Give Tommy Davis his due

     Start with this simple fact: Tommy Davis never has been inducted into the  Louisiana High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame.

    Ridiculous. A travesty.

    The recent announcement of 10 new inductees -- the Class of 2023 -- brought this point home again. Tommy Davis was ignored ... as he has been since this Hall of Fame was started in 1979.

     His senior year was 70 years ago. What are they waiting for? Is there an amount of time a candidate must wait, like four decades?

     He is -- our opinion, and that of many others -- simply the greatest football player, the most accomplished, in the history of what was Fair Park High School in Shreveport (1928-2017).  

     He was the star fullback and linebacker on the 1952 team that won the only Fair Park football state championship, and set a state record for points scored. 

    He was a star at LSU -- a key player on the 1958 national championship as the "Go" (offensive) team fullback and, more importantly, the Tigers' placekicker and punter. He turned pro and was missed by another great LSU team in 1959 when it could have won another national title.  

      With the San Francisco 49ers, he was one of the NFL's last combination placekicker-punters for a decade, twice a Pro Bowler, set the league record for most consecutive PATs, and was one of the best punters in history.

      If you pick the best high school running backs in Louisiana in the 1950s, you'd start with Billy Cannon, John David Crow and Jimmy Taylor. Might add Johnny Robinson and Tommy Mason. Tommy Davis is right there with them.

      (And to show how haphazard -- and frankly, dumb -- the selections for this Hall of Fame have been, consider that Cannon and Robinson were not chosen until 2020, so some 65 years after senior seasons. Also in that 2020 class: quarterback Doug Williams, a senior in 1973, and baseball star Rusty Staub, a 1961 graduate.) 

      Davis was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1988, a year after his death (of lung cancer) in California at age 52. He was inducted into the American Kickers Hall of Fame in 2014.

       When we learned a year ago that he had never made this Hall of Fame, we also were told there was  one major reason: He'd never been nominated.

       Took care of that last December. (See nomination listings below.)

       But he apparently remains invisible to the selection committee.

       We are sure that the 10 people chosen for this class are deserving. So are -- we say diplomatically -- the 340 selected (athletes, coaches, principals, administrators, referees/officials, contributors and, yes, even four sportswriters over 44 selection "classes."

        (Likely the average sports fan in Louisiana will not even have heard of most of these people; this Hall is very oriented to school principals and coaches. Even more knowledgeable fans might be clueless on these names.)

       But no Tommy Davis. That's not right.

       Also, if you can believe this, the only athlete from Shreveport's Byrd High School -- one of the great producers of talent and championships for almost 100 years -- was a baseball player, but is in this Hall for his coaching success in girls basketball.

        In fact, there is scant representation of athletes from Caddo and Bossier Parish schools (see list below). Two Bossier High athletes were chosen for their coaching careers.

       Actually, Fair Park has done as well as any school from northwest Louisiana in this Hall of Fame: running backs and all-around athetes Lee Hedges, Rogers Hampton and A.L. Williams (although Hedges and Williams' selections were based more on their outstanding high school football coaching careers); baseball/football coach James C. Farrar; Olympics high jumper Hollis Conway; and sportswriting legend Jerry Byrd Sr.

     Fair Park people would tell you that the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame also should include coaches F.H. "Homer" Prendergast (football), Clem Henderson (basketball/principal), all-around athlete and coach Jimmy Orton, and stars such as Leo Sanford (football), Charles Beasley, Kenny Simpson and Stromile Swift (basketball), and 

Joe May, Jerry Dyes and Rod Richardson (track and field).

         Oh, and Tommy Davis, a state and national championship star. Yes, he has been nominated.

      So, to the selection committee members -- Keith Alexander, Jimmy Anderson (standing chairperson), Eddie Bonine, David Federico, James Simmons, Robin Fambrough, Kim Gaspard, Kenny Gennuso, Kathy Holloway (chairperson), Karen Hoyt, Eric Held, Philip Timothy and Ken Wood -- as Mr. Byrd would have said: You blew it!

    Wait 'til next year (again).

    This is an incredible years-long oversight. 

    

         

TOMMY DAVIS qualifications:

High school --Three-year starter at linebacker and fullback, and also the team’s punter and placekicker; Fair Park played in the state championship game, Class AA, each year. Won the state championship in 1952 (the only football state title in the school’s history). As a senior, Davis rushed for a state-record 1,650 yards in the regular season and set a state record with 184 points.

