Natchitoches’ Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest History Museum hosted Grammy winning Zydeco legend Chubby Carrier Saturday, June 21 for a fun afternoon of music and stories. Carrier, a native of Church Point, LA, delighted the audience with stories of his childhood in a sharecropping family and of his early days as a musician playing drums in his father’s band at the age of ten. Interspaced between the stories, Carrier would play selections from his vast musical repertory
Carrier also spoke of the history and origins of Zydeco music. He stated that Zydeco has elements of Rhythm and Blues, Rock and Roll, Blues and Souls-a true musical and cultural gumbo. Chubby Carrier’s 38 year career has taken him to every state in America and numerous foreign countries. He and his accordion, named “Bernadette” are on the road over 275 nights each year.
If you missed his presentation at the LSHoF, no need to worry! Chubby Carrier will be the headliner at the 2025 NSU Folklife Festival, held at NSU’s Prather Colosseum, Saturday July 19.
The City of Natchitoches concluded its day-long Juneteenth Celebrations with a fun filled concert and fireworks show Saturday, June 21 at the downtown riverbank. The family-friendly event was attended by a capacity crowd who filled the amphitheater seating and enjoyed some superb music from the On Point Band followed by Zydeco legend Chris Ardoin. GODJ Chris kept the fun going in between sets. The indefatigable local civic leader Johnny Barnes of the Concerned Citizens Association of Natchitoches once again kept the crowd hydrated with free cold water.
The community’s newest annual celebration also featured food trucks, a mechanical bull, and inflatable play areas for children. The Juneteenth celebration concluded with one of our city’s magnificent fireworks shows.
The day’s celebrations began at the Natchitoches Parish. Texas and Pacific Railway Depot with a morning ceremony hosted by Natchitoches’ Mardi Gras Krewe of the 9. The ceremony honored two icons of the civil rights movement in our area, The late Ms. Edwina M. Lewis and Mr. Edward Ward, Jr. Ms. Lewis’ plaque was accepted by family members. Mr. Ward is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, Inc. Ms. Lewis was a member of Delta Sigma Theta. In addition to the awards, Park Service Guide Ms. Da’Nira Mc Clay gave a presentation on the history of the Depot, now the headquarters of the Cane River Creole National Historical Park.
The MLK Community Center hosted a community celebration earlier in the day that showcased our area’s young people. The celebration featured a health fair and basketball tournament. The tournament featured teams from the NSU Football squad, Kappa Alpha Psi, the Natchitoches Police and Sheriff Departments, and a celebrity matchup. The most eagerly awaited hardwood matchup, however, may have been an eagerly awaited clash between alumni players from the parish’s two powerhouses – NCHS and Lakeview
Juneteenth commemorates the day of June 19, 1865, in which Union general Gordon Granger landed his forces in Galveston, Texas and issued his famous Order Number 3 declaring: “…The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free ….”
On the first Juneteenth, a little over two months after the surrender of Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox doomed the Confederacy, General Granger and his troops fulfilled the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. The Stars and Stripes once more flew from every corner of this nation. The Confederacy was crushed and the evil of slavery driven from our country. It is indeed a day worthy of remembrance and celebration!
Northwestern track and field coach Leon Johnson (center), who died Tuesday at age 86, points during a cross country meet. (Photo by GARY HARDAMON, NSU)
By JASON PUGH, Northwestern State Sports Information Director
As a track and field coach, Leon Johnson left an indelible imprint upon Northwestern State, the region it serves, the community of Natchitoches, and the entire state.
The impact he made upon those who competed for him – regardless of when or where – is of matching depth and importance.
Johnson, a legendary figure in Northwestern and the Southland Conference’s track and field history, died Tuesday at the age of 86. There will be a celebration of life for Johnson held at Magale Recital Hall on the NSU campus at 3 p.m. Sunday. Visitation will be held from 5- 8 p.m. Saturday at Blanchard St. Denis Funeral Home, located at 848 Keyser Avenue in Natchitoches.
“I am saddened to learn of the passing of my dear friend, coach and mentor, Leon Johnson,” said former Northwestern State President Dr. Chris Maggio, who ran for and coached under Johnson before ascending the ranks of university administration. “My life has been greatly blessed and enriched because this gentleman reached out to me 43 years ago and said, ‘My name is Leon Johnson, and I am the new track and field coach at Northwestern State University, and I want you to become my first recruit at NSU.’ Thankfully, I said yes to his invitation and words cannot adequately express the magnitude of life lessons that I learned from him.
“He will be remembered as a Hall of Fame coach who mentored 50-plus All-Americans and won several conference championships. I, too, will remember him for his coaching accolades, but I will also remember him as a Christian man, a great role model and for the hours and hours he spent working with young men and women on the track no matter their athletic abilities. It didn’t matter if you were an All-American or a beginner, Coach would be there for you teaching and coaching you to be better in your event and better in your life. Thank you, Coach Johnson changing the lives of thousands of young people.”
