Experience Legendary Music, Food & History at the Louisiana Legends Fest presented by Car Giant Chevrolet GMC of Homer! This unique festival is this Saturday, October 21st from 10am- 6pm in Downtown Historic Homer, LA!
The music line up this year includes two stages of live music starring multi-platinum singer/songwriter Deana Carter!
9:00 – 12:00 – DJ Haynes 12:00-12:30 – Firm Foundation (GBT Gospel Stage) 12:30 – 1:00 – Edgewood Square (GBT Gospel Stage) 1:00 – 2:30 – Muzikology (Fibrebond Main Stage) 2:30 – 3:00 – Combined Choirs of Homer & Haynesville 1st Baptist Churches, Calvary Baptist and Cornerstone (GBT Gospel Stage) 3:30 – 4:00 – Sean and the Crew (GBT Gospel Stage) 4:00 – 5:30 – Deana Carter (Fibrebond Main Stage)
Tours will be available of the historic Claiborne Parish Courthouse and Ford Museum. Enjoynlocal antique shopping, over 50 art and craft vendors and mouthwatering food in the food Court.
There will also be cars on display at the Thomas G. Bourn Memorial Car Show, Art Contest, Farmer’s Market and much more!
The Louisiana Legends Fest honors and celebrates Louisianans’ that have had a significant impact with their life. This year’s honoree is Coach Alton “Red” Franklin who served as Head Coach of Haynesville’s Golden Tornado. From 1966-2000.
FREE General Admission $25 Super Fan (Special Seating – Artist Meet & Greet Access) $100 VIP (Covered Special Seating – Artist Meet & Greet Access – VIP Parking – VIP Lounge Access & Complimentary LLF Folding Chair)
It isn’t as rare as sighting Haley’s Comet, but it was very unusual Thursday morning when Journal readers checked e-mail and didn’t find the normal 6:55 a.m. edition of your free local news source.
In fact, it’s the first time in over a decade of operating Journals around north Louisiana that happened.
Our e-mail distribution portal is operated by Constant Contact, which had a significant system disruption early Thursday. It was systemwide for them – a much bigger problem that goes far beyond our Journal community.
Fortunately, the problem was resolved mid-morning, and your Journal e-mail arrived about 10 a.m., three hours late. We apologize for the delay. It’s a first for us.
All Journal content was published as normal Thursday morning and is available through our websites and our social media pages that are specific to each Journal.
The folks at Constant Contact believe the problem is resolved, but just in case a snag happens again, Journal Services has a plan in place. Subscribers will quickly get an e-mail sharing different pathways to access the daily content that many need to get their day started just right.
That is always available by accessing our content through our websites, or social media.
E-mail subscribers to these Journals were impacted by the Thursday morning issue..
All our Journals have corresponding Facebook pages, except for the South Caddo Parish Journal, whose content all is housed on the Shreveport-Bossier Journal Facebook site.
We appreciate your patience dealing with this major disruption – similar to a power outage or the systemic problem United Airlines encountered a couple of days ago, but unprecedented in Journal Services’ existence that goes back well over a decade.
The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2023 (front row L to R) Paul Mainieri, Ron Washington, Lori Lyons, Walter Imahara and Bruce Brown. (Back row) Paul Byrd, M.L. Woodruff, Walter Davis, Matt Forte, Alana Beard and Wendell Davis. (Photo by Chris Reich/NSU Photographic Services, for the LSWA)
By JASON PUGH, Special to the Journal
NATCHITOCHES – Thursday afternoon was about “R and R” for 11 members of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2023.
This “R and R” session, however, was not about rest and relaxation. Instead, the focus of the annual induction press conference inside the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum was on the inductees’ reactions to their moment in the sun and the relationships that drove them to or were created along the way in their Hall of Fame careers.
Some of those kinships even had a direct tie to Hall of Fame weekend itself, such as the case with 2023 inductee Paul Mainieri and his college coach, New Orleans’ Ron Maestri, a Class of 1994 inductee.