College -- LSU running back, 1953-54, and 1958; also the team’s punter-placekicker in 1958. In the national-championship season of 1958, he was the “Go Team” (offensive unit) fullback, and rushed 69 times for 243 yards, scored four touchdowns. His kicking was the difference in two of LSU’s victories (a field goal against Florida, 10-7; an extra point against Mississippi State, 7-6. His deep punts were a key to Coach Paul Dietzel’s conservative, defense-first philosophy.  

NFL -- 11 seasons (1959-69) as punter and placekicker for the San Francisco 49ers. Twice All-Pro (1962, 1963). He made a still-standing NFL record 234 consecutive PAT kicks over his first six-plus seasons; for his career, he made 348 of 350 PAT kicks and made 130 field goals in 276 attempts. As a punter, his career average of 44.7 yards is second lifetime, bested only by Sammy Baugh’s 45.1. His 45.6-yard average led the NFL in 1962.                                         

Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame inductees, primarily from Caddo-Bossier schools (by year inducted):

1980 -- Joe Ferguson (Woodlawn football, track and field)

1981 -- Terry Bradshaw (Woodlawn football, track and field)

1986 -- J.D. Cox (Byrd coach, football and baseball)

1987 -- Lee Hedges (Fair Park athlete, multi-sport coach, four Shreveport  schools)

1987 -- Robert Parish (Woodlawn basketball)

1989 -- Frank Lampkin (Bossier basketball coach/principal)

1991 -- Billy Montgomery (Haughton basketball coach)

1995 -- Woodrow Turner (Byrd coach track-field and football)

1996 -- James Farrar (football-baseball coach, three Shreveport schools)

1997 -- Rogers Hampton Sr. (Fair Park athlete)

2000 -- Bobby Ray McHalffey (Bossier athlete, Haughton football/track-field coach)

2001 -- Jerry Byrd Sr. (Fair Park grad, sportswriter/editor)

2005 -- Rick Huckabay (Bossier baseball; basketball coach at several schools) 

2008 -- Tommy Henry (Bossier coach, LHSAA commissioner)

2011 -- Alana Beard (Souhwood basketball)

2011 -- Hollis Conway (Fair Park track-field)

2014 -- A.L. Williams (Fair Park athlete, Woodlawn coach)

2016 -- Kenny Guillot (Jesuit football, coach in Baton Rouge)

2016 -- Steve McDowell (Byrd baseball, Southwood girls basketball coach)

2016 -- Todd Walker (Airline baseball)

2020 -- Brock Berlin (Evangel football)

A vote for 1970s Louisiana high school basketball

       This is a subject that is going to have a limited audience, and it's not exactly timely. But for fans of basketball -- specifically, high school boys basketball in the state of Louisiana -- here is a history lesson.

     And a premise: For Louisiana high school hopes, nothing beats the 1970s. Yes, six decades ago for greatness.    

     We've done the research (it took days) and we'll put it out there. The competition is stiff; Louisiana has a helluva history for athletic talent, and you could pick any of the last six decades -- through today -- as the best for basketball and not be wrong (it's subjective). 

      But we'll take the '70s.

      Admittedly, we're partial, having covered -- for Shreveport's newspapers -- seven state tournaments in those 10 years. Saw some great players then, and the idea for this blog came from two early 2021 developments:    

      (1) The selection and upcoming (delayed) induction of Louis Dunbar to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame;

      (2) An "SEC Storied" production on the SEC Network on the 1978 Kentucky NCAA men's basketball championship team that included Rick Robey.

      Dunbar and Robey. Big men in a big time. With plenty of '70s company ...    

     Start the list with Robert Parish, and yes, he's a personal favorite, with close ties to the schools where he played (Woodlawn High, Centenary College).  

     Ask me, and I'll tell you Robert is the best player to come out of a Louisiana high school (certainly the best 7-footer). The most regular-season games played by anyone ever in the NBA over an astounding 21 seasons, four NBA championships (with an assist from Larry Bird and Michael Jordan), the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

    And, yes, I know that puts Robert above Bob Pettit, Willis Reed, Elvin Hayes, Karl Malone, Joe Dumars and others in my estimation.   

     Watching the SEC story on Robey was a reminder of his unique achievement: state champion (Brother Martin in New Orleans, 1974), NCAA champion (Kentucky) and NBA champion (with the Celtics). Doubt any player in Louisiana history can match that.

