Shreveport Police Sex Crimes Detectives are actively searching for Julian Jones (DOB: 05/15/1993) in
connection with a report filed on May 3.

Following a thorough investigation, detectives have obtained arrest warrants for Jones. He is wanted for the following offenses: one count of Sexual Battery of a Child Under the Age of 13 and two counts of Indecent Behavior with a Juvenile.

Jones is currently at large, and detectives are working diligently to locate him. Authorities urge anyone with information on his whereabouts to contact the Shreveport Police Department at 318-673-7300 or Caddo Crime Stoppers at 318-673-7373. Tips submitted to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward.

Each week, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s Tony Taglavore takes to lunch a local person – someone who is well-known, successful, and/or influential, and asks, “What’s Your Story?”

By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter—silvered wings.
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of wheeled and soared and swung.
High in the sunlit silence, hov’ring there
I’ve chased the shouting winds along and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor ever eagle flew
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

 -John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
Air Force fighter pilot and war poet

All these years later, he still remembers the date.

December 13, 1981.

His pilot’s license was fresh off the printing press. In his first job as a corporate pilot, he was flying for a well-known family. One of his first assignments? Go from Beaumont to Houston and pick up a member of that family.

“The weather had low ceilings. No thunderstorms, just low ceilings. Low visibility. Coming over the bay at Houston, I started noticing specks on the windshield. I thought, ‘What the heck is that? It’s not raining.’ I looked at the cylinder head temperature. The oil pressure was real low and the cylinder head temperature was real high, which meant the engine was fixing to quit. It started sputtering.”

This is probably a good time to tell you the plane he was flying, a Cessna P210, was a single-engine aircraft.

“I told Houston approach control, ‘I’ve lost an engine.’ (The air traffic controller) said, ‘Hobby (airport) is reporting 300 overcast (which is low), and two miles visibility.’ Well, I wasn’t going to make Hobby. I didn’t have an engine.”

You know how you’re not supposed to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations? In this case, the 26-year-old was glad someone did.

“There was a guy coming out of LaPorte, Texas, who heard what was going on. He said, ‘I just took off from LaPorte, and they’re 900 feet overcast with good visibility.’ I said, ‘That’s where I want to go.’ They vectored me in and I landed with no engine power—a single engine airplane.”

Man, he must have been scared to death.

“I never was scared or frightened, but when I got on the ground my knees started knocking. When it was all over, it hit me.”

Benton’s Keith David, a corporate pilot with close to 50 years and 18,000 hours of experience, told me that story – and his story – over lunch at a place Keith chose, Strawn’s Eat Shop Also. Keith had a hamburger, fries, and unsweet tea. I enjoyed the lunch special of fried catfish. We both topped off our meal with slices of Strawn’s famous pie (Keith had coconut, I had strawberry).

“It’s against the law if you don’t get pie here.”

Keith and I met on rare day when he wasn’t flying. Keith spends a lot of time amongst the clouds, but not as much as he used to.

“In 2000, I was gone 321 nights.”
Just a reminder, there are 365 days in a year.

In the weeks after our lunch, Keith would fly to Destin, Florida, Camden, Tennessee, the Napa Valley, and Crested Butte, Colorado. In his 40-plus year career, Keith has been to all 50 states, and places like Costa Rica, Panama, and the Turks and Caicos. He’s attended major sporting events, including the Kentucky Derby, Daytona 500, and several Super Bowls. You may have heard of some of his passengers – Terry Bradshaw, Donald Trump, Jr., and the late, outspoken, former Texas Governor Ann Richards. (“She was a wild card.”).

 “I’m always in awe of God’s beauty. I’ve never discounted the things I’ve seen. I’ve had a front row seat to the world. I really have. I’m very fortunate to have seen all those things and do what I’ve done. I’ve never taken it for granted. I’ve been blessed. I’ve been paid well. I’ve done what I wanted do my whole life.”

Well, not his whole life.

Keith, his brother, and two sisters, were raised by their mother. Oh, their father was present, but in body only.

“He was driving from Minden to Shreveport and a drunk driver hit him. It was a bad deal.”

That happened two months before Keith was born. His father suffered brain damage and left mentally disabled. The accident left Keith to grow up without a father figure.

“I never knew any different until I got older and saw friends asking their dads for advice. When I think about that, it works on me a little bit, but I’ve learned to park it somewhere in my brain where I don’t let it bother me.”

With only one parent providing for the family, times were tough.

“I noticed we moved a lot. I didn’t figure out until years later the reason was because the rent was due. We couldn’t pay it, so we moved.”

Like many kids, Keith grew up wanting to be a fireman. “Still, I wish sometimes I would have been. I thought that was the coolest job.” But Keith knew it was best for him to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the United States Marine Corps, where he went straight from Woodlawn High School.

“It was something I needed for stability and direction. That was one of the best things I’ve ever done. It was a smart move, and it’s paid big dividends ever since.”

During Keith’s two years as a Marine, he got the urge to learn to fly.

“We were doing a night jump into Lake O‘Neill at Camp Pendleton. I was the last guy. I stood up between the two pilots, and they said, ‘Man, you guys are stupid, jumping out of an airplane into a lake at night.’ When I jumped out, I saw the airplane going away, and I thought, ‘You know, those guys are probably on to something.’ That’s what planted a seed.”

