By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Sports Information Director

Centenary head football coach Byron Dawson is a 2025 nominee for Top Business Professional of the Year as part of the Minority Business Opportunity Awards, the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce has announced.

Dawson and the other nominees will be recognized at the annual Minority Business Opportunity Awards Dinner on June 26 at Sam’s Town Hotel and Casino. 

The Centenary football program completed its historic 2024 season 4-6 overall and 4-4 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play as the sport returned to campus for the first time in over a half-century under the leadership of the Shreveport native Dawson.

Dawson is one of the most recognizable names in local football at any level. He put together an impressive high school career at Evangel Christian Academy in Shreveport, where he was selected as the USA Today High School All American Defensive MVP for Louisiana, named Class 3A All-State and Defensive MVP, and helped lead Evangel to a 15-0 record in 1997, three state championships, and a No. 17 national ranking, among other accolades. Dawson was also the back to back state champion in the shot put his junior and senior year.

Dawson is a graduate of LSU where he was a four-year letterman on the Tigers’  defensive line, recording 86 tackles and four sacks while playing for Nick Saban, Pete Jenkins, Will Muschamp, Karl Dunbar, and Bo Davis. Dawson was part of LSU’s nationally-ranked defense during the 2001 season, during which the Tigers upset Tennessee to win the SEC championship and then defeated Illinois in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

The Gents will open their season on Sept. 6 against Westgate Christian at Atkins Field and are scheduled to play nine regular-season games – five at home and four on the road. Centenary will play Millsaps on Sept. 13 in Jackson, Miss. and return home to face East Texas Baptist on Sept. 20. The Gents will have a bye week on Sept. 27 and then open conference play at Austin College on Oct. 4 in Sherman, Texas.

Centenary’s first league home game is Oct. 11 versus Texas Lutheran, on Oct. 18 the Gents are at Lyon College in Batesville, Ark., and they close the month of October at home versus McMurry for a conference contest on Oct. 25. Centenary will visit Hendrix on Nov. 1 in Conway, Ark. and are back home on Nov. 8 to face the ‘Roos of Austin College again to close the regular season.

ACADEMIC HONORS:  The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference announced its Student-Athlete Academic Honor Roll for the 2024-25 winter term and 16 Centenary student-athletes earned the honor among 352 student-athletes who made the list conference wide. The 352 honorees is the most during the winter season since 359 student-athletes earned recognition in 2019-20.

To qualify, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade-point average of 3.25 for the term and be a regular member of a varsity athletic team in a sport sponsored by the conference.

Centenary’s honorees were Andre Kanu, Jalen Ned, and Kyron Williams of the Gents’ basketball team; women’s basketball players Alisha Green, Shyanne Phillips, Savannah Stowers, and Anaya Yunusah; men’s swimming and dive team members Bailey Allemeier, Jameson Feeney, Hunter Hedges, Daniel Lewis and Trey White; and Adriana de la Fuente, Isabela Vasquez, Ella Walton and Sydney Welch of the women’s team.

Contact Patrick at pmeehan@centenary.edu

The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Celebration’s Round Table Luncheon is the most exclusive, yet casual, opportunity for the public to enjoy hearing from the Class of 2025 inductees.

It’s next Saturday, June 28, at 12pm at Riverside Reserve, 104 Mill Street, in Natchitoches. There are still a few seats available among the 300 guests for the seventh annual Round Table Luncheon presented by the Tiger Athletic Foundation.

Registration is available for the luncheon and can be made by visiting LaSportsHall.com, or by calling 318-238-4255. It is a ticketed event and only a few dozen seats are still open to see and hear from 2025 inductees including Nick Saban, Andrew Whitworth, Vickie Johnson, Danny Granger, Danny Broussard and Joe Scheuermann.

Festivities begin next Thursday evening, June 26, at 5pm with the free of charge Welcome Reception open to all, no registration necessary, at the Hall of Fame museum facing the traffic circle at 800 Front Street in Natchitoches.

The Friday, June 27 slate begins with the BOM Celebrity Bowling Bash at Four Seasons Bowling Center in Alexandria. Friday evening is the free Rockin’ River Fest concert on Cane River Lake in downtown Natchitoches, from 6-10:30pm, with the Class of 2025 introduced at 9:15 right before a sports-themed fireworks show over the water.

Events Saturday include the free for kids Saints and Pelicans Junior Training Camp, the Round Table Luncheon, and the Induction Reception and Ceremony, which is sold out. A waiting list is being compiled.

The Round Table Luncheon starts with tremendous Louisiana cuisine and quickly kicks into gear with Fox Sports announcer (and 2020 LSHOF inductee) Tim Brando interviewing small groups of inductees on stage in a very informal and fast-moving setting.

A poignant scene at the 2019 luncheon unfolded before the program when Peyton Manning, being inducted later that day, stopped by to greet LSU legend Johnny Robinson, who was inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame two months later.

Scenes like that, up-close access and the fun-filled dialog between Brando and the Hall of Fame inductees combine to provide a memorable 90-minute event.

The Hall of Fame Round Table Luncheon shapes up as a highly entertaining opportunity for guests to have a up-close-and-personal experience and be entertained and well fed in a casual setting, with a touch of elegance at Riverside Reserve on the banks of Cane River Lake just a mile from downtown Natchitoches.

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

It was soon after high school when mom got sick.

“I remember her being in pain and suffering. I remember her not being able to breathe because she was on (oxygen) all the time.”