    (Reminder, too: Robey (6-foot-11) was a backup center to Parish for five years with the Celtics.)

    As I've written before, several times, Dunbar --a high school and college rival of Parish's -- was the most versatile, most talented Louisiana high school player I've seen. At 6-foot-8, he could, and did, play anywhere on the court; he was a Magic-like point guard and the future Globetrotters "clown prince," player personnel director and coach.

     The start of the 1970s also gave us the greatest scorer in high school basketball in the country to that point: Ebarb's Greg Procell, the rapid-fire hot shot 6-foot guard whose 6,702 points (1966-70) included the 100-point night he had against Elizabeth on January 29, 1970.     

      What a start to the decade that was.

      Louisiana high school basketball, we would guess, has improved by the decade as players are bigger and stronger. Personally, I can't say for sure because we've been gone from there for more than three decades. 

     But here is a major reason why the game grew -- and was so much fun to watch -- in the 1970s: full integration.

--- 

      The 1969-70 school year was the last year of operation for the Louisiana Interscholastic Athletic and Literary Association (LIALO), the all-black schools' organization which had existed for decades and included some 185 schools.

      There was some newspaper coverage of the LIALO, but for the most part, its championships were conducted in a separate -- and not as publicized -- setting. 

     The last LIALO championships -- state basketball tournament in March -- were in 1970. Parish, then a sophomore at Union High in Shreveport, played there. But we didn't get to see any of the sensational Parish vs. Dunbar (Union vs. Webster High) battles in 1969-70. We only read about them.

      Because some students (and athletes) transferred from all-black schools to mostly white ones -- these were majority-to-minority transfers -- and because New Orleans private schools were beginning to integrate, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA)  state basketball tournaments in 1969 and 1970 included talented players such as Collis Temple of Kentwood, Skip Brunet and Dale Valdery of St. Aloysius/Brother Martin, Melvin Russell of Woodlawn and Jeff Sudds of Captain Shreve.

     That was just a preview of what was to come.  

     By the fall of 1970, the great majority of the LIALO schools were either closed or reduced to middle schools, and with that came the full influx of black athletes into LHSAA schools. Plus, the all-black schools that remained open moved to the LHSAA, too.

     All of a sudden, the game became faster and played much more above the rim. Dunks were rare before integration; afterward, there were some rim-rattlers ... and crowds going nuts about them.

       My opinion: Other than in New Orleans -- especially at the Catholic League schools -- and at the smaller, rural, non-football-playing schools (Class B and C) around the state, the ones where teams could play 50-60 games a season, with a dozen tournaments -- basketball was a secondary sport in Louisiana high schools through the decades ... until perhaps the mid-1950s. 

       But it began changing at the larger schools for several reasons: (1) bigger gyms were built and opened -- for example in Shreveport at Byrd and Fair Park late in 1956; (2) more basketball-specific coaches took over programs, rather than just football assistants as caretakers; and (3) more players whose main sport was basketball and who weren't just playing another sport after football season ended.

     The biggest step, though -- and we've written about this (https://nvanthyn.blogspot.com/2020/03/louisianas-marsh-madness-was-magic.html) -- was the start of the state basketball tournament, the Top Twenty, in 1961. 

      That took the last two rounds of the state playoffs from the smaller home gym to the big stage where the fans got 3-to-5 days of championship basketball.

      Can't judge what high school basketball coaching is like these days. Can tell you, state-wide, it was high caliber in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

        Another big step was master motivator Dale Brown taking over the LSU men's coaching job in 1972-73, tirelessly promoting the game state-wide and eventually being able to recruit many of the state's top stars to play for the Tigers instead of heading elsewhere.

     But through the late 1950s, 1960s and into the 1970s, the Louisiana state colleges had outstanding coaches/promoters, too: Ralph Ward, Fred Hobdy, Orvis Sigler, Lenny Fant, Cecil Crowley, Billy Allgood,  Scotty Robertson, Beryl Shipley, Tynes Hildebrand, Don Landry, Benny Hollis.  

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    Below is the list of the state's best high school boys basketball players, by decades (these are based on their senior years). We don't have space for detail on their careers). But we'll list the most prominent ones first.

    Please remember: This does not include such names as Bill Russell, Clyde Drexler and Marques Johnson -- all born in Louisiana but long gone by the time they were in high school. 