Back home, Keith grew that seed – quickly. Instead of going into a college’s four-year aviation program, Keith took flying lessons on his own out of Shreveport’s Downtown Airport. In a year’s time, he had his pilot’s license. But Keith’s eye was on a being a corporate – not a commercial – pilot.

“The airlines certainly had their advantages. You had a safety net to some degree . . . . If something were to happen to (a family’s) principle, the airplane goes away. That’s the first thing to go. It costs a tremendous amount of money to operate (a plane). I think our airplane (a Citation 560 jet) costs like $7,000 an hour just to crank it up and go somewhere. Fuel is expensive. Maintenance (is expensive).”

But the corporate world had its advantages also, which appealed to Keith more than that safety net.

“If I go to New York on a trip, I stay wherever I want, eat whatever I want. The airlines give you a per diem, and you’re restricted on what you can buy and where you can stay.”

But there was a price to pay for those perks. Every time it’s wheels up, Keith is responsible for the lives of others.

“People always say, ‘That’s my grandson on there. You make sure you get him back.’ I say, ‘If I’m going to make it, he’s going to make it. And I’m going to make it.’”

And then there was the personal price Keith paid – flying all over the world with three children at home.

“I’ve missed kids’ plays. Kids’ birthdays. But that’s part of the business . . . . That was hard on me and them, and particularly their mother. That’s a full-time job, (raising) kids that young. You’re not there to step in and take up some slack. When I was home, I would have been gone a week, and you have to decompress when you get home. You have to somehow in that period of time shift gears to being a daddy instead of a pilot. That was always kind of an odd transition.”

Keith and his current wife, Debbie, have seven children between them.

Surprisingly, the story Keith told me about losing an engine outside of Houston was, he said, the closest call he’s had in all his years flying. But while at times Keith’s plane may be on auto pilot, his mind never rests.

“You’re always doing mental gymnastics. You’re sitting up in the cockpit at 39,000 feet doing absolutely nothing. You’re managing the flight deck. You’re listening for changes in the engines. But you’re always cocked and ready. You may be just visiting with your co-pilot, but in the back of your mind, you’re listening to everything. If a gauge moves a millimeter, I will see it. Your mind is always set and ready to react to any emergency, and emergencies never come at the time you want them to come. It’s always unexpected.”

At age 70, Keith is still sharp, and goes to school each year for refresher courses. But he knows he only has two or three more years – at best – in the first seat.

“I can fly if I’m 150 years old. The problem is will somebody still insure you, and can you pass the (pilot’s) test.”

Resisting the urge to tell Keith I once flew in a small plane where the seats faced each other, and everyone got sick, I asked my final question. As always, what is it about his life that you might apply to your life.

“Set your goals. Be goal oriented. Find something you want to do that makes you happy and just go for it. That’s what I’ve done, and I’ve had a good life . . . . Have a good career. That’s what I’ve done. I’m thankful. I don’t take it for granted.”

At 39,000 feet, Keith has had the best seat in the house.

Do you know someone with a story? Email SBJTonyT@gmail.com.

The Journal’s weekly “What’s Your Story?” series is sponsored by Morris & Dewett Injury Lawyers.

OMAHA, Neb – Game-ending plays of championship baseball teams are usually suitable for framing moments.

For LSU, there’s none more iconic than Warren Morris’ stunning walk-off homer to beat Miami and capture the 1996 College World Series.

Also fairly memorable was Ryan Theriot sliding across home plate with the game-winning run on Brad Cresse’s walk-off RBI single over Stanford in 2000 to give legendary Tigers’ head coach Skip Bertman his fifth and final CWS title.

A ground ball and a fly out ended LSU’s first two national championship wins in 1991 and 1993, both over Wichita State. Tigers’ pitchers waiting for the celebratory mound dogpile after striking out batters secured the 1997, 2009, and 2023 championships over Alabama, Texas, and Florida.

But here on Sunday afternoon, for the first time, LSU announced its eighth national title acquisition with a double play turned by second baseman Daniel Dickinson and shortstop Steven Milam to secure a 5-3 win and a CWS finals series sweep of Coastal Carolina.

The twin-killing was so smooth – Dickinson gobbling up a grounder and flipping it to Milan, who caught the ball as he touched second base for the second out and firing it in one motion to junior first baseman Jared Jones for the third and final out of the season – it confirmed what the 2025 national champion Tigers were all about.

They made the fundamental look fundamental and the difficult appear easy.

“I could coach this team forever,” said LSU’s Jay Johnson after becoming the first Division 1 head coach to win two national titles in his first four seasons at a school.

And the LSU faithful around the world, especially those who flocked here like it’s their summer vacation home and in their last two CWS visits in 2023 and this year downed 121,278 $5 jello shots at their favorite Omaha watering hole Rocco’s (that’s $606,390 worth of celebratory alcohol infusion) – wouldn’t mind watching this season’s Tigers on a repeated video loop.

It’s because LSU played smart, rarely fielding or engaging in prolonged streaks of poor base-running or plate discipline, which led to poor at-bats.

