Sixty years later, J.W. Slack is a Hall of Famer

       (Note: This was written for the Louisiana Tech sports information office for the Athletics Hall of Fame induction weekend Oct. 18-19. This is the full version; a shorter take has been released on Tech web sites.)    

     Sixty years after he played his last football game for Louisiana Tech, J.W. Slack -- finally -- is going to be inducted into the Tech Athletics Hall of Fame.

     In the 1950s, he was a do-everything back and athlete for Bossier High and then arguably one of the more underrated players in Bulldogs' football history.

         A three-year starter, all-conference as a senior on one of Tech's best-ever teams, a solid running back, safety, punter, placekicker, kick returner, and team leader, the honor is for much more than just football.

       James Watkins Slack -- always just J.W. to everyone -- followed with a notable career in law enforcement, numerous contributions to life in Bossier City and Parish, and at Tech, where he has remained a fan and supporter, he created a legacy.

        The Slacks are the first three-generation football family in Tech history.

        Two of J.W. and Ginger's sons played defensive back for Tech -- the oldest, Terry, in 1974-77; the youngest, Jay, in 1984-87. And Terry's son, Hayden, was a walk-on wide receiver who earned a scholarship to play for the 'Dogs in 2011-12. (Middle son Dwayne also played in high school, as an offensive lineman, but not in college.)

       But the Tech Athletics Hall of Fame was a missing honor.

       J.W. thought it was possible in September 2001 when he was chosen as one of Tech's top 50 football players on its All-Century (100-year) team. But the call did not come until early in 2019.

       "They caught me so unprepared," he said of his response when told of his impending induction. "I thought it was never going to happen. Good gosh, I don't even remember what I said."

      "One great individual and one heckuva great athlete," said Dr. Billy Bundrick, the Tech legend as longtime team physician, orthopedic surgeon and university supporter who when he played end in 1959 was a team co-captain with Slack. "No one could ever say anything bad about J.W."

---

      If there is one regret, it is that Mary Virginia Williamson Slack -- "Ginger" -- is not here for this occasion. She was his No. 1 fan; they were married for 56 years. The three sons gave them six grandchildren.

      They met as sophomores at Bossier High School. She had moved in from Vivian, and his first sighting was in his science class when she came in to pick up absentee slips from the teacher.

        "I thought, 'Who in the world is that?' " J.W. recalled, and he slipped out of class, out the door, caught up to her in the hallway and asked, "Who are you?"
        "She must have thought I was an idiot," he said, and to prove it, he then noticed she was wearing a chain with a ring. When she said it was her boyfriend's, J.W. told her, "Give it back to him."

        Must have worked. Two years later, they married before J.W.'s senior football season at Bossier, in August 1954.

        Her death, at 74, in November 2010 came after nine years of treatment for multiple myeloma (bone cancer).

     The fateful day they learned of the disease, he told her, "I will make every step you make." And for the repeated treatments, in Dallas and in Shreveport, he was there, with one exception -- a heart bypass surgery forced him to miss one Dallas trip.

      "We got closer than we'd ever been," he says in reflection.

     "She was the matriarch of our family," J.W. said, "a silent person who never jumped on me or criticized me. She was a good mother, a good wife. I could have looked the world over and not done better."

      A pause, and a chokeful thought: "I miss her so much."

---

      The youngest of eight children in his family, he grew up on Waller Street in Bossier, and after his early football roots, developed into the star player at Bossier High in 1953 and '54, an All-City choice (unanimous pick as a senior).

      He was the Bearkats' team captain in his junior and senior years, and the big star.

       As a senior (1954), he was a second-team All-State selection in Class A, his district leading scorer by more than 20 points with 106 -- 16 touchdowns, 10 PATs. He ran for 1,130 yards on 139 carries.

      He scored the first touchdown, on a 51-yard double-reverse run, in Coach Bill Maxwell's 10-year stay as Bossier coach; the next week he  scored three TDs -- one a 48-yarder -- against Jonesboro-Hodge, the first Bearkats' victory for Maxwell. He had TD runs of 95 and 23 yards against Homer, and three more TDs vs. Ouachita (Monroe), including 42- and 55-yarders. 

      And in his final home game against powerful Springhill, he scored all 19 Bossier points (in a 32-19 loss). 

      In the spring, he was a sprinter in track and field, and a speedy centerfielder in baseball.  

---

    And yet, his college days had a rocky start and they almost began, of all places, at arch-rival Northwestern State. Almost.

