

NATCHITOCHES – Five-time NFL Most Valuable Player Peyton Manning and former LSU football coach Les Miles, who won 77 percent of his games and a national championship in 11 seasons with the Tigers, join five-time USA Olympic volleyball standout Danielle Scott among a star-studded group of eight 2019 competitive ballot inductees chosen for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

The LSHOF Class of 2019 also includes championship coaches Roger Cador (Southern University baseball) and Charles Smith (Alexandria-Peabody Magnet high school basketball), Louisiana Tech quarterback and Canadian Football League Hall of Fame member Matt Dunigan, along with LSU football great Max Fugler, an All-American on the Tigers’ 1958 national championship team, and T. B. “T. Berry” Porter , a member of the Rodeo Hall of Fame.

Manning, a New Orleans native, will join his father, Archie, a 1988 inductee, in the state sports shrine. They will become only the third father/son duo in the Hall, preceded by the Ruston combination of NFL stars Dub (1982) and Bert (1986) Jones, and the Baton Rouge duo of track greats Glenn “Slats” Hardin (1962) and his son Billy (1998).

A pair of 2018 LSHOF inductees, receivers Reggie Wayne and Brandon Stokley, were Manning’s teammates with the Indianapolis Colts, and the trio helped the Colts win Super Bowl XLI. Manning capped his career with another Super Bowl title, with Denver, in Super Bowl 50.

Miles will be the seventh former LSU football coach enshrined, joining Gaynell Tinsley (1959), Bernie Moore (1963), Biff Jones (1966), Jerry Stovall (1981), Charlie McClendon (1982) and Paul Dietzel (1988).

Scott, a Baton Rouge native, will become the Hall of Fame’s first volleyball inductee. She claimed silver medals at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics with Team USA and is a member of the International Volleyball Hall of Fame.

Porter, 91, is the first rodeo competitor selected for the state hall. Smith, 69 as he approaches his 34th season at Peabody, is on pace to become the winningest high school basketball coach in state history if he maintains his current pace for a couple more seasons.

The Class of 2019 will be enshrined Saturday, June 8, in Natchitoches to culminate the 60th Anniversary Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Celebration June 6-8.

The 2019 Induction Class will be showcased in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum, operated by the Louisiana State Museum system in a partnership with the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. The striking two-story, 27,500-square foot structure faces Cane River Lake in the National Historic Landmark District of Natchitoches and has garnered worldwide architectural acclaim and rave reviews for its contents since its grand opening during the 2013 Hall of Fame induction weekend.

A 35-member Louisiana Sports Writers Association committee selected the 2019 inductees. The panel considered a record 145 nominees from 30 different sport categories on a 31-page ballot, said Hall of Fame chairman Doug Ireland.

The eight new competitive ballot inductees will raise the total of Hall of Fame members to 350 competitors honored since the first induction class — baseball’s Mel Ott, world champion boxer Tony Canzoneri and LSU football great Gaynell Tinsley — were enshrined in 1959 after their election a year earlier.

Also to be spotlighted next summer will be three other Hall of Fame inductees, the winner of the 2019 Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award and the recipients of the 2019 Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism presented by the LSWA. 

The complete 11-person Class of 2019 will bring the membership in the Hall of Fame to 433 men and women, including 19 Dixon Award winners and 64 sports journalists.

The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame already includes 18 Pro Football Hall of Fame members, 18 Olympic medalists including 11 gold medal winners, 10 members of the Basketball Hall of Fame, seven of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players, six National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees, 37 College Football Hall of Fame members, nine National High School Hall of Fame enshrinees, jockeys with a combined 16 Triple Crown victories, six world boxing champions, seven Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinees, seven College Baseball Hall of Fame inductees, 10 College Basketball Hall of Fame members, four NBA Finals MVPs, four winners of major professional golf championships, four National Museum of (Thoroughbred) Racing and Hall of Fame inductees and two Super Bowl MVPs.

Biographical information on all 422 current Hall of Fame members is available at the LaSportsHall.com website, with a steady stream of info available at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Facebook page and the @LaSportsHall twitter account.

One of the NFL’s all-time greats while winning Associated Press NFL MVP honors in 2003-04, 2007, 2009, and 2013, Manning held league records with 71,940 passing yards, 539 touchdown passes and 43 fourth-quarter comebacks going into the 2018 season. He also held league single-season records with 5,477 passing yards and 55 TDs, achieving both in 2013.

He was a 14-time Pro Bowl pick and seven-time AP first-team All-Pro selection in his 17-year career. He played 13 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, who made him the No. 1 overall pick of the 1998 draft out of Tennessee, and completed his career with a four-year stint with the Denver Broncos.

Manning won two Super Bowl rings when the Colts beat the Chicago Bears (XLI) and the Broncos downed the Carolina Panthers in the 50th anniversary Super Bowl in what was the final game of a career that spanned from 1998 to 2015. He also guided the Colts to Super Bowl XLIV where they lost to the New Orleans Saints.

He was voted Super Bowl XLI MVP after leading the Colts to a 29-17 win over the Bears on a rainy night in Miami. He was the AP Offensive Player of the Year in 2004 and 2013, won the 2005 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award for excellence on and off the field, and was the league’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2012 after missing the entire 2011 season because of a series of neck surgeries that nearly ended his career.

Manning won 27 weekly AFC Player of the Week awards during his illustrious career. He played in 266 games with 265 starts and had a 186-79 record as a starter. He also appeared in 27 postseason games, going 14-13 and throwing for 7,339 yards and 40 TDs.

After an All-State and prep All-America career at Newman HS in his hometown of New Orleans, Manning piled up 11,201 career passing yards from 1994-97 at the University of Tennessee while completing 62.5 percent of his passes with 89 TDs and only 33 interceptions. He was the SEC Player of the Year and a consensus All-American in his senior season in 1997, and a street near Neyland Stadium was renamed Peyton Manning Pass in his honor.

After following Nick Saban as LSU’s coach in 2005, the affable Miles continued a pattern of sustained success for the program for the next 11-plus seasons in compiling a record of 114-34 (77.0 percent). With his 114 victories at LSU, Miles, who has an overall career record of 142-55 as a college head coach, is the second-winningest coach in LSU history behind only Charlie McClendon’s 137 wins in 18 seasons.

Miles is the only coach in LSU history to beat Auburn, Florida and Alabama in same season — which he did three times — and in 2005, he became the first first-year coach in Southeastern Conference history to lead a team to the league’s title game.

The consensus national coach of the year in 2011 when he guided his team to a 13-0 mark and a berth in the BCS title game before losing to Alabama, Miles led the Tigers to the BCS title in 2007 and also won two SEC titles (2007, 2011). From 2005-15, LSU averaged 10 victories a year with seven double-digit win seasons and won more games than any other SEC school.

Miles, whose team was ranked No. 1 in the AP poll for 11 consecutive weeks in 2011, had a 62-28 SEC regular-season record with nine winning seasons of five victories or more and had only one losing season in league play (3-5 in 2008). He won 16 times against coaches who had won a national championship. Under his direction, LSU was 7-4 in bowl games and overall won 10 or more games a school-record seven times.

Miles led LSU to five top-10 finishes (three in the top five) and during that time produced 22 first-team All-Americans and had players claim 11 national awards. LSU also led the SEC with 69 NFL Draft picks in that span — which included 13 first-round selections. LSU led the nation with nine draft picks in 2014, a year after setting the school record with nine in 2013. In 2015, LSU topped the NFL with 40 players on opening-day rosters. Miles helped LSU rank second in the SEC in graduation rates in two of his final four seasons.

Scott was a key member of Team USA for an unprecedented five consecutive Olympics (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012). She earned a spot on the USA Volleyball elite team for 19 years, competing in more than 400 matches and winning 20 medals — including the two Olympic silvers.

She is one of only four male or female volleyball players from any nation to compete in five Olympics. She is one of only four male or female volleyball players from any nation to compete in five Olympics. Scott was voted the world’s top professional player in 2001, midway through a career that spanned two decades. Between 2000 and 2009, she earned the top blocker award five times during international competition and was voted the FIVB MVP in 2001. She played professionally for clubs in Japan, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Italy.

Scott starred in basketball, volleyball, track and softball at Woodlawn High in Baton Rouge, winning multiple all-state honors in basketball and volleyball and earning the LVCA’s MVP in 1989-90, and also was an indoor track champion in the shot put. Scott played basketball, volleyball and competed in track and field at Long Beach State, becoming the first female athlete to earn first-team all-conference honors in both basketball and her specialty.

At Long Beach, Scott led her squad to an NCAA title in volleyball in 1993 and was the voted the Honda and AVCA National Player of the Year.

Cador became one of the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s top all-time coaches in any sport while leading the baseball team at his alma mater, Southern University, for 33 seasons (1985-2017). He compiled a career record of 913-597-1 (.604) in leading Southern to 14 conference titles and 11 NCAA tournaments.

In one of the milestones of his career, on May 21, 1987, Cador guided the Jaguars to a stunning 1-0 upset of No. 2-ranked Cal State Fullerton, which was the top seed for the NCAA South II Regional at UNO. It was the first time an HBCU school won an NCAA tournament game.

Cador added two more NCAA tournament victories en route to posting a dozen 30-win seasons. He coached 10 All-Americans and had 62 players chosen in the Major League Baseball draft. Under Cador’s tutelage, second baseman Rickie Weeks, a two-time NCAA batting champion, won the 2003 Golden Spikes Award as college baseball’s top player and was the second overall pick in the draft by the Milwaukee Brewers.