The individual and team accolades Northwestern compiled under Johnson were many. Three Southland Conference team championships and top-20 finishes in the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Fifty-seven All-Americans among nearly 100 NCAA championship qualifiers. Two Olympic triple jumpers.
There was the 1986 birth of the Lady Demon track and field program that also occurred on Johnson’s watch.
In other words, Northwestern could build a trophy case simply for Leon Johnson and his student-athletes’ accomplishments. What transpired in the past 48 hours could fill a virtual one as well.
“I first stepped foot on the Northwestern State campus 40 years ago this August,” former Director of Athletics Greg Burke said. “Even then, as an intern, I recognized what kind of man, what kind of mentor and what kind of coach Leon Johnson was. I had the good fortune to come back as athletic director and have him sitting at our head coaches’ table. The perspective he offered, the respect he had among coaches and staff within the department was really remarkable.
“One needs to look no further than social media in the past 48 hours and read the number of posts – and not just the number – but the heartfelt messages from so many track alumni,” Burke said. “Oftentimes, the true measure of a coach’s impact — and how lasting that impact is — will be reflected in the sentiments expressed by the student-athletes who practiced and competed under that coach.”
Johnson began his career as a high school basketball coach in Colorado before coaching state champion high school track and field track and field teams in Louisiana at Opelousas and DeRidder, ultimately taking over at Northwestern where his name became synonymous with the school.
Northwestern track and field athletes compete in the Leon Johnson Invitational each spring after entering the Walter P. Ledet Track and Field Complex via Leon Johnson Lane.
The Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s state cross country championships also conclude in that area, thanks largely to Johnson’s push to bring the event to Natchitoches where it has become a staple of the city’s athletic calendar, with Johnson and staff doing yeoman’s work each November to make it happen. They did the same each spring when NSU hosted high school district and regional track meets, and when Special Olympics or the American Heart Association came calling.
What Johnson built at Northwestern was done so on the foundation of a family feel – one that serves as a living testament to Johnson’s approach.
“He helped shape so many men’s and women’s lives,” said current Northwestern track and field coach Mike Heimerman, who competed under Johnson before coaching with him and, ultimately, succeeding him as the program’s leader. “Hundreds of athletes – probably closer to thousands – came through Northwestern under coach Johnson, and he helped shape and mold them into young men and women, good mothers and fathers, good husbands and wives.
“He made Natchitoches and Northwestern State a home for so many young men and women, including myself. That was an attraction to NSU and to Natchitoches. That’s something we’ve tried to instill in the program now. It’s something I learned from him, and we tried to take it up a notch. The other thing I learned most from him is making sure the student-athletes get a degree and that you care for them. When you care for them, they do more for you. That’s been very evident in the past here with the men’s and women’s programs and the success we’ve had.”
Johnson’s legacy was made working with Northwestern’s track and field athletes, but his influence permeated the athletic department as a whole.
Late in his career, former Demon men’s basketball coach Mike McConathy utilized Johnson’s ability to provide insight on flexibility and conditioning for McConathy’s team. It proved to be a learning experience for both the Demon players and their longtime coach.
“His impact was invaluable in the fact he taught me as well as the kids so much,” McConathy said. “It was the respect my players had for him. The way he taught and instructed them was amazing. He used the technique of lower volume. He had something they were interested in. They all locked in with no distractions. That taught me something, taught my staff something.
“The attention he gave them showed me they had a tremendous amount of respect for his ability. It was just incredible to witness. I don’t know that you can paint a word picture to describe what we actually saw.”
(Artwork by CHRIS BROWN, Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame)
By TEDDY ALLEN, Written for the LSWA
She picked up a basketball as a challenge when she was 9 and used it to prove a point, first in the back yard against her brother and two cousins in Coushatta, then on her way to becoming a two-time Kodak All-American at Louisiana Tech, then through 13 seasons in the WNBA and a concurrent 15 overseas, and now through another 15 seasons as a WNBA coach.
All the while, that crimson dirt of Louisiana’s rural Red River Parish on her hands proving she’d worked for it, that she’d earned it, Vickie Johnson has remained about the most genuine and gentle, polished, unassuming off-the-court ballplayer you could ever meet, even if, like her, you’d traveled from the banks of Loggy Bottom and Grand Bayou to the Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston to Madison Square Garden to the gymnasiums of France and Hungary to Israel and Turkey.
“Polite, well-mannered, very bashful and shy,” said her long-ago summer ball AAU teammate Sarah Harrison Zeagler of Natchitoches.
“And,” Zeagler laughs at the memory, “insanely talented.”
It’s that delightful mix of sweet, super, and stubborn that vaulted Johnson, a 5-9 guard with a pure all-around game highlighted by a sweet baseline jumper, above the field at every level of basketball and has ultimately landed her a well-deserved, “it’s-about-time” spot in Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 2025.