     He followed some Bossier High buddies there, reporting for two-a-day practices. But an off-field issue cropped up and  "I knew right away I was in the wrong place," J.W. said. He returned to Bossier, intending to find a job, but was encouraged to call coach Joe Aillet at Tech, who added him to the squad deep into fall practice.

      In Coach Aillet, as so many at Tech did, he found "the person who had more impact on my life than anyone except my parents. ... He was my mentor, my coach -- a brilliant coach -- and, more importantly, he was my friend." 

      He played some as a sub for the outstanding 1955 Bulldogs, but not enough to letter. Then he left school after the season and, with a young family to support, worked in the oilfields "and I found I didn't want to do that." He asked Aillet for another chance, received it, and returned to school in January 1957.

       To become eligible, he needed to earn 24 hours credit by the fall, so summer school and working a job were a necessity. Aillet helped arrange a job for Ginger and a place for them and a very young Terry in the famed Tech Vetville residencies.

    He became a Tech regular at running back and safety for three Gulf States Conference-title seasons -- records of 6-4, 7-3 and 9-1, including a combined 13-2 GSC record.

      As a sophomore in 1957 -- when he played both ways, rushed for 350 yards, punted, placekicked, and returned kicks -- he earned Tech's Billy Moss Memorial Trophy for contributions to the team.   

      The '59 team, one of three Aillet-coached Tech teams that finished with a 9-1 record (also 1955 and 1964), was one of the best defensive teams in school history, if not the best -- six shutouts and only 48 total points by opponents. The only spoiler was a 13-6 opening loss at Lamar.

       "Two or three games I did really well," J.W. said, and in typical modest fashion, quickly added, "If I am bragging on myself, I'm sorry."

      Slack was the team's biggest star in three victories -- a then-school-record 158 yards rushing (with TDs of 52 and 13 yards) in a 28-0 romp at McNeese; 135 yards (and a fourth-quarter TD) in a tough 14-0 battle at Southeastern Louisiana; and the season's biggest test, a 10-8 slugfest with Memphis State -- ranked No. 7 nationally among small-college teams -- on a cold, sleeting, and J.W. noted, "miserable" mid-November day in Ruston.

        Norris "Bud" Alexander's late 26-yard field goal settled that game, but Jim Dawson's story in The Shreveport Times the next day emphasized Slack's contributions.

      Calling him "a solid candidate for Little All-America honors" as he mentions Slack scoring the game's first TD and kicking the PAT in the first quarter, Dawson went on to write: "Slack was magnificent in every phase of the game. His booming punts kept Memphis in deep holes much of the time, his defensive play was sharp and his ball-carrying was sensational. Slack led the rushers with 84 yards on 23 pile-driving carries."
     J.W. had punts of 54 and 53 yards that left Memphis State at its 2-yard line and inside its 1.

     Indeed, after the season, J.W. earned one All-America honor.

     The other starting halfback, Paul Hynes, was more explosive and talented enough to play in the pros for a couple of years. But Slack was the team's leading rusher in 1959 with 588 yards.

     The statistics, however, pale in comparison to future years' stars. One reason was that playing time was limited by the college rules then; it was the era of three-platoon systems (at LSU, the famous White team, Go -- short for Gold -- team and the Chinese Bandits; at Tech, the Red, Blue and Green teams), in which substitutions were limited.

    So the first unit, playing both offense and defense, would play two full quarters -- only one sub allowed, except for injuries -- and the other two units, one for only offense, the other for only defense, would alternate in parts of the game.

      "We might play only 2 1/2 quarters in a game," Slack recalled. "So the stats were weathered down, even for guys like [Heisman Trophy winners] John David Crow (Texas A&M) and Billy Cannon (LSU)."

      Slack did finish as Tech's No. 5 all-time rusher at the time.

---

    Pat Garrett was a fellow Tech running back for a couple of years, the fastest man on the Tech campus -- a champion sprinter in track and field -- and later a respected English professor.

     "J.W. was a very consistent runner, an up-the-field runner, not sideways like me," Dr. Garrett said. "He was dependable, so level and consistent. You could depend on him; he was the kind of back Coach Aillet liked to have.

     "He was quite a guy, admired and well-liked by all of us."

      Billy Bundrick, like Slack, arrived at Tech in the fall of 1955, a year after they made the Shreveport-Bossier All-City team, Bundrick as an end at Byrd High.  Dr. Bundrick recalled that "our offense [Tech 1959] wasn't wide-open, but J.W. would do whatever was needed for the team. ... We were co-captains, but really he was the head honcho."