It was always focused, always concentrating on the task at hand.

It had no problem, like sophomore Milam, who is now batting .379 with 17 RBI in 16 NCAA tournament games in his first two seasons, saying how much they embraced the big moments and then executed under pressure.

It improved throughout the season, collectively and individually, even when it suffered its only SEC series sweep of the

season at Auburn, the team swept in a home Super Regional by Coastal Carolina.

It was the only time that the 53-15 national champs lost three consecutive games.

They believed in themselves, embraced Johnson’s “one for all and all for one” team philosophy, and had faith in every one of his well-researched, thoroughly studied directives.

For instance, pitchers Anthony Eyanson and Chase Shores looked like cruise-control cyborgs in Sunday’s win, combining for 13 strikeouts and one walk.

How? Just follow the man with the plan.

“He (Johnson) outlines everything before the game and makes our job a lot easier because he says what’s going to happen before the game, and we’ve just got to go out there and execute,” Shores said.

Eyanson described Johnson’s pregame speeches as it feels “like a movie when he talks about the lineup, talking about everybody’s role, how they can contribute to scoring runs on the offensive side.”

If you could freeze frame Sunday’s final out, you could see examples of Johnson’s coaching magic and unparalleled recruiting touch from foul line to foul line all over Charles Schwab Field.

There was sophomore redshirt Shores, who missed all of last year recovering from Tommy John surgery, with his arms aloft, starting the celebration after getting two saves in seven innings spread over four CWS games.

“I (mentally) replay all the rehab work I did,” Shores said. “But to come out the other side and play in the College World Series is truly special.”

The first to hug Shores was indestructible senior catcher Luis Hernandez, an Indiana State transfer who caught 95 percent of Tigers’ pitches in 11 NCAA tourney games (all 662 in the CWS). He also delivered the game-tying two-run RBI double and then scored the game-winning run in the 6-5 victory over Arkansas to move the Tigers to the finals.

“Thank you to Jay Johnson,” Hernandez said. “We worked in the fall really hard to accomplish this, and my ability to be great in catching.”

Jones, who bypassed last summer’s MLB Draft to return for this year and bat .322 with 22 homers, paused momentarily after securing Curiel’s throw before running to join the celebration.

“It’s been an unbelievable ride for us the last nine or 10 months that we’ve put in together as a team,” Jones said. “From day one, our fundamental was to go out there and compete to have a lot of fun doing it.”

Third baseman Michael Braswell III, overcome by emotion, collapsed face-first on the ground where he stood as the double play was completed.

The senior transferred from South Carolina a year ago, started at shortstop and then shifted to third base this season when Milam moved from second base to shortstop after Johnson signed Dickinson, a junior and Utah Valley transfer who rated the fourth-best player nationally in the portal.

“Danny the person just far exceeds the player,” Johnson said. “He’s so competitive. He’s been playing with a broken hand since the first game of the NCAA tournament. We lose last night’s game (Saturday’s 1-0 game one win over Coastal) without Michael’s defense. And Steven Milam got better, especially down the stretch.”

Johnson’s dogged recruiting to upgrade talent is most evident in the infield. His first LSU team in 2022 committed 82 errors. That number dropped to 59 on the ’23 national championship team, 51 last year, and finally 44 this season.

Starting pitchers Kade Anderson and Eyanson raced from the dugout to join the mound party, as did relievers Zac Cowan and Casan Evans.

Sophomore Anderson, named the Most Outstanding Player of the CWS, junior transfers Eyanson (UC San Diego) and Cowan (Wofford) and true freshman Evans were expertly developed to carry the throwing load by veteran pitching coach Nate Yeskie.

Anderson went from a little-used freshman a year ago to this season’s Division I strikeout leader and the projected first overall pick in July’s upcoming Major League draft.

Eyanson transformed from someone who was shelled for 11 hits and eight runs in his first two SEC starts to finish with a 3.00 ERA and second nationally in strikeouts behind Anderson.

The duo of All-SEC first-team honoree Cowan and unflappable rookie Evans combined for 13 saves, a 131-to-31 strikeouts-to-walk ratio, and a 2.49 earned run average.

Anderson was speaking for the entire pitching staff when he said, “I trust what he (Yeskie) does and just believe him.”

Last to join Sunday’s dogpile were outfielders Derek Curiel, Chris Stanfield, and Jake Brown, arriving shortly after designated hitter Ethan Frey.

Frey, a junior, shook off an injury-filled sophomore season and batted .331 with 50 RBI and home runs. His four extra-base hits and six RBI carried LSU in the Baton Rouge Regionals.

Auburn junior transfer Stanfeld, a speedster covering center field, finished batting .298. His eight NCAA tourney hits produced 10 RBI.

LSU will build next year’s outfield around Stanfield if isn’t drafted, rising junior Brown and rising sophomore Curiel.

Brown batted .320 with 48 RBI and eight homers despite alternating with Josh Pearson as the starting right fielder. Curiel, one of four Tigers to start all 68 games this season, was a freshman All-American first-team selection after starting the year with a 43-game on-base streak and finishing with a team-high .345 batting average.