In 33 seasons at the helm of the Peabody Magnet boys high school basketball program, Smith has had remarkable success with a 1,008-176 (.851) career record after becoming just the fourth boys basketball coach in Louisiana history to win 1,000 games while claiming his fourth state runner-up finish in 2017-18. Smith has led the Warhorses to seven state titles (1991, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2012, and 2017) and three other runner-up finishes (1990, 2011, 2013), and was an assistant on the school’s first state championship team in 1979.

His teams have won 28 district championships, including 19 in a row in a streak that ended in 2014. Smith has guided Peabody to the Top 28 18 times, has never lost in the first round of the playoffs, and has won at least 22 games every season since 1988. He was named the LSWA’s Coach of the Year four times, most recently in 2016-17, and ESPN’s National Coach of the Year in 2010. His 2004 and 2010 teams went undefeated and finished the year nationally ranked. More than 60 of his players have earned athletic scholarships in his three-decade career.

A 2006 CFL Hall of Fame inductee, Dunigan piled up big numbers in college (1979-82) and during a 14-year career in the CFL (1983-96). He broke nine Louisiana Tech school records, including Terry Bradshaw’s mark for passing yards with 7,042 (which now ranks fourth in school history), and was a Kodak/AP Division I-AA All-America pick as a senior when he threw for 2,843 yards and 23 TDs.

During his CFL career with six teams (Edmonton, British Columbia, Toronto, Winnipeg, Birmingham and Hamilton), he threw for 43,857 yards and 306 touchdowns and rushed for 5,031 yards and 77 TDs – accounting for 48,888 total yards and 383 TDs. He ranks second in CFL history in TD passes, third in passing yards (43,857), third in attempts (5,476) and third in completions (3,057). He ranks fourth all-time in rushing TDs (77) and is fifth in rushing yards by a quarterback (5,031).

The native Texan holds the CFL single-game passing mark, throwing for 713 yards and five TDs in leading Winnipeg to a 50-35 win over Edmonton on July 14, 1994. A three-time All-CFL pick (1985, ‘88 and ‘95), he is the only quarterback to lead four different teams to the Grey Cup. He guided his teams to six Grey Cup appearances, winning in 1987 for Edmonton and in 1991 for Toronto.

Fugler was an All-America center and interior defensive lineman for LSU’s 1958 national championship team. The 6-foot-1, 201-pound Ferriday product was a stalwart on the famed White Team. He was an outstanding blocker on offense who played more minutes than any other player on the unbeaten squad coached by Dietzel.

Fugler made two key tackles on the goal line to preserve a 14-0 win over Ole Miss that season and was named national lineman of the week for his efforts against the Rebels that night. He was one of the stars of LSU’s first national championship in football along with Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inductees Billy Cannon, Johnny Robinson, Tommy Davis and Dietzel as well as assistant coaches Charlie McClendon and Carl Maddox.

He earned the Iron Man Award during the 1958 championship season, leading the team in averaging more than 35 minutes of playing time a game. He was one of two centers selected to the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s all-time Louisiana collegiate team that was picked on the 100th anniversary of college football in 1969.

Fugler was an all-state pick and Ferriday High’s first All-American for LSHOF coach Johnny “Red” Robertson, helping build a state-record 54-game winning streak. During Fugler’s five years on the team (he played as an eighth grader), Ferriday won four state championships and lost just four games in that stretch. Fugler played on high school and college teams that combined to go 68-8 while he was a member of those teams. He was an eighth-round pick (94th overall) of the San Francisco 49ers, but his career ended in his rookie season after a serious knee injury.

Inducted in 2015 in the Rodeo Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Porter was Louisiana’s first professional rodeo cowboy. The Leesville native began rodeoing in the early 1940s and at the age of 16 became a member of the first professional cowboy association in the country, the Cowboy Turtle Association, that developed into the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (he holds PRCA membership card no. 325).

At 22, Porter won the 1949 World Champion Calf Roper title at Madison Square Garden, presented his trophy saddle by Gene Autry after becoming the first world championship “rookie” to win the title. He quickly added the calf roping title at the 1949 World Rodeo in Boston in front of 6,000.

In 1959, Porter became the first Louisiana cowboy to participate in the inaugural National Finals Rodeo. He was a member of the Wrangler Rodeo Team in the early 1950s, and was spotlighted in a promotional handout placed in every pair of jeans put on sale. His career earnings were over $100,000 in 22 years. In 1978, the PRCA presented him with his gold membership card and a plaque in appreciation of his promotion of the sport of rodeo at the high school, collegiate and pro levels.

BIOS: 2019 Induction Class

The 2019 Induction Celebration will kick off Thursday, June 6 with a press conference and reception. The three-day festivities include two receptions, a youth sports clinic, a bowling party, and a Friday night riverbank concert in Natchitoches. Tickets for the Induction Dinner and Ceremony, along with congratulatory advertising and sponsorship opportunities, will be available early in 2019 through the LaSportsHall.com website.

Anyone can receive quarterly e-mails about the 2019 Induction Celebration and other Hall of Fame news by signing up on the LaSportsHall.com website.

Adding to the 342 sports competitors currently enshrined, 18 winners of the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership award and 62 recipients of the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism,  there are 422 current members of the Hall of Fame before next summer’s inductions.

The 2019 Induction Celebration weekend will be hosted by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, the support organization for the Hall of Fame.  The LSHOF Foundation was established as a 501 c 3 non-profit entity in 1975 and is governed by a statewide 25-member board of directors.  For information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Foundation President/CEO Ronnie Rantz at 225-802-6040 or RonnieRantz@LaSportsHall.com.  Standard and customized sponsorships are available.

Obituary for Karl Thibodeaux

NATCHITOCHES – With the 2017 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Celebration approaching June 22-24, the annual Hall of Fame Golf Classic has sold out, while reservations are still available for the Friday night Tailgating party and the Saturday night Induction Dinner and Ceremony.

Registration remains open for those events and for the Saturday morning New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans Junior Training Camp, which is free but does require a completed participation waiver form to be completed. Registration of boys and girls ages 6-16 is available online atLaSportsHall.com.

Admission for the Friday night Tailgating Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Style party inside The Landing Restaurant on Front Street in Natchitoches is $75. That includes an array of food and refreshments, entertainment and exclusive access to the 2017 Hall of Fame Induction Class.

The fee to attend the Saturday night Induction Dinner and Ceremony at the Natchitoches Events Center is also $75. It includes a pre-dinner reception starting at 5, with the ceremony kicking off at 6 and a lavish served dinner prior to the induction activities.

Reservations for those events can be made at LaSportsHall.com/purchase. They can also be made by calling operations assistant Ronnette Pellegrin at 318-332-8539.
Friday evening, the Hall of Fame Celebration also includes a free Block Party on the 500 block of Front Street outside the Landing Restaurant from 6-10, featuring two popular south Louisiana musical acts, Parish County Line and Chase Tyler Band. Along with the music, vendors will have food and drinks for sale, and there will be activities for children including Saints’ and Pelicans’ experiences.

A fireworks show over Cane River Lake downtown will take place shortly after dark, about 9:15, after the 2017 Induction Class is introduced on the stage outside The Landing.

LSU’s David Toms, whose 13 PGA Tour golf wins include a major championship, is joined by nine-time Pro Bowl football star Ed Reed, three-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Calvin Borel, and World Series champ Juan Pierre headlining eight competitive ballot inductees chosen for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

LSU has a heavy impact in the Class of 2017. Two more Tiger heroes, football and track great Eddie Kennison and iconic gymnastics coach D-D Breaux, are included along with Raymond Didier, who has impressive LSU credentials coupled with coaching feats at Nicholls and UL Lafayette. Rounding out the class is Southeastern Louisiana basketball legend C.A. Core. Core and Didier will be inducted posthumously.

Sue Donohoe, a Pineville native and former Louisiana Tech graduate assistant basketball coach who remains one of the college game’s most accomplished administrators of all time, will receive the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award. Also honored with enshrinement will be New Orleans Saints radio play-by-play man Jim Henderson and Lafayette sports media giant Dan McDonald, chosen as the 2017 recipients of the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism.

The 2017 Induction Celebration will kick off Thursday, June 22 with the La Capitol Kickoff Reception, a free event at Maglieux’s Riverfront Restaurant. The sold-out Golf Classic is set Friday, June 23 at OakWing Golf Club in Alexandria.

The 2017 Induction Celebration weekend will be hosted by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, the support organization for the Hall of Fame. The LSHOF Foundation was established as a 501 c 3 non-profit entity in 1975 and is governed by a statewide board of directors. For information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Foundation President/CEO Ronnie Rantz at 225-802-6040 or RonnieRantz@LaSportsHall.com. Standard and customized sponsorships are available.

NATCHITOCHES – With the 2017 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Celebration approaching June 22-24, the annual Hall of Fame Golf Classic has sold out, while reservations are still available for the Friday night Tailgating party and the Saturday night Induction Dinner and Ceremony.

Registration remains open for those events and for the Saturday morning New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans Junior Training Camp, which is free but does require a completed participation waiver form to be completed. Registration of boys and girls ages 6-16 is available online atLaSportsHall.com.

Admission for the Friday night Tailgating Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Style party inside The Landing Restaurant on Front Street in Natchitoches is $75. That includes an array of food and refreshments, entertainment and exclusive access to the 2017 Hall of Fame Induction Class.