    Nor does it include some of the all-time Louisiana college greats such as Pistol Pete Maravich, Shaquille O'Neal, Chris Jackson (Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf), Mike Green, Bill Reigel and Dwight Lamar. All were imports from out of state.

     We are going to start with the 1970s, because that's our No. 1 choice. But we, in particular, loved the 1960s (my high school decade), and the 1980s are pretty darned strong, too. 

    If you want a starting five currently active in the NBA, here are Paul Millsap, D.J. Augustin, Garrett Temple, Robert Williams III and Skylar Mays.

     Take your pick of decades.

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1970s

   Robert Parish (Woodlawn-Shreveport); Louis Dunbar (Webster-Minden); Calvin Natt (Bastrop); Rick Robey (Brother Martin-New Orleans); Larry Wright (Richwood-Monroe); Orlando Woolridge (Mansfield); Mike Sanders and John Rudd  (DeRidder); Bruce Seals (Booker T. Washington-New Orleans); Kenny Simpson (Fair Park-Shreveport); Collis Temple (Kentwood); Greg Procell (Ebarb); Aaron James (Cohen-New Orleans); Edmond Lawrence (W.O. Boston-Lake Charles); Kenny Natt (Bastrop); Jeff Sudds and Mike Harrell (Captain Shreve), Skip Brunet,  Dale Valdery and Glenn Masson (St. Aloysius/Brother Martin-New Orleans); Steve Cooley (Bolton-Alexandria);  Walter "Tootsie Roll" Meshell (Ebarb); Chris Raymond (Plaquemine), Sammy White (Richwood-Monroe); Jeff Cummings (Rummel-Metairie); Mike McConathy (Airline-Bossier City); Billy Burton (Booker T. Washington-Shreveport); Doug Williams (Cheneyville);  Floyd "Super Dragon" Bailey (Central Dubberly); Carl Kilpatrick (Bastrop); Carlos Zuniga (Holy Cross-New Orleans); Tommy "Pop" Green and Ethan Martin  (McKinley-Baton Rouge); Victor King (Newellton); Lester Elie (Cloutierville); James Ray (L.B. Landry-New Orleans); Jordy Hultberg (De La Salle-New Orleans); Fred Chaffould (Carroll-Monroe); Wade Blundell and Barry Barocco  (Rummel-Metairie) Earnest Reliford (Ashland); Wayne Waggoner (Logansport);  Sean Tuohy (Newman-New Orleans); Keith Richard and Howard "Hi C" Carter (Redemptorist-Baton Rouge); John Derenbecker (Country Day-Metairie Park); Paul Thompson and Frederick Piper (Peabody-Alexandria); Tyrone Black (Capitol-Baton Rouge); Cherokee Rhone (Springhill); Dave Simmons and Johnny Jones (DeRidder); Larry Wilson (Central Lafourche).  

      Future NFL stars: Sammy White (Grambling WR-Minnesota Vikings), Doug Williams (Cheneyville-Grambling QB, Super Bowl MVP for Washington Redskins), Carlos Pennywell (Captain Shreve-Grambling WR-New England Patriots).

    Future LSU QB Alan Risher, Salmen-Slidell (All-State football and basketball).  

     Consider, too, that Karl Malone, Joe Dumars, John "Hot Rod" Williams, Leonard Mitchell and Benny Anders -- big stars in the early 1980s -- did play as underclassmen in the 1970s.

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1940s

     Warren "Dr. Red" Perkins (Warren Easton-New Orleans); Frank Brian (Zachary); Nick Revon (St. Aloysius-New Orleans); John McConathy (Bryceland); Billy Wiggins (Winnsboro).

1950s

     Bob Pettit (Baton Rouge High); Jackie Moreland (Minden); Dick Brown (Oak Grove); Jimmy "Red" Leach (Florien); Ray Germany (Holly Ridge); Bobby James (Ruston); Larry Teague and George Nattin (Bossier); Ellis Cooper (Springhill); Gene Wright (Negreet); Phil Haley (Belmont); Glenn Cothern (Fortier-New Orleans); Pete Gaudin (De La Salle-New Orleans); Raymond Arthur (Natchitoches); Jerry Callens (Pleasant Hill); Harold Ray Strother (Plainview-Glenmora); Maury Drummond (Istrouma-Baton Rouge); Max Lewis (Simsboro).