First lung cancer, then Leukemia.

“I didn’t know what to do. She was sick for a long time, and I didn’t understand what was going on. But I knew she wasn’t going to get any better.”

Having already lost her father, all the daughter could do was observe, as people tried to help her mother best they could.

“I watched them come in and take her blood pressure. The aid gave her a bath . . . . I watched how compassionate they were with her, and trying to reason with her to take a bath.”

After 14 months, the pain and suffering were gone. So was her mother. But what the daughter saw during that time changed her life, both personally and professionally.

“Working as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) helped me want to be able to take care of the sick. Plus, after my mom got sick, I saw the nurses and the aids who came to the house to take care of her. So, I decided to do that, too.”

Shreveport’s Earnestine Moses, 60 years old and in her 20^th year as a hospice nurse, told me that story – and her story – during lunch at a place she chose, Newk’s Eatery in Bossier City. Earnestine had the Salmon Caesar Salad and water. I had the Spicy Jalapeno Ranch Salad, and water with lemon.

“I’ve been on both sides. I’ve been on the side of someone’s loved one who’s dying, as well as taking care of a loved one that’s dying. Both of them are about the same.”

Heartbreaking.

Earnestine grew up in Belcher, Louisiana, one of three children whose mother was a maid and father a farmer. In junior high, Earnestine had to take something for an extracurricular class. She didn’t (and still doesn’t) like sports, so she tried out for the school band. Earnestine ended up playing second chair clarinet. In high school, Earnestine participated in ROTC.

“They taught us how to read a map, count a cadence, and fire a gun. They also told us you can travel and see the world.”

Earnestine was tempted to join the military, but instead, went to work taking care of the sick. She spent five years at a nursing home, until she wanted to do more. That “more” was providing hospice care.

“There’s something about taking care of someone in their last days,” Earnestine told me as she began to cry. “It’s just so rewarding, because they depend on you.”

The mother of two girls, Earnestine has been around death much more than most of us, both professionally and personally. She watched her father die instantly from a brain aneurysm.

“He had come home to eat lunch. He told me he was going out to burn the trash. On his way out, I heard the dogs barking. But it wasn’t regular barking. You know how dogs moan and groan? I looked out the bathroom window and he was lying in the fire. I ran outside to pull him out of the fire, but he was real heavy, so I couldn’t move him. I reached down a second time to pull him out of the fire, and he was real light – light as a feather. My mom told me it was God giving me the strength to pull him out of the fire.”

More recent, Earnestine’s husband of 10 years, a tree climber, also died suddenly.

“He had taken down a tree as far as they take them down. He was on the ground and cutting a little notch out of the tree to help it land safely. One of the limbs had come dislodged. The tree was old. One of the limbs fell and hit him in the neck and killed him. Broke his vertebrae and all that.”

My goodness.

While most of us lose someone to death occasionally, Earnestine – because of her line of work – loses someone much more frequently. But that hasn’t scared her away from doing what she calls “God’s ministry.”

“I never thought about the dying part of it. I just thought about taking care of another one’s loved one. After I got in it, that’s when I found out they had to have a diagnosis of six months to a year to live, and I just stayed there. I just stayed right there.”

And even though Earnestine has been told not to get too close to her patients, that’s just not Earnestine’s nature.

“When you take care of someone two, three, four days a week, it’s very hard not to get attached to them. We grieve just as hard as the family when the patient passes away.”

Like recently. For two years, Earnestine cared for a woman in her late 80’s with congestive heart failure. The woman could not speak, yet the two formed at least a one-sided, and probably a two-sided bond.

“It felt like my heart had stopped,” Earnestine told me, describing the day she learned the woman had died. I couldn’t get out of my car. My legs were weak. They were shaking. They sent someone to check on me to make sure I was okay . . . . She was like part of my family. She was like my grandmother.”

Earnestine can’t come close to counting how many people she has seen take their last breath. But it never gets easier.

“It’s indescribable. A lot of them realize that they’re leaving the world and going to the other side. You’re helping them transition from this world to the next. So, I sit there and hold their hands. I read to them. I try to reassure them, as well as their family members, that it’s okay to let go. Go ahead and be with Jesus, because there’s so much pain in this world, going over to the next world is much more rewarding than being here.”

Could you do what Earnestine does? I couldn’t.

“You have to be able to put your feelings aside and focus on the person you’re taking care of. You can’t go in there mad and angry. If you had a problem at home, you have to leave whatever you have going on in your life when you get to that door – that room. You have to drop it right there and not take it in with you.”

And what about when Earnestine’s time comes?

“I would like someone to take care of me in my final days the same way I took care of another person.”

Imagine two decades of seeing death up close and often. You’re darn right the job has taken its toll.

“I decompress by reading a book, or I listen to my church music, or I cut my grass. I mow my own grass since my husband passed away. It can be stressful. This job can be really stressful.”

In awe of Earnestine’s commitment to make a dying person’s remaining time on earth as pleasant as possible, I asked my final question. As always, what is it about her life that might inspire others?

Somehow, I knew what Earnestine’s answer would be.

“Life is short. Tomorrow is not promised. Live every day like it’s your last. Put God first. Treat others the way you would want them to treat you.”

God bless you, Earnestine. God bless you.

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.

By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports

OMAHA, Neb. – The score after three innings in Monday’s College World Series winners bracket game:

LSU 5, UCLA 3, Mother Nature 1.