The fee to attend the Saturday night Induction Dinner and Ceremony at the Natchitoches Events Center is also $75. It includes a pre-dinner reception starting at 5, with the ceremony kicking off at 6 and a lavish served dinner prior to the induction activities.

Reservations for those events can be made at LaSportsHall.com/purchase. They can also be made by calling operations assistant Ronnette Pellegrin at 318-332-8539.
Friday evening, the Hall of Fame Celebration also includes a free Block Party on the 500 block of Front Street outside the Landing Restaurant from 6-10, featuring two popular south Louisiana musical acts, Parish County Line and Chase Tyler Band. Along with the music, vendors will have food and drinks for sale, and there will be activities for children including Saints’ and Pelicans’ experiences.

A fireworks show over Cane River Lake downtown will take place shortly after dark, about 9:15, after the 2017 Induction Class is introduced on the stage outside The Landing.

LSU’s David Toms, whose 13 PGA Tour golf wins include a major championship, is joined by nine-time Pro Bowl football star Ed Reed, three-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Calvin Borel, and World Series champ Juan Pierre headlining eight competitive ballot inductees chosen for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

LSU has a heavy impact in the Class of 2017. Two more Tiger heroes, football and track great Eddie Kennison and iconic gymnastics coach D-D Breaux, are included along with Raymond Didier, who has impressive LSU credentials coupled with coaching feats at Nicholls and UL Lafayette. Rounding out the class is Southeastern Louisiana basketball legend C.A. Core. Core and Didier will be inducted posthumously.

Sue Donohoe, a Pineville native and former Louisiana Tech graduate assistant basketball coach who remains one of the college game’s most accomplished administrators of all time, will receive the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award. Also honored with enshrinement will be New Orleans Saints radio play-by-play man Jim Henderson and Lafayette sports media giant Dan McDonald, chosen as the 2017 recipients of the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism.

The 2017 Induction Celebration will kick off Thursday, June 22 with the La Capitol Kickoff Reception, a free event at Maglieux’s Riverfront Restaurant. The sold-out Golf Classic is set Friday, June 23 at OakWing Golf Club in Alexandria.

The 2017 Induction Celebration weekend will be hosted by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, the support organization for the Hall of Fame. The LSHOF Foundation was established as a 501 c 3 non-profit entity in 1975 and is governed by a statewide board of directors. For information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Foundation President/CEO Ronnie Rantz at 225-802-6040 or RonnieRantz@LaSportsHall.com. Standard and customized sponsorships are available.

BATON ROUGE – R.L. “Russell” Stockard, a trailblazing sportswriter and historian who was a 2008 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inductee, passed Saturday morning at age 92 after battling cancer.

Stockard is believed to have been the first African-American to have a byline and a photo as a sportswriter for a mainstream major daily paper in the country, at the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat in 1953.

He broke the color line in Louisiana sportswriting circles when he joined the staff of the Baton Rouge State-Times in 1954, and was there until joining the New Orleans States-Item staff where his work appeared from 1960-74.

He was the first sports information director (1959-64) at Southern University in Baton Rouge, where he also taught classes as he did SID work for no additional pay. He became the first public relations director and SID for the Southwestern Athletic Conference, serving in those roles from 1985-92, and worked as the SWAC’s initial NCAA compliance officer from 1990-93.

In 1965, he was a key player in bringing about the first recorded integrated high school basketball game in state history, an event between New Orleans’ all-black St. Augustine High School and all-white Jesuit High, commemorated in the 1999 television movie “Passing Glory.”

He was one of five men, including Hall of Fame members coach Eddie Robinson and Grambling SID Collie J. Nicholson, who helped create the annual Bayou Classic football battle between in-state rivals Southern and Grambling held in New Orleans each year since 1974.

A World War II veteran in Europe, Stockard had master’s degrees from LSU, Tulane and Florida A&M, after earning his undergraduate degree in historical geography at Tennessee State in his hometown of Nashville. He went to work in the federal government in Washington, D.C., then taught for several years at Florida A&M before coming to teach at Southern.

“I’ve led a blessed life. I was always able to do what I wanted to do. You could write a script, and it still would never turn out this good,” he once said.

His wife, Mary Thomas Stockard, said he was very modest.

“A lot of people would call and want to talk about some of the things he had done, but he didn’t go around boasting. He just though so highly of all of the people he worked with,” she said.

“He really cherished his friendships. There were a lot of people who considered him a close friend and he felt that way about them.”

Along with receiving the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association and being enshrined in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2008, Stockard was enshrined in the Greater New Orleans/Allstate Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame in his adopted hometown of New Orleans. In 2009, he was recognized with a National Association of Black Journalists’ Sports Task Force Sam Lacy Pioneer Award.

“Russell Stockard has a complete knowledge of sports. He has dedicated his life to it. If I had to recommend anyone to speak about sports, it would be Russell,” said the late Buddy Dilberto, the iconic New Orleans broadcaster and writer who was the 2005 recipient of the LSWA’s Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism.

In 2005, then an adjunct professor of geography at Southern-New Orleans, Stockard was stranded in his Ninth Ward home for two days during Hurricane Katrina. At age 80, he walked more than two miles to the top of the I-10 high rise bridge, and was eventually evacuated from the Superdome.

The hurricane did not decimate his remarkable collection of sports memorabilia and historical information compiled during his more than 50 years of involvement in state sports. After Katrina, he moved his family back to Baton Rouge, where he passed after spending his final days in hospice care.

Stockard also wrote for the Baton Rouge News-Leader, Louisiana Weekly and the Black Collegian magazine.

Funeral service plans were not immediately available.

By Roy Lang III

Written for the Louisiana Sports Writers Association

“Louisiana Pride.”

The first two words of Dak Prescott’s Twitter bio are simple, yet fitting for the Sulphur-born, Haughton-raised quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.

“Home” is where Prescott developed the poise, competitiveness and skills used to become one of the greatest rookie stories in NFL history.

His career at Haughton was outstanding, the time at Mississippi State legendary – but Prescott’s rookie season with the Cowboys was simply amazing.

After longtime starter Tony Romo went down with a serious back injury two weeks before the start of the season, Prescott -- a fourth-round draft pick (eighth quarterback selected) – led Dallas to a 13-3 record (Cowboys were 4-12 in 2015) and the NFC’s No. 1 seed and set NFL rookie records in the process.

The unforeseen rookie breakthrough earned Prescott the 2016 Louisiana Sports Writers AssociationHeadliner of the Year honors. Members of the LSWA voted on the award, and Prescott nearly doubled the total (136-73) of the runner-up, new LSU football coach Ed Orgeron.

Prescott led the NFC with a 104.9 quarterback rating – an all-time NFL rookie record. He tossed 23 touchdowns, four interceptions and added six rushing scores. He was selected to the Pro Bowl and started for the NFC in Orlando, Florida, on Jan. 29.

“Unbelievable to think just a few years ago he was playing for the Bucs,” Rodney Guin, Prescott’s head coach at Haughton, said. “I’m just happy to see a guy that was sold short so many times make it to the top.’’

Louisiana is where Prescott’s relentlessness was instilled by a mother, Peggy, who did everything she could for her three sons. It’s where a toughness and a will to win was emblazoned by efforts to be just like those two monstrous older brothers, Jace and Tad. Prescott’s love for “ball,” and a taste of stardom were born here, too.

“Nobody can teach that,” he said. “Life just hits you. You learn to take that and move on,” said Prescott, whose mother lost a battle with cancer while he was at Mississippi State. He wears No. 4 for the Cowboys to honor her birthday.

The 6-foot-2, 226-pound Prescott was selected with the 135th overall pick in April and immediately battled Jameill Showers for the Cowboys’ third-string quarterback position and a spot on the team.

Strong preseason camps solidified Prescott position on the roster, and an injury to Kellen Moore, Romo’s backup, pushed the 23-year-old to No. 2. When Romo was injured in the penultimate preseason game, Cowboys Nation was left with one option.

Prescott remained unfazed.

“I liked him from the day he got here,” Cowboys veteran tight end Jason Witten said. “We’ve had a good relationship. The best thing he’s done is how he’s handled every situation within the communication side of it -- to be able to make all the calls and checks at the line. For him to be able to handle those situations with confidence and conviction – you gain the respect of the locker room. That’s earned. Nobody can give you that regardless of what your talent level is.”

Dallas owner Jerry Jones has never been shy about his affection and respect for Romo, but even he couldn’t help jumping aboard the Prescott bandwagon.

“Amazing you can get that kind of confidence,” Jerry Jones said. “Among the coaching staff and teammates, there was a groundswell of confidence in him. He just sold everybody. Frankly, there was an inordinate feeling of confidence going into the first game that shouldn’t have been there.”

Prescott never fell victim to a learning curve. He set an NFL record for most pass attempts (176) without an interception to begin a career. The mark was previously held by Tom Brady.

After a season-opening loss to the New York Giants, Prescott and Co. rattled off 11 straight victories and 13 wins in 14 games.

Prescott, who matched Ben Roethlisberger’s NFL record for 13 wins as a rookie quarterback, posted the best completion percentage (67.8), touchdown-interception ratio, and passer rating by any rookie in NFL history.

“He’s a true professional,” said Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne, a former Fair Park star who had memorable battles with Prescott in high school. “He’s not pretending to be anybody, he just came in and has been himself since the day he walked in. He’s a good kid. I take my hat off to him.”