1960s

     Willis Reed (Lillie); Elvin Hayes (Rayville); Bob "Butterbean" Love and Lucious Jackson (Morehouse-Bastrop); Charles "Cotton" Nash (Lake Charles); Don Chaney, Cincy Powell and Fred Hilton (McKinley-Baton Rouge); Bob "Lil' Abner" Hopkins (Jonesboro); James Silas and Jimmy Jones (McCall-Tallulah); Charles Beasley (Fair Park-Shreveport); Leslie Scott (Scotlandville-Baton Rouge); Wilbert Frazier (Webster-Minden); Jerry Hood, Charles Sheffield and Leon Barmore (Ruston); Glynn Saulters (Lisbon); Barrie Haynie and Billy Ray (Ringgold); Donnie Henry (Athens); Walter Ledet (St. Mary's-Natchitoches); Wayne Pietri and John Arthurs (De La Salle-New Orleans); Bill Wilson (Baton Rouge); Jerry Salley (Pleasant Hill); Bob Benfield (Byrd-Shreveport); James Speed (Valencia-Shreveport); Harold Sylvester (St. Augustine); Cecil Upshaw and Tommy Thigpen (Bossier); Bobby Lane (Newman-New Orleans); George Restovich (Jesuit-Shreveport); Peter Michell, Herbie Mang, Billy Fitzgerald and Fabien Mang (Jesuit-New Orleans); James Wyatt (Belmont); Billy Jones (Pineville); Charles Bishop (Summerfield); Al "Apple" Sanders (Baton Rouge); James "Poo" Welch (LaGrange-Lake Charles); Kenny Covington (Haughton); Jerry Brandon (Zwolle); Tommy Joe Eagles (Doyline); George Corley (Florien); Melvin Russell and Larry Davis (Woodlawn-Shreveport). 

1980s

     Karl Malone (Summerfield); Joe Dumars (Natchitoches-Central); Avery Johnson (St. Augustine-New Orleans); P.J. Brown (Winnfield);  Benoit Benjamin (Carroll-Monroe); Randy White (Huntington-Shreveport); Bobby Phills (Southern Lab-Baton Rouge); Jaren Jackson (Cohen-New Orleans); John Williams (St. Amant); Robert Pack (Lawless-New Orleans); John Tudor (Pineville); Wayne Smith (Trinity Heights-Shreveport); Derrick Taylor (Redemptorist-Baton Rouge); Nikita Wilson (Leesville); Anthony Wilson (Plain Dealing); David Benoit (Lafayette); Ervin Johnson (Block-Jonesville); Keith Smart (McKinley-Baton Rouge); Leonard Mitchell (St. Martinville); Larry Robinson (Airline-Bossier City); Bobby Joe Douglas (Marion); Willie Jackson (Sibley); Benny Anders (Bernice);  Donald Royal (St. Augustine-New Orleans); Gerald Paddio (Rayne); Derrick Zimmerman (Wossman-Monroe); Don Redden (Ouachita-Monroe); Michael Cutright (Zwolle); Fess Irvin (East Ascension); Tim Breaux (Zachary); Ledell Eackles (Broadmoor-Baton Rouge).

1990s

     Kerry Kittles (St. Augustine-New Orleans); Stromile Swift (Fair Park-Shreveport); Randy Livingston (Newman-New Orleans); Marcus Fizer (Arcadia); Billy Thomas (Loyola College Prep-Shreveport); Clarence Ceasar and Tierre Brown (Iowa); Kedrick Brown (Zachary); Dedric Willoughby (Archbishop Shaw-Marrero); Gerard King (McDonogh-New Orleans); Jerald Honeycutt (Grambling); Andre Brown (Vandebilt Catholic-Houma); Kedrick Brown (Zachary); Lester Earl (Glen Oaks-Baton Rouge); Mark Davis (Thibodaux); Mike Smith (West Monroe); Bernard King (Gibsland-Coleman). 

2000s

     Paul Millsap (Grambling); D.J. Augustin (Brother Martin-New Orleans); Garrett Temple and Glen "Big Baby" Davis (University Lab-Baton Rouge); Brandon Bass (Capitol-Baton Rouge);  Greg Monroe (Helen Cox-New Orleans); Tyrus Thomas (McKinley-Baton Rouge); Danny Granger (Grace King-Metairie); Marcus Thornton (Tara-Baton Rouge); Chris Duhon (Salmen-Slidell); Von Wafer (Pineview-Lisbon); Elijah Millsap (Grambling); Tasmin Mitchell (St. Martinville); Matt Derenbecker (Country Day-Metairie Park); Demond "Tweety" Carter (Reserve Christian).

