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

Not everyone has time to have lunch at a sit-down restaurant.

If you work and get an hour off midday, it’s difficult – if not impossible – to fight traffic, enjoy a meal, and get back to the office in 60 minutes without getting an ulcer. I guess that’s why fast-food places are so popular.

But wouldn’t it be nice to enjoy something other than a burger or chicken, by way of picking it up and bringing it back to work?

On a recent Wednesday, I was working in my office, when my stomach started to growl. I looked at the clock and saw where it was close to noon. I didn’t really have an hour and a half to spend going to a restaurant. But I remembered seeing a fairly new place that wasn’t too far from where I was located. So, I asked a friend who was also busy at her office if she would like me to pick up lunch for both of us, and bring it to her.

Po’girls Sandwich Shoppe (That’s what their sign reads. Their website has the name as Po’girl) (6362 Benton Road) opened last August. I assume its name is a takeoff on po’boys, and I love a good po’boy. Unfortunately, except for at a couple of places, I’ve found that there’s always something not right with the po’boy I order. Either it’s too small, the bread is too hard, or their just isn’t much inside.

Hoping Po’girls would be different, I went to their website, hoping to order online. I found good and bad. The good news is that yes, you can place your order for pickup. The bad news is that none of their po’boys had descriptions as to what I would be getting. I was only allowed to mark ingredients I didn’t want. There was nothing telling me the specifics of a Rowdy Rooster Po’boy, or The Trailblazer Sandwich. How can I order something if I don’t know what I will be eating?

So, in lieu of what should have been the simplicity of ordering online, I got in the car and drove with the intent on ordering in person and preparing myself to wait in line.

Po’girls does not offer inside dining, which was fine, since I didn’t have time to sit down. There is a small covered area with some tables, and fans. Much to my surprise, on a day when the temperature was headed toward 100 degrees, there were a couple of people eating outside. Maybe in the fall, but no way I would eat outside in this heat.

When I pulled up to the drive thru, I was met with a menu which offered cold po’boys, hot po’boys, soups, and salads. I was the only car in line, so I didn’t feel pressured to take my time deciding what to have. (By the time I left, there was a line of cars behind me. By the time I received my food and drove away, there was a line of cars – people waiting to order.)

From the 18 different po’boys, I went with the Creole Chickie Po’boy ($11.43).

For my friend, I ordered the Cran-Pecan Chicken Salad ($10.39). For an extra $3.12, I could make the po’boy, and the salad, a combo, which would include chips and a drink, which I did. While waiting to pay, I asked the nice lady helping me if the Chicken & Sausage Gumbo on the menu was homemade. She said it was. My friend, like I, like a good gumbo, so I ordered two eight-ounce servings ($6.23 each).

When I arrived back at the office and unbagged our food, I immediately saw something I have seldom – if ever – seen. Everything – the two small containers with our gumbo, and the sandwich wrapper, and the container with the salad, were taped closed. What a great idea! This prevented the tops from coming loose, and food spilling everywhere. Now, that’s what I call going the extra mile. I love it when places do something like that. It just enhances the customer experience.

Honestly, I don’t like to get food to-go. By the time I get to where I’m going, if the food is supposed to be hot, it usually isn’t. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I took my first bite of gumbo. It was still warm, even after a 20-minute drive. In addition, the gumbo was full of chicken, sausage, and rice. The roux was a little on the thick side, but the taste was spicy.

When I pulled my wrapped and taped po’boy out of the bag, I was impressed with its size. When I got it unwrapped, it looked even more impressive. The po’boy was loaded with everything promised – grilled chicken, white cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and – here’s the big one – creole mustard. The po’boys taste, fueled by the creole mustard, was terrific. Everything really came together to make for a smooth flavor.

A word about the bread. Bread can make – or break – a po’boy. Often times, it’s too hard, and you’re just crunching away every time you take a bite. Sometimes, the bread is too soft, and it falls apart. The bread on my po’boy was perfect. It complemented what was inside, without becoming a distraction. Good stuff.

When my friend opened her salad, she saw a container divided into four areas. There was a row of Poppy Pecan Chicken Salad with dried cranberries, pecans, and poppy seed. There was a row of cheddar cheese, a row of tomatoes, and a row of lettuce with red onion. So basically, she could eat what she wanted when she wanted, or she could mix everything. The salad was plenty big, and my friend enjoyed it. She took special notice of the pecans, which she said were whole and plentiful. I took a bite of the chicken salad, and didn’t pick up on a particular taste, but my friend liked it, and that’s what was important.