      Mickey Slaughter quickly became a J.W. Slack fan as a freshman on the 1959 team.  

     "He was a wonderful running back and an outstanding safety," said Slaughter, destined to become a Tech quarterback star who went on to pro football and then was the offensive mastermind of the Maxie Lambright era coaching staff. "He was a really good tackler and good cover man, although he didn't have to cover much in that time because not many teams threw the football a lot.

     "He was very strong physically, not very big, but tough. [On offense] he could cut on a dime, and he was always going forward. ... He had the unique ability of shredding tacklers. Guys would hit him and maybe stop him for a moment, but he would break away and get more yards.

     "The best thing about him was his leadership," Slaughter added. "He was a born leader, in practice and in games. All the guys looked up to him, especially the young ones, and I was one of those."

---

      After Tech graduation in 1960, with a B.A. in education, there were two brief tries to play in the new American Football League. They did not take.

      He twice went to the California training camp of the Chargers (Los Angeles 1960, San Diego 1961), with an $8,000 free-agent contract and $500 bonus the first year. That coaching staff included some NFL legends -- head coach Sid Gillman and assistants Al Davis and Chuck Noll; his defensive backs coach was Jack Faulkner, who had a long career in the AFL and NFL.

      Among the best-known players in those camps: quarterback Jack Kemp (who went on to politics) and punter-end Paul Maguire (who went on to TV broadcasting).

       But "I didn't do a good job of trying to make the team," recalled J.W. "I was homesick [for his family] the first year" and a job opportunity with the Bossier Parish Sheriff's Department -- he had gotten to know Sheriff Willie Waggoner a few years before -- enticed him in '61.
      Going into coaching had been a consideration, but being a student teacher cooled that idea, and the money in law enforcement was more appealing. He did turn down coaching offers a couple of years later.

      In two stints with the Sheriff's Department for much of two decades, his roles included deputy, head of the records section, detective, chief polygraph examiner, and juvenile officer working with middle and high school students who had discipline problems.

      He also received special training at centers in New York City and other law-enforcement schools, and in the mid-1990s, was liaison officer for the Bossier police and sheriff's departments and point man for security efforts, working with the U.S. Secret Service branch.        

      J.W. also was a serial candidate for political offices in Bossier Parish. He ran for clerk of court in 1967, for tax assessor in 1971 (lost in a runoff), and for sheriff -- the job he most desired, to succeed  Waggoner after his death -- in 1976, finishing third in a 10-man race. 

      "I probably should not have run for a couple of those," he concedes. But after losing the sheriff's race, he subsequently rejoined the department.

The Slack family in 1967

       He found a longtime place in the Bossier Parish School Board as the District 7 representative, selected to fill a spot vacated by a death in July 1998. He has served in that role for more than 20 years, running unopposed and, with thoughts of retiring, being encouraged by constituents to remain in the post a year ago.

       He was school board president in 2004 and a bond issue was passed in that year. He says now that "we have been able to accomplish a lot" in his time on the board, building new schools and boosting facilities. "We've been pretty successful. I don't take credit for that, but I guess we were doing something right."

      He also became a Masonic Lodge member, and at First Baptist Church, was on the board of deacons, in the adult men's Bible classes, the adult choir, and on the properties and grounds committee.

      He and Ginger later moved to Airline Baptist Church. And their religious convictions carried through to the family.

      Terry Slack, after a decade coaching career at Airline High, including five years (1984-88) as head coach, became Northwest Louisiana area director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and has been FCA state director since 2011. Hayden now is the Northwest Louisiana area director.

      J.W. always has stayed involved with Tech, serving on the Alumni Association executive committee in the mid-1970s, and following his sons' and grandson's careers as Bulldogs players.

      Unsurprisingly, Terry and Hayden both call him "my biggest hero."

       But other than the usual father/son/grandson play around the house, the former star player did not coach them. 

       "He never interfered," said Terry. "He must have made a decision to back off and let my coaches do the coaching in junior and high school. ... He did not really get technical with me in talking football.

     "People thought I would be a running back because he was," Terry added. "I played there a little, but mostly I was on defense."

      Hayden played at Calvary Baptist under head coach Doug Pederson, who went on to be the Super Bowl-winning coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. J.W. did offer Hayden some advice on punting, but very little.

        "Wish I had had some of his speed," said Hayden. "Obviously I did not know him as a player, but I know him as a man. He's a Godly man, with high character, and I know the great example he set for our family."