 

2010s

     Robert Williams (North Caddo-Vivian); Skylar Mays and Wayde Sims (University Lab-Baton Rouge); Jared Butler and Ricardo Gathers (Riverside-Reserve); Langston Galloway (Christian Life-Baton Rouge); Ja'Vonte Smart and Damion James (Scotlandville-Baton Rouge); Markel Brown (Peabody-Alexandria); Elfrid Payton (John Ehret-Marrero); Jarell Martin and Brandon Sampson (Madison Prep-Baton Rouge); Melvin Frazier (Higgins-New Orleans); Jacob Evans (St. Michael's-Baton Rouge);  Mitchell Robinson (Chalmette). 

"Simpsonized:" Recalling a 1978 basketball team and player

ON TRACK cover story: "Mondo" the magnificent and the vaulting Duplantis family

 

ON TRACK -- the book on Louisiana high school outdoor track and field

     This has been a two-year project, updating what Jerry Byrd Sr. had in a 2004 book on Louisiana high school track and field. This is a 346-page book, with some feature material and mostly pages of state-meet champions, plus state records and honors.

     Would like to put this into a bound book or booklet, but that has not happened -- yet. Hopefully, it can be produced in the near future.    

      If you want a link to download the book online -- you will need to download the file -- please give me your e-mail address and I will forward the link ...

      

 

  