The threat of lightning strikes that stopped play, followed by torrential rainstorms, finally forced NCAA officials to schedule the game restart at 10:03 this morning.

If LSU loses to UCLA, it will have to play Arkansas again in an elimination game at 6 p.m. tonight. Razorbacks’ pitcher Gage Wood threw a 19-strikeout no-hitter in a 3-0 win earlier Monday to eliminate Murray State.

The No. 6 national seed Tigers were about to head back to the field in the top of the fourth after scoring their fifth run on catcher Luis Hernandez’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the third when play was stopped.

Both starting pitchers – LSU’s Anthony Eyanson and UCLA’s Landon Stump – got shelled in the first inning. But Eyanson was still in the game when it was stopped while Stump was pulled after issuing consecutive walks to Tigers’ designated hitter Ethan Frey and shortstop Steven Milam to open the bottom of the third.

No. 15 national seed UCLA took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, and the ball left the LSU infield just twice.

Eyanson gave up an infield single to UCLA left fielder Dean West, a one-out single to Mulivai Lai, an RBI double to third baseman Roman Martin, an infield single to right fielder AJ Salgado, and an RBI ground out by center fielder Peyton Dugger.

LSU answered in the bottom of the first. The Tigers ripped four straight one-out hits off Stump. Frey and shortstop Milam singled, followed by right fielder Jake Brown’s RBI single.

LSU first baseman Jared Jones, who struck out five times in the Tigers’ 4-1 CWS opening win vs. Arkansas on Saturday, belted Stump’s 1-0 pitch just over the right field fence for a three-run homer and a 4-3 LSU lead.

As in the case this season with Eyanson, he settled after his shaky start. He retired the next six of seven batters, throwing just 11 pitches in the second inning and 10 in the third.

His pitch count was 42 pitches, setting him up for likely at least seven innings, which fit perfectly until LSU head coach Jay Johnson’s plans of using a minimal number of relievers to have plenty of arms available for the rest of the tourney.

Now, while Eyanson’s relatively low pitch count will allow Johnson to bring him back sooner if the Tigers keep winning, Johnson has to re-arrange his pitching plan for today’s resumption.

He has everybody on his staff available, except for Kade Anderson (who threw seven innings) against Arkansas and Eyanson. Even relievers Chase Shores and Casan Evans, who threw 10 and 13 pitches respectively against the Razorbacks, are good-to-go.

Johnson’s dilemma is deciding what quality pitchers he can save vs. taking care of UCLA and advancing to Wednesday when LSU would need only one win to move on to the best two-of-three games in the championship finals starting Saturday.

Monday’s contest is LSU’s 19^th game affected by weather this season. The Tigers are 14-3 in such games when resumed and had one canceled vs. Grambling.

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

Louisiana is held in pretty high regard by the passionate sports fans around Pittsburgh.

Paul Skenes. No more needs said about the Pirates’ second-year superstar, but you betcha, I’ll add the obligatory Livvy Dunne girlfriend reference. The couple turned heads in Omaha Monday as they cheered on their alma mater, LSU, at the College World Series.

Let’s get more Shreveport specific.

The ole Blonde Bomber, the wonder kid from Woodlawn High School, Terry Bradshaw.

Win a Super Bowl and you’re eternally in the hearts of your team’s fans. Brad won four. FOUR. Was MVP in two. Was and is, unapologetically, authentically, his own self. Pittsburghers like that. May not always like what he says, but the man’s earned the right, and the Yinzers respect and revere him.

You probably won’t recall an earlier Pittsburgh pro footballer with Shreveport roots – Buddy Parker. A Centenary star when the Gentlemen were playing with the big boys in the 1930s, Parker became a championship coach in the NFL with Bobby Layne and Detroit, then took over a moribund Steelers’ squad in 1957. He didn’t give Art Rooney an NFL title but he did bring the greatest level of success (51-48-6) to the franchise until … Bradshaw.

Bossier City’s Mike Almond, a record-breaker for A.L. Williams at Northwestern State, was a Steeler rookie in 1979 – the last player chosen in the NFL Draft. Last place a rookie receiver needed to go, with two future Pro Football Hall of Fame wide outs – Lynn Swann and John Stallworth – as the starters. Almond survived Jack Lambert’s menancing of all rookies, and made it to the final cut. There weren’t practice squads then in the NFL or he might have hung around and gotten a Super Bowl ring that season.

Shreveport’s Troy Edwards, after his sensational college career at Louisiana Tech, was the Steelers’ 1999 first round draft pick. It wasn’t a good fit – mistakes on both sides, Edwards has agreed – but he had some moments for the Black and Gold, five TDs and 61 receptions as a rookie, when he shared the team lead in catches with Hines Ward, and led In receiving yardage (714 in a run-focused offense).

Also performing in Three Rivers Stadium, but for the Pirates, Shreveporter Matt Alexander was part of the “We Are Family” 1979 World Series champions. “Matt the Scat” was primarily a productive pinch runner for manager Chuck Tanner, and is regarded as the best in MLB history in that role. From 1978-81, Alexander was a popular player in the Buccos’ clubhouse and among the fan base, and he played with flair, as reported in a 1979 Time magazine article.

“He developed baseball’s equivalent to spiking a football: Whenever he reached home plate, he would turn around and dance across it backward.

