When the state's basketball eyes were on Shreveport

(Second of three parts)
      From Jim Dawson's column, The Shreveport Times, on the Top Twenty's first day (March 9, 1961):
       Louisiana is fortunate to have an arena such as the 10,500-seat Youth Center in which to stage its "Top Twenty." This cavernous auditorium on the State Fair Grounds isn't likely to be taxed to capacity during the inaugural "Top Twenty," but stranger things have happened. North Louisiana has its usual strong semifinals contingent and appears likely to cart away three of the five championships.
     (Three North Louisiana champs, indeed -- AA, Ruston; B, Ringgold; C, Athens.)
     From the start, the tournament format/schedule was Thursday and Friday, two sessions a day -- two afternoon games (1:30 start), clear the place, three night games (starting at 6); Saturday -- five championship games, two sessions -- Classes C and B in the afternoon; Class A, AA and AAA at night. 
     No way the tournament made money the first year. Ticket prices -- each session -- were $1.50 for adults, $1 for students, 50 cents for children under 12. Ah, 1961 prices.

The schedule for the first state tournament

     The Times sports pages on opening day included all the team rosters, a capsule look at the tournament's top players, a list of previous state champions, and -- through the week's buildup -- various team photos. My opinion: impressive coverage for four days.
     (A personal note: In Jim Dawson's column, a section titled "Tourney Potpourri" included this note: "LOGANSPORT HAS THE YOUNGEST player, 13-year-old Kenneth Harvey, an eighth-grader." That Kenneth Harvey, the once-young man who was the subject of my blog's nine-part series in 2013.) 
     One giant (and strange) LHSAA mistake the first year: The scheduling of the tournament's biggest attraction, Shreveport's Byrd Yellow Jackets.
     They were in the Class AAA semifinals, and their game vs. Baton Rouge High (the eventual champion) was scheduled at 1:30 p.m. on Friday; yes, a weekday afternoon game, instead of one of the featured slots, the wrapup game on one of the first two nights. 
     So the per-session average attendance the first year was 2,159 -- OK, but not exactly a success. Still, the LHSAA approved a second year for Shreveport ... and later, two more two-year deals.

     In the third year (1963), a big break and a step up for the tournament: Fair Park, Byrd's top rival, emerged as the final hope in what was one of the best Shreveport-Bossier seasons ever for high school basketball. Wisely, the LHSAA scheduled the Indians for a Class AAA semifinal vs. Fortier (New Orleans) in the 8:40 p.m. Friday wrapup game.
     Fair Park breezed to a 62-33 victory and the next night, before the first almost capacity crowd in tournament history, beat Lafayette for the state title and helped give the attendance total a 5,800 boost over the previous year.
     And by then, the thrill of reaching the Top Twenty and playing at Hirsch had set in for all the schools, small and large. Even the New Orleans teams and their fans did not mind making the trip. 
     Plus, it was a meeting place for the state's coaches and for the college recruiters scouting -- and pursuing -- many of the state's top prospects.
     (Also in 1963, the girls state tournament -- the "Sweet Sixteen," four teams in four classes -- began in Pineville. It, too, has carried on; the 58th annual was played last week in Lake Charles.) 

Last time in Shreveport (the 1966 schedule)

     Top Twenty tournament attendance (with one small exception) and revenue grew with each year. But in 1966, Shreveport and Hirsch's host time ran out. 
     Alexandria, with its 1-year-old Rapides Coliseum (which seated near 10,000), and -- most importantly -- its central location (thus shortening the trip for South Louisiana schools) made the LHSAA a financial offer that Shreveport did not match. 
     So starting in 1967, Rapides -- on Highway 28 West -- was the basketball mecca. 
---
     As a high school sophomore, I first attended Shreveport's Top Twenty in Fair Park's title year (1963) and most games  of the 1964 and '65 tournaments ... in '65, on media row, thanks to my Times connections. 
     One '65 memory (thanks to a reminder from longtime Louisiana sports writer/editor Bob Tompkins about a team from his school): The "Century Club" Jesuit (New Orleans) Class AAA state champs, probably the best team of the all-white era. Deep and talented, the Blue Jays scored 100-plus points in their two Top Twenty games. The year before, Jesuit had routed Fair Park in the Class AAA final; this Jesuit team was even better.
     By 1970, in my first full year as a Times sportswriter, my first day of Top Twenty coverage was memorable. The afternoon session was a packed house (national scoring leader and phenom Greg Procell and Ebarb in the Class C final was the big attraction); the night session was an overflow, no-room-to-move crowd and a monumental Class AAA championship between Captain Shreve (Shreveport) and Brother Martin (New Orleans), a classic overtime slugfest. 
     (Wrote about that day, those games, in a previous blog:
https://nvanthyn.blogspot.com/2018/11/cannons-friend-but-not-captain-shreves.html) 
     Another personal note: Covered the Top Twenty for six years in Alexandria, and it was among the best times I had in an early stage of my career. So much work, but so much fun, being part of the scene, being among the top prep writers in the state ... and watching so much great basketball.
     (Next: What's happened to the tournament)