“I thought about that when (Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Foundation President) Ronnie (Rantz) and (Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Chairman Doug Ireland) called me,” said Mainieri, who led LSU to the 2009 College World Series championship and five CWS appearances in his 15 years atop the Tiger program. “I had flown down from South Bend, Indiana, because Mase was being inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, and I wanted to be here to honor him. I learned so much from Mase in my two years of playing for him – about handling players, promoting your team in the community, about what it took effort wise. At that point in my life, and to this day, he is probably the second-most important male figure in my life as far as guiding me through my baseball career and coaching career.”
Mainieri is one of five members of the Class of 2023 with ties to LSU, joining fellow Tiger baseball players Paul Byrd and M.L. Woodruff, standout football receiver Wendell Davis and Olympic jumper Walter Davis.
Although Mainieri’s relationship with Maestri began roughly an hour east of Baton Rouge, his tie to Woodruff was formed in the LSU baseball locker room long before the Tigers were among the nation’s elite.
Woodruff and Mainieri came into LSU as freshmen together before making their mark as baseball coaches.
Mainieri has the 2009 national title to his name, but it was Woodruff who made winning championships an art form, skippering Parkview Baptist to a remarkable 11 state championships in a 23-year span from 1986-2009.
“After the announcement, Paul was so gracious,” Woodruff said. “He came up to me after the pairing party for the golf tournament and said, ‘M.L., we’re in the locker room at Alex Box Stadium, and someone says, ‘Two of you guys are going into the Hall of Fame.’ He says, ‘Do you think they would have picked us?’ Absolutely not.”
Although not related, Walter and Wendell Davis played into sharing a last name.
“First of all, give it up for my brother, Walter” Wendell Davis said after following Walter’s speech before reflecting on his record-setting career that came in a time that long predated the current pass-happy era of college football.
A Shreveport-Fair Park High School product, Davis was recruited primarily by north Louisiana colleges – Northwestern State, then-Northeast Louisiana and Grambling State – before LSU came in “at the last minute.”
The marriage produced two All-American seasons for Davis, the 1987 SEC Player of the Year as a senior, a career built off a pairing of unsuspecting stars – Davis and his quarterback Tommy Hodson. Davis then produced a six-season NFL career with the Chicago Bears that was cut short because of an injury in Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium that still resonates.
“I look pretty unassuming – you wouldn’t think I played football if you met me on the streets – but Tommy was worse than that,” Wendell said. “Tommy was a skinny kid, great basketball player. You see him on the street, you wouldn’t think he was a player. He was highly recruited, and I thought, ‘I need to get to know him.’ As a redshirt freshman, Tommy and I would work out all the time. We’d lift weights, and we’d go to the field. We’d go up and down the field – I’m running routes and he’s throwing the ball. The hope was this chemistry would carry over into a game. Fortunately, it did. He gained confidence in me, and he knew where I would be on the field. He was very instrumental in me doing what I did.”
While Wendell Davis found success in a team sport, stepping away from basketball led the 6-foot-2 Walter Davis to a track and field career that took the native of Leonville to Barton County Community College in Kansas, back home to LSU and around the world with berths on the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Teams.
A prep basketball standout, Walter said the individual nature of track and field played a role – as did a coach who mentioned the plethora of 6-2 basketball players and the dearth of 6-2 basketball players who had his track and field ability – into pushing him onto his Hall of Fame path.
“One reason I left basketball was if someone missed an assignment or missed a layup, it was a hack on the team,” he said. “If I went to a track meet and I lost, I have to look in the mirror. That’s on you. That’s why I really stuck with track and field. I don’t have to depend on anyone but myself.”
Right-handed pitcher Paul Byrd, a 14-year major-league veteran, rounded out the LSU-tied contingent. Byrd’s relationship with the Hall of Fame goes right to the top as he was Tiger teammates with Rantz, who noted Byrd was his first former teammate he was able to honor as an inductee.