     Of his Tech days, J.W. was especially proud to have been teammates -- as others were -- with the three Hinton brothers (Pat one year, Tommy for two and Joe for three). And, "I enjoyed my time there and made so many great friends."

        Now, those friends who remain with us and all Tech fans will know J.W. Slack as a Hall of Famer. It was overdue.

That's the old ballgame Shreveport -- acknowledgements

     Acknowledgements

     It has been "a project" that took more than two years to compile. But thinking about professional baseball in Shreveport, studying it, and researching it has been practically a lifetime experience.

     To put together the material in these 30 chapters brings to mind what the great, zany Casey Stengel was quoted as saying.

     After his New York Yankees clinched the 1958 American League championship, the old manager supposedly said: "I realize I couldn't have done it without the players."

     (Just to be sure, he said it again a few weeks later after the Yankees won the World Series.)

     So ... I could not have put together this material without help from a lot of friends.

     To begin, John Andrew Prime -- former reporter/writer for The Shreveport Times with a deep interest in local history -- suggested the topic and provided guidance along the way.
     A huge assist from John James Marshall -- state-champion quarterback (Jesuit High-Shreveport, 1976), Shreveport Journal sportswriting/editing regular in the 1980s -- who opened the door for research on newspapers.com.

     The great bulk of this material came from those Times files, and also from other newspapers that somehow tied into Shreveport baseball.  

     Whatever we gathered from the pre-1950s days, much it was from the writing of Shreveport Times sports editors Joe Carter (1922-47, his column was titled "Raspberries and Cream") and Barney Ghio (1947-51, ''Barney's Corner.").

     But so much of the 1950s/early 1960s Shreveport Sports material came from the writing of then-Times sports editor Jack Fiser ("The Inside Corner"), a superb wordsmith, a columnist who would have been a star in any market.

     And no one covered Shreveport baseball longer -- or better -- than Bill McIntyre at The Times, before, during and after his 15-year stint as sports editor. 

     McIntyre was my first boss at The Times -- he was an encyclopedia of sports knowledge -- and my association with Fiser was for much of my sophomore year at Louisiana Tech University when he was the sports information director. I have so much admiration for those two "mentors."  

     No one knows more about the 1980s Shreveport Captains than John James Marshall. No one knows more, or wrote more, about the 1990s Captains and early 2000s city teams -- or most every sports subject in the area -- than Scott Ferrell, whose three-decades stay at Shreveport newspapers now has him as the overall editor of The Times.

     Their help with my "project" was invaluable.
     Thanks to JJ and to Teddy Allen -- the "Designated Writers" team, my co-workers at the Journal in the mid-1980s -- for publishing a few of these chapters on their Designated web site.

     There were, over the last five decades, many, many sportswriters in Shreveport who left their piece of baseball coverage, and some material was gleaned from most of them.

     Taylor Moore, who was part of the Captains' ownership for 25 years and the team's general managing partner, was/is a valuable resource. One of the team's ex-general managers  and a good friend of nearly five decades, John W. Marshall III, has always made contributions.

     For photos, there was one major source (other than those photos taken from the Internet): The Texas League office. 

     The great majority of the photos in this project came from the TL office. The 25-year TL president Tom Kayser collected -- through donations from the newspapers and the Captains -- many of The Times and Journal baseball photos.        

     And then, in a great break for this project, Tim Purpura -- former Houston Astros general manager (among several of his baseball-industry jobs) -- succeeded Kayser as TL president and moved the league office to ... Fort Worth. 

      So that worked for me. Tim graciously opened the files in his downtown office to me to dig for Shreveport-related baseball photos. 

      It took several trips. Tim's executive assistant, Jessica McClasky (ex-softball star, current coach), helped by scanning dozens of photos; before that, league intern Tyler King was a big help.
      John Ridge, whose "Shreveport Confidential" site on Facebook is always interesting and who has done extensive research and posts on all things -- athletics included -- in north Caddo Parish, contributed several early day Shreveport baseball photos and clippings.
       There are more photos to be had, in the Times' and Journal negatives files, now located in the LSU-Shreveport archives section. Obtaining those, as well as formatting and publishing a printed book of this material, are in the "maybe" category.

       But for those who are interested in the Shreveport baseball history, it is all online, and the intention here is to at least provide a printed copy of the chapters to various outlets (newspaper, library, TL office, etc.).
       For now, though, we have reached the bottom of the ninth inning on Shreveport pro baseball. We have gathered the material, and we are grateful for all the help we  received.       