“As far as putting it (the 2025 Tigers) together, I just felt like we were a little short last year, and it wasn’t by much,” Johnson said. “But it was just a little short of being able to win any type of game. And I did what I did (in recruiting) to give us the opportunity to do this”.

Even before Wednesday’s scheduled national championship celebration in Alex Box Stadium, Johnson has already been knee-deep in piecing together his 2026 roster.

Once the final Alex Box hurrah has sounded, he’ll throw himself fully into recruiting the transfer portal for the next 1 ½ months.

He’s done the same thing the last two summers, especially when LSU came up one out short last June of winning a road Super Regional at North Carolina.

It’s the new recruiting game of NIL and the revolving transfer portal door, and nobody plays it better than Johnson. He readily accepts the daily pressure of feeding and nurturing the LSU baseball feast.

He understands Tigers’ baseball backers are no different than Alabama football and Kentucky baseball fans, all of whom expect to challenge for national championships every year.

The 48-year-old Johnson lives to play in Omaha annually. And he may eventually try a Rocco’s jello shot. . 

When he retires in 20 years or so.

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

JOURNAL SPORTS

Now we know the rest of the story – at least when it comes to former Centenary men’s basketball coach Chris Dorsey.

Dorsey announced his departure from the Gents in early May after his eighth season as head coach, saying he left “to pursue other opportunities.” However, his wife Morgan, the Centenary women’s soccer coach, remained on the Kings Highway campus.

Monday, the dots connected when Grambling basketball coach Patrick Crarey introduced Dorsey as the Tigers’ associate head coach.

Dorsey enters the NCAA Division I ranks in a program that made its first NCAA Tournament appearance two seasons ago, the same time when Dorsey’s Gents reached the Division III NCAA Tournament. After both programs stumbled to losing seasons, their first in several years, in 2024-25, Grambling’s Donte’ Jackson jumped to fellow Southwestern Athletic Conference member Alabama State as head coach, and Crarey replaced him. Then Dorsey departed the Gents’ program. Monday revealed why.

“Coach Dorsey is one of the best basketball minds in all of college basketball,” said Crarey. “His ability to teach players and coaches, is unmatched. For the last eight years he has been a championship-winning collegiate head coach in the state of Louisiana. He will help us with recruiting and relationships in our home state. We are very excited to welcome Coach Dorsey and his family to Grambling.” 

Across 11 seasons, Dorsey has consistently built winning cultures and delivered championship-level results at every stop.

Most recently, at Centenary he became the winningest coach in the school’s NCAA Division III era. He surpassed 100 career wins and led the Gents to their first Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship in over 40 years in 2020, then captured a second SCAC title in 2024—making him the only coach in program history with multiple championships. His teams earned NCAA Tournament bids in both title seasons and reached five consecutive SCAC Final Fours

Under his leadership, Centenary produced at least one all-conference player every season  — 25 total — along with one SCAC Player of the Year and two SCAC Rookies of the Year. His teams posted a dominant 76 percent home winning rate from 2020–2024 (51–16), and he engineered two of the longest winning streaks in school history (10 games each). Dorsey was named SCAC Coach of the Year in 2020.Before Centenary, Dorsey was the head coach at his alma mater, Lyndon State College, from 2014 to 2017. He guided the program to two North Atlantic Conference (NAC) semifinal appearances (2015 and 2017), while producing one NAC Player of the Year, two Rookies of the Year, and five All-Conference selections.

From 2008 to 2012, Dorsey served as associate head coach at Daniel Webster College. He helped lead the team to a single-season record 21 wins while directing an offense that led the conference in field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and overall offensive efficiency.

It happens every year.

No, not LSU winning the College World Series, although it almost seems that way. Two outta three ain’t bad.

And no, not an LSU team winning a national championship in some sport. Although the Tigers have celebrated five NCAA crowns this decade, it’s not an annual tradition. Along with the pair that Jay Johnson’s baseball team has captured, Kim Mulkey’s women’s basketball Final Four title came in 2023, the Tiger gymnastics team won in 2024, and the men’s track team reigned in 2021.

But every year, this time of year, in Natchitoches, there’s a different kind of championship dogpile.

The annual Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Celebration kicks off Thursday with the first of three free events – yes, that’s right, your favorite price, free – the Welcome Reception from 5-7 at the LSHOF Museum, 800 Front Street, at the traffic circle, on the trademark bricks.

There’s free food, “refreshments,” music, and a relaxed vibe. Wardrobe? Casual. Come as you are. Check out a truly world-class museum at no charge (not that it costs much to get in normally; adult admission is just $6 with students, seniors and military getting cheaper tickets on the reg).

Meet real Louisiana legends.

Find out they are nice folks. People you’d like as your neighbors. Yup, the same heroes who you watched win national championships, Super Bowls, All-Star Games, state crowns … those nine competitors who are going into the Hall this weekend all have long lists of amazing accomplishments in athletics that set them into the elite class of selection for induction from a candidate pool over 150 from 27 different sports categories.

They will be in the spotlight at seven different events, including Friday night’s free (there’s that word again) Rockin’ RiverFest on the banks of Cane River Lake downtown on the Rue Beauport stage next to the Church Street Bridge. They’ll be encouraging youth Saturday morning at the free Junior Training Camp – yes, it’s free – providing two hours of full-throttle fun and sports instruction, along with advice on how to succeed in life and enjoy a healthy lifestyle (sign up your kid, 7-17, by completing the waiver form on LaSportsHall.com).