A school-record 17-game winner at LSU in 1990, Byrd grinded his way through more than a decade in the major leagues that included a 1999 All-Star selection that led him to mingling with National Baseball Hall of Famers at Fenway Park and a 2007 American League Division Series-clinching win against the New York Yankees.
Byrd remained humble throughout his time at the microphone, nearly speaking about fellow inductee Ron Washington as much as himself. Byrd, now a television analyst calling Atlanta Braves games, and Washington, Atlanta’s third base coach and gilded infield instructor, have developed a friendship that was clear from Byrd’s speech – although it started around the time Mainieri first visited Natchitoches.
“Ron Washington, where are you, buddy?” Byrd asked. “When I got called up to the big leagues in 1995, you don’t remember this. I was playing for the New York Mets. I’m not that good. I’m just trying to bob and weave and last as long as a I can. I’m always told I’m too short, and I don’t throw hard enough. I get called in the office and get told I’m going to the big leagues. All my teammates are hugging me and giving me five. Wash’s energy is unbelievable. He makes working hard fun.
“You don’t remember this, but you told me, ‘The big leagues can change you. Don’t let it happen to you. Stay humble and keep working hard.’ Ron Washington can handle success. All that he has accomplished has not changed him. Thank you for that.”
While Washington has remained the same since leaving New Orleans’ John McDonogh High School in 1970 to start a 10-year playing career, he has been a change agent and self-described “ambassador” for baseball. The Crescent City native said he always played above his age group while growing up, and it didn’t take long for him to have the Texas Rangers punching above their typical weight class in his first Major League Baseball managerial job.
Under Washington, the Rangers won at least 90 games in five seasons and reached the franchise’s first two World Series, capturing American League pennants in 2010 and 2011. Washington finally summitted the mountain in 2021, capturing a World Series title with Atlanta in his 51st season in professional baseball.
It was the relationships Washington built – and the vision he had – from Day One that built a budding dynasty in North Texas.
“When I arrived in Texas, my first meetings were with scouts, and out of the blue, I talked about winning a World Series,” Washington said. “They thought I was crazy. They did. I had the ring sizers, and I was sizing them up. I believe belief is powerful. When you believe and you can put action to that belief, you can get things done.”
Belief was a two-way street that led Matt Forte to the door of the NFL – one he kicked in and enjoyed a decade of top-tier performance with the Chicago Bears and New York Jets.
Forte, a Slidell native, was set on playing football in the SEC, but when the offers did not materialize, he followed his father Gene’s footsteps and signed with Tulane. Flashes of his potential were evident in his first three seasons, but a knee injury late in his junior year – and a coaching change – provided the impetus for a school-record 2,127 rushing-yard season as a senior that led him to become a second-round pick of the Bears.
Forte’s two-a-day workouts put him on a path to the Hall of Fame and to a fast friendship with the Davises, who were the targets of a good-natured shot from the former Green Wave standout.
“It means a lot, especially as a Tulane alumnus around all these LSU people,” Forte said. “Let y’all know, Tulane, we’re up here, too, especially y’all (Davis) brothers over there. When I got the call, I was honestly not expecting it. I was underrated my whole career. I didn’t consider myself underrated. I just think maybe overlooked, but it was God’s plan. Getting this honor at the end of a career was really sweet, because I feel my entire career, some people get their flowers while they’re playing or they come in with a lot of hype.
“I never bought into the hype. I’m glad I didn’t have a lot of hype around myself, because if you don’t turn out to be good the hype doesn’t mean anything. I’d rather be consistent. This was the cherry on top as far as the career I had.”
Consistency was a synonym for Alana Beard’s basketball career.
Four state championships at Shreveport’s Southwood High School led to an All-American career at Duke where she also won the Wade Trophy before playing professionally in the WNBA and overseas.