Family and friends from her Coushatta hometown will make the 30-minute trip south to Natchitoches for the Induction Celebration June 26-28. Event information is available at LaSportsHall.com.
It was back home in Coushatta that she wanted to prove a point to her big brother.
“I didn’t start playing because, ‘Oh, I love basketball,’” Johnson said. “I started because my oldest brother said it was for guys, for the boys. ‘Girls don’t play basketball.’ So I picked up a ball and went to the back yard. I was 9. From that day on, I loved it.”
A year later, 1982, she saw Louisiana Tech and USC, titans of the women’s college game at the time, playing on television.
“I watched with my mom and it … I was thrilled, you know?” Johnson said. “I told her, ‘One day, I’m playing college basketball. I’m gonna play for the team in the blue, the team with the stars going down their jerseys.”
The ‘team in blue’ was the Lady Techsters, only about 70 miles away through the pine trees and winding state highways from her back yard court.
“Well,” said the lady everyone in Coushatta called ‘Mrs. Susie,’ the single mom with three jobs, “if you’re gonna play for them, you’d better get back outside.”
She dribbled her way out the back door and kept shooting.
Often joining her was her father’s youngest brother from Shreveport, her Uncle John, a veteran of semi-pro hoops and a serious student of the game.
“He taught me how to play basketball,” Johnson said. “He just … how to dribble, to move, to guard, understanding the game. ‘What did you see? How could you have done better?’ He took care of me.”
Uncle John was a good teacher. By the time Johnson was a sophomore at Coushatta High (now Red River), she’d verbally committed to play for “the team in blue.”
But it wasn’t the same program she’d watched on TV in 1982. Tech fell out of the Top 25 in 1990-91 for the first time in 13 years, then lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The next season was equally mediocre.
“No question that Vickie coming to Louisiana Tech really helped put the program back on the national map,” Tech’s head coach Leon Barmore, a Louisiana Sports and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, said. “If we hadn’t signed that class — Vickie, Racquel Spurlock, Amy Brown — we would have disappeared from the national spotlight. Vickie wasn’t a savior by herself, but she sure was instrumental.”
As a rookie Lady Techster in 1992-93, Johnson helped take the team to the NCAA Regional Finals, a snapshot of things to come. During her four seasons with Tech, the Lady Techsters were 116-17 and finished as national runner-up in 1994 when Johnson, a sophomore, was chosen to the All-Final Four team.
“Vickie was the ultimate teammate,” Barmore said. “She did whatever it took to win, whether that meant playing defense or scoring or just being a leader.”
“She’s a winner,” said Brown, a former Parade All-American, Johnson’s Tech teammate, and now director of teacher education at Tennessee Tech after a successful, championship-filled coaching career there. “She was the type of player who wasn’t going to allow her team to lose. She practiced every day like she played every night. It was contagious with her teammates.”
Whether it was a trait developed in the back yard or through emulating Mrs. Susie, Johnson’s selflessness came early, as sweet and as necessary as her baseline jumpers.
“Vickie could have played all five positions by herself,” her AAU teammate Zeagler said. “She could see the floor, everything, everywhere, like she had eyes in the back of her head.
“But the thing that always stood out about her was I felt like I belonged on the court with her, and that was because she made us feel that way,” Zeagler said. “She made us feel like we belonged on the court as much as she did.”
Although as a freshman and sophomore she helped Tech claw back onto the national stage, turns out Johnson was just getting started when it came to giving the folks around Cut-Off Road and Lone Star Feed down in Coushatta plenty to talk about. She earned spots on both the Kodak and Street & Smith All-America teams the next two seasons, Sun Belt Conference MVP in 1995 and 1996, and 1996 Louisiana Player of the Year.
She did it with a silky grace and salty presence.
“She was as smooth a basketball player as I can remember coaching,” Barmore said. “The baseline was her home. She would roam the baseline and make that little jump shot all night. It was a beautiful thing to watch. She was one of the players that our fans enjoyed watching the most.”
Thomas Assembly Center proved to be only a launching pad. There was more where that came from.
In the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft, Johnson was the 12th player chosen. A quick look at only a few high points from her pro stat sheet, which is almost 30 years old — and counting…
Nine seasons with the New York Liberty and four with the San Antonio Silver Stars;
Twice an All-Star;
First person in the league to collect 4,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 1,000 assists in a career;
Dependable-plus, a starter in 408 of 410 games played and the first person in WNBA history to play 11,000 minutes;
Won the league’s Sportsmanship Award in 2008, her last as a player, and has been a coach in the league since.
“As good a player as she was on the court, she’s a better person,” Brown said. “She deserves every honor she’s received for what she did as a player, but it’s even sweeter because of who she is off the court.”