Some of the festivities do require tickets, and only a few remain for the Mardi Gras Bowling Bash Friday at Four Seasons Bowling Center in Alexandria, the VIP Taste of Tailgating Friday night on the bricks above the concert venue, and inside at Mama’s Oyster House and Blues Room on Front Street. The Roundtable Luncheon Saturday, hosted by Shreveporter Tim Brando, provides levity and up-close access to the stars.

The party wraps Saturday with the Induction Ceremony, which will have a record crowd at the Natchitoches Events Center. Just when it appeared sold out at 834 people, some out-of-the-box reconsideration produced a new seating plan that upped capacity to 900. A few dozen tickets are still available at LaSportsHall.com.

You can’t make it to the City of Lights? You can watch, live, free (that word keeps popping up) on Louisiana Public Broadcasting from 7-9:30 Saturday night as a dozen people are officially and memorably enshrined. It’s worth the time just to watch the opening Walk of Legends, when past inductees, then the new class, march in to the strains of the theme from The Natural.

But the real magic of Hall of Fame weekend unfolds afterward, in their induction interviews on stage. There’s laughter, there can be tears, the words might sputter out as emotion takes over. There’s more laughter.

And there are profound messages shared. Like what the Grambling legend, 87-year-old Wilbert Ellis, said to finish his remarks last June, as he entered the Hall as the second-ever recipient (behind Brando) of the Louisiana Sports Ambassador Award.

Coach Ellis sees the bigger picture. As Louisiana Lightning, Yankees ace Ron Guidry, memorably said in his 1992 induction, “if you’re going to hold my name up to be honored, well, please use it for some good.”

Saturday night, it will be hard to top what Ellis said last year.

“Don’t turn your head (away from youth) — they want to be helped. They want to be nourished. They need some direction. And don’t be afraid to sit down and talk with them about direction. Tell them about right and wrong, going to church and doing great things in life so that when you see them again, they’re doing great things. They can be lawyers. They can be doctors. But we must work with them in such a way to help make our communities and nation a better place.”

Let’s follow THAT game plan.

It’s moments like that, messages like that, that make the LSHOF weekend so inspiring, whether you’re a sports fan or not.

Come see what happens this weekend. At least, flip on LPB Saturday night. You might talk about it for the rest of your days.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

By LENNY VANGILDER, Written for the LSWA

Joe Scheuermann was a 27-year-old assistant baseball coach at Tulane when he came to Natchitoches in June 1990 to present his father, “Rags,” for induction in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Curveballs are a part of baseball, and “Rags” delivered a dandy one that night. During his acceptance speech, he announced his retirement as Delgado Community College’s baseball coach.

Thirty-five years after following in his dad’s footsteps on City Park Avenue and with 1,207 victories on his record, Joe Scheuermann will join his dad to become the fourth father-son combination to be inducted into the LSHOF.

That culminates the Class of 2025 Induction Celebration in Natchitoches beginning Thursday and wrapping up with Saturday night’s induction ceremony televised live on Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Information about the Hall’s seven events over three days is available at LaSportsHall.com.

While most assume it was a done deal that Joe would replace “Rags” at Delgado, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The younger Scheuermann came back to New Orleans and soon met with then-Delgado president Dr. James Caillier. “I don’t want to have this job because I’m Rags Scheuermann’s son,” Joe Scheuermann told his future boss.

Later that summer, he became the second head coach of what is now the oldest junior college program in any sport in Louisiana.

Though the reins had been handed down, it was still hard for the new head coach not to look over his shoulder and in the grandstand. “The first 4-5 years I was more worried about making my dad happy than I was about being a coach,” he said. “I coached too much with exterior emotion. The last two years of his life I started to relax a little bit.”

“Rags” passed away in April 1997, a week shy of his 74th birthday.

Joe Scheuermann was preparing for his 16th season at Delgado when his program – and the entire city of New Orleans – was dealt a body blow named Hurricane Katrina.

The Scheuermanns, with their house and campus under water, evacuated to New Roads. A few days later, in Baton Rouge, he met with Delgado’s chancellor, Alex Johnson.

With the college in financial straits after a lost semester and significant rebuilding costs, the message about the spring 2006 season was simple – “We can’t fund it.” The only way to have a season, and save the program started three decades earlier by his father, was to raise the money himself.

Scheuermann got that program-saving donation from a longtime supporter and friend, and the task of resuscitating a season – and a ballpark, since Kirsch-Rooney Stadium had also been inundated with several feet of flood waters – began.

Said Scheuermann: “The fact we played the year after Katrina is probably my proudest moment. It would have been easy for Delgado not to have athletics, but it made them realize how important athletics is for the college.”

One year later, the Katrina freshman class would lead Scheuermann to his first-ever Junior College World Series, 22 years after “Rags” made his only trip.

Omaha, Nebraska, is the goal each year for LSU and other NCAA Division I programs. On the NJCAA Division I level, it is Grand Junction, Colorado.