2016 HEADLINER OF THE YEAR VOTING

(First-place votes in parentheses)

1, Dak Prescott (15)         136

2, Ed Orgeron (8)              73

3, LSU Gymnastics Team (2)        38

4, Les Miles (3)  37

5, Grambling Football (2)              36

6, Anthony Davis (1)       23

tie, Drew Brees 23

8, Ben Simmons                16

9, Lexie Elkins (1)              15

10, Glenn Cecchini           8

Also receiving votes: LSU Softball Team 6, Louisiana Tech Football Team 5, Michael Thomas (1) 5, Xavier Men’s Tennis Team 4, Louisiana Tech Baseball Team 2, Leonard Fournette 1, Jarrius Robertson 1.

PREVIOUS WINNERS

2015 – Leonard Fournette

2014 – Odell Beckham Jr.

2013 – Peyton Manning

2012 – Tom Benson

2011 – Drew Brees

2010 – New Orleans Saints

2009 – Drew Brees

2008 – Chris Paul

2007 – LSU football team

2006 – New Orleans Saints

2005 – New Orleans Saints

2004 – Nick Saban

2003 – LSU football team

2002 – New Orleans Hornets

2001 – David Toms

2000 – Jim Haslett, Randy Mueller

1999 – Peyton Manning

Peter Finney, the sports 'journalistic voice' of New Orleans, dies at 88, funeral Aug. 20

Published: Saturday, August 13, 2016

By: Ted Lewis

Peter Finney, a New Orleans sportswriting institution for almost seven decades, died Saturday at his home in the same city in which he was born. He was 88.

2016 LSWA Convention/Hall of Fame Weekend Schedule

Convention Schedule

THURSDAY, JUNE 23

2:45 p.m. – 2016 Inductee Press Conference – Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum

                Approximately 5 p.m. – La Capitol Federal Credit Union Welcome Reception -- Natchitoches welcomes inductees and their families with a lively evening featuring local cuisine and entertainment. No charge/open to public. Location - Maglieaux’s On The Cane which is directly across the street from the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum at 800 Front Street.

7 p.m. – Hospitality Room Opens at Comfort Suites for LSWA members.

                (As an added bonus event this year – members will enjoy watching Kent Lowe sweat out the opening minutes of the 2016 NBA Draft.).

FRIDAY, JUNE 24

11 a.m. -- Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Golf Tournament presented by Cleco. Noon introductions and tee time. Each team will be paired with a celebrity golf captain. Registration closes on Tuesday, June 21 or when the tournament sells out. (LSWA Members interested in playing should contact Doug Ireland on this event and will take care of your payment at the Golf Course on tournament day.)

10 a.m. – Hotel Hospitality Room Opens. Will be open on and off throughout the day.

7-10 p.m. -- “Tailgating Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Style” … This is a fun, casual evening with current and past year inductees featuring multiple tailgate food stations, specialty cocktails and beer, highlights of current and past inductees, a silent auction, and musical entertainment. Get ready to shake your tailgate! Historic Landing Restaurant/Natchitoches. Fireworks start at9:45 p.m. - at south end of Church Street Bridge near the Landing Restaurant.

SATURDAY, JUNE 25

10 a.m. – Annual “SO LSWA MEMBERS CAN SAY THEY COVERED SOMETHING WHILE HERE” – Natchitoches Championship Sat. - Jr. Training Camps … NSU Wellness & Recreational Complex @ 322 Sam Sibley Drive … This youth event for ages 6-16 will provide insight on how to be a champion on and off the field as inductees share their personal stories of what is required to be a success in all aspects of life. The New Orleans Saints and Pelicans Jr. Training Camps will both be available along with personal interaction with current and past year inductees. The New Orleans Saints and Pelicans Jr. Training Camps will provide the opportunity to participate in the same drills used in NFL & NBA training camps. 

Sponsored by – Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office.

11 a.m. – LSWA Lunch/Business Meeting – Lasyone’s, 622 2nd St … “Darn Right I’m Getting My Meat Pies before I battle the LSWA constitution” … The final hours of the Brent St. Germain presidency will hang in the balance at this meeting. All convention types are invited then spouses can be sent with the credit card shopping and hopefully the meeting won’t last long enough to bend the credit card … 

5 p.m. – The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies – Natchitoches Events Center … 750 2nd St … Reception/Silent Auction. Attire: Business. Coat and tie for the gentlemen and dress for women is appropriate.

6 p.m. – Induction Dinner and Ceremony which begins with National Anthem, followed by Walk of Legends, dinner and presentation of inductees. 

HOSPITALITY ROOM at the Comfort Suites will be open during the day and after the Hall of Fame event.

SUNDAY, JUNE 26

11 a.m. – LSWA Awards Brunch – The Landing 530 First Street (upstairs)

                The awards in sports writing for 2015 in the state and the sports information awards for 2015-16 are presented following one of the best brunch’s any state sports writing group partakes before the awards are handed out ...  Brent St. Germain will say his final words as President (or discuss his recent cruise) and Paul Letlow (yes, that Paul Letlow) receives the ceremonial gavel or hammer if we can’t find the gavel and I’m sure we will have some inspirational moments from him … 

Born: October 04, 1935
Died: April 21, 2016

Jerry Barksdale Byrd Sr. passed away on Tuesday, April 21st after a brief illness at the age of 80 years old. Funeral Services will be held Monday, April 25th at 1 p.m. at Osborn Funeral Home in Shreveport. Interment will be held at Sharon Baptist Cemetery in Union Parish at 3:30 p.m. A visitation will be held at Osborn on Sunday, April 24th from 5-7 p.m.

Jerry was born on October 4th, 1935. He was the second of Frank Carl and Annie Laura Byrd’s four sons.

He was born to write. His work first appeared in the Shreveport Journal on December 22nd, 1948 when the first of his weekly scouting reports detailed Troup 29’s activities. As he would recall later, it was “love at first byline.” The troop’s 13 year old scribe would go on to become the first boy scout in the Norwella Council to win the the Quill Scroll Award given to scouts who publish over 20,000 words. It would be the first of many awards as Jerry would go on to become one of the most decorated sports journalists in Louisiana history.

While in junior high school he was a left tackle on Coach Frank Pernici’s 7th grade Hamilton Terrace Terrors. The team went unbeaten, untied, and unscored on. Despite the team’s success, Jerry realized after his freshmen year at Byrd High School and sophomore year at Bossier High School that he belonged in the press box and not the field. He transferred to Fair Park High School his junior year to take advantage of a program that helped him with his speech. He found his niche on the school’s newspaper, the Pow Wow, becoming sports editor his senior year before graduating in May of 1953.

He attended Northwestern State College and majored in journalism. It was here that he met many life long friends, many of whom he crossed paths with as a manager on the Demon basketball team. It was here where he would experience his greatest athletic accomplishment winning an intramural cross country race. He continued to shine with his journalism endeavors becoming the sports editor and then elected as editor of the school’s newspaper, the Current Sauce, during his senior year. He graduated on May 28, 1957 and started work at 6 a.m. the following morning at the Shreveport Journal.

It was an underwhelming beginning. The first two days consisted of reading the Associated Press Style book. The third day on the job he had his first article - “Entries Pouring In for Junior Olympics.” About 10 years later, despite the racially charged culture that existed at the time, it was Jerry who took a picture of Valencia High School’s Lavert Howard and put it the sports section without asking. He would later write that he did it because it was “the right thing to do.”

In 1970 Jerry would become Sports Editor of the paper and would remain in that capacity until the Journal ceased publication in 1991. The most famous accomplishment was having a column in every weekday edition for over six years. “The streak” ended at 2,131 - one more than Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130 consecutive games as a New York Yankee - due to a faulty gall bladder.

After his time at Journal he would serve as the sports editor of the Minden Press Herald for one year before moving to the Bossier Press Tribune, where he would serve in that capacity from 1993-2012. He continued to write columns for one more year.

In 1992 he became the first person to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Louisiana Track & Field Coaches Association. He is the only sportswriter to be selected “Mr. Basketball” by the Louisiana Basketball Coaches Association. In 1996 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Louisiana Sportswriters Association. In 2001 he became only the second sportswriter to be inducted in the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. In 2005 he received the Contribution to Amateur Football award from the S.M. McNaughton Chapter of the National Football Foundation.In 2006 he received the Nth Degree from Northwestern State University for lifetime achievement. In 2012 he was inducted into the Ark-La-Tex Sports Museum of Champions.

When he wasn’t writing columns or accepting awards he was coaching hundreds of youth swimmers as a coach for the City of Shreveport Swim Team, or motivating future Olympic athletes by buying them icees as the founder and coach of the Shreveport Track Club. He was also organizing events like the High Five Track & Field Series or the Meet of Champions.

Husband. Brother. Father. Sportswriter. Legend. Icon. It became difficult for great writers to find words adequate enough to encapsulate his legacy. Jerry would often write about other athletes, coaches, or people that they may not be in a class by themselves, but it doesn’t take long to call the roll. While that may be appropriate in this case, his family, friends, colleagues agreed with the opinion that was plastered on Shreveport Journal delivery trucks. Jerry Byrd ...Nobody does it better.

Most are blessed if they find one true love in this life. Jerry found two. He married the former Patricia “Pat” Ann Hood on June 12, 1965. The couple had two children - Tricia and Jerry Jr. Pat passed away on November 22nd, 2001. Jerry met Barbara Copeland in June of 2003 and the couple were married two months later.