“Quiet off the court, but once it was time to play, all that went away,” Zeagler said. “Never mean, but always purposeful. She was very sportsmanlike-minded: you got knocked down, she’d help you back up. Just an incredible all-around person.”
All that, the total package, game after game and year after year, in a sport that “girls don’t play.”
“A lot of people told me I wasn’t good enough,” Johnson said. “That was my fire. And that’s how I played. I wanted to guard the best players. When I chose to play overseas, I chose countries with the best players. That’s where I got my joy, from playing against the best.
“I played because I enjoyed it,” she said. “The accolades that come with it? They come with it. But my goal was to be the best I could be and get in Louisiana Tech, and I did that.”
Bid Information for Leasing of Hunting Property at NPSB
Bids/Proposals will be accepted until July 31, 2025 1:00 p.m. and will be publicly opened and read aloud at 2:00 PM in the School Board’s Central Office, 310 Royal Street, Natchitoches, Louisiana, 71457-5709.
Each Bid Package contains the complete data and process to successfully submit a Bid Package.
There are 9 Bid Information Packages attached to this notice.
06-19-25; 06-24-25; 07-10-25; 07-15-25
NPSB Approved Notice of Bid Information Packages signed letter.
When Nick Saban arrived by private plane in Tuscaloosa in early January 2007 after agreeing to become Alabama’s head football coach, he was mobbed by adoring fans.
But when he appeared in Baton Rouge in late November 1999 at his introductory press conference announcing him as LSU’s coach, the reception was “Who’s Nick Saban and why is LSU paying him $1.2 million a year?”
“I couldn’t believe the response and the attitude people had toward me,” Saban said.
“I was shocked. I was thinking, ‘Maybe I ought to go back where I came from.’”
Thankfully for LSU, he didn’t, and now he’ll be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame – at last. The Class of 2025 Induction Celebration in Natchitoches is June 26-28, with information available at LaSportsHall.com.
Saban was initially elected to the LSHOF’s Class of 2020, but that spring’s global pandemic postponed ceremonies. It also altered the NCAA football recruiting calendar, which prevented then-Alabama head coach Saban from being inducted until after his retirement in January 2024.
“It’s an honor I’m really excited about,” Saban said of his upcoming induction. “I never thought I’d be considered. I know there’s a lot of great sports folks in Louisiana.”
All Saban did in five seasons from 2000-04 was save the Tigers’ program with a national championship, two SEC titles, and a 48-16 record (.750) before chasing an NFL dream as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
He came to Baton Rouge at a time when LSU was thirsting for success, stability, and a coach with a vision, including the elements required to build and sustain a national power.
After LSU had just two head football coaches (Paul Dietzel and Charles McClendon) in 25 years from 1955-1979, the Tigers had six coaches in 20 seasons from 1980-1999.
In that period, LSU won SEC championships in 1986 and 1988, but after the ’88 title, the Tigers had eight losing seasons in 11 years.
When LSU fired Gerry DiNardo with one game left in 1999, it already had a list of coaching candidates it wanted to pursue.
But Saban wasn’t originally on it. Saban didn’t know about the situation until he did some research.
“One of the things that piqued my interest was that when I was in the NFL, somebody did a study, probably (Bill) Belichick because he was notorious for this kind of detail,” Saban said. “The study revealed per capita which state had the most players from its colleges playing in the NFL. Louisiana was always ranked third or fourth. I always remembered that.”
It wasn’t long in Baton Rouge and especially at LSU that Saban became a force of nature.
For instance, LSU had one of the worst graduation rates in the SEC when he arrived, so his priority was obtaining a new academic center for athletes. He was told it would take two to three years for LSU to procure the money from the state legislature for such a project.”
“I told (then-new LSU athletic director) Skip (Bertman) `Let’s go raise the money,”’ Saban recalled. “Then, we were told `You’ve only got to raise $8 million for the academic center, but we want to redo this other thing here and make a big auditorium because we don’t have a big auditorium at the university, and that’s going to cost another $7 million.’
“I told Skip, `Let’s just raise $15 million and build the damn thing.’ And we raised it about three months. I kind of tricked them, though. I gave about $50,000 to start it off, so everybody I asked almost had to do that.”
Saban also noticed there wasn’t much revenue available for capital improvements. He suggested LSU finally start seat licensing, but met stern resistance.
“I was told we had loyal fans that had the same seats for years and years,” Saban said. I said, `Look, a lot of schools have done this.’ They said, `If you don’t win, we’ll get crucified for doing that.’ I said, `Put it on me then because if we don’t do it, we’re never going to have the kind of program we’re going to need to compete with all these other people.’”
Saban immediately upheld his end of the bargain.
Saban never won fewer than eight games in all of his LSU seasons. He had three bowl wins, including the BCS national title game victory in the Sugar Bowl over Oklahoma. His SEC championship game victories came against Tennessee and Georgia.