“Once we got to the World Series, people bought into our program,” Scheuermann said. “Your kids remember the experience and they pass it down the line … Our expectations became Grand Junction.”

Delgado rattled off three straight trips to Grand Junction from 2014-16 and then returned for a fifth time under Scheuermann in 2023, finishing fifth.

In May 2024, Scheuermann won his 1,178th game to pass the late Tony Robichaux, a 2022 LSHOF inductee, and become the winningest college coach in Louisiana history. But that’s not how he sees it.

“I broke the junior college record for wins in Louisiana,” said Scheuermann, who played at Tulane the same time as Robichaux played at then-USL. “Every game I’ve won was at the junior college level. Tony Robichaux did it at the Division I level. That’s not the same.”

But, he added, “It’s something I will always share with him.”

On April 13 of this year – coincidentally, what would have been “Rags” Scheuermann’s 102nd birthday – Scheuermann registered his latest milestone, career win No. 1,200.

How has he gotten to this point? By being himself and convincing other families to do exactly what he did – starting your path on the two-year college level.

“Nobody understands how beneficial it is to go to junior college as an athlete,” Scheuermann said. “We’ve been able to convince Mom and Dad that Delgado isn’t a trade school.

“I’ve placed over 400 kids in four-year programs and continue to get their baseball skills developed and get their education.”

One of them was Sean McMullen, who played at Delgado in 2011 and 2012 before becoming a two-year starter at LSU.

“You never looked there,” McMullen said of Delgado. “(Scheuermann) sat me down and said, ‘How about you give us a shot … If you come here and perform, I will put you in touch with where you want to go.’ I trusted him.”

McMullen became a Pied Piper of sorts for the Dolphins, helping to recruit many of the key local pieces in the program’s three consecutive trips to Grand Junction.

“I told them, if you want to play (Division I) baseball, come here,” McMullen said. “If you hate it, you can leave and just go to college. But nobody does that. This is family. This is different.”

Not one of Scheuermann’s former players has played a day in the major leagues, which may be even a bigger credit to the coaching job he has done in 35 years.

“We’ve been able to do this with blue collar guys,” he said. “We don’t … recruit nationally.”

Scheuermann already is a member of the NJCAA Baseball Coaches and the All American Amateur Baseball Association halls of fame. Tulane’s athletic hall of fame will honor him in September with its career achievement award.

Joe and “Rags” join the trio of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning; “Dub” and Bert Jones, and Glenn and Billy Hardin as the only fathers and sons enshrined in Natchitoches.

“Archie texted me and said ‘welcome to the fraternity,’ ” Joe Scheuermann said. “When Archie Manning sends you that, it kind of hits home.”

As much as Joe Scheuermann has followed in his father’s footsteps, there’s one thing he won’t do – go on stage at the Natchitoches Events Center and announce his retirement.

“I get asked all the time, when are you going to get out?” Scheuermann said. “I’m 62, I feel great, I enjoy coaching.

“I remember my dad saying, ‘You’ll know when it’s time.’ I really don’t feel it’s time yet. It’s an occupation but I do it more for the kids and the school.”

Contact Lenny at lenny@crescentcitysports.com

Frequently, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s always-hungry reporter has lunch at a local restaurant and tells you about the experience.

By ANON E. MUSS, Journal Services

I wasn’t a frequent visitor to Lucky Palace Chinese Restaurant when it was in its old location. In fact, I only ate there once. But I always admired it.

Somehow, the restaurant overcame being inside an old, dilapidated, what can best be described as shady Bossier City motel just off Interstate 20. Despite its awful location, the restaurant was consistently busy, the recipient of rave reviews from customers and food writers for its food, and wine collection.

Last year, finally, Lucky Palace moved. It’s now inside Louisiana Downs. So, on a recent Wednesday, I invited a friend to meet me for lunch to see if the acclaimed restaurant’s food is as good as it was before the move.

I feel like we should have received a discount just for finding Lucky Palace. The racetrack’s parking lot is nearest to the Casino entrance. However, there weren’t any signs directing us to the restaurant. Only after walking through the casino, then to the racetrack side of the building, did we find what we were looking for. Some signage would have been helpful.

My friend and I walked in at Noon and were immediately greeted and shown a table. There were only two other people dining – and only two others showed up during our time at the restaurant – so there were plenty of places to sit. The furnishings were nice, however, I found Lucky Palace’s atmosphere to be a little uncomfortable. (My friend called it a “professional” atmosphere.) It was very dark (which is why the pictures below are not the best). The lighting – or lack thereof – was something more appropriate for a nighttime dining experience. And with only six customers, the restaurant was very quiet, despite music playing from speakers. I didn’t feel as though my friend and I could speak in our normal tones of voice.

We had two servers who both did an excellent job. As my friend said afterwards, “It was not like our glasses went empty for 15 minutes. They were not annoying in that every five minutes they were interrupting. They came around enough to make sure we weren’t needing something.”