That career, which began with Beard playing against her older brothers as the only girl, led her to play in 27 countries. It was her relationship with her prep coach, Steve McDowell, she credited with being the linchpin for her globe-spanning career.
“Those Southwood years simply defined who I became,” Beard said. “I decided to play organized basketball in the seventh grade – I was too shy to do so in the sixth grade. That became my journey. That became my love especially when I understood that I had the opportunity to take a burden off my parents’ shoulders. Basketball could be the vehicle to take me where I eventually wanted to go. It wouldn’t have happened without my parents and the foundation they instilled in me, but also with Steve McDowell, the legendary coach at Southwood. I knew I wanted to play for him because he had a championship culture already there, and I had a desire to be a champion.
“I knew choosing Southwood would be hard. I knew the players there were better than me, but that motivated me to want to be one of the best. Any time I think about my success, Steve McDowell is synonymous with that because he taught me the fundamentals of the game. He taught me respect. He taught me discipline. I’ve carried that with me throughout my life.”
While the other eight competitive-ballot inductees carried competitive scars from outcomes that didn’t go their way, world champion weightlifter Walter Imahara’s career was forged in a different setting.
A Japanese-American, Imahara and his family spent three-and-a-half years in a World War II internment camp in California. Instead of a jaded worldview, Imahara took his pleasant disposition – and dogged dedication – to then-Southwestern Louisiana Institute and helped the Bulldogs win an NCAA national championship.
More importantly, Imahara, now 86 years old, found a longtime home among a group of people who treated him like one of their own.
“I was born in California, but I’ve lived in Louisiana for more than 80 years – Louisiana is my home,” said Imahara, who graduated from Baton Rouge’s Istrouma High School in 1955. “When I went to Southwestern, you have to remember, I was like the only Japanese-American on campus. People there were not prejudiced. They were of a Cajun background. How could they be prejudiced?”
Those relationships simultaneously define Acadiana and its 2023 Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism honoree Bruce Brown.
A longtime fixture at the Daily Advertiser, Brown was a staple at Lafayette-area sporting events – community-wide or ones with a national focus. In addition to being a talented on-deadline writer, Brown said he enjoyed focusing on sports that didn’t always draw the eye of the greater public.
And while he made Lafayette his home, he had a perfectly pithy response to his honor.
“I think the full quote was ‘Get out of town,’’ Brown said of learning of his DSA selection. “It was unexpected. You don’t live for such a moment, but you take them when they come that’s for sure. I don’t write for the acclaim. I write for the athlete, for the kid. That’s the way I always approached it.”
While Brown wrote about barrier breakers, his fellow DSA honoree broke them herself.
Lori Lyons climbed the ladder at the New Orleans Times-Picayune, starting as a clerk in 1986 before becoming a two-time Louisiana Sports Writers Association Prep Writer of the Year and the second female LSWA President.
During her time as the Times-Picayune’s prep sports reporter in the River Parishes, Lyons chronicled numerous Louisiana Sports Hall of Famers, including 2017 inductee Ed Reed. Now her name – and biography – stands alongside Reed and the other statewide legends in Natchitoches.
“I have been coming to this event for 30 years,” Lyons said. “I have sat in the audience and cried while people like you stood on that stage and tried to explain what it means or how it feels and what an honor it is. Now it’s my turn, and as good as I am with words, I don’t have the words to do it.
“It is humbling. It is surreal. When I punched my name in that computer database and saw my name and my picture … I saw Walter Davis and said, ‘Come here. You have to do this.’ Then I saw his face. Then I saw Wendell Davis and said, ‘Come here. You have to do this.’ That is the most amazing experience so far of this whole thing.”
The 12th inductee, football great Eli Manning of New Orleans, is arriving Friday to join the festivities.
You’re invited, free of charge, this evening from 5-7 to a star-studded casual party — the La Capitol Welcome Reception kicking off the 2023 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Celebration.