“Each time he earned applause from his teammates and an understanding smile from Tanner. ‘Just because you play baseball for a living doesn’t mean it has to be a job,’ he says. ‘You ought to have fun playing in the big leagues just like you did when you were a little kid, because the more you enjoy it, the better you play.’”

So the Steel City understandably has a soft spot for Shreveport. Last weekend it rekindled in a big way – two big ways, actually.

Sam Burns exploded on the U.S. Open field Friday with a scintillating 65 to surge to the top of the leaderboard, where he remained until that fateful 15^th hole and a draconian USGA ruling late in Sunday’s final round. The Shreveport native and Calvary Baptist grad earned widespread praise for his grace talking about the calamity afterward, no doubt bitterly disappointed, in the media tent.

That 65 cannot be understated. It was 9.8 shots better than the average second-round score among 157 players, the highest differential anybody has posted over 18 holes in the U.S. Open since 2009. It was brilliant golf. Then two days later came even better sportsmanship.

As Sam soared up the leaderboard, his youth golf and LSU companion Philip Barbaree Jr. fought to stay on it for the weekend. PBJ played in his second Open, this time as a professional, navigating regional and sectional USGA qualifying to earn his spot.

Alongside, his wife Chloe, his caddie since last fall, so the newlyweds wouldn’t have to be separated as Philip played the PGA Americas circuit taking him to Canada, Mexico, and recently, South America. Chloe admittedly does not know golf. But she knows her pro and that matters more.

“He thinks that I bring a different perspective since I don’t have a golf background. I don’t play golf, so I see things that maybe others wouldn’t see and point it out to him, and it just works,” she said Saturday. “I love it. I always tell him I’m honored that he chooses me as his caddie because I know that’s a big role to fill.

“I think it just works because I’m there for moral support, whatever he needs …. Usually, the advice I give him is to not overthink and be confident because I know that he knows what he’s doing, and when he’s confident, he plays the best. So, I just say, be confident in your decisions. You know you best. Just play your own game and have fun.”

They did. Especially when he nailed a five-footer early Saturday on his 36^th hole, making par on Oakmont Country Club’s second-toughest hole to earn a weekend stay as one of 66 survivors on what many experts called the world’s toughest major championship course.

Their embrace on the green, their unique triumph, captivated the golf world.  Social media posts by media and fans drew over a million views in only a few hours.

The Barbarees felt the love. Fans were supportive, so much so that when PBJ prepared for his final putt Sunday on the 72^nd hole, he pulled on a personalized “Barbaree Jr. 25” Pirates jersey as a token of thanks for the ‘Burgh’s backing, and for a weekend when his potential rose to the fore.

It wasn’t the last memorable thing he did on that green. After tapping in a gimme to finish, he turned to his adoring caddie, and shared a hug, and a kiss.

That, no doubt, was a U.S. Open first.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

JOURNAL SPORTS

As the world (of conference realignment) turns.

It could be its own soap opera.

The latest turn – at least strongly speculated by ESPN.com’s Pete Thamel Sunday night – could directly impact Louisiana Tech and bring the Bulldogs back into a conference with state rivals ULM and UL Lafayette.

Thamel, one of the industry leaders in sports journalism covering college athletics, tweeted the following on Sunday and wrote a detailed story for his website.

“The industry is bracing or a ripple of realignment, sources tell me/@bonaguraESPN,” Thamel said in his tweet. “Texas State is heavy favorite to join the Pac-12. Louisiana Tech is the favorite to replace Texas State in Sun Belt. What’s next for Memphis? What’s CUSA ripple?”

Talk of Texas State joining the Pac 12 has been discussed for the past 12 months after the San Marcos-based school, with enrollment approaching 40,000, reportedly turned down an offer from the Mountain West.

So, are Thamel’s sources on target?

“We don’t take stances on rumors, particularly when those rumors are based in layers of speculation,” Louisiana Tech president Jim Henderson said Monday. “We will always do what is in the best interest of Louisiana Tech and Louisiana Tech Athletics.”

Although nothing official has happened regarding the Pac-12 and Texas State, Thamel believes that invite is looming. Thamel also believes the Sun Belt has its eyes on either Louisiana Tech or Western Kentucky, although Tech’s geographical location gives it an edge.

“In the fall, when Texas State was flirting with other leagues, the Sun Belt had started to put together contingency plans,” wrote Thamel. “That included conversations, per sources, that established Louisiana Tech as the favorite over several other targets, including Western Kentucky, if Texas State were to leave. There would still need to be more discussion and presidential action before any addition.”

Many people, including Thamel, believe Tech has the inside track based on its geographical footprint with the impending vacancy coming from the west.

Louisiana Tech AD Ryan Ivey addressed the speculation indirectly with the Lincoln Parish Journal on Monday.

“Conference realignment is always a thing,” said Ivey. “It never truly goes away. I’ve said since I first got (to Tech), our main responsibility is to be the very best we can be right here. And then in the event that there are potential opportunities, we have to evaluate them in the best interest of Louisiana Tech Athletics and obviously on behalf of the University. That’s about all I can say.”

So, have Tech officials had conversations with the Sun Belt recently?

“I have conversations daily with colleagues across multiple conferences to try to understand what is going on and to try to best position Louisiana Tech Athletics regarding the changing landscape of the industry,” said Ivey. ‘Sure, I have had conversations with people in the Sun Belt, but it has been about a ton of things. We are just trying to understand what other conferences are doing regarding the changing landscape of this industry.”