To get us started, Lucky Palace offered 21 – that’s right, 21 – appetizers. My friend and I decided to split an order of four Vegetable Rolls ($4). We ordered them at the same time we ordered our main courses, but I was pleased the appetizer was served before our meal, as it should have been. The vegetable rolls were small, but full of the good stuff. Also, the rolls were hot. And speaking of hot, they were served with two condiments. One was chili sauce, and one was hot mustard. Now, I’ve eaten hot mustard at other restaurants. Lucky Palace’s hot mustard was the hottest thing I have ever tasted, including poblano and jalapeno peppers. Ever! More than just a dab sent my sinuses into overdrive, and tears dripping from my eyes.

Consider yourself warned!

Lucky Palace’s two-page menu had plenty of offerings. But we were there for lunch, and concentrated on the 27 – that’s right, 27 – Lunch Specials. There was everything from Moo Goo Gai Pan, to Pork with Garlic Sauce. I went with Sweet & Sour Chicken ($14.95). My friend chose (Imported) Shrimp with Vegetables ($16.95), and brown sauce (he had a choice of brown or white sauce). According to the menu, all lunch specials came with Crab Rangoon, Fried Rice, our choice of Egg Drop Soup, Wonton Soup, Hot & Sour Soup, or Egg Roll. However, we received an egg roll in addition to our soup – we both had Egg Drop soup.

When my bowl of soup was served, I gave it a long, hard look. I had never seen egg drop soup that color. The broth looked orange. However, it tasted like most other egg drop soup I have had. It was good.

We were almost finished with our appetizer when one of the servers brought our meals. Well, he brought my meal. The other plate was not what my friend ordered, so he had to wait a few minutes before he received his food.

My plate was full of everything promised. There was a decent amount of chicken, with green bell peppers and small pineapple chunks mixed in. While the chicken was hot, unfortunately, the fried rice was not. That was disappointing. The amount of sweet & sour sauce was generous, and had a good, yet typical, taste.

Likewise, my friend’s plate was full shrimp and veggies (green bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, and broccoli). He said his food was “delicious”. “There was a good variety. There was plenty of shrimp. I didn’t think they skimped on the portions. The sauce also tasted really good. The fried rice was good. The food was very fresh and very tasteful.”

Neither of us knew what Crab Rangoon was, so we bit in tentatively. I liked mine, but my friend thought his was a little too cheesy. I asked our server what we had just eaten (I probably should have done that before eating.) She said it was a friend wonton with crème cheese and imitation crab meat.

The cost of our meal before tax was $44.86. That included a $1.52 charge for not paying with cash. Along with the check, my friend and I were each given fortune cookies. Mine read: “Family is where you are valued and appreciated.”

Even though they’re not family, Lucky Palace Chinese Restaurant made us feel valued and appreciated. I give it Three Forks. Unfortunately, on race days, first post time is 4pm, so you can’t have lunch at Lucky Palace (unless it’s a really late lunch) and stay for the races. And we have several Chinese restaurants, so I doubt I would go out of my way to return. But if I was in the area and hungry for that type of food, I would be a repeat customer.

I couldn’t say that when the restaurant was at the old place.

1 Fork: Would rather eat a box of dirt
2 Forks: Will return, but only if someone else is buying
3 Forks: Will return and look forward to it
4 Forks: Will return and go out of my way to do so

Is there a restaurant you would like the Journal to visit for lunch?

Email SBJRestaurantReview@gmail.com.

By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports

OMAHA, Neb. – LSU wore its Sunday best championship gold jerseys, and then made sure it was dressed for the occasion.

Boosted by a four-run fourth inning and clutch pitching from Anthony Eyanson and Chase Shores, the No. 6-seeded Tigers won their eighth national championship Sunday afternoon with a 5-3 victory over 13th-seeded Coastal Carolina to sweep the College World Series finals series.

With a Charles Schwab Stadium LSU-dominated crowd of 24,734 on its feet, Tigers’ second baseman Daniel Dickinson and shortstop Steven Milam turned a game-ending double play that earned head coach Jay Johnson a place in history.

“Our motto for the year was `tough and together’,” said Johnson, the first Division I head coach ever to win the national championship twice in his first four years at a school.

“And I’ve never seen a team more mentally tough and consistent …. We went through probably the hardest schedule in college baseball, and we had one little speed bump (being swept in a three-game series) at Auburn. Other than that, they dominated the season, and they dominated the schedule. And it is talent, but it is character.”

Johnson’s second LSU team, a power-hitting squad led by pitcher Paul Skenes and outfielder Dylan Crews, who were selected No. 1 and No. 2 overall in the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft, won the ’23 national title in a three-game finals series over fellow SEC member Florida after coming out of the losers’ bracket.

The 2025 national champs were Tigers of a different stripe. Not only did they win five straight CWS games, but they won all season in a variety of ways with an eclectic roster of 12 returnees, 10 transfer portal acquisitions, three junior college transfers, and 10 freshmen signees.

“We had the right guys on the bus since day one,” LSU sophomore right fielder Jake Brown said. “Those guys came together for a common goal. There was a clear motive. When you play at LSU, just making it to Omaha isn’t enough.”

The Tigers’ chemistry was on display in Sunday’s win that ended LSU’s magic ride at 53-15 after CWS wins over Arkansas 4-1, UCLA 9-5, Arkansas 6-5, Coastal 1-0 in Saturday’s championship finals series game one and a second straight win over the Chanticleers (56-13) who had their 26-game winning streak snapped Saturday.