Unfortunately, we did not receive our bags of chips. That’s another reason why I don’t like picking up food to go. If you’re missing part of your order, you don’t have much recourse. Driving all the way back to the eatery didn’t make much sense.

While paying, I noticed a sign which indicated Po’girls offered three types of cookies for dessert. I asked the lady if they were homemade, and she said “Yes”. So, I added to my order one Snickerdoodle ($1.56) and one White Chocolate Macadamia ($1.56). My friend agreed that the Snickerdoodle was the best of the two. It was soft and tasted fresh. The snickerdoodle was hard, leading us to think it may have been nearing its shelf life.

The cost of our meal, before tax, was $43.64. Po’girls does charge a bit more if you pay with plastic instead of cash, which I did. That’s why the amounts above look a little odd.

I am happy to give Po’girls Sandwich Shoppe Three Forks. There’s no way I would recommend you drive from west Shreveport or south Bossier all the way to Benton for a po’boy or salad. However, if you find yourself within 20 minutes of Po’girls, I highly recommend you give them a try. Hopefully, by then, you will be able to order online and know what you’re getting.

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 DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

OTTAWA, Canada – In the aftermath of his spectacular 13-under 59 round Saturday, Shreveport’s Phillip Barbaree Jr. foreshadowed his outcome Sunday on the PGA Americas Tour in the Commissionaires Ottawa Open at Eagle Creek Golf Club.

“It’s historically hard to follow up a really low round with another (low) round,” he said in Saturday’s post-round press conference.

“If I go on to play great tomorrow, then it was meant to be. If not, we’ll go on to next week and use this day as positive vibes.”

Barbaree couldn’t rekindle the magic in Sunday’s final 18 holes, carding an even-par 72 to stay at 20-under par and slip from a two-shot lead to finish 10^th in the tournament. Incredibly, it was won by another player who shot 59 – Brett White, who rolled in a 63-foot eagle putt on the last hole to finish his masterpiece Sunday, then won a three-man playoff to capture the tournament title.

There was only one prior sub-60 round on the PGA Americas Tour in its 1½-season existence, and three prior ones on the two tours that are its forerunners, prior to Barbaree’s performance Saturday.

The former Byrd and LSU golfer began Saturday at 7-under through 36 holes. He posted 11 birdies – six straight from holes 7-12 — and a closing eagle on the par-5 18th, after he stuffed a 7-iron second shot from the rough to four feet and drained the putt.

“It was an amazing day,” Barbaree said post-round. “Today was one of those days I just kind of let it happen, and it felt easy.”

Barbaree entered the week 35th in the PGA Americas Fortinet Cup standings and advanced nine spots with the 67-70-59-72 – 268 finish. Seven tournaments remain. The 10 players with the most points will earn Korn Ferry Tour cards.

There were three sub-60 rounds this century prior to the 2024 merger of PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica, then one player shot 59 last season. In PGA Tour history, only 15 scores of 59 have been recorded.

Barbaree, 27, turned pro in 2021. He soared to national prominence in June when he made the 36-hole cut at the U.S. Open and shared a joyful hug with wife Chloe, who has served as his caddy since last fall following their marriage last summer. The media and galleries at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club embraced their storyline. Barbaree finished 66^th in his second U.S. Open appearance, and the first made cut.

The happy couple hugged again immediately after his closing eagle Saturday, then later posed for a commemorative photo with the scorecard.

“It’s awesome,” he said Saturday. “She started caddying for me up here in Canada, last year at Edmonton. Played good there and just kept it rolling. These kind of days, and U.S. Open, it all just builds. It’s so great to be able to one day look back and see these memories we’ve made together. It’s special.”

Chloe admittedly isn’t steeped in golf insight, but her husband has noted that she helps him most with his mindset – boosting his confidence and keeping him relaxed.

“I don’t think we talked a whole lot today. She was just telling me here and there about some Tic Tocs she was watching, and that’s about it,” he said, laughing.

Even before Sunday’s round, Barbaree had a healthy perspective on his incredible Saturday score.

“Any time you shoot 59, that’s an awesome thing. We’ve been out here playing for about three seasons, seen the ups and downs. Just to have an up here, and to have a great memory and with my wife on the bag, that’s a really good day.”