Although no definitive timelines have been publicly addressed by the Pac-12 (or the Sun Belt), the speculation is that the moves could happen very soon, even as early as the end of June. Texas State is incentivized by a Sun Belt bylaw that doubles its buyout to $10 million as of July 1.

“I think it’s probably sooner rather than later,” said Ivey. “I know there is speculation out there that it is just a matter of weeks as it relates to that. Who knows, but that is my understanding.

“We all know the Pac-12 must get to eight football playing members. We know that that is a requirement when it comes to FBS, so I think it all hinges on what they want to do, whether that is doing something internally or trying to take other action as it relates to that requirement.”

If the moves occur before the end of June, there is a good chance that Tech – if offered and accepted an invitation to the Sun Belt – could be competing in the league as soon as the 2026-27 athletic season.

There would be a price to pay for the transition to the Sun Belt per CUSA bylaws which require a departing school to pay two years’ worth of revenue distributions plus the remaining years on the grant of rights signed by all league schools in 2023. The grant of rights runs through 2028.

The combined total would be an estimated $5.5 million if the move occurred in the summer of 2026.

Louisiana Tech was a member of the Sun Belt Conference from 1991 through 2001 when it departed to join the Western Athletic Conference for a dozen years. Tech joined Conference USA in 2013.

• Reporting by the Lincoln Parish Journal staff

By SCOOTER HOBBS,  Written for the LSWA

You just think college athletes do a lot of bouncing around from school to school these days.

It turns out the transfer portal is not just for athletes.

Take Glenn Guilbeau, for instance.

The New Orleans native, Metairie to be exact, was living the portal life long before it became fashionable — long before he ended up covering the constant hop-skip-and-jumping of college athletes.

It is now officially a Hall of Fame journey, as Guilbeau will be inducted in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame during the annual festivities June 26-28 in Natchitoches. Winner of an array of national awards for his reporting and work as a columnist, Guilbeau will receive the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism, along with the late New Orleans television sportscaster Ed Daniels.

Few on the journalism side took a longer and more winding road there than Guilbeau, although most of it has at least been based in Baton Rouge, covering LSU’s always-wild sports scene.

He first tested the portal in college, attending LSU as a freshman in 1979-80, UNO for a year, then transferring to Missouri, then back to LSU and finally finishing at Mizzou in the summer of 1983. While at LSU, he interned in sports information office under the legendary Paul Manasseh.

Diploma in hand, the bouncing around began.

It started back in Baton Rouge working for Tiger Rag before moving on to — you’ll need to take a deep breath here — the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, Slidell Sentry News, Alexandria Town Talk, Mobile (Ala.) Press-Register, back to Baton Rouge at The Advocate, then Gannett Louisiana (based in Baton Rouge) covering LSU for the chain’s numerous state newspapers. Then he became a national columnist at OutKick.com/FOX News, and, finally, now back where it all started at Tiger Rag.

Feel free to exhale.

But that’s a guy who was never afraid to try new jobs, new places, new offices, new bosses.

New challenges.

“It has always been a lot of fun and adventure to leave a job, preferably on your own, and start a new one,” Guilbeau says. “First you get a going-away party, then you’re the new guy. Everything’s fresh.”

There was something to be said for all of them.

Most of them, you’ll note, were based in Baton Rouge, and there is one constant throughout this varied career.

It doesn’t matter where he works or which team or sport he covers, readers are going to get Guilbeau Unfiltered.

It doesn’t always endear him to fans, but he knows no other way.

What he sees, is what he’s going to write. What he truly believes, is the opinion you’re going to read in his columns.

None of this fluff stuff. Don’t expect any sugar-coating.

He just doesn’t play that silly game, doesn’t tip-toe around any subject, can’t worry about how many feathers he might ruffle in the process.

“I always wanted to be a columnist more than a reporter,” he says. “Writing opinions doesn’t lend itself to long relationships with people at the school or on the team.”

Translation: If the home team messes up, he’s going to point it out. If the coach made a bad game-day decision — and they do on occasion — that coach will read about it in the next day’s newspaper.

Fan-boy message boards can (and sometimes do) torch him all they want.

It might surprise some of them to know that Guilbeau is universally well received by his colleagues in a competitive business with no shortage of egos.

He’s the kind of guy who, learning that a fellow LSU beat writer was hospitalized in Houston at the same time LSU baseball was scheduled to play Rice, alerted Jay Johnson and suggested that the LSU coach pay the patient a visit (he did). 

Guilbeau even charmed Bossier City native, Parkway graduate and seasoned Baton Rouge Advocate governmental reporter Michelle Millhollon enough that they’ve been married for 19 years.

One of these moons Guilbeau might give a big hoot in Havana that he sometimes gets under his readers’ skin. Or that he’s had some minor feuds with famous coaches and school administrators over the years.

Some, probably most, do get it.

“While I have not always agreed with his opinions, he always backs up his thoughts with viable information,” says Herb Vincent, LSU’s long-time SID who is now an associate commissioner of the Southeastern Conference.

Coincidentally, Vincent will be inducted the same night as Guilbeau in Natchitoches as this year’s winner of the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award.

Vincent continues: “Glenn does not cater to the fan message boards and he doesn’t shy away from expressing an unpopular opinion.   He has always been thorough in his reporting and is not afraid to ask the tough question.”

His career path was set during his teenage years after a childhood in New Orleans filled with regular visits, courtesy of his father, to watch the New Orleans Saints practice.