It’s in downtown Natchitoches, at the Hall of Fame museum at 800 Front Street (at the traffic circle) in Natchitoches. No need to dress fancy, just enjoy food and refreshments and music and a world-class museum, mingling with some of our state’s greatest sports stars and their families.
The Class of 2023 includes a two-time Super Bowl MVP (Eli Manning, who arrives Friday), a women’s basketball superstar from Shreveport with Natchitoches roots (Alana Beard), a College World Series-winning LSU coach (Paul Mainieri) and three more TIgers sports heroes (big league pitcher Paul Byrd, NFL receiver Wendell Davis from Shreveport and two-time USA track and field Olympian Walter Davis).
There’s another Pro Bowl NFL star, former Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte, a Tulane star from Slidell. He did things that only two other NFL backs ever have done, and now runs a charitable foundation and works in a ministry in Chicago.
For fans of the Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers, Ron Washington will entertain you – he managed the Rangers to the World Series in 2010 and 2011, and as the current third base coach for the Braves, he was also in that role when Atlanta won the 2021 Fall Classic. He was also third base coach in Oakland during the “Moneyball” years (he’s a featured character in the movie headlined by Brad Pitt).
Braves fans, this is a double bonus for you. Along with “Wash,” Byrd – whose LSU pitching accomplishments are on a short list with Paul Skenes and Ben McDonald – has been a color analyst on Braves TV game coverage who has won regional sports Emmy Awards. Here’s your chance, this evening, to get the inside angle on the club.
Meet the amazing 86-year-old Walter Imahara, a Japanese-American who became a world-class weightlifter for decades – while running a Baton Rouge floral business, and serving in the United States military in the early 1960s. Another Baton Rouge hero is M.L. Woodruff, who won 11 state championships coaching baseball for Parkview Baptist, and now is also involved in a ministry.
Sports journalists Bruce Brown (Lafayette) and Lori Lyons (New Orleans/Houma) have covered many amazing games and highly-accomplished athletes, including plenty of LSHOF members, in their careers and will be inducted next weekend as well.
The Welcome Reception provides the best possible opportunity to stroll around the 27,500-square foot museum, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Lots of display items have been rotated into exhibits, and there’s a new Kim Mulkey exhibit showcasing the LSU women’s basketball coach.
Just ahead — the free Friday evening Rockin’ River Fest concert on the downtown riverbank stage. Music starts at 6, with Manning joining his 2023 classmates on stage at 9:15, followed by a 10-minute fireworks show set to sports-themed music. There will be a free kids zone presented by Louisiana Propane Dealers with games under the Front Street bridge.
You’re invited to all the fun. Visit LaSportsHall.com or call 318-238-4255 to get more information and the schedule for the three-day celebration, and for participation opportunities for three ticketed events.
LOUISIANA GREATS: Members of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020 gathered with previously-inducted members on stage. This Legends Lineup concludes each year’s induction ceremony and is a photo favorite for guests.
There are football legends, a women’s basketball great, four baseball icons, a two-time USA Olympian, a world-renowned weightlifting champion with an amazing life story, and five LSU Tigers.
They – and a fun-filled slate of events — are among the reasons to be in Natchitoches Thursday, Friday evening and Saturday, to enjoy the 2023 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Celebration.
Festivities include three free events, and four others which require admission charges. Only the grand finale, the Saturday evening Induction Reception and Ceremony presented by State Farm Agents of Louisiana, is a dress up affair.
Two – the Friday lunchtime Bowling Bash presented by BOM, in Alexandria at Four Seasons Bowling Center, and the free Saturday morning New Orleans Saints and Pelicans Junior Training Camp on the Northwestern State campus – are activity-filled.
Another – the free Friday night Rockin’ River Fest Concert featuring Rockin’ Dopsie and The Zydeco Twisters, and rising country artist Jason Ashley, along with a 10-minute fireworks show over Cane River – is activity-optional, dancing encouraged.