Jerry was preceded in death by his parents, Frank Carl Byrd and Annie Laura Byrd, and his first wife Patricia Ann Hood.

He is survived by his wife Barbara, son Jerry Jr. and his wife Amanda, daughter Tricia Hagan, brothers Ronald James Byrd and wife Donna, John Alan Byrd and wife Delaine, and Thomas Everett Byrd and wife Kay, grandchildren Logan Ward, Dakota Ward, Jordan Ward, Caleb Stacey, Caitlin Byrd, Emily Bailey, and Katy Bailey, as well as numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Honoring Jerry as pallbearers will be his grandsons as well as Kevin Cavalier and Hunter Cavalier. Honorary pallbearers are all of the journalists that worked with Jerry over his 50 years in print journalism as well as the great number of coaches and athletes that he was blessed to cover.

The family would like to thank Montclair Shreveport for the loving care they provided Jerry for the past eight months of his life.

The family suggests that memorials be made to the NSU Foundation, 535 University Pwy., Natchitoches, LA 71497 attention: Jerry Byrd Communications Department.

Farewell to our friend, Marty Mule

Ted Lewis got edited -- by a priest, no less. So he has asked that his original eulogy to his friend Marty be posted here in its entirety. It is beautifully written and, no doubt, would have been beautifully delivered. And Sheldon would have timed it for us.

I’ve never done this before – so bear with me.

A few years ago, Marty and I were both honored to receive the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame’s Distinguished Service Award. And as you might have expected, we wound up as each other’s presenter.

Around that time we got to talking about which Elvis songs we wanted to be played at our funerals which led to how we would speak for each other at them.

I don’t think we were actually serious about it, but sadly, that day has arrived for one of. And no matter how much you may have thought about it, there’s really not much you can do to prepare yourself for it, especially when you didn’t see it coming.

We all have losses in our lives. You certainly hope that most of them come when your loved one’s time has come.

That didn’t happen here. This has hit all of us hard.

But Marty wouldn’t want a lot of grieving today.

Obviously nobody likes going to funerals. But this is what Marty would have called “a gathering of eagles” -people in our profession and those we’ve covered over the years.

As we get older we find ourselves in far too many of them. But they are occasions to reconnect while mourning our losses.

One in particular that stands out was Paul Dietzel’s a few years ago. Marty and I were working on a package of stories about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination and its effect on local sports.

Coach Dietzel was the coach at Army in 1963 and in what turned out to be his last interview – he told Marty about how the Army-Navy game which was to have been played the following weekend, was originally cancelled but then, at the request of Jacqueline Kennedy, was played a week later.

Along with Coach Dietzel, Marty talked to Rollie Stichweh, the Army quarterback from that team and Tom Lynch, the Navy captain who later became commandant of the academy. They both attended the funeral and Marty was as excited to meet him as a kid meeting Drew Brees.

But those were the kinds of stories Marty loved doing most. Ones that added to preserving and expanding the historical record.

His last big story will be a history of sports in New Orleans for New Orleans’ Magazine’s tricentennial issue which will be published next year. True to himself, Marty finished it several months before it was due. We are all grateful for that.

But for Marty, it went beyond writing.

And as the most respected member of both selection committees of both the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame he was responsible for the election of many people who would have been otherwise overlooked.

The late Red Sanders is going into the state hall of fame this year solely because Marty championed his cause.

That’s not to say that Marty didn’t also love being in the moment as a newspaperman. You don’t spend more than 30 years in the business without having your juices flowing in pursuit of a story or covering a big game which Marty did plenty of along with being a first-rate columnist who was three times was named Louisiana Sports Writer of the Year.

Who wouldn’t have loved to have been embedded with Dick Vitale making a walking tour of the French Quarter like Marty was once? Or hanging out with Pete Maravich during his days with the Jazz? Or having the opportunity to chew the fat with Bear Bryant?

But other than insisting that his name always appeared with the accent mark so it was pronounced Mew-Lea instead of Mule, Marty never seemed to think of himself as that important though.

Unfortunately some other folks had the same view.

In 2003, the big brains at the Times-Picayune decided that Marty should cover prep sports for the first time, using the excuse that someone was needed who met the residency requirement of living in St. Tammany Parish.

I do too, which Marty never quit bringing up.

That was Marty being Marty.

But in the end, he did his job with the same level of professionalism he always showed.

Then, after Katrina when the same big brains decided Marty’s talents belonged in the circulation department, he literally told them to take this job and shove it and quit on that.

Marty being Marty.

But by doing that, it gave Marty the time to write three more books – the LSU version of Game of my Life, The Sugar Bowl Classic and Game Changers.

Those books covered his favorite three subjects. Marty was an LSU man through and through, but no one, especially Tiger fans ever accused him of being a homer.

The Sugar Bowl held a very special place in Marty’s heart. He revered its place in college football history. He had earlier written a book commemorating the bowl’s 50th anniversary in 1985 and 25 years later he and the bowl collaborated to do an expanded and much more lavish issue. Marty also added another chapter to the book each year with a story for the program he put great effort into.

Game Changers was Marty’s particular pride and joy. He spent more than three years researching and writing more than 100 stories about our state’s sports history. He also found a publisher when it looked like the project might die and even helped find some of the photographs when he was worried the publisher wasn’t moving fast enough.

Marty being Marty.

The last time we were together we talked about a book project that had been pitched to him and Marty, as always, needed prodding to consider doing it.

I finally asked him “Don’t you think you’ve got one more book in you?” He finally agreed that he probably did.

God, how I wish we could have found out if that were true.

I mentioned Game Changers. I hope you’ve seen it.

It’s a beautiful piece of work that got plenty of statewide promotion.

And you know what?

It just didn’t sell. Marty didn’t make a cent out of it.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say he didn’t care, but Marty had the satisfaction of knowing, like he told me once, that 50 years from now some kid can go into his school library and read about Eddie Robinson, Billy Cannon and how the Saints actually once won a Super Bowl.

That is, if we still have books as we know them by then.

The best thing for Marty about leaving fulltime newspaper work when he did was that he was able to avoid having a front-row seat for the slow demise of our once-great institution.

Not that I didn’t have to hear about from him anyway.

And as far as things like Twitter and Facebook, let’s just say they were not among Marty’s favorite things. He never got around to doing either one, and he probably would have quit before being forced to do them.

Marty being Marty.

Marty was not what you’d call technology inclined. He didn’t believe that his ATM card worked anywhere except at his back in Mandeville. That was until Rose discovered that he still had his original one with an expiration date of 1988.

And I hold in my hand one of the last 10 flip phones in existence.

Naturally, it belonged to Marty, and he didn’t bother to compile a contact list. Rose asked me to see if I could figure out who some of them are.

I did, but let’s just say what happened on Marty’s cell phone will stay on Marty’s cell phone.

That’s because over your lifetime, if you’re lucky, you have one or two special friends, someone whom you can share anything with – which we did – ones you can call on any time day or night – which we did – and ones you with which you can endless argue with about any subject in the world – not just sports, but history, politics, music, movies, TV – you name it - and then move on with no hurt feelings – which we certainly did.

Marty’s quest for knowledge was limitless.

He devoured books. He recently went through Rick Atkins’ three-volume history of the U.S. Army in World War II in the time it takes most of us to read the funny papers.

There was a movie he hadn’t seen, a TV show he hadn’t watched or a song he hadn’t heard, especially it was by Elvis or Frank Sinatra.

We had spent the last few months talking far more about the presidential race than sports. Marty was one of the few people out there who couldn’t decide between Marco Rubio or Bernie Sanders -and that was after Carly Fiorina dropped out.

He just knew he couldn’t stand Donald Trump or Hillary.

People who didn’t know us well might think we were constantly at each other’s throat. But I think we just like to argue for arguing’s sake.

Our dear friend Larry Hymel would always ride with us to the hall of fame selection meetings during which Marty and I would dissect the merits of everyone on the ballot going there and critiquing those who got in and who shouldn’t have on the way home. I don’t think Larry ever got a word in.

When I called Larry last Saturday to tell him the sad news that we’d lost Marty, he said, “Well those rides to the Hall of Fame meetings are going to be lot duller from now on.”

Or as the great columnist Jim Murray wrote then Casey Stengel died, “God’s getting an earful tonight.” I would imagine He’s is now, too.

Or it wouldn’t be Marty being Marty.

Marty and I collaborated on some projects – like the JFK one – but most of the time, especially in the last few years, it was mainly helping each other out in conceiving and fashioning stories and often down to precisely which word to use.

After I once pointed out that after his freshman season Chris Jackson was on track to break Maravich’s career scoring record if he stayed at LSU for four years, Marty referenced my “ever-churning mind.”

Whenever I would come up with a bright idea for a story for him to do, he’d borrow a line from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, “You just keep thinking, Butch. That’s what you’re good at.”

And just about every time, he’d take my ideas and run with them.

Just a little more than a week ago I was doing our story on Peyton Manning’s retirement and dissatisfied with just calling him a Newman graduate or a New Orleans native I asked Marty what he thought about “New Orleanian.”

He first said that tends to mean someone who lives here, which Peyton hasn’t done since high school. But also felt that in this case, it worked best.

So New Orleanian it was. That’s how much thought he would put into something so seemingly inconsequential.

But getting Marty’s approval was very important to me.

The last few years, whenever I had a story in the Advocate, my day wasn’t complete until Marty called to give me an “attaboy.”