After a pair of superb recruiting classes, in 2003 Saban’s 13-1 Tigers delivered the school’s first national championship since 1958 by beating Oklahoma 21-14.
“The 2003 team had so much character that it didn’t need a leader. They thought they would win the championship long before I did.”
At the end of the 2004 season, given a $5 million per year contract and assured he’d have control of player personnel decisions, Saban became head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
But Saban and the NFL was not a good fit. He had a 15-17 record in two seasons with the Dolphins, and began looking at college vacancies.
“The best job that was available was Alabama, which happened to be a rival to the place (LSU) in which I had a tremendous amount of pride in terms of what we were able to accomplish, what we were able to do and a lot of the relationships we made,” Saban said.
Because of that, Saban became public enemy No. 1 to a segment of LSU fans who forgot how he rescued the Tigers’ program from the garbage heap.
It didn’t help Saban’s relationship with the Tigers’ faithful that he won six national titles with the Crimson Tide in 17 seasons and had a 13-5 record vs. LSU.
Upon his retirement, he joined ESPN’s College GameDay before the start of the 2024 season. He’s also had time to reflect on his career move from LSU with a tinge of regret.
“You live and learn, do things, and you find out about yourself,” Saban said. “LSU has a great atmosphere, the people are so supportive, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for that program. It’s one of the greatest places athletically in the country right now.
“Terry and I still have as many good relationships in Louisiana as any place in the world, great friends and good people. We cherish those relationships.”
It’s why Saban is genuinely touched to become the fourth LSU head football coach in the LSHOF.
“I’m very grateful to many people who contributed to the success we had when we were at LSU,” Saban said. “We had a lot of really good players and people.”
In, just over a week, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame will stage its annual induction weekend festivities in Natchitoches, and one of the behind-the-scenes guys who helps makes this extravaganza work is Greg Burke.
Although he’s been on the job only two years as the director of business development and public relations for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, Burke’s no rookie at what he does. For a quarter of a century, he was the athletics director at Northwestern State University, where he did plenty of fundraising and development and marketing and public relations work. He also did similar work for four years at the University of Akron before going to NSU.
“Greg’s been a vital addition to our Foundation team, doing tons (of work) for the induction weekend,” says Doug Ireland, the chairman of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, which hosts the upcoming induction weekend June 26-28. “With his local and regional contacts, his knowledge and work ethic, and his enthusiasm, we’re better that we’ve ever been.”
Burke boasts of being a native of Alliance, Ohio, the hometown of legendary Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Lenny Dawson, but he’s also proud to claim Natchitoches as his longtime hometown, where he has lived since 1986. He was the athletics director at NSU from 1996-2022.
In his short time on the LSHOF job, he has progressed from a learn-as-you-go environment to developing a 20-page step-by-step manual of what needs to be done to make a successful induction weekend.
“It’s a working document,” he says. “For the good of the Foundation – not just for me but for all of us and for the future – I think it will be helpful.”
We’re talking about a big annual celebration that features seven official events over three days, and at such events, Burke says from experience, “always something unexpected happens that you have to deal with on-the-fly.” Another challenge is that three of the seven events are open to the public at no charge – evening events on Thursday and Friday nights and a youth training camp on Saturday morning.
Burke said that with his year-round presence in Natchitoches, he can do some things in advance to prepare for the weekend and avoid having to deal with some issues that can be handled in advance.
The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum was built with state dollars, but it is 12 years old, having opened in 2013, and it needs upgrades. And as tight as state budgets are, most of those upgrades need to come from funds generated by the Hall of Fame Foundation.
“It cannot be seen in 2025 as it was in 2013,” says Burke. “To keep up with the times, it needs more technology, more aesthetics.”
One thing Burke helped make happen last year was an 8-foot-high modern-art block structure in front of the museum spelling out LSHOF inset with names of inductees in national halls of fame. This signage added significantly to the recognition of the 23,000-square foot building that is in a moonbeam curve on Front Street.
When Nick Saban and former four-time Pro Bowler Andrew Whitworth from West Monroe and LSU and the rest of this year’s 12 inductees walk into the museum June 26 they will see another enhancement. Added within the last year is a 12-foot-long interior piece featuring some of the most high-profile LSHOF inductees based on their height, from the shortest (LSU gymnast Susan Jackson), to the tallest, 7-foot-1 Shaquille O’Neal.
Even more recently, as part of the recovery process from a fire that did some minor damage to the museum in early January, the once tarnished area will “look spectacular” for the induction weekend, according to Ireland. That’s thanks to nearly $30,000 in renovation and enhancement work paid for by the Foundation.
Some much-appreciated Foundation funds have been generated by a team membership drive that Burke started soon after taking the job. The first “team” he approached, asking for donations, was the nearly 500 LSHOF members. These folks are, for the most part, happy to contribute to a cause that is dedicated to making upgrades at the museum, choosing between four membership levels. Dozens of people from all walks of life have signed up alongside the sports legends to be part of the Hall of Fame Team.