Nico Van Thyn
Fort Worth, Texas
August 19, 2019

That's the old ballgame Shreveport, chapter 30 -- A personal journey

    Chapter 30

      A personal journey

The writer, as Shreveport Journal executive sports editor, covering a Shreveport Captains game at the old, roofless
 SPAR Stadium in 1982. (Photo by Louis DeLuca, Dallas Times-Herald) 

     Baseball was my first American sports love, and it still is.

     From the time we first saw them, we loved the Shreveport Sports. Then we loved the Shreveport Captains.

     Over about a 40-year period -- boyhood to middle age -- those were our teams. 

     The Gassers and all those previous team nicknames? Too soon.

     The Swamp Dragons and the independent teams that followed? Too late. By the time they came along, we had left town. Soon, so had professional baseball.

     Too bad, and kind of sad.

     The players who represented professional baseball in our hometown,  who wore those white home uniforms with "Sports" or "Captains" across the front or the (usually) gray road uniforms with "Shreveport," those were our boys of summer (young men actually, although some were close to 40).

     And the ballparks, those were our home parks. Countless hours spent at each of those places.

     First, Texas League Park-turned-Braves Field-turned SPAR Stadium -- never "beautiful," but functional through the 1950s and '60s and a decaying facility in the 1970s that was a near-wreck into the mid-1980s. 

     Then, the new concrete Fair Grounds Field, so nice at its opening in 1986, so visible from Interstate 20. And for 17 years, home of Shreveport's Texas League team. For another nine, home of independent-league teams.

     And then gone ... a pro baseball void in Shreveport-Bossier that soon enough will be a decade long.
A ballpark still standing by I-20, but -- honestly -- an eyesore, even from a distance. Can it be put back into playing shape? Doubtful. Too expensive, too much negativity.
Maybe someday ... a fix, or a new ballpark. Difficult to see it in the near future.

     But once upon a time, following those Shreveport teams was a magical journey for us, and a totally unexpected one. Because before 1956, baseball indeed was a foreign subject for me.

 ---

     We came across the Atlantic Ocean on a boat as 1955 became 1956, and the hottest topics that first year in the U.S. were Elvis Presley, Mickey Mantle, Ike and, for us, the Mickey Mouse Club. 

     To think, the Brooklyn Dodgers -- for the only time in their history -- were the defending World Series champions. Did not realize then how much misery the New York Yankees had dealt them over the years.

     But Dodgers, World Series, Mantle, Yankees? All new to me. Baseball? Did not know the second thing about it.

     The first thing: It was a game that in the old country, The Netherlands, was called honkbal. A minor sport there. We had read (in Dutch) about it, but never seen a game.

     The kids on the elementary school grounds here, though, played baseball at recess and speedball -- same game, rubber ball (a bit bigger than a hardball). So, after rudimentary introductions to speaking, reading and writing English, came some of the basics of the game.

     Found out a couple of things pretty quickly: 

     (1) Hitting a ball with a wooden bat was not all that easy, especially when -- as Bill McIntyre would write in The Shreveport Times a few times in future years -- pitches were fired in anger; 

     (2) If you lined up in the catcher's position, without benefit of a mask, and got too close, the wooden bat could hit you in the face. A few weeks into the experience that meant a severe black eye, but luckily no further damage.          

     Slowly that first spring and early summer, we would begin hearing about the Shreveport Sports. A professional baseball team in our city, and Dad's company had tickets for games at the stadium. His bosses, hearing of the son's sports interests, suggested we take the tickets and go to a game.

     We lived close enough to the ballpark in the old Allendale neighborhood that -- without benefit of a car -- we could walk, and be there in about 20 minutes. Down Jordan Street to a right on Southern Avenue, then across the railroad tracks toward downtown, and soon enough, a few blocks away, you could see the stadium light poles behind the fence in right field.

     Can close my eyes and see that scene, and remember the thrill. It was almost -- not quite, but almost -- like going to Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam (also within walking distance of our little house there).

     Hello, Texas League Park, 1956.

     Recall going in the front gate and then seeing the ballfield and the stands, the Sports in their home white uniforms, the Dallas Eagles in the visiting grays. The date -- researched this in The Times files -- was July 8, the only Sunday game the Eagles played in Shreveport to that point in the '56 season.

     And I know, I remember, it was the Eagles as the visiting team.

     Do not think, however, that I was aware of how special a season 1956 would be in Shreveport, or how special one player -- home-run hitting phenom Ken Guettler -- was that season.