“I thought it would be fun to cover sports for a living. It wouldn’t be like working … or so I thought.”

Yet it all started with a love affair with the Saints and Houston Astros — both awful during his formative years.

“Consistently, yearly, the worst two teams on the planet,” he remembers.

Perhaps that explains why his prose wanders into the negative from time to time.

“I haven’t talked to a psychologist about this,” he laughs. “But maybe I should.”

Contact Scooter at shobbs@americanpress.com

JOURNAL SPORTS

LSUS baseball coach Brad Neffendorf thanked a lot of people from the Festival Plaza stage recently as the Shreveport-Bossier community celebrated the Pilots’ perfect season and NAIA national championship.

There was one person Neffendorf was sure not to forget – LSUS strength and conditioning coach Aaron Adams.

Neffendorf credits Adams’ individualized training plans and specific testing conducted in LSUS’s Human Performance Lab as a key factor in the perfect 59-0 season.

“What he does really meshed well with our intense but shorter practices and how we break up our individual pitching and hitting,” Neffendorf said. “We played faster than everybody else, and we didn’t do conditioning and didn’t run.

“Our conditioning is our practice and our weight training.”

Adams wants to share these scientifically-proven weightlifting and strength and conditioning practices with the Shreveport-Bossier public.

He’s holding a discussion about youth sports this evening as part of LSUS’s series “Talks on Tap” at Great Raft Brewing Co. The discussion, free to the public, begins at 6 p.m. and will delve into kids playing multiple sports and the impact of simple strength training.

“The biggest thing is let them play – exercise doesn’t have to be ‘exercise’ – just let them play,” said Adams, who competed for and learned from Dr. Kyle Pierce, the longtime LSUS weightlifting coach and member of the International Weightlifting Hall of Fame. “Allow them to learn the movements, and then we can add a little weight based on their age.

“Kids shouldn’t be playing one sport year-round. If you’re throwing a baseball year-round, then you need to add an opposite motion for your shoulder like rowing. Allowing kids to move in different ways throughout multiple sports will strengthen more areas and lead to healthier bodies.”

Adams, who also manages the Human Performance Lab, tests all LSUS student-athletes in areas like balance, reaction and their individual body makeup and metabolism.

“The recognition from Neffendorf means a lot because we put a lot of time and effort into the baseball team this year,” Adams said. “Guys would come in and do their initial tests in the lab in the fall, and then we would do interventions in the gym based on those tests results.

“Baseball is such a numbers game, and if a guy can go from a .300 batting average to a .310 or .315, those little bits matter. Metrics like swing velocity and reaction speed – these guys just kept getting better throughout the season.”

Student-athletes regularly retest in the lab to measure how well interventions are working.

“Back in the day, baserunners would freeze on a line drive, but now we want them to get back to the bag immediately,” Neffendorf said. “Last year two of our better players were always slow in getting back.

“We checked their reaction times in this testing, and it was bad. Now players can work on these things and improve specifically in these areas.”

Neffendorf added that balance testing helps identify problems with batters and pitchers when previously mechanics or other related items would have been considered the issue

Adams also encourages coaches in all sports to allow teams to lift more often throughout their active seasons than most coaches typically feel comfortable.

Adams said buy-in from players and coaches has been crucial, even if players perhaps complained a little.

“We’ve gotten buy-in for year-round training, and that doesn’t happen very much at the NAIA level,” Adams said. “Players showed up for every session, even if guys sometimes said, ‘We’re doing this again?’

“(NAIA Pitcher of the Year) Isaac Rohde is a perfect example. He wasn’t always thrilled with the wrist curls, the squats, the lunges – but his arm and his body held up through the entire season, and he went 16-0 with six complete games.”

Both Neffendorf and Adams said players kept fresher legs throughout a long season, and Neffendorf credits this factor with why his pitchers were able to pitch on short rest when needed.

The most prominent example is Rohde’s performance in the NAIA regional, pitching six innings with two runs allowed on May 12 and unexpectedly returning for 4 2/3 scoreless innings on May 14.

“I can tell you nobody was complaining by the end of the year,” Neffendorf said.

Health is another key factor in a great athletics season, and Adams said strength training played a huge role in injury prevention across the LSUS athletics landscape.

“We didn’t have issues with things like knees or shoulders or hamstrings,” Adams said. “One thing that we do is treat new players like they’ve never lifted weights before, teach them how to do it appropriately and then build up to forces that they’ll never experience on the fields of play.”

Neffendorf added that every team that the Pilots faced late in the season was dealing with three or four major injuries, and the only serious injury on LSUS’s team was a recurring injury suffered before the player’s time in Shreveport.

Edi was pregnant with her first child. Her pregnancy was considered normal until she started experiencing severe pains in her abdomen. She feared for her unborn child. Her husband rushed her to the hospital, and doctors diagnosed her with appendicitis. As part of her treatment, they put ice on her stomach. The doctors feared the treatment was unsuccessful and advised Edi to abort the child. They explained that abortion would be the best solution because they knew the child would be born with some kind of disability. You see, the doctors had misdiagnosed Edi and feared their odd treatment had jeopardized the fetus. Despite the dangers to herself and her child, and despite the possibility of the child being born with a disability, Edi refused the doctors’ advice. She was determined to have her baby.