A state basketball tournament on the move

(Third of three parts)
     Consider the 60-year history of the Louisiana boys state basketball tournament and this question arises:
     Why, oh, why, did it ever leave Lafayette?
     The fifth home of the tournament -- which went from being known as the Top Twenty to the Top 24 and then to the Top 28 -- was in Lafayette, home of what was the University of Southwestern Louisiana (we've heard it called other names).
     In the university's Cajundome, from 1997 to 2011 (so 15 years), the Top 28 had unprecented success in attendance and revenue.
     The tournament had grown steadily, with an occasional decline, from its start in Shreveport (Hirsch Youth Center) in 1961-66 through several moves -- to Alexandria's Rapides Coliseum (1967-76), the Lake Charles Civic Center(1977-78), Alexandria again (1979-82) and to a very successful 14 years (1983-96) in Baton Rouge (at LSU's Assembly Center).
     There was one glorious day in Alexandria in 1970 -- a full house in the afternoon, a packed-to-the-rafters, immovable crowd at night -- that showed how much of a draw the state tournament championship games could be. 
     That 1970 tournament (total attendance: 49,385) was by far the best of the event's first 30 years. 
     The final year in Alexandria (1982) was a blip in what had been the format from the start. That year, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association powers-to-be decided to try something different: a combined boys/girls "Tournament of Champions," 12 championship games in three days.
     It wasn't the event's worst move (just wait another 20 years), but perhaps it prompted this long-anticipated happening: The move to Baton Rouge, to the Assembly Center (and its 14,327 seats).
     There, attendance for nine years was no greater than it had been in the previous homes. But boosted by success of Baton Rouge-area teams, its last five years brought some of the biggest crowds in tournament history ... to that point.
     Still, Lafayette loomed. Its organizing committee presented the LHSAA with a financial package that Baton Rouge could not match, and hardly tried.
     Fifteen years later, how good was that move?
     In the Cajundome, at SLI/USL/ULL/UL, the first-year attendance (43,973) was the fifth-best in tournament history; the second year (48,418) was the third-best.
     It got better, peaked by 1999 (69,269), 2007 (67,559) and 2004 (63,428). In 2002-03, the total attendances were 56,430 and 52,305. Only one year in Lafayette, the draw was under 40,000.
     Crowds of 13,000-plus to 16,000-plus were routine for the Saturday night finals. (It was almost like being in Indiana.)
     Everyone agreed that Lafayette's bluecoated organizers topped all previous efforts.
     At the same time, the girls tournament had moved to Hammond (Southeastern Louisiana University Center) in 2001 and established a solid base. 
     This is certain: The state tournaments have never been the same since. 
      Sure, the excitement is still there for the (boys and girls) teams that make the tournaments. But attendances and interests no longer match anything like the Lafayette/Hammond days.
     Why leave Lafayette? Well, maybe it was Shreveport's fault.
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     The same city that took the (financial) baby steps, in 1959-60-61, to bring the state tournament into existence, in 2011 brought the LHSAA a lucrative proposal for the new Century Tel Center in Bossier City. 
     The LHSAA liked the terms and, at the same time, its brainpower -- and I use that term facetiously -- decided to change the state-playoff format, and have playoff games through the semifinals be contested on three or four regional neutral courts, then bring all the championship games (boys and girls) to one site. 
     The LHSAA voted in the new format, but Shreveport's bid -- accepted for 2012 and 2013 -- fell through. It could not meet the financial promises made.
     Hastily, the LHSAA had to play the boys/girls finals in Ruston (at Louisiana Tech's Assembly Center) in 2012 and in Monroe (at Louisiana-Monroe's Fant-Ewing Coliseum) in 2013. 
     Nice, but temporary. And it was obvious to most that the boys and girls tournaments needed their separate time and space.  
      It was on to Lake Charles and Burton Coliseum (domed roof, rodeo-arena base, home of McNeese State University basketball, seating for up to 8,500) ... and there it has been since 2015.           
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     Which brings us to now. Seems to me that the state championships these days are a diluted version.
     Not having lived in Louisiana since 1988, only following from a distance (and not from a point of knowledge), please correct us if we are being too cynical, or if we are wrong. 
     Our reasoning: (1) These days, competition isn't as difficult; there are not nearly as many schools, especially in the lower classifications, many having folded through consolidation with bigger -- or parish -- schools; (2) there are too many classes, too many state championship decided because of (3) the select/non-select split of schools in Louisiana, a split that has so weakened athletics in the state (my opinion).
    It is a feud, the public schools not wanting to compete for championships against the private and magnet schools because of jealousy/resentment of how the privates/magnets draw their students. 
     (The magic word here: recruiting. It's all in how you interpret what goes on. The LHSAA always has had a tough time policing this area).
      So, 12 state champions (seven non-select, five select). Too many.  
      And now, in a throwback to the pre-1960 days, the non-select playoffs again are being played on one school's home court, based on pre-playoffs seedings. No state tournament for them.
     But put 12 classes (semifinals and finals) together in one place for one week -- so, 36 games total -- that's enough basketball to make a spectator, or sportswriter, spin. That's impossible.  
       We have been told that the LHSAA no longer even publishes attendance figures for the state basketball tournaments. We know it's not anywhere near Lafayette level.
      Still, there was a strong North Louisiana representation in the Lake Charles boys tournament, including two of our favorites and perennial basketball powers -- Bossier and Woodlawn.
     Bossier, which won the last top-class boys title prior to the state-tournament era (1960, Class AAA), added two last-decade titles (2011, 2016), has been the runner-up six times (1968, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2019) and has -- best we can tell -- made nine Top 28 appearances in the last 12 years. 
     The Bearkats reached the state-championship game again and might -- depending on what the LHSAA decides -- face Wossman (Monroe) on Saturday afternoon in the 3A final. 
     Woodlawn, my old school, has three boys state basketball titles (1969, 1972, 1980), has been the runner-up three times (1971, 1979, 2018) and made its third Top 28 in four years. The Knights lost to Peabody (Alexandria) in the 4A semifinals.
      Maybe it's not what it used to be, but it's still the state tournament and, for those kids, that's exciting. It's not 1961 anymore, and we just can't turn back the times, can we?
  

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)

Louisiana's "Marsh Madness" was magic

(First of three parts)