     By that Sunday, Guettler had hit 33 home runs -- past the halfway mark of the Texas League record (55). 

     He did not hit one that Sunday, but he would make history, earn his forever place in Shreveport baseball lore -- and make the cover of this book.

     We sat in the upper grandstand, Dad and I, two of the 1,319 paid for the game. We were about 10 rows up just to the right of home plate, but enough so we could see into the home-team dugout on the third-base side. In Shreveport, the home team side was always on the third-base side.

     No one was more enchanted by baseball than I was that day. It was instant love.

     Maybe it was the first inning -- Dallas scored three runs, then Shreveport scored five. (The Eagles ended up winning 8-6, but that did not matter much to us then.)

      Could not always figure out exactly what was happening in the game (although it was easier to learn than American football), but I loved the pitcher-batter battles, I loved the speed of the baserunners, loved the mixture of white-and-gray uniforms -- and loved the red and blue trim of the Sports' colors (especially the two-tone hat) with the "S" logo.

     Along with the Sports, I found another favorite team because they were on television a lot -- once we got a TV -- and in the news. The pinstriped home uniforms were unique, eye-catching. Lots of interest, I discovered, in the Yankees and especially the center fielder, No. 7. It would be Mickey Mantle's greatest season, so it was natural to become a fan of the player and the team.

     Think we went to one more Sports game that summer, but by the next year, Dad's company had box-seat tickets, so we went often -- although attendance had fallen off dramatically -- and I remember Dad proudly leaning over the railing on the third-base side to scoop up a couple of foul-ball grounders. Never an autograph seeker, I took those baseballs and used them on the playground.)

     By the next year, I had a Shreveport Sports cap and a yellow-and-blue Sports T-shirt.

     It was disconcerting to learn that there would be no Sports in 1958; the ballclub left town. Did not really understand the reasoning then -- a ban on integrated games was a huge issue -- but was delighted when the Sports' franchise came back to life in 1959 ... in the Southern Association.

     So, it was the 1959-61 Sports -- a Kansas City Athletics' farm team -- with which we most identified. Found a player who, other than Mantle, became a personal favorite -- a 19-year-old second baseman, Lou Klimchock, "Baby Lou" to the Shreveport media. 

     He was terrific that season and he wore uniform No. 4 for the Sports. And for the four years in which I played at baseball -- not well, at all -- my uniform was No. 4. (Also liked the Yankees' No. 4, Lou Gehrig, subject of the first book I read in America.)

     Those Sports players -- Peden, Posada, Grunwald, Slider, Ward, Hankins, Hunt, McManus, Howser, Wickersham, Spicer, Pfister, Blemker, Black, Davis and Davis, Parks ... I could go on and on -- were magic for me. Followed their career paths in their years after Shreveport.

     Tough to see the ballclub leave again after 1961. But the ballpark became a close friend -- as a scorekeeper for high school, American Legion and recreational ballgames, and sometimes P.A. announcer, too.

     When pro ball returned in 1968, I was a college junior and one of our Louisiana Tech friends, basketball-baseball star George Stone, started the '68 season pitching for the Shreveport Braves (in the Atlanta Braves' organization). As he commuted to home games, we came with him several times in the early season.

     He was on his way to the major leagues; that year, in fact. I was on the way to a sportswriting career.

     That summer, 1968, among the assignments as a Times intern a half-dozen times was coverage of Shreveport Braves' games (with that came the official scorer role). The next summer it was a fulltime position -- and frequent Braves/Captains stories and columns for almost the next two decades.

     From that standpoint, it was less being a fan and more being a reporter. But still, it was -- as it had always been -- a point of pride in seeing Shreveport in the standings (yes, it was in bold in the newspapers). It looked especially good at the top of those standings.

     However, I always felt like a jinx for Shreveport teams. In the years I lived there (1956-1988), there were this many league championship teams: zero.   

     In the four years before we arrived, the Sports won two Texas League playoff championships (1952, 1955) and one regular-season championship (1954). Two years after I left for good, the Captains won the first of back-to-back championships (1990-91), and then they won again in '95.

     Oh, well.

     Another point of pride was identifying former Shreveport players and/or managers as they moved on, many to the major leagues, some as big stars. For a short time in their lives, they were our guys.

It was tough, but understandable, to see the demise of pro baseball in Shreveport starting in the year 2000 when the ballclub -- mostly locally owned for some 25 years -- was sold to corporate interests. Personally, the independent-league teams that followed were not of much interest for someone living out of state.