On September 22, 1958, Edi gave birth to a son. As the doctors predicted, the child was born with a disability, congenital glaucoma. Edi’s son was born with damaged optic nerves which were responsible for transmitting visual information from the eyes to the brain. The boy was only partially blind. The extremely short-sighted boy could see everything but only from up close. By the time the boy was three-and-a-half years old, he had undergone 13 operations to try to improve his eyesight, but none of them worked. When he was seven, his parents sent him to a boarding school for visually impaired children because no local school would allow him to enroll. His family visited him at the boarding school once a month, and the boy returned home for holidays. Then, an incident happened which Edi’s son said was the worst moment of his life. The boy was playing the position of goalkeeper in a game of football — you and I would call this soccer — at the school for the visually impaired. It was Edi’s son’s first time as a goalie, and it would be his last. One of the players kicked the ball and it struck Edi’s son directly in the face. The force of the strike caused a hemorrhage and darkness fell over the boy forever.

Edi’s son may have lacked sight, but his hearing was perfect. At the young age of six, the boy began taking piano lessons. His interest in music led him to learn to play the drums, flute, guitar, saxophone, trombone, and trumpet. Following high school, Edi’s son went to college where he studied law. He supported himself through college by playing in piano bars. Once he earned his law degree, he worked as a court-appointed attorney. Edi’s son could have continued his occupation as an attorney and his story of achievement would certainly have been impressive, but, to our benefit, another career came calling.

Had Edi taken the advice of her doctors, we would never have heard a voice which has been on 15 solo studio albums, three greatest hits albums, nine complete operas, and has sold more the 75 million records worldwide… so far. Celine Dion once said, “If God would have a singing voice, he must sound a lot like…Andrea Bocelli.”

Sources:

1. John Hooper, “Tenor’s story acclaimed by anti-abortion campaigners,” The Guardian, June 10, 2010, accessed June 15, 2025, theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/10/andrea-bocelli-abortion-italy.

2. Thomas Edward, “Andrea Bocelli recalls the incident that left him blind: ‘That’s when darkness fell,’” Smooth Radio, September 9, 2024, accessed June 15, 2025, smoothradio.com/news/music/andrea-bocelli-blind-why-how.

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

What’s in a name?

Well, if we’re talking about a restaurant, its name usually indicates the type of food served. Think Monjunis Italian Café & Grocery. 2Johns Steak & Seafood. Ta’Molly’s Mexican Kitchen.

But sometimes, you’re left to wonder. That was the case when getting ready to visit Mae & Co. (1023 Provenance Blvd., Shreveport) for the first time. There was nothing in the name that gave me a clue as to what I might be eating. Although, small type on their website read Chicken-Oysters-Beer. So, on a recent Tuesday, I invited a friend to join me for lunch and find out just what kind of food Mae & Co. offers.

We arrived at 12:15 and opened the door to a restaurant empty of customers. Hmmm…Not necessarily a good sign. Corley, who would be our hostess, server, and cashier, invited us to sit wherever we liked. Mae & Co.’s dining area is small and quaint, with tables in front and back. There’s also a nice bar – I counted 14 chairs – with two televisions overhead. There was another television in the back dining room. A mix of soothing and cheerful music played throughout.

It wasn’t long before my friend inquired about the restaurant’s name. As Corley explained, Mae was the nickname of the lady who taught the restaurant’s owner, Chef Blake Jackson, how to cook, when Chef Jackson was young. Naming his restaurant after her was his way of giving thanks. I thought that was pretty cool.

As for the menu, Mae & Co. offered appetizers (listed as “Snacks”), Salads (only two), “Sammies” (Six, mostly po-boys), Wings, Sides, and Desserts. There was also a daily Lunch Special. (After we finished eating, Corley said there would be additions to the menu the following day, including three salads and four wraps).

My friend and I were really hungry, so we ordered a snack of Fried Shrimp ($12). Before too long, Corley brought out a serving tray which was way too big for the shrimp. It made the shrimp look small. I was disappointed.

However, one bite replaced my disappointment with satisfaction. The dozen shrimp, while not large, weren’t popcorn-size, either. Each was perfectly coated with a batter which tasted nothing like I usually taste when eating shrimp. I quizzed Corley, and sure enough, the batter was homemade. In fact, Corley said everything at Mae & Co. is homemade. That included the cocktail sauce, and remoulade sauce, which were served with the shrimp. I could have consumed a gallon of that remoulade sauce, it was so good. Corley said it was made with a base of Green Goddess dressing.

On Tuesday’s, the lunch special is Red Beans & Rice. That’s not something I eat every day, so I chose it as my entrée. I had my choice of a cup or a bowl. Did I mention I was hungry? I chose the bowl ($15).

My friend had a hard time deciding what to order, bouncing back and forth between a salad, wings, and a Sammie. She settled on the Hot Fish Sammie ($20). For an extra $2.50, she could also get a stack of seven onion rings. I was feeling generous, so I gave her the go-ahead to spend the additional money.

Within a reasonable amount of time, Corley served our food. My bowl of Red Beans & Rice was large – complete with a few sausage slices and topped with parsley. Now, I made the mistake of adding some tobacco sauce before tasting the red beans & rice. Oops! Turns out, extra heat was not needed, as the red beans & rice had their own spicy taste. However, I like hot, so all was good. The dish came with a side of jalapeno cornbread, which was not too hard and not too soft.