Where Louisiana boys state basketball tournament began in 1961

     The building stands on the Louisiana State Fairgrounds along Interstate 20 in west Shreveport, as it has since the mid-1950s. The name now is Hirsch Memorial Coliseum; when it opened, it was Hirsch Youth Center.
     Elvis played there, and left the building ... in 1957.
     Many other acts performed there -- singers, the circus, Centenary College basketball and the Louisiana Invitational Tournament/Gulf South Classic. 
     It is, mostly now, the home of ice hockey (the Mudbugs, a junior-level professional) team, and the rodeo site during the Louisiana State Fair.  
     But how we remember it most: A long time ago, it was the mecca of high school basketball in Louisiana.
     It was, from 1961 to 1966, the first home of the boys state tournament, the "Top Twenty." 
     And once upon a time, covering the state tournament was a magic time for a young sportswriter. Gosh, we loved it.
     The 60th annual edition -- 60 years, can you believe it? -- will be played this week at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles.
     But the state tournament is not what it used to be. (Right, and your reaction is, what is?).
     In our boyhood, when it began (and we do remember that), it was one of the greatest things that ever happened for basketball in Louisiana. Yes, in my opinion, even better than Pistol Pete Maravich and -- arguably -- Coach Dale Brown at LSU.
     For years and years, state championships had been decided in school gymnasiums, one team as the host -- thanks to a coin-flip victory -- and the visiting team facing a road challenge.
     Many believed it wasn't fair, knowing that basketball-crazy states such as Indiana and Illinois had the right idea: a state tournament, played at a neutral site.
      After several years of in-fighting among the school principals who made the decisions in the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, the idea became reality. 
     So starting in '61, the final four teams in the five LHSAA  classifications -- AAA, AA, A, B and C -- came to one site for (at the beginning) three intense days of basketball. Four teams, five classes ... a Top Twenty.
     Don't know the origin of that tournament name, but -- just a bit partial here -- let's credit the organizers in Shreveport and the sportswriters at The Shreveport Times. And Hirsch Youth Center was a perfect home, for a short while. 
     That was home. We were the proud home team, so to speak.
     The guys in the sports department at The Times were the first to give the tournament the full coverage it deserved. And as the historical microfilm pages of the newspaper prove, they did a helluva good job. 
     (Yes, I am partial. Two years later, on those sports pages, I would begin a career of bylines.)
     Researching this subject, through the sports pages of the late 1950s and in 1960, there was clearly a divided state.
     On one side: Small-school principals (and coaches) preferred to take their championship hopes to the big city. They realized that playoff games in their small gyms often attracted overflow crowds, uncomfortable conditions for fans and the on-court action. Plus, their games got little press coverage. A state tournament, with writers from all over, would change that.
     Opposing side: Many/most South Louisiana schools -- especially a solid core of the bigger New Orleans schools -- were OK with a playoff format that The Times sports columnist Jim Dawson in 1959 called "probably the worst system in the United States."
      Among the opponents, though -- surprisingly considering his former basketball-coach role -- was Bossier High's Frank Lampkin. Well-respected, he and his coach, John McConathy, had proven their stance.
     When their team -- led by future major-league baseball and Centenary basketball star Cecil Upshaw -- made the Class AAA state title game in 1960, Lampkin and McConathy turned down a chance to play the game at Hirsch (10,500 seating capacity) and, not wanting to give up homecourt advantage, opted to stay at Bossier's tiny old gym, where some 600 fans crammed in to see the Bearkats beat DeLaSalle (New Orleans) 39-34. 
     DeLaSalle's Johnny Altobello, the state's most successful high school basketball coach of the 1950s and '60s, was with Lampkin in the battle "against" right up to the end. 
      For several years, one of the leading principals "for" -- and an advocate for Shreveport and Hirsch -- was J.H. Napper of Simsboro (Class B). His efforts were rewarded at the LHSAA meetings in March 1960.
      It was Shreveport that made the difference.
      Centenary athletic director-coach Orvis Sigler, a Missouri man who had come to town after coaching at the U.S. Military Academy, was a basketball promoter and the spokesman for the Shreveport group at the pivotal LHSAA meetings.
      Sigler's pitch: The Athletic Affairs Committee of the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce had agreed to underwrite the state tournament, offering a $12,000 guarantee to the LHSAA with all expenses paid for the visiting teams, plus $400 for each of the 10 finalists and $200 for each of the 10 losing semifinalists. Net profits after expenses would be equally divided among the 20 schools.
      Still, the LHSAA Executive Committee turned down the proposal by a 15-13 vote. Told of the strong support by the four lower classification schools for the tournament, Triple-A principals reconsidered by a 17-4 vote. And then the Executive Committee vote was 26-2 "for" (Lampkin and Altobello were the "no" votes.)
     The next day -- March 26, 1960 -- it was James "Little Fuzzy" Brown, principal of arguably the state's top athletics powerhouse at the time, Istrouma of Baton Rouge, who told the entire body of school principals: "Let's do this for the good of basketball in this  state, not for the interests of a few individuals."
     Napper and Minden High principal W.W. Williams joined Brown in pushing the "for" proposal ... and it passed in a landslide. 
     The next March, basketball took a huge step in Louisiana.
     (Next: Louisiana's basketball eyes were on Shreveport)