The concert also features a free kids zone presented by Louisiana Propane Dealers with football, basketball, golf and science fun on the Natchitoches riverbank.
Tickets for the Bowling Bash, the Friday night VIP Taste of Tailgating party at the concert, and the big finale, the Induction Reception and Ceremony, are available at LaSportsHall.com or by calling 318-238-4255. The Saturday noon Round Table Luncheon is already sold out.
Advance registration at LaSportsHall.com for kids 7-17 is required for the free Junior Training Camp, which will feature many of the 2023 inductees participating as coaches in football and basketball.
Two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning (from New Orleans) joins four-time WNBA All-Star Alana Beard (a Shreveport native with Natchitoches roots) and College World Series champion LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri in a star-studded 12-member induction class.
The Class of 2023 also includes New Orleans native and resident Ron Washington, who managed the Texas Rangers to a pair of World Series appearances and in 2021 helped the Atlanta Braves win the world’s championship (and is still the Braves’ third base coach); two-time LSU track and field USA Olympian and world champion Walter Davis from Arnaudville; and Slidell native, Tulane great and Chicago Bears two-time Pro Bowl running back Matt Forte.
Also set for induction are All-American LSU pitcher Paul Byrd, a 14-year Major League Baseball veteran who made the 1999 All-Star Game; Shreveport native Wendell Davis, who shattered LSU football receiving records before heading to the NFL; multiple national champion and world class weightlifter Walter Imahara, a Baton Rouge florist and UL-Lafayette legend who as a child spent 2 ½ years in a Japanese American internment camp in California; and retired Baton Rouge-Parkview Baptist baseball coach M.L. Woodruff, whose teams claimed 11 state championships.
Two south Louisiana sports journalists, Bruce Brown of Lafayette and longtime New Orleans Times-Picayune high school reporter Lori Lyons, will also be honored.
The Class of 2023 will be enshrined Saturday night at the Natchitoches Events Center to culminate the 64th Induction Celebration.
The Thursday reception at the museum, the Friday evening River Fest and the Junior Training Camp are free. As noted above, camp participants need to register online in advance.
The 2023 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 .
Don’t miss out! Limited tickets are available for the Natchitoches Jazz Fest featuring Mark Chesnutt, Cupid, Tracy Byrd, and more!
Buy now and enter to win a luxurious Steel Magnolias Getaway! Affordable prices, unforgettable experience!
How to enter:
It’s simple! Buy your Natchitoches Jazz R&B Festival tickets, and you’re automatically entered into the giveaway! The more tickets you purchase, the more chances to win, with VIP tickets counting even more!
The Giveaway Prize Package includes:
2-night stay at the iconic Steel Magnolias House B&B where several scenes from the movie were actually filmed!
$100 gift certificate for Merci Beaucoup Restaurant in downtown Natchitoches just a few blocks from the Steel Magnolias House!
$100 gift certificate for Mayeaux’s Steak House within easy walking distance from the Steel Magnolias House!
Dinner for two at Mariner’s Restaurant on Sibley Lake which offers spectacular sunset views over the lake and fine dining!
Scenic cruise on the Cane River Queen, Natchitoches’ own riverboat!
$100 gift certificate to Plantation Treasures Gift Shop!
$100 gift certificate to Magnolia Spa Wellness & Boutique.
The approximate value of the package is over $1,000!
We at the Lincoln Parish Journal are pleased to welcome our newest sister publication, Claiborne Parish Journal. This online publication joins 10 others across Louisiana from Rapides Parish north to the state line.
“We feel the people of Claiborne Parish – Homer, Haynesville and surrounding towns – deserve their own publication,” said publisher Paige Nash. “At Journal Services LLC, we pride ourselves in covering local parishes with high-quality news and advertising to keep our readers up to date on what’s happening in their communities.”
Nash is the publisher of Claiborne and Bienville publications and a reporter for Webster Parish Journal.