But the game endures, without a team in Shreveport. So do memories.
And so does the love for a baseball past in a place that meant so much to us.

That's the old ballgame Shreveport, chapter 29 -- short subjects

     Chapter 29

      Short subjects

     The New York Giants-Cleveland Indians spring training game at Texas League Park on April 5, 1954, was the first national coast-to-coast radio sports event carried from Shreveport.

The Mutual Broadcast System announcing team -- one of the best-known in the country -- was Dizzy Dean, Buddy Blattner and Al Helfer. (Ol' Diz and Buddy did baseball's national Game of the Week on national television from 1953 to '59).
The 1954 spring-training broadcast was originated by KENT, the Shreveport Sports' home network. 

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     Dizzy Dean was a fading star, barely hanging on to his pitching career although he was only 30 when he was back in the Texas League -- at his request -- in 1940.

     His June 26 start for Tulsa, anticipated by The Shreveport Times, attracted some 7,500 fans to the third-year ballpark.

     Times sports editor Joe R. Carter wrote: "The great J.H. 'Dizzy' Dean, a little shopworn from wear and tear but still the talkative national celebrity who can always command an audience, will be on display at the Sports' ball yard in the role of hurler tonight."

     Dean had pitched for Houston in the TL in 1931, compiling one of the great records in league history -- 26-10 record, 1.57 ERA, 303 strikeouts in 304 innings over 41 games -- and starting the next year was on his way to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
In 1934, he was the game's biggest star with his 30 wins for the St. Louis Cardinals and two more in the World Series, and he had 133 wins in a six-year period. 

     Injuries (a fractured toe in the 1937 All-Star Game and then arm issues) had curtailed his career, although he pitched well for the Chicago Cubs against the Yankees in Game 2 of the 1938 World Series, taking a 3-2 lead into the eighth inning when the Yanks rallied and dealt him the loss.  

     At his request, he went from the Cubs to the Tulsa Oilers early in the 1940 season, trying out a sidearm delivery instead of the overhand style that had characterized his blazing rise to stardom.

     From The Shreveport Times' front sports page June 26, an Associated Press story datelined New York and written by Whitney Martin started:

     "Dizzy Dean has gone back to the minors and his brave attempt to be philosophical about it strikes a pathetic note, particularly his hope that the southwest sun will bring comfort to his ailing arm. ...

     "Sure, he's been an arrogant showoff. Sure, he criticized not wisely but too well. Sure, he got in more jams than a kid in a pantry. But that's Dizzy Dean and he couldn't be any different. He was great when he had it, and sometimes when he didn't, and even his severest critic will miss him and hope he can come back."

    The Sports scored two runs before Diz registered his first out. But although he gave up 12 hits, he pitched eight innings, walked only two (one intentional), and after being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the top of the ninth, got the pitching win when the Oilers rallied with two runs for a 6-5 victory.

    Diz was 8-8 with a 3.17 ERA in 21 games and 142 innings for Tulsa that season. But he pitched only 13 more innings professionally and became one of the nation's best known baseball broadcasters for a couple of decades. He made several trips to Shreveport and the ballpark during that time.

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     At the April 8, 1967, spring exhibition game (Cleveland Indians vs. Cincinnati Reds)  came the first warning sign that Shreveport's ballpark since 1938 was aging, and crumbling.

     During the seventh-inning stretch, a row of seats in the grandstand on the third-base side gave way -- the concrete slab had loosened because the I-beam holding it had shifted -- and fans sank with it.

     It was above the home clubhouse, and that helped break the fall. But, as The Shreveport Times reported in a Page One story the next morning, two children from the same family landed on a pile of lumber that was stacked nearby and were injured. The game was held up for about 10 minutes, the children were taken to a hospital, treated for cuts and bruises, and released. 

     SPAR officials later said stadium damage was minimal, and repairs were made that summer. But a decade later, just before the 1977 Texas League season, the upper grandstand was deemed unsafe by architects and closed permanently, and the I-beams for the lower reserved seat sections had to be re-enforced. Stadium capacity went from some 5,000 to 2,000, and remained that way through the Captains' last season there (1985).

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     One of the most bizarre Shreveport baseball incidents was 1938 Sports manager Claude Jonneau's season being ended by a fight with one of his players -- ex-major league catcher Walter Stephenson -- outside a San Antonio hotel.

Jonneau suffered an eye injury, which became infected and he was in critical condition for a time in Schumpert Sanitorium in Shreveport.