When it was something about the Saints, he had to consult with Rose first since she was the real fan in the house. If it was even slightly negative, there was no attaboy.

It was a rare day when we didn’t talk two or three times, much to our wives’ annoyance because we put everything on hold to do so.

The final time we spoke was last Saturday afternoon.

 I called to make sure Marty didn’t have any flooding – thankfully he didn’t – and because the LSU-Texas A&M game was in progress I asked him what he thought about Johnny Jones’ job status because that had been one of our recent ongoing discussions.

Usually Marty would have had something to say, but this time he just said something about I’ve got to go and I’ll call back you later.

He never did.

And our hearts are broken today.

But as Shakespeare said, the good men do lives on after them.

And in Marty’s case that’s exemplified by his family.

In the former Rosemary Bergeron Marty, as we like to say in the business, outkicked his coverage.

It’s a mystery of the ages why this beautiful woman put up with him for 48 years especially considering he always put covering the Sugar Bowl ahead of their anniversary which is Dec. 30. In 2005 when the Sugar Bowl was played in Atlanta because of Katrina, Marty drove there with me even though Rose had been released from the hospital only two days before.

It was just something she got used to.

Marty said it wasn’t fault Rose wanted to get married on the date they did, even though he dropped out of LSU just to do that because he missed her so much.

And on our last night together, when we drove past Carrollton and Claiborne, Marty pointed out, as he always did, that was Rose’s old neighborhood.

 Just the other day Rose told me that she was the one who sent in Marty’s resume to the Pascagoula Times that got him his first newspaper job.

She wasn’t sure that was something to be proud of not. But I think we’ll agree it was.

Marty and Rose have three wonderful children, Stephanie, Yvette and Michael and two sons-in-law, Eddie and Kevin, who he gave his highest approval to – permission to marry his daughters.

And, like most of us of a certain age, they’ve been blessed with the world’s greatest grandchildren.

Marty never tired of telling me about Jo-Jo’s track exploits, Katie’s volleyball prowess, the cute things Caroline was always saying or how much he enjoyed taking Connor to get some ice cream on Saturday mornings when he’d go to purchase a powerball ticket.

That’s exactly what he did last Saturday.

Paw-Paw loved his grandkids and they certainly loved him.

As did the rest of us. I hope he knew that.

I started this off by saying that Marty and I presented each for the Hall of Fame.

Up in Natchitoches there’s a rule that presenters and recipients have three minutes to make their speeches, otherwise the nights tend to run very late.

It’s seldom obeyed. And you can guess that Marty was very vocal about speeches going overtime.

A few years back Bobby Hebert presented Morten Andersen. Bobby went for about 15 minutes, but not only was he hilarious, but Doug Ireland our esteemed Hall of Fame director had the foresight to put Bobby last on the program.

It didn’t matter to Marty. He thought Bobby hogged the show.

Each year my colleague Sheldon Mickles times each speaker.

Sheldon’s here today and I asked him to time me.

How long I’ve I gone, Shelly? Twenty-two minutes, 41 seconds?

Well, you can only imagine what Marty would have to say about that. Hopefully one day I will.

Bear Bryant was one of Marty’s favorite people. He once did a TV commercial that ended, “Have you called your Mama today? I sure wish I could call mine.”

What I wouldn’t give for my phone to be ringing right now and know who it was without having to look.

My best friend. My brother.

So long, Mule.

NATCHITOCHES –  Iconic retiring LSU sports broadcaster Jim Hawthorne and Bob Tompkins, the acclaimed Alexandria sports writer whose 43-year career ended last fall, are the recipients of the 2016 Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

The “Voice of the Tigers,” Hawthorne is wrapping up his 36th and final year as the play-by-play and coaches’ show host for LSU sports and will retire after basketball season. A 38-year veteran editor, writer and columnist for the Alexandria Town Talk, Tompkins was voted the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Sportswriter of the Year for Louisiana four times (1998, 2004, ’06, ’12). He was the LSWA Sportswriter of the Year in 2006 and shared the same award in 2007.

They were recently selected from a 17-person pool of outstanding nominees.

The Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism is the most prestigious honor offered to sports media in the state. Recipients are chosen by the 35-member Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame selection committee based on their professional accomplishments in local, state, regional and even national arenas, with leadership in the LSWA a contributing factor and three decades of work in the profession as a requirement.  

Distinguished Service Award winners are enshrined in the Hall of Fame along with the 389 current athletes, sports journalists, coaches and administrators chosen since 1959. Only 56 leading figures in the state’s sports media have been honored with the Distinguished Service Award since its inception 34 years ago, in 1982.

Hawthorne and Tompkins will be among the 2016 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class to be spotlighted in the annual Induction Dinner and Ceremonies on Saturday evening, June 25, at the Natchitoches Events Center. The Induction Dinner and Ceremonies are the culmination of the 2016 Induction Celebration beginningThursday afternoon, June 23, with a press conference at the Hall of Fame museum at 800 Front Street in Natchitoches.

Four-time major league baseball All-Star pitcher Ben Sheets, NBA standout P.J. Brown, University of Michigan and NFL star Anthony Thomas, and two longtime highly-successful coaches, Tulane baseball coach Rick Jones and prep football coach Jim Hightower, headline eight 2016 competitors’ ballot inductees chosen last fall for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Also in the class announced last October: Janice Joseph Richard, a two-time All-America basketball player and highly successful coach at her alma mater, Louisiana College, along with Xavier University; Arthur “Red” Swanson, Southeastern Louisiana’s most successful football coach who became an impactful figure in LSU sports history; and “Gentleman” Dave Malarcher, a great player and manager in Negro Leagues baseball. That trio will be inducted posthumously.

Also honored with enshrinement in the Class of 2016 will be the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award winner, to be announced Thursday.

The 2016 Induction Class will be showcased in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum, operated by the Louisiana State Museum system in a partnership with the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. The striking $23 million, two-story, 27,500-square foot structure faces Cane River Lake in the National Historic Landmark District of Natchitoches and has garnered worldwide architectural acclaim and rave reviews for its contents since its grand opening during the 2013 Hall of Fame induction weekend.

The selection of Hawthorne and Tompkins was jointly announced Wednesday by Hall of Fame chairman Doug Ireland and LSWA president Brent St. Germain.

Hawthorne handled football, men’s basketball and baseball broadcasts and is LSU’s Director of Broadcasting. A native of Anacoco and a 1967 Northwestern State graduate, he was a protégé of Hall of Fame (2010 Distinguished Service Award winner) member Norm Fletcher. Hawthorne has prior play-by-play experience at NSU, Centenary, and with the Texas League in baseball and the World Football League during his stint at KWKH-AM in Shreveport prior to getting hired to replace Hall of Fame (1984 DSA winner) member John Ferguson at LSU.

Hawthorne has called two LSU national championships in football, six in baseball, and three Final Four appearances in basketball. He joined LSU’s football broadcasts in 1983 alongside Ferguson, and stepped in a year later when Ferguson moved to the brand-new Tigervision package. Since taking over play-by-play in 1984, Hawthorne didn’t missed an LSU football game, doing 387 straight, including 22 bowl games, until surgery sidelined him for three games late last fall.

He has handled basketball play-by-play since 1980, doing three Final Fours and calling action by stars such as Ben Simmons, Shaquille O’Neal, Rudy Macklin and Chris Jackson (now Mahmoud Abdul-Rouf). His baseball play-by-play work began in 1984 and includes all of the Tigers’ College World Series games, wrapping up appropriately in Omaha last summer.

Tompkins has been voted the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Sportswriter of the Year for Louisiana four times (1998, 2004, 2006, 2012). He was the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Sportswriter of the Year in 2006 and shared the same award in 2007.

A 1972 graduate of LSU, Tompkins was sports editor of the Daily Reveille student newspaper in the spring of 1972. Over the next four years, Tompkins worked at four different newspapers -- the Lafourche Parish Daily Comet in Thibodaux (general assignment news reporter), the Monroe Morning World, the Shreveport Journal and the Lafayette Daily Advertiser.

He was sports editor of the Advertiser (Feb.-Aug. 1976), then moved to the Town Talk, where he was sports editor from 1987-94. He then spent 19 years as a senior reporter and sports columnist. Tompkins covered LSU’s BCS Championship Games in 2004, 2008 and 2012, he covered the 1994 and 1995 Masters, the 1981 and 1990 Super Bowls, the 1986 and 1993 NCAA Final Four tournaments and the 1992 U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials and the 1981 NCAA Track and Field Championships. He covered 33 Sugar Bowls, several of which settled national championships.

During his career, Tompkins was the beat writer at various times for the New Orleans Saints, LSU football and basketball, Northwestern State football, Louisiana College football, basketball and baseball, Tulane football, USL football and basketball and for the Lafayette Drillers and Alexandria Aces minor league baseball teams. He has covered many PGA Tour events in New Orleans.

He was president of the LSWA for 1990-91 and ’91-92 and has been a member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame selection committee since 1977. He also served many years on the committees to select the Heisman Trophy and the John Wooden Award.

He won LSWA Columnist of the Year for the 1988-89 judging period. He won the LSWA’s Mac Russo award in 2011.

Tompkins changed jobs on Jan. 1, 2015 to become the Town Talk storyteller, working on feature stories, news stories and columns across the spectrum, not just sports. Two of his stories since changing his job role – one on the colorful history of an old golf course in Pineville that is now a cemetery and another on a local man who was among the first American Ebola fighters in West Africa in 2014 – were reprinted via the Associated Press in several newspapers across the country.