By the end of this year (year two of the drive), Burke projects it will have generated between $80-90,000.
Nonetheless, Burke says “many moving parts” make the museum and the induction weekend a success, dishing credit not only to the Foundation, Ireland and Foundation CEO/president Ronnie Rantz, but to the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, the local Convention & Visitors Bureau, the City of Natchitoches, NSU, local supporters, businesses and more.
As for his part in the process, Burke says, “I enjoy it. I’ve worked with college athletics for the better part of 40 years. I enjoy getting up every day, knowing some days are going to be better than others … but knowing that here’s an opportunity to make better a museum that is one of the best in the country. It’s a crown jewel, and it’s a privilege to have it in Natchitoches.”
When Rantz and Ireland approached him about the job two years ago, Burke said, he was looking for a job he could be excited to work at every day.
“That they offered it to me, that’s God working for me right there,” he said. “I am blessed.”
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video might be worth 10,000.
Case in point – click on the video above to get a look at the food, fun and frolic that everyone involved will enjoy at lunchtime next Friday, June 27, in Alexandria, in the only out-of-town activity during the three-day 2025 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Celebration in Natchitoches.
The LSHOF’s big party starts June 26, with the Thursday evening Welcome Reception, free to all from 5-7 at the LSHOF Museum on the Front Street traffic circle in downtown Natchitoches.
Then the scene shifts to Alexandria and Four Seasons Bowling Center for the Celebrity Bowling Bash presented by BOM. Everyone is encouraged to come ready for tons of fun, along with plenty of food and an open bar.
To enter or get more information visit LaSportsHall.com and click on the Induction Week button, or call 318-238-4255. Advance registration is necessary.
The bowling party will begin at 11:30 a.m. with lunch catered by Walk On’s Sports Bistreaux for everyone in the house – bowlers and spectators. That’s right – you don’t have to bowl to enjoy the party. Admission is $50 for adults and $25 for youth to mingle, eat, and watch the action.
Bowlers can enter as individuals ($100) or as a team ($400). Teams can be four people paired with a celebrity, or five friends playing without a celebrity.
The headliners on the lanes Friday will be the Class of 2025 LSHOF inductees, some who can actually bowl – but all will be geared up for a fun event. Among the other celebrities will be previously inducted Hall of Famers and Louisiana sports stars, including many who may ultimately be inducted in future years.
The five-person teams warm up extensively (have fun!) and ultimately play a 10-frame game, with the top team winning prizes. The top five individual bowlers and top five celebrities will have playoffs. The bowling party will wrap up about 2 o’clock, in plenty of time for everyone to make it back to Natchitoches for that evening’s free Rockin’ River Fest starting at 6 on the downtown riverbank stage, and the VIP Taste of Tailgating inside Mama’s Oyster House and the Blues Room beginning at 7.
One of the most festive events of the Induction Celebration, the Celebrity Bowling Bash presented by BOM is fit for avid bowlers — or those who just like to have fun.
There’s still time to get squared away to attend the toughest ticket at the upcoming 2025 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Celebration in Natchitoches.
It’s the VIP Taste of Tallgating Party Friday night, June 27, hosted inside Mama’s Oyster House and Blues Room, brimming with tasty Louisiana treats from chefs locally and statewide.
You can still get lined up for the party by visiting LaSportsHall.com for a secure online transaction, or by calling 318-238-4255. But don’t wait too long. There is a capacity limit and a sellout for the party inside the air-conditioned restaurant is very likely.
VIP Taste of Tailgating guests will have complimentary wine and beer, soft drinks and tea, while enjoying passed hors d’oeuvres, food stations, with a premium view of the Rockin’ River Fest concert happening from 6-10:30 on the Rue Beauport riverbank stage, and the sports-themed fireworks show at 9:15 following introduction of the Class of 2025.
Taste of Tailgating guests will have personal access to meet and greet the LSHOF Inductees in the air-conditioned venue, and can take advantage of some remarkable silent auction items.
The concert down on stage is free to all, featuring two red hot Baton Rouge-based bands, the Lauren Lee Band and the featured act, the Chase Tyler Band.
The music and vibe is free. But access to the VIP Taste of Tailgating Party is not, and tickets could be all gone by the end of this week.
Who’s at the center of all this fun? The dozen people in the LSHOF Class of 2025, including:
Nick Saban – coach of LSU football’s 2003 national champions
Andrew Whitworth – 4x NFL Pro Bowler, won titles with West Monroe, LSU, LA Rams
Danny Granger – NBA All-Star, USA World Champion medalist from New Orleans
Vickie Johnson – Coushatta native, WNBA All-Star and Louisiana Tech great
Brick and Row Interiors & Gifts in historic downtown Natchitoches is excited to announce its Third Annual Warehouse Sale, taking place SATURDAY, June 14 from 8 AM – 11 AM at 214 Texas Street (the old Tommy Stewart/Vaughn Dealership).