Junior returning designated hitter Ethan Frey’s RBI single tied Sunday’s game 1-1 in the third inning before Auburn transfer centerfielder Chris Stanfield and true freshman left fielder Derek Curiel hit consecutive two-run RBI singles in the fourth inning to give LSU all the runs it needed.

That’s because starter Eyanson, the junior transfer from UC-San Diego, and redshirt sophomore returnee Shores combined for 13 strikeouts and one walk.

Coastal’s only runs were a pair of homers over the left wall off Eyanson. Designated hitter Dean Mihos’ solo shot gave Coastal a 1-0 lead in the second, and center fielder Wells Sykes’ two-run dinger in the seventh on Eyanson’s 99th and final pitch of the day suddenly sliced the Tigers’ comfortable 5-1 margin to just two runs.

Shores, who missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery, blanked the Chanticleers in the final 2.2 innings. His 100 miles per hour fastball struck out four of the eight batters he faced and induced the game-ending double play.

“We’ve been tested all year,” said Eyanson, who struck out nine and walked one in 6.1 innings in finishing the season 12-2. “I was just waiting for adversity to hit me in the game. Right when that happened. I knew that’s when I put my pedal to the metal and pushed a little more, pushed a little bit more, and just continued to fight for the team. I got guys behind me that just did their job.”

Sophomore Kade Anderson, who allowed one earned run in 16 innings in winning two CWS games, including his 135-pitch complete game shutout of Coastal on Saturday, became the third Tigers’ pitcher ever to win the CWS Most Outstanding Player award.

Dominant hurling, meshed with error-free fielding and timely hitting, was the Tigers’ winning formula.

Besides Sunday’s two homers, no other Chanticleers made it past second base in either loss. LSU made every fielding play, no matter the degree of difficulty, dealing with mid-90-degree heat and 20 miles per hour wind.

Coastal batted a chilly .177 (11 for 62) in the one and two-run losses to the Tigers, who hit .254 (16 for 63). The Chanticleers, who put runners on base in 17 of 18 innings, hit .188 (3 for 19) with two outs, 3 for 28 with runners on base (3 for 28), and 0 for 9 in scoring position (0 for 12).

Coastal head coach Kevin Schnall remained confident after Saturday’s close loss because he had unbeaten starter Jacob Morrison starting on Sunday.

But after LSU rocked Morrison for four runs and three hits, he was pulled after 3.2 innings, ending his shortest stint for the season and handing him his first loss in 13 decisions.

Things started going downhill for the Chanticleers in the bottom of the first inning with third baseman Walker Mitchell, Coastal’s fourth batter of the day, at the plate. Everyone in the stadium was stunned when Coastal head coach Kevin Schnall and first base coach Matt Schilling were ejected by plate umpire Angel Campos for continuing a verbal diatribe with Campos despite repeated warnings.

On Eyanson’s 10th pitch of the game with two outs, Campos warned Schnall three times to stop arguing with him, first apparently about a warning Campos had already given Schilling.

When Schnall persisted, left the dugout, and sent Campos a verbal shot about erroneous ball and strike calls, he was ejected by Campos. A minute later, Schilling was also tossed.

Campos and Schilling then received a two-game suspension (that now carries over to the start of the 2026 season) for not immediately leaving the dugout after being ejected and continuing to argue.

“There’s 25,000 people there, and I vaguely hear a warning issued,” Schnall said. “I was an assistant for 24 years, and as an assistant, you’re almost treated like a second-grade second-level citizen, and you can’t say a word. Now, as a head coach, I think it is your right to get an explanation of why we got warned.

“I’m 48 years old. I shouldn’t get shooed by another grown man (Campos). When I walk out to find out what the warning is, a grown man shooed me. At that point, I can now hear him say, `It was a warning issued for arguing balls and strikes.’ At that point I said, `Because you missed three.’ At that point, ejected.

“If that warrants an ejection, I’m the first one to stand here like a man and apologize. It is what it is. But if that warranted an ejection, man, there would be a lot of ejections.

“As an umpire, I feel like it’s your job to manage the game, the national championship game, with some poise, some calmness, and a little bit of tolerance.”

Coastal associate head coach Chad Oxedine served as head coach for the final 8.1 innings. But the Tigers, who trailed just five times in three CWS games and led from start to finish in two others, were on a mission.

Everybody knew it, especially legendary 87-year-old former LSU baseball coach Skip Bertman, who won the Tigers’ first five national titles.

Bertman flew to Omaha for the championship series. He visited Johnson in the coaches’ locker room before Sunday’s game.

“I knew he (Bertman) was coming, but it still caught me off guard for a second,” said Johnson, whose unbeaten CWS run was the first for the Tigers since Bertman’s last title team in 2000. “I was like, `Oh, we’re winning today.’ The man with the magic is in the house.

“Then he started talking like what we were going to do for the celebration. I was like, `Coach, this is a pretty good team that we have to figure out how to beat.’”

Johnson should have known better to question the Obi-Wan Kenobi of LSU baseball. Those wise old eyes know a team that has the force with it when he sees it.

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com