Cannon's friend, but not Captain Shreve's

Bobby Olah, with his Louisiana High
School Sports Hall of Fame plaque
(Livington Parish News photo)
July 2018

     One name in the book on Billy Cannon -- subject of a blog piece a couple of months ago -- caught my attention:
     Bobby Olah.
     We remember that guy, and not fondly. Hint: He was a basketball referee.
     Olah's connection to Cannon was as a longtime friend. But they first were competitors, not in football, but in basketball.
     Olah was from Albany, La., a small place near Hammond about 40 miles directly east from Baton Rouge, and we think he still lives there. Olah was an All-State guard at Albany, a Class B (non-football) school which in 1956 played against Class AAA giant Istrouma (BR), for whom Cannon was a roughhouse forward.
      Albany was a power in its class and came to Baton Rouge to play in the prestigious Wedge Kyes tournament. Cannon was into basketball season after a sensational senior season leading Istrouma to the state football championship.
      Istrouma's basketball players had gone to a game to scout Albany and Olah, and knew Olah was the go-to player, top scorer and ballhandler.
       Cannon decided the way to guard Olah was to be physical with him, at every chance. So as the story in the book on Cannon relates, that is exactly what happened.
      And Billy apparently roughed up Olah. He admits to it, with emphasis, in the book. And Olah's memory: "I distinctly recall looking up at him from my back on the floor. He was standing over me, grinning."
     Albany did win the game, 45-43, and the tournament championship. It later advanced to the Class B state semifinals for the first time in school history.
     Olah was also a standout baseball player and signed to play two sports at McNeese State, but circumstances led to his winding up at then-Southeastern Louisiana College (near his hometown), where he was mostly a reserve in basketball. 
    Officiating basketball for fun was something he liked, and  in 1959 -- while in college -- he signed up to call area high school games. 
     His reputation grew into playoff-level assignments and he eventually moved into college games -- and stayed for 35 years, including being on the Southeastern, Southwest, Southland and Gulf States (all-Louisiana) conference crews. 
     But we remember him most for one state tournament, the "Top Twenty," and primarily for one -- infamous -- call.
     In 1970, he made the charging call that (arguably) kept Captain Shreve's team -- one of the greatest Shreveport-Bossier teams in history -- from winning the Class AAA state championship.
     It played in one of the most dramatic state finals ever. One reason: A titanic matchup -- Brother Martin (New Orleans) was 35-0, Captain Shreve was 35-1, with a 34-game winning streak.

     Second reason: There were nearly 16,000 fans packed into 12,000-seat Rapides Coliseum in Alexandria. No room to move anywhere. 

      The Louisiana High School Athletic Association did not have a workable ticket plan, no reserved, assigned seating. Had never needed it. So tickets were sold to anyone who could cram into the place. It was hard to breathe.
     (Official attendance for the night session was 15,676. Obviously, the fire marshals were no factor.)
     Shreve was so much better earlier in the game. Led by 16 at one point in the first, and still by 12 at halftime. One huge problem: foul trouble.  

     Olah and his officiating partner called it closer and closer until Shreve's team -- admittedly with little depth; only six players had most of the playing time -- had to bench its star players, All-Staters Mike Harrell and Jeff Sudds, or risk them fouling out. 
    Olah and partner then loosened up. They allowed Brother Martin's pressing defense enough contact to force turnovers, kill Shreve's momentum, and the Crusaders warmed up to make it a back-and-forth game for the last quarter.
     It was tied in the final minute. With time running down, Captain Shreve had the ball. The Gators set up a play, but the ball went out of bounds. Still Shreve's possession, 0:09 remaining.
    The ball went in to guard and floor leader Shelby Houston, whose drive on the right baseline was stopped by contact with a Brother Martin defender. 
      Olah's call: Charge!
      Damn. Might not have been the worst call in state-tournament history, but it's the one we remember most. 
      Easily could have called a foul on Brother Martin for blocking. But in front of Brother Martin's large, loud student cheering section -- the all-boys Catholic schools from New Orleans always had great followings -- Olah made what we thought was a South Louisiana decision, just as he and his partner had for most of the second half.
      So Houston, a cool team leader, never got a chance for free throws. When Brother Martin missed a last-second shot, the game went to overtime.
       And quickly in OT, Captain Shreve's two super big men, Harrell and Sudds, fouled out -- and Brother Martin won the overtime by an astounding 16-0. (Four Gators ended up fouling out; only one Crusader did so.)
      After the game, in the front lobby of Rapides Coliseum, Olah was out there talking and laughing with friends. Two sportswriters from Shreveport -- a young one (from The Times) writing this blog and the other one, the very large and imposing Jerry Byrd (the Journal) --  were there standing several feet away.
      Byrd stared down Bobby Olah for what seemed like a full five minutes. Never took his eyes off him. Never said a word.
      Not sure that Olah noticed; he was too busy cajoling with his friends. But if [Byrd's] looks could have killed, Bobby had just officiated his final game.
      One thing for sure: He never lacked confidence in his own ability. He had a swagger.
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     Maybe Bobby was tired that day. It was his second game of the day; he had called the Class C final that opened the Saturday card -- the memorable Ebarb-Pleasant Hill matchup, two district rivals from Sabine Parish playing each other for the 11th time that year.
     Ebarb featured the all-time leading high school career scorer, Greg Procell, but it was his longtime teammate Walter "Tootsie Roll" Meshell who made a hurried 15-foot jumper at the buzzer -- or as the Pleasant Hill folks forever claimed, after the buzzer -- to give Ebarb a one-point victory.
     Rapides was already packed for that game (attendance was listed as 11,545). But that night, about 4,000 more people paid their way in.     
     Olah officiated one game too many that day, and made one too many charging calls.
     In the Livingston Parish News story I saw, Olah said that afterward then-LHSAA commissioner T.H. "Muddy" Waters "told me that I was the best official to ever work a state tournament." 
     Oh, geez, did I miss something?
     And Waters, who made his home in nearby Hammond (regional prejudice?), then recommended Olah to the SEC. 
     He did officiate in the SEC for a long time, worked games in some of the country's biggest arena and largest crowds, and I am sure that some people -- maybe even coaches -- considered him a competent official. 

     To be fair, I did not know Bobby Olah at all. And he has had a good life. Sadly, his wife June passed away in late August (cancer). Sorry to hear that.
      Saw in the Livingston Parish News story that Bobby, now about 79, (1) was a junior high coach in Albany, then worked in the Louisiana Department of Education for a couple of decades and (2) he was inducted into the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame this past April. 
     Good for him. We did not get a vote. But we are sure he got a lot of support from the Brother Martin crowd.
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https://www.livingstonparishnews.com/sports/basketball-albany-s-bobby-olah-comes-full-circle-with-induction/article_d49485bc-8918-11e8-91ba-af58d2066723.html