Shoppers will enjoy 60% off all inventory and an incredible 80% off all Christmas merchandise during this limited-time event. The sale includes a wide selection of home décor, gifts, seasonal items, and more—perfect for restyling your space or stocking up for future gifting.
BRING YOUR OWN SHOPPING BAGS and come early—quantities are limited and the best items go fast!
The biggest, most star-studded and fun-filled party of every summer for miles around is coming your way at the end of the month.
Three days of festivities are approaching beginning Thursday June 26 through Saturday June 28 for the 2025 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Celebration in Natchitoches.
The LSHOF’s Class of 2025 will be enshrined Saturday night June 28 at the Natchitoches Events Center to culminate the 66th Induction Celebration. The final event is already full with a waiting list and standing room only tickets available.
The Induction Celebration will kick off Thursday, June 26, with the Welcome Reception from 5-7 p.m., free to the public at the Hall of Fame museum at 800 Front Street.
The Friday, June 27 schedule begins with the Celebrity Bowling Bash presented by BOM at Four Seasons Bowling Center in Alexandria. The 2025 Rockin’ River Fest, a free concert on the downtown riverbank stage, begins at 6 p.m. and runs until 10:30. In conjunction with the Rockin’ River Fest is the VIP Taste of Tailgating party, a ticketed indoor-outdoor event that is approaching capacity.
The slate on Saturday, June 28 kicks off with the free LSHOF Junior Training Camp led by community relations personnel from the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans, along with Northwestern State coaches and this year’s Hall of Fame inductees, on the NSU campus at the Webb Wellness and Recreation Center and Turpin Stadium. This event is presented by Natchitoches Regional Medical Center and is nearing capacity. Free registration for kids ages 7-16 is required and can be easily accomplished at LaSportsHall.com.
At noon Saturday, the Round Table Luncheon presented by the Tiger Athletic Foundation is set for Riverside Reserve on Mill Street. Fox Sports broadcaster Tim Brando emcees an entertaining program.
Festivities culminate Saturday evening with the Induction Reception at the LSHOF museum beginning at 5, followed at 7 by the Induction Ceremony at the Natchitoches Events Center. Northwestern State University and State Farm Agents of Louisiana are presenting sponsors Saturday evening.
The VIP Taste of Tailgating, the Bowling Bash, the Round Table Luncheon and the Induction Reception and Ceremony are ticketed events requiring purchase in advance through LaSportsHall.com or by calling 318-238-4255.
The Thursday reception, the Friday evening River Fest and the Junior Training Camp are free.
The Class of 2025 is headlined by two men pivotal in LSU’s 2003 football national championship – coach Nick Saban and Andrew Whitworth, a champion at West Monroe High School, LSU and in the NFL during a 16-year pro career. More sparkle is provided by pro basketball All-Stars Danny Granger and Vickie Johnson, the state’s winningest all-time college baseball coach Joe Scheuermann and Danny Broussard, one of the nation’s most successful high school basketball coaches, in this year’s induction class.
It also includes LSU gymnastics great and NCAA individual champion April Burkholder, transformational Catholic-Baton Rouge high school football coach Dale Weiner and George “Bobby” Soileau, a four-time high school and 1956 NCAA boxing champion at LSU who also won a state crown as a football coach at his alma mater, Sacred Heart High School in Ville Platte.
LSU graduate Herb Vincent, now a longstanding associate commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, is receiving the Hall’s Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award with his enshrinement.
Also being honored: Ed Daniels, a generational television sports broadcaster in New Orleans, and Glenn Guilbeau, one of the nation’s more decorated sportswriters in a career that has seen him cover LSU, state college, high school and pro sports along with stories across the South and around the SEC. They are being inducted as recipients of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism.
The 2025 Induction Celebration will be hosted by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, the support organization for the Hall of Fame. The LSHOF Foundation was established as a 501 c 3 non-profit entity in 1975 and is governed by a statewide board of directors.
For information on sponsorship opportunities and other participation, contact Foundation President/CEO Ronnie Rantz at 225-802-6040 or RonnieRantz@LaSportsHall.com, or Greg Burke, Director of Business Development and Public Relations, at 318-663-5459 or GregBurke@LaSportsHall.com via email.
