By Kyle Roberts
For over a year now, LaDarius “Phat” Mamon has flipped his barbershop into a podcast studio to host the “Phat’s Barbershop Club Podcast”, which streams on Youtube and his Facebook page and covers a range of topics from sports to community events. And Mamon’s podcast launch was right around the time Ruston football began to make a march to the Super Dome in 2022, creating the perfect storm for community buzz and listens for the podcast.
Early in September, I had the pleasure of sitting with “Phat” in his barbershop in Ruston to talk about sports and the Ruston community as a whole. The following is a conversation that has been lightly edited for publication.
Kyle Roberts (KR): “I know you’re a Ruston guy. You’ve been here; you played football for the (Ruston High) Bearcats. So the community and Ruston football is very important to you. Was this the heart behind launching your podcast?”
LaDarius Mamon (LM): “The heart behind it was mainly getting the community involved. I feel like I knew some things that were going on in the community that the rest of the community needed to know. And this is a black and a white community, right? I knew some events that were going on in the white community, per se, and I thought the black community should be part of this. And there were some events in the black community that I thought the white community should be part of this.
“So I was like, well, who needs to be the bridge connecting these points? And I’m looking around and I guess I’m going to do this. That’s where the podcast started– to bridge the community. And of course, football came around, and that was, when you win, the community banded together.”
KR: “One of things about Ruston is that when the Bearcats are successful, the whole town just comes together. And, I think for you, it was kind of a lightning bolt moment for the start of the podcast while they made the march to the Dome. The timing was really good for you.”
LM: “It was. I had not at the time seen (the 2022) team in the spring or during the summer. My first viewing of the team was the Jamboree. And before the Jamboree, the thing that really got me involved was watching the news and seeing (Bearcat head coach Jerrod) Baugh say ‘Let’s not just make it a West Monroe game crowd. Let’s support these guys through and through, and that’s what I’ve wanted to do. Because it had been negative at times in the past. And then I asked myself, what are you going to do? And I have an opportunity to do something positive now.”
KR: “What has been the response to the podcast?”
LM: “It’s been crazy walking around and people knowing me from the podcast. And of course, people know me from being in Ruston. But to be pointed out as the guy from the podcast and away from being a barber, or an ex-Ruston High football player, or just a kid that had grown up in Ruston.”
KR: “Do you have a routine of when people are going to come by for you to interview and you just go live?”
LM: “Live is the best way. I can interact with who is in the room. To have the people come in and have live interaction, that’s pretty cool. I take things from it and post those things.”
KR: “For you, one of the things I appreciate is that you have a great mix culturally of people that come on the podcast.”
LM: “That’s how I grew up, essentially. I was raise on the east end of Ruston. But at the age of nine, I discovered the love of my life: playing organized baseball. So I watch it growing up and seeing the cultures mix and playing at RPAR and Dixie; playing with white guys and playing with black guys. And I’m like, this is pretty cool. So being in Dixie and RPAR is kind of what made me see how we in Lincoln Parish could come together and be great.”
KR: “From your perspective, how have you seen Ruston change over the last 20 years? Do you think it is getting better unity-wise? For me, personally, I don’t want to make the mistake of saying “Yeah, we’ve fixed everything,” but if you can show people and a community that things are getting better, people can rally around that, rather than feeling hopeless.”
LM: “The increase in the good overall in the last 20 years is really there, even if it hasn’t totally balanced out everywhere. But there’s a lot of positives that you can pay attention to now.”
KR: “Switching to your playing career at Ruston High; you were a freshman (in 1999) when we made it to the semi-finals, one year after going to the Super Dome. Were you on varsity then?”
LM: (laughs) “I tell kids all the time now how easy it is get on varsity, because our first, second and third team was pretty good. As a freshman, I was a running back and a linebacker, and I’m behind Jeremy Hamilton, Chris Cato, and Bob Peace. What am I going to do? And then, there was Titus May and Garrett Johnson as fullback, so it way back on the depth chart.
“But going into my sophomore year was pretty cool. The freshman year set the tone, because I was a three-sport athlete. Sophomore year, I was getting out of baseball and basketball was long gone. If I had the guidance that freshman year that I aim to be to my son and his peers, I would have taken it to another level. But up until freshman year, it was all still fun and talent and eagerness to find something do. Then after that I thought I should just focus on this one thing: football.”
In 2000, Mamon was a sophomore running back when he made an impressive touchdown run against Longview. From 12 yards out, he took a pitch into the endzone— while dragging four tacklers along with him to pay dirt.
KR: “So you’re focused on football at this point, and then you finish out your career at Ruston High. Did you have any opportunities to play at the college level?
LM: “I had some looks from Louisiana College, and I had some teams– at that time, I did not want to be a walk on. We didn’t have social media driven format where walk-ons and JUCO’s are now encouraged. Back then, it wasn’t seen that way. It was like you weren’t going anywhere.”
KR: “When did you make the shift to barber?”
LM: “The shift to barber came maybe three or four years later. My teammate Brandon Green got me into it. He knew early that he wanted to cut hair, but I was still thinking about other things. But over time, I realized that it always kept coming back to barbering.”
KR: “Obviously, the social aspect of barbering is important to you, too.”
LM: “Definitely. Sitting in the barbershop; I love it. People are taking sports, church, politics, everything that comes into a barbershop. It’s a safe haven. And I want that to be my space. I want you to be able to be able to come in and forget where you are. Because, I mean, we’re essentially in the rough area of Ruston, right? And when you come into my shop, I want everybody to now know where they are while they’re inside. People are valued, loved and safe. That’s barbering for me.”
KR: “Back to the podcast– how and when did #WASSUPRUSTON become the thing?”
LM: “Ruston has always been a thing for me playing sports. You know people when in sports or in a different area, people will recognize you based on where you are from. I get on the baseball field, and the chatter is already there. And players from out of town would just call out to me “What’s up, Ruston?” And that’s how I became known at camps where nobody really knows your name; not even the counselor.”
KR: “That was an identifier for you. And that’s a pride thing because people respect Ruston.”
LM: “They do. Ruston is one of those things where if you like it, you respect it. If you don’t like it, you still respect it. It’s best described as Kobe Bryant (laughs).
“If you don’t like him, you still respect his game. You can’t not respect Ruston.”
You can find “Phat’s Barbershop Club Podcast here and on Facebook here.