The 2016 Induction Celebration will kick off Thursday, June 23 with the press conference and reception. It includes three receptions, a youth sports clinic, and a Friday, June 24 golf scramble at Oak Wing Golf Course in Alexandria. Tickets for the Induction Dinner and Ceremonies, and golf entries, are on sale this spring through theLaSportsHall.com website.

Adding to the 318 sports competitors currently enshrined, 15 previous winners of the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership award and 56 prior recipients of the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism, there are 389 members of the Hall of Fame prior to this summer’s ceremonies.

The 2016 Induction Celebration weekend will be hosted by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, the support organization for the Hall of Fame.  The LSHOF Foundation was established as a 501 c 3 non-profit entity in 1975 and is governed by a statewide board of directors.  For information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Foundation President/CEO  Lisa Babin at 318-458-0166 or lisababin@LaSportsHall.com.  Standard and customized sponsorships are available.  

CST AND LSWA PRESENT A RECAP OF LA. SPORTS HALL OF FAME

INDUCTION WEEKEND DEBUTS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT 7 PM

NATCHITOCHES – Cox Sports Television for the 13th consecutive year will showcase the 2015 induction class for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame when the annual ceremonies are broadcast on a tape-delayed basis beginning Wednesday night at 7 p.m. CDT.

The telecast, produced in cooperation with the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, will highlight the induction of 11 athletes, coaches, administrators and journalists held on June 27 in front of a capacity dinner crowd of 831 at the Natchitoches Evens Center, the largest crowd to attend the event in the 38 inductions held in Natchitoches.

Hosting the broadcast and serving as the Voice of the Hall of Fame is CST’s own Lyn Rollins, joined again by Louisiana native and news anchor Tammi Arender, along with former LSWA President Kent Lowe.

Highlighting the class are three football players – College Football Hall of Famer Leonard Smith of McNeese State; UL-Lafayette, Saints and Carolina Super Bowl quarterback Jake Delhomme; and, LSU and three-time Super Bowl champion running back from New England Kevin Faulk – as well as coaches Pat Collins, who took ULM to the then 1-AA (now FCS) football championship in 1987; and, former UL Lafayette and LSU softball coach Yvette Girouard who is the fourth winningest coach in college softball history and who took both teams to multiple Women’s College World Series.

Also inducted is St. Aug High School championship coach Otis Washington, who served in 1980 as an assistant coach at LSU; NBA star and coach who is now back in coaching at the University of Alabama, Avery Johnson; and, the first horse trainer to be inducted in the hall, Frank Brothers, who won 14 training titles at the Fair Grounds and Louisiana Downs.

Included in the list of inductees are Glenn Quebedeaux of The Daily Iberian and the late Bobby Dower of the Lake Charles American Press who earned the LSWA’s Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism; and, Paul Hoolahan, the CEO of the Allstate Sugar Bowl and winner of the Dave Dixon Sports Leadership Award.

The telecast will also include highlights from the La. Capitol Federal Credit Union press conference and reception, the annual golf tournament at Oak Wing in Alexandria, the Friday night tailgate/reception at The Landing restaurant and the highly successful clinic for youngsters at Natchitoches-Central High School sponsored by the New Orleans Saints.

After Wednesday night’s premier showing the 60-minute program will also be broadcast at the following times (All times CDT and additional air times will be announced in August):

Thurs, July 16 5:00 p.m.

Fri, July 17 Noon & 6 p.m.

Sat, July 18 2 p.m.

Sun, July 19 12:30 p.m. & 11 p.m.

Mon, July 20 3:30 p.m.

Tues, July 21 5:30 p.m.

Sat, July 25 12:30 p.m.

Sun, July 26 1:00 p.m.

Tues, July 28 5:00 p.m.

Wed, July 29 7:00 p.m.

Thurs, July 30 5:00 p.m.

For more information on the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, check out the Hall web site at www.lasportshall.com.

In October of this year, CST will be celebrating the network’s 13-year anniversary. Since its launch in 2002, CST has grown to nearly 5.5 million viewers, making it one of the fastest growing regional sports networks in the south. The Gulf South Sports Leader can be seen in California, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Virginia, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Georgia and Florida.

CST is owned and operated by Cox Communications Louisiana, LLC. Initially targeted to be a Louisiana sports network, CST has secured collegiate, professional and high school events that have expanded the networks reach throughout the south. For more information about CST, please visit our website at www.coxsportstv.com.

2015 Hall of Fame Weekend a huge success

NATCHITOCHES --  A record-breaking crowd of nearly 800 filled the Natchitoches Events Center on Saturday as the Louisiana Sports Writers Association inducted eight Louisiana sports greats into its Hall of Fame, honored Sugar Bowl Chief Executive Officer Paul Hoolihan with the Dave Dixon Sports Leadership Award and presented two of its own, Glenn Quebedeaux and the late Bobby Dower,  with  Distinguished Service Awards. 

Here are some links to coverage of the weekend's events:

The Advocate

Shreveport Times

The Times-Picayune/Nola.com

Cox Sports Television 

Sportsnola.com

Bob Tompkins at The Alexandria Daily Town Talk

Kevin Foote at The Advertiser

Dan McDonald at The Advertiser 

Ted Lewis at The Advocate

Ron Higgins at Nola.com

LSU Sports.net

Fox Sports

KSLA 

KPLC

Roll Tide Sports

AL.com

247Sports

(You may send other links to sportslyons@gmail.com)

Laughs, rings plentiful at Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame presser

By Matt Vines

Written for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame

NATCHITOCHES – Wearing an NFL conference championship ring to a state sports hall of fame induction press conference would usually mean that athlete is the most accomplished in the room.

But not in a 2015 inductee class that kicked off the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame celebration Thursday with a media gathering at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum.

Former Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme and Buffalo Bills defensive back Leonard Smith won a combined three conference championships in the NFL, but neither inductees’ hands bore a sign of their postseason successThursday.

That’s because New England Patriots running back Kevin Faulk – a three-time Super Bowl champion -- is also part of this 11-member inductee class that features excellence achieved by athletes on the field and court, coaches on the sideline, trainers in the stable, sportswriters in the press box and administration in the bowels of a stadium.

“Unfortunately we went there too many times and didn’t win,” said Smith, who played on the first two (the 1990 and 1991 seasons) of Buffalo’s four straight Super Bowl losses. “I try not to wear my second-place rings around. Jake didn’t wear his either because we knew somebody would be here (with the rings).

“They’ve stayed in the box and aren’t being pulled out. But those times were great with the Bills and the (Phoenix Cardinals). I made some great friends and still have those guys today.”

Faulk did wear one of his rings Thursday, but he said he could count the number of times he’s worn each of his rings on one hand.

“Yes I do have one on today,” Faulk laughed. “But (wearing them) I think would take away from everything else that we had.

“Everybody that’s here, there is a reason why we’re here. Whether that’s statistically on the field or off the field in our respective sports … but the one thing I feel like this event is for is to recognize the people that nobody knows about in your life, people that have gotten you to where you were going. God brought a whole lot of people my way and they’ve directed me on the right paths.”

One of Faulk’s (Carencro High) Super Bowl wins came against his Acadiana counterpart Delhomme (Teurlings Catholic) as the Patriots edged the Panthers 32-29 in Super Bowl XXXVIII following the 2003 season.

Delhomme quipped that he did have a World Bowl ring (1999 with NFL Europe’s Franfurt Galaxy), but he said he feels a “deep connection” to almost every 2015 inductee.

“It’s funny because when we get here, (Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame artist Chris Brown) asked me to sign a picture and said he could put whatever else you want underneath it,” Delhomme said. “I looked at Kevin Faulk’s, and he had Super Bowl champ with one of the three years that he won the Super Bowl. I couldn’t put that, but my wife said that I could put almost.”

“But I watched my brother Jeff play at McNeese State, so I got to watch Leonard Smith. I was actually in (then-Northeast Louisiana’s) stadium to watch my brother play (2015 inductee Pat Collins’) team that went on to win the 1987 (Division I-AA) championship. I was there for I don’t know how many games of (then-Southwest Louisiana’s) softball and (2015 inductee coach Yvette Girouard) because our football field butted up right against the softball field. This is a special class.”

Delhomme, whose family owns Set-Hut stables after the clan grew up in horse racing, asked fellow 2015 inductee and legendary trainer Frank Brothers about Triple-Crown winner American Pharoah compared to horses like Affirmed and Seattle Slew of Brothers’ era.

Brothers responded that all of those horses had great balance, and American Pharoah has “got it all” much like the previous two Triple Crown winners.

Brothers, whose horses won a whopping 22 percent of their races, trained Hansel, who won the 1991 Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

“Hansel was the morning line favorite for the Kentucky Derby (first leg of Triple Crown) and had won the two preps before the Derby,” Brothers said. “That goes to show you how hard it is to win the Derby.”

An underdog theme highlighted many of the inductees present Thursday, and that was the case for Girouard, Collins, St. Augustine football coach Otis Washington and Sugar Bowl Executive Director Paul Hoolahan (2015 Dave Dixon Sports Leadership Award Recipient).

The aforementioned nominees will be officially inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday along with Avery Johnson (basketball star at Southern and in the NBA), Bobby Dower (longtime sportswriter and editor at the Lake Charles American Press) and Glenn Quebedeaux (longtime writer and editor at the New Iberia Daily Iberian).