All Journals cover local news, features and sports. Subscriptions are – and always will be – free. Please visit www.claiborneparishjournal.com and sign up today.
Randie Rae Pierce Sunday 09/21/1947 — Saturday 02/25/2023 Family Gathering: Friday 03/10/2023 2:00pm to 3:00pm at King’s Funeral Home Visitation: Friday 03/10/2023 3:00pm to 5:00pm at King’s Funeral Home Celebration of Life: Saturday 03/11/2023 1:00pm at: St. Peter Baptist Church, 899 St. Peter Road, Ruston Interment: Saturday 03/11/2023 Following Service, St. Peter Church Cemetery, St. Peter Road, Ruston
Willie J. Washington Thursday 01/24/1929 — Sunday 02/26/2023 Family Gathering: Friday 03/10/2023 2:00pm at King’s Funeral Home Visitation: Friday 03/10/2023 3:00pm to 5:00pm at King’s Funeral Home Celebration of Life: Saturday 03/11/2023 11:00am, Macedonia Baptist Church #2, 489 E Sibley Rd, Choudrant Interment: Saturday 03/11/2023 Following Service, Macedonia # 2 Church Cemetery, Sibley Road, Choudrant
Kenneth Strozier September 19, 1950 – March 2, 2023 Services pending
Laura Mitchell Ogden January 22, 1938 – February 28, 2023 Visitation: Sunday, March 5, 2023: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM, Owens Memorial Chapel Funeral Home Graveside Service: Sunday, March 5, 2023 3:30 PM, Friendship Cemetery, Hopewell Rd, Shuler, Arkansas
Former Cedar Creek multi-sport star and current Lady Techster Anna Larr Roberson talks about her journey to college basketball and what it’s like playing before the hometown fans.
Cedar Creek coach Matt Middelton talks about the Cougars season opener last Thursday, this week’s contest at Vidalia, and even talks about the JV and middle school wins earlier this week.
Cedar Creek will kickoff Friday at 7 p.m. at Vidalia. The contest can be heard on 101.9 FM with Kevin Bayles and Scott Hill providing a call of the game.
On This Week in the LPJ, Malcolm Butler talks to Bulldog head coach Sonny Cumbie about his two sons, Hays and Grey, the best play of his college career (and the throw he wishes he had back), as well as how involved he will be in the offensive play-calling for the Bulldogs this fall.
LPJ writer Scott Boatright caught up with Lincoln Prep head coach Glen Hall to talk about the Panthers fall practice and playing Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Bayou Jamb at Joe Aillet Stadium.
Starting in September, the Lincoln Parish Journal will hold the Karl Malone Toyota NFL Pick’em Contest presented by 511 and Black Rifle Coffee.
Anyone is eligible to participate and each weekly winner will go home with a $100 cash prize as well as a $50 gift card to one of our many local advertisers.
Each week the winner will be the participant with the best record out of 10 selected NFL games (ties will be broken by two separate tiebreakers consisting of guessing the total points scored in two of our weekly contests).
Our contest will be conducted for all 18 weeks of the NFL regular season. There is no entry fee, just like there is no cost to subscribe to the Lincoln Parish Journal.
It takes 20-30 seconds to sign up and not much longer than that to make your picks.
Entries are open now for the first week’s contest picking the winners from NFL Week 1 (Sept. 11). The entries will remain open until 4 p.m. each Friday leading up to that weekend’s games.
One person will win each week’s $100 cash prize plus the $50 gift card, to be announced in the Journal early the following week as the subsequent Pick’em Contest launches.
All contest decisions by LPJ management are final. Weekly winners will be notified Sunday night and are required to take a photo at Karl Malone Toyota that will run in the following week’s LPJ.
Every participant will receive a FREE subscription to the Journal, if you’re not already signed up for the easily-navigated, convenient 6:55 a.m. daily e-mail.
Enjoy it all, for FREE, and enter each week’s contest. You could collect $100 plus a $50 gift card each week!