Red River Cowboy Church wants to help families live life with Jesus this summer! M3 Kids is based on 3 principles…My God, My Family & Me! We host several Mane Events each year to bring families together to play and learn how much God loves them. June 22 is the next Horseless rodeo! It’s a free family event for toddlers through 4th graders. Bring your child to church and register them for the Horseless Rodeo to begin immediately after the service. A free lunch will be provided by the Chuck Wagon. You and your child will choose your event. There will be events like sheep riding, cow branding with paint, sorting, dummy roping, and goat ribbon pulling. Do them all or just a few. This series will be held every 4th Sunday of May through August. Participate in 3 of the 4 Mane Events and your child will win a buckle. It’s that easy…and so much fun! Watch the Red River Cowboy Church Facebook page for more details. Every kid loves a cowboy buckle and this is an opportunity for you and your child to have a fun time the cowboy way!
Red River Cowboy Church South Red River Parish LA-174, Coushatta, LA 71019 Phone: (318) 201-2626
Two members of the Louisiana Public Defender Oversight Board have resigned just 14 months into what were supposed to be four-year terms on the new governing body Gov. Jeff Landry created.
Freddie Pitcher Jr., a former state appellate judge in Baton Rouge who also ran Southern University’s law school, and Shreveport attorney Ted Hernandez are leaving the board. Their decisions to step down come shortly before the board expects to have a contentious vote Monday about the dismissal of five attorneys who run local public defender offices.
The five targeted for dismissal include Deidre Fuller of Rapides Parish, the president of the Public Defenders Association of Louisiana, and Brett Brunson in Natchitoches Parish.
Pitcher, who Landry appointed to the board, said he is leaving because he is having personal issues that have been exacerbated by the board having “too much drama.” Hernandez, who was Senate President Cameron Henry’s appointee, sent a short resignation letter to Landry at the end of last month.
“Serving on the board has been a learning experience,” wrote Hernandez, who could not be reached Wednesday by phone or email for additional comment.
The nine-member board helps supervise Louisiana’s sprawling public defense system with 37 local offices and approximately 850 attorneys. Public defenders represent 146,000 people annually and 88 percent of all criminal defendants in Louisiana.
Last year, Landry pushed through a controversial change in state law that dissolved the previous state public defender board and replaced it with the current, weaker version over which the governor has more influence.
State Public Defender Rémy Starns lobbied Landry for the new board after clashing over policy with the previous one. Starns has been the leader of the public defender system since former Gov. John Bel Edwards appointed him in 2020. Landry and the newly-formed board agreed last year to keep him in the position.
Yet the new board and Starns have had some of the same disagreements he had with the old board.
The new board has voted down Starns’ proposals to reduce the pay of most chief public defenders who run local offices and incentivize some to operate part-time, private law practices on top of their state responsibilities. He also wanted to offer additional money to chiefs who agreed to represent more clients personally in court.
In February, Starns caused controversy when he told five chief public defenders who run local offices they would be losing their jobs on July 1 after their state contracts expire. The attorneys have appealed those terminations to the board, which is expected to decide Monday whether they will be terminated.
The chief public defenders affected along with Fuller and Brunson are Michelle AndrePont in Caddo Parish, Trisha Ward of Evangeline Parish and John Hogue, who works in Tensas, Madison and East Carroll parishes.
All five have been among the most critical of Starns’ policies in public. Over the past few years, they have testified at legislative hearings and public defender board meetings to oppose Starns’ efforts to remake the public defender board and curb their pay. They argue Starns targeted them for dismissal because they have spoken out against him.
“If in fact these terminations are due in whole or in part to the participation of these District Defenders in the legislative process or Board meetings, then it is beyond question that the independence of the indigent defense function is under attack,” wrote Stephen Haedicke, an attorney representing the lawyers.
Starns did not respond to phone calls and text messages asking for comment this week.
A special subcommittee of the public defender board has recommended the board uphold Starns’ decision to fire the attorneys. It concluded Starns had the authority not to renew the public defender chiefs’ one-year contracts.
“Mr. Starns had no obligation to enter into new contracts with these defenders,” Paul deMahy, a retired state court judge and board member who chaired the subcommittee, wrote in a memo last month.
Pitcher also sat on the subcommittee and said his perspective was more nuanced. He agreed with deMahy that Starns had the legal authority to dismiss the five attorneys, but he wanted to recommend that the governor keep them in their jobs anyway.
“He has a technical win there. But from a moral standpoint, they should have their jobs back,” Pitcher said Wednesday.
The attorneys are also challenging the subcommittee’s recommendation by saying an April hearing on the dismissals violated the state’s public notice and open meetings laws for government entities.
Brick and Row Interiors & Gifts in historic downtown Natchitoches is excited to announce its Third Annual Warehouse Sale, taking place SATURDAY, June 14 from 8 AM – 11 AM at 214 Texas Street (the old Tommy Stewart/Vaughn Dealership).
Shoppers will enjoy 60% off all inventory and an incredible 80% off all Christmas merchandise during this limited-time event. The sale includes a wide selection of home décor, gifts, seasonal items, and more—perfect for restyling your space or stocking up for future gifting.
BRING YOUR OWN SHOPPING BAGS and come early—quantities are limited and the best items go fast!