Hoolahan credited the “leanest and meanest” bowl staff in helping him keep the AllState Sugar Bowl in a prominent position despite being in a relatively small New Orleans media market, particularly after Hurricane Katrina.

“This staff helped create a series of events that provided economic impact in a period of time when business was slow, “ said Hoolahan, who’s served the bowl for 19 years. “I’m proud to say that the Sugar Bowl continues to perform in a very admirable way.

“With a solid financial plan dating back to the beginning of the (Bowl Championship Series), we grew our own war chest and that’s what’s enabled us to stay in the game at the highest level.”

Girouard, who never played fast-pitch softball growing up in the pre-Title IX era but piled up the fourth-most wins in college softball history, built softball powerhouses at UL Lafayette and then at LSU.

“All I ever wanted to do was play, so to walk into this magnificent hall of fame, it’s beyond my expectations,” said Girouard, who began to choke up. “Why am I the only one crying … because I’m the only woman up here?

“But it looks like God wanted me to succeed in another avenue, and I became a coach … So for all of the female athletes to the coaches who had to beg, borrow, and yes, steal sometimes to get women’s sports off the ground, this is for all of us who had to fight so hard.”

Washington’s career almost never got off the ground at St. Augustine, where he won state championships 1975, 1978 and 1979.

“I didn’t know I was going to become a coach,“ said Washington, who led the Purple Knights for 10 seasons as head coach. “(After college), the first thing I wanted to do was travel and go to California. I had $16.82 in my pocket.

“So I took (junior varsity) job at St. Augustine and expected to stay there for one year.”

Collins’ father told him he wouldn’t have been able to go to college if not for an athletics scholarship, so the 135-pound high school sophomore started lifting weights. After playing football and coaching at Louisiana Tech, he led the then-NLU Indians to the 1987 championship in a decorated career.

“I was a 135-pound guard, and we’ve got football players now whose legs weigh 135 pounds,” Collins said. “Back in those days, we didn’t have any steroids, but if we would have had them, I’d of taken them.

“But coaches like (former Louisiana Tech coaches) Joe Aillet and Maxie Lambright, Natchitoches legend John Ropp along with John David Crow at NLU really influenced me. It’s a special honor.”

Friday night party, golf scramble, Saints Junior Training Camp provide 2015 inductee interaction

NATCHITOCHES – Although the 2015 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Dinner next Saturday night is sold out, chances to meet the Hall’s Class of 2015 remain available with tickets to the Friday, June 26 tailgating party at The Landing Restaurant, entries in the June 26 golf scramble and participation in the June 27 New Orleans Saints Junior Training Camp.

Tickets for the “Tailgating Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Style” Friday evening party, and golf entries, are on sale through theLaSportsHall.com website. Also available is a registration form for the Saints Junior Training Camp June 27 at Natchitoches Central High School, an event that is free to youth ages 6-14 but does require advance registration.

The 2015 inductees will participate in the tailgating party and the Saints Junior Training Camp, and the golf scramble at Oak Wing Golf Club in Alexandria at 10 a.m. June 26. Information on all activities can be obtained by calling the Hall of Fame Foundation office at 318-238-4255 during business hours.

The 2015 Induction Celebration will begin next Thursday with the annual La Capitol Federal Credit Union Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Kickoff Party at Maglieux’s on the Cane, across the street from the Hall of Fame Museum. 

The 2015 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class will be enshrined before a record crowd of nearly 800 patrons during the sold-out annual Induction Dinner and Ceremony presented by State Farm Insurance on Saturday evening, June 27, at the Natchitoches Events Center.

LSU’s all-time leading rusher, three-time Super Bowl champion Kevin Faulk, joins UL Lafayette great and Super Bowl quarterback Jake Delhomme, former NBA champion point guard and Coach of the Year Avery Johnson, along with coaching legends Pat Collins, Yvette Girouard and Otis Washington, among the 2015 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class. College Football Hall of Fame member Leonard Smith, a McNeese State All-American, and championship Thoroughbred racing trainer Frank Brothers are also in the Class of 2015 announced by the Hall of Fame and LSWA last October.

Also honored with enshrinement will be 2015 Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award winner Paul Hoolahan, the longtime executive director of the Allstate Sugar Bowl, and south Louisiana newspapermen Glenn Quebedeaux and the late Bobby Dower, chosen the 2015 recipients of the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism.

The 2015 Induction Class will be showcased in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum, operated by the Louisiana State Museum system in a partnership with the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. The striking $23 million, two-story, 27,500-square foot structure faces Cane River Lake in the National Historic Landmark District of Natchitoches and has garnered worldwide architectural acclaim and rave reviews for its contents since its grand opening during the 2013 Hall of Fame induction weekend.

Adding to the 310 sports competitors currently enshrined, 14 previous winners of the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership award and 54 prior recipients of the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism, there are 378 members of the Hall of Fame prior to this summer’s ceremonies.

The 2015 Induction Celebration weekend will be hosted by the LSWA and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, the support organization for the Hall of Fame.  The LSHOF Foundation was established as a 501 c 3 non-profit entity in 1975 and is governed by a statewide board of directors.  For information, contact Foundation President/CEO Lisa Babin at 318-458-0166 orlisababin@LaSportsHall.com. 

FOR LSWA MEMBERS: 

2015 LOUISIANA SPORTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION CONVENTION & LOUISIANA SPORTS HALL OF FAME INDUCTION WEEKEND –JUNE 25-28

OVERVIEW – The host hotel will be the Comfort Suites, 151 Hayes Ave, Just off I-49,  (318) 228-8816 … Convention registration to the LSWA will be $25 which basically helps us cover expenses for the convention and a portion of the meal costs for our Saturday business meeting and awards brunch ... Please make all reservations at the host hotel by June 10 and it is very important to have numbers of people attending and what events by June 15.

Convention Schedule

THURSDAY, JUNE 25

3 p.m. – 2015 Inductee Press Conference – Atmos Energy Gallery, Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum, 800 Front Street … please arrive early. Parking requires it.

5 p.m. – La Capital Federal Credit Union Welcome Reception – Maglieux’s on the Cane Restaurant (across street from museum) featuring local cuisine and entertainment.

7 p.m. – Hospitality Room Opens at Comfort Suites for LSWA members.

FRIDAY, JUNE 26

9 a.m. – Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Celebrity Pro-Am Golf Tournament at Oak Wing Golf Club in Alexandria. (PLEASE NOTE – THIS EVENT IS A HALL OF FAME EVENT AND ANYONE INTERESTED IN PLAYING MUST CONTACT DOUG IRELAND IN ADVANCE AND DOUG WILL PROVIDE FEE INFORMATION) … TOURNAMENT STARTS AT 10 A.M.

10 a.m. – Hotel Hospitality Room Opens. Will be open on and off throughout the day.

7-10 p.m., The Landing, 530 Front Street - “Tailgating – Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Style”  will be a fun, casual evening with inductees featuring multiple tailgate food stations, sports highlights of current and past inductees, a silent auction, and entertainment by Natchitoches musician Steve Wells. Get ready to shake your tailgate! Landing Restaurant/Natchitoches - $50 per person – advance registration required. 

10 p.m. - Fireworks sponsored by Pac-Inc at south end of Church Street Bridge near the Landing Restaurant.

SATURDAY, JUNE 27

9 a.m. – SO LSWA MEMBERS CAN SAY THEY COVERED SOMETHING WHILE HERE -- Championship Saturday, Natchitoches Central High School.  The New Orleans Saints Junior Training Camp will headline the interactive portion of this event.  This clinic is led by Hall of Famers who shares their personal knowledge of what it takes to be a champion on and off the field.  Attendees will learn skills and participate in drills aimed at instilling the importance of healthy lifestyles and will also receive instruction and handouts on nutrition and personal safety.  Also participating is the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness led by Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inductee Rudy Macklin. (Pre-registration for kids required along with signed liability release)

11 a.m. – LSWA Lunch/Business Meeting – Lasyone’s, 622 2nd St … Try a meat pie. Try another. And/or catfish.… All convention types are invited for lunch, then spouses can be sent with the credit card shopping and to check out the museum, and hopefully the management style of President Brent St. Germain will ensure the meeting won’t last long enough to bend the credit card … FOR THOSE ATTENDING JUST THE LUNCHEON -- $16 each

5 p.m. – The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Reception – Natchitoches Events Center … 750 2nd St … Also a Silent Auction. Attire: Business. Coat and tie for the gentlemen and dress for women is appropriate.

6 p.m. – Induction Dinner and Ceremony which begins with National Anthem, followed by Walk of Legends, dinner and presentation of inductees. Again, this will be an advance purchase outside the realm of the convention costs and LSWA members will be able to purchase $50 tickets and be seated together. Please make reservations by June 10 to Kent Lowe. Past Distinguished Service winners receive two tickets courtesy of LSWA and Hall of Fame.

HOSPITALITY ROOM at the Comfort Suites will be open during the day and after the Hall of Fame event.

SUNDAY, JUNE 28

11 a.m. – LSWA Awards Brunch – Bon Ami, upstairs at The Landing, 530 Front Street

                The awards in sports writing for 2014 in the state and the sports information awards for 2014-15 are presented following one of the best brunch’s any state sports writing group partakes before the awards are handed out with the inimitable Kent Lowe presiding …with the rebranding of the upstairs room, there’s now a cash bar handy (nearest table reserved for Scooter) … BRUNCH FOR THOSE ATTENDING JUST THE LUNCHEON -- $25.