While my friend’s Sammie looked good, it were the onion rings which dominated her plate. They looked as beautiful as onion rings can look. Once again, the batter was perfect – none had crumbled onto the plate – and without a sign of grease. In return for spending the extra dollars, my friend allowed me to have a couple of rings. They were delicious. The onion taste was fairly mild, allowing me to savor the batter’s taste.

As for her Sammie, it was served with a thick piece of grilled redfish, and topped with Nappa Slaw, Tomato Chili Mayo, and Brioche. My friend said the fish was a little on the fishy-tasting side, but overall, thought the Sammie was good.

Corley tried her best to persuade us to order dessert – a Blueberry Thyme Cobbler (there was also on the menu a Hope Float—Coke or Root Beer). However, considering we had a starter in addition to our meal, we were too full. Maybe next time.

The cost of our meal before tax and tip was $67.73. Yes, that’s a bit much for lunch. However, I felt like we received quality food and service for the price paid.

I give Mae & Co. Three Forks. I went out of my way, driving 40 minutes to get there, and I doubt I would do that again. But if I am in the area, I would definitely return. I hope their business picks up. This is one of those places that could become a local favorite for those who live nearby. It’s a casual (our drinks were served in plastic cups), yet really nice atmosphere where you can eat good food and enjoy good company.

Thanks, Mae, for sharing your knowledge.

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.

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
• April Burkholder – 14-time LSU gymnastics All-American, 2006 NCAA beams champ
•  Danny Broussard – USA’s sixth-winningest prep basketball coach at Lafayette’s St. Thomas More
• Joe Scheuermann – Delgado Community College baseball coach atop state college wins list
• Herb Vincent – SEC associate commissioner, LSU alumnus and former administrator
• Glenn Guilbeau – Highly decorated, nationally-acclaimed Baton Rouge-based sports writer

It’s their party, and you are cordially invited.

 By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

OAKMONT, Pa. – Four holes remained, and despite some rain-induced struggles, Sam Burns’ drive was in the 15^th fairway and he shared the lead at the U.S. Open Sunday afternoon.

But the Shreveport native and Calvary Baptist graduate was definitely not sitting pretty. His drive came to rest on a waterlogged section of the fairway at the bottom of a hill, and to everybody who wasn’t a United States Golf Association official, it looked like temporary relief was due.

Burns asked. Was denied. Asked for a second official to look. Was denied again. Television announcers questioned the ruling, and hours later, it remained highly dubious in the eyes of Golf Channel analysts and those in the media interview tent questioning Burns about it.

The ensuing shot predictably went awry, and led to a double bogey that sank Burns from the top spot to stay. He opened Sunday as the 54-hole leader at 4-under. After a closing 78, he tied for seventh – the best finish in his 21 major championship starts for the 28-year-old Choudrant resident – with his good friend Scottie Scheffler and former U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm, five shots back of surprise winner J.J. Spaun, Burns’ playing partner during Saturday’s round.

He recounted the pivotal incident to media afterward.

“That’s kind of the low part of the fairway there. When I walked into it, clearly you could see water coming up,” Burns said. “I took practice swings and it’s just water splashing every single time.”

After the pair of officials did not provide relief, Burns played the hand he was dealt.

“From that point, (caddie) Travis (Perkins) and I said, ‘Look let’s focus on the shot, try to execute.’

“I did the best I could. I was 100 percent locked in on what I was trying to do,” said Burns.  “Ultimately, it felt like the water just kind of got in the way, and I went left. It is what it is.

“At the end of the day, it’s not up to me, it’s up to the rules official. That’s kind of that.”

Burns ran into more trouble, but without officials involved, and bogied 16. He recovered with a too-little, too-late birdie on 17 and bogeyed 18 to cap an afternoon that would have left many of his peers steaming about the ruling and bad breaks. Speaking to the media, Burns’ demeanor earned admiration.

“Applaud his attitude,” said Golf Channel host Ryan Burr.

Said analyst Paul McGinley, assistant captain of the 2025 European Ryder Cup team: “If he was entitled to relief, which it looked like from the TV pictures … the bigger issue here is Sam Burns and his behavior, how he handled it. I know it probably cost him certainly a chance to win the U.S. Open the last few holes, making double there and the turning into a bit of a tailspin. It was a tough break to get ….

“To see a player like this, in the heat of battle, at a U.S. Open, for his national title, getting a tough break and a tough ruling, and to handle it the way Sam Burns did, I am full of admiration for him. How he handled that, and the interviews afterward, that was a touch of class in my opinion.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” said analyst Brandel Chamblee. “This is the national championship, four holes left to play, that was probably one of the big turning points on the back nine, for him not to have sour grapes, not to come in and complain, not pitch a fit, just carry on, business as usual. You can’t say enough about his demeanor there.”

Burns had soared into the lead with a spectacular Friday round of 65. It was 9.8 shots better than the average score in the field, the highest figure anyone has posted in a U.S. Open in 16 years.

It left observers comparing Burns’ round to the historic 63 by Johnny Miller at Oakmont in the final round that carried him to the 1973 Open crown.

Burns followed that with a 1-under 69 Saturday, playing with Spaun, that edged him into solo first entering Sunday. He briefly had a two-shot lead and was 4-under for the tournament when weather and taxing conditions took a toll on the field, none more so than Burns.

He still brought home $614,423, to go with the $1 million he collected for a runner-up finish (playoff loss) a week ago at the Canadian Open.  His Friday 65 was the best round all week at Oakmont, and one of the most remarkable this century in U.S. Open history.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com