     Six stitches were needed to close a cut under his right eye, which because of a childhood accident was artificial, and had to be removed when his face became infected after the fight. He recovered, but did not return to the team -- interim manager Hub Northen finished the season -- and was let go after the season. 

     First reports in newspapers were that Jonneau had been hit in the face by a ball while in the outfield during batting practice. He was treated and came to the ballpark that night and the next one, his face heavily bandaged, and the true story was reported soon thereafter.

Stephenson was not suspended, and issued a public apology a couple of days after the fight. 

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     Paul "Pound 'Em" Easterling, a legendary Texas League outfielder for 16 seasons (13 full seasons), was with the Shreveport Sports in the Dixie League in 1933, then returned to them late in the 1939 TL season.

In his first at-bat with the Sports after a trade from Oklahoma City, he hit a home run at Fort Worth. He was traded to Dallas early in the 1940 season; in his first game for the Rebels, he hit a home run against the Sports.

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     Longest games for Shreveport teams: 

     21 innings -- Captains 4, San Antonio 3, in San Antonio on May 21, 1987;

     20 innings -- Gassers 1, Fort Worth 1 (tie), May 8, 1918, in Fort Worth;

     19 innings -- Sports 4, Fort Worth 3, first-round playoff game, Sept. 14, 1942, in Fort Worth. 

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     Highest scoring game in Shreveport baseball history: the very first season and first week, 1895, April 28 -- Grays 21, Sherman 20.

     That must have been the way the game was played then because two days later Shreveport lost to Fort Worth 24-20. 

      And in May, the Grays hit another high mark with 26 runs (26-10 victory against Houston) in which every Shreveport player had at least two hits and the team stole 13 bases.

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     Shreveport teams had quite a run of top thieves in the early years -- stolen base leaders.

     Tony Thebo of the Shreveport Pirates was the Southern Association stolen-base champ in 1908 (with 90) and 1909 (with 63). 

     In 1905, Jim "Snapper" Kennedy led the Southern Association with 57 stolen bases, and Bob Byrne was the leader the next season with 46. Then, when the team nickname became Pirates, Tony Thebo was the champ in 1908 (with 90) and 1909 (with 63). 

     For the Gassers, it was three Texas League leaders in steals in a six-year period -- Al Nixon (37, 1917), Mel Silva (39, 1920) and Homer Ezell (55, 1922).

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     Dave Wilhelmi had an unremarkable six-year pro baseball career, but did have one remarkable night.

On May 3, 1983, in Little Rock, Ark., the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Shreveport Captains right-hander pitched the first perfect game in the Texas League in 48 seasons. He was 21, in his fourth pro season, and had spent two weeks on the disabled list, but in only his second start of the season (his record was 0-1 with a 7.00 ERA), he retired 27 Travelers in a row as Shreveport won 7-0. Two difficult outfield catches in the ninth inning saved the gem.  

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     Left-handed pitcher Mike Remlinger came out of Dartmouth College in 1987, joined the Shreveport Captains late in the season and was an immediate sensation. In his first home game, on Aug. 12 at Fair Grounds Field, he struck out the first nine Tulsa batters -- one short of the league record -- and wound up striking out 15 in seven no-hit innings (with one walk) when, after 122 pitches, he was pulled. A reliever gave up a hit in the ninth; Remlinger's victory gave him a 3-0 record.

He would go on to a lengthy major-league career, mostly as a reliever.

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      The 1992 TL All-Star Game in Jackson had an incredible finish: The East team rallied with seven runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the West 8-6, and it was Shreveport first baseman Adell Davenport who hit a game-winning two-run, two-out home run.

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     Toughest loss in Shreveport baseball history? One strong candidate: Game 5 of the Texas League Eastern Division best-of-five championship series in 1994 (Sept. 3).

Leading 1-0 from the top of the first inning on, the Captains had two outs in the bottom of the ninth, one out from reaching the league finals. Jackson had not scored in 22 innings. Then Tom Nevers and Jeff Ball hit consecutive home runs -- in a span of four pitches -- to steal the victory (and the finals spot) for the Generals.  

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     Taylor Moore, Captains’ president and managing general partner for close to 25 years, provided this tidbit about the man who ran the ballclub from 1938 to 1961:
"As an aside, Bonneau Peters lived at 535 Elmwood Street. We lived at 553 Elmwood Street. Side by side. What would be the odds that the two individuals heading baseball in Shreveport for the longest periods of time would have houses next to each other?"