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

JOURNAL SPORTS

KANSAS CITY – Seth Lugo was one of the hot candidates to be swapped by the Kansas City Royals before Major League Baseball’s trade deadline Thursday.

No longer, according to multiple national media reports, first by ESPN.

The Royals are reportedly polishing a multi-year contract extension for Lugo, a soon-to-be 36-year-old right-hander who was an American League All-Star in 2024 and last season’s AL Cy Young Award runner-up, along with winning a Gold Glove in his breakout season.

Lugo, a Parkway High graduate and former Centenary pitcher, has rocketed to stardom in the past two seasons.

The reported deal is a two-year extension beginning in 2026, with a vesting option that is performance-based for 2028. It is valued at a guaranteed $46 million.

In the reported deal, Lugo will receive $20 million each of the next two seasons with a $3 million signing bonus. The vesting option is worth $20 million or a club option for $17 million with a $3 million buyout.

Lugo is nearing the end of a two-year, $30 million contract with Kansas City but holds a $15 million player option for 2026. Considering his 2.95 ERA this season, he was expected to decline the option and become one of the top free agent starters available this offseason.

The Royals had not confirmed the reports Sunday night. Despite speculation he was on the block, or at least had strong interest by several other teams including the Chicago Cubs, the Royals weren’t eager to trade Lugo, who signed with Kansas City as a free agent in 2023. He is regarded as a pivotal figure in the Royals clubhouse.

In 52 starts in Kansas City, he owns a 2.98 ERA, the best in franchise history among those that have made at least 50 for the Royals, according to MLB.com.

A 10-year MLB veteran with a career 63-45 record, 16 saves, nearly a strikeout an inning, and a 3.33 ERA, Lugo has not yet thrown 1,000 big league innings. He was a spot starter and mostly middle reliever with the Mets before hitting free agency after the 2022 season and signing with San Diego, where he took a spot in the starting rotation and flourished, leading to his deal with Kansas City.

Lugo was a 34^th-round 2011 MLB Draft pick. At Parkway, he made the All-District 1-5A team as a pitcher and also hit six home runs and led the team in RBI. As a Centenary pitcher, he finished his three-year college career with an 8-13 record and a 5.36 ERA, but increased his fastball speed into the low-90s and caught the attention of some scouts.

Lugo pitched 46.2 innings in rookie ball, but missed the 2012 season after undergoing spinal fusion surgery. He returned to pitch in the minor leagues in 2013 and worked his way up, finally getting his chance in MLB in 2016 at age 26. 

In addition to his MLB honors during and after last season, Lugo won the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl’s Carl Mikovich Sportsperson of the Year Award.

JOURNAL SPORTS

Cody Leach, son of the late college football offensive mastermind Mike Leach, has joined the Centenary football staff as offensive line/special teams coach, teaming with recently announced offensive coordinator Hal Mumme.

Centenary athletics director David Orr announced the hiring Friday. Mike Leach got his start in college coaching on Mumme’s Iowa Wesleyan staff in the late 1980s, and won 60 percent of his games as head coach at Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State until his death in December 2022. Mumme and Leach spent three seasons in Iowa before moving to Valdosta State (1992–1996) and then Kentucky (1997–1998). 

Leach left UK to become offensive coordinator at Oklahoma and a year later got his shot as a head coach at Texas Tech, launching explosive offenses and earning the iconic nickname “Pirate” for his swashbuckling style as a coach and public figure.

The younger Leach, a 2021 BYU graduate who was a defensive student assistant for the Cougars, joins head coach Byron Dawson’s second Centenary staff after three seasons working with special teams at Mississippi State. He and his father coached one season together (2022) in Starkville.

“Cody brings valuable experience from his time at two Power Five programs, BYU and Mississippi State, where he has grown and learned at a high level,” said Dawson.

Mumme is widely recognized as one of the originators of the “Air Raid” offense, which he and the elder Leach honed at Iowa Wesleyan.

“Having grown up around the game, Cody understands the demands, discipline, and sacrifice that college football requires,” said Dawson. “He’ll bring great insight and energy to our offensive line and special teams units. With Cody joining our staff, it’s special to see the Leach and Mumme connection come full circle, two football families who helped shape the Air Raid philosophy, now reunited on the same sideline.

“Cody is a fine young man and we are excited to bring him on board as we believe his experience and background will help an already impressive football coaching staff,” said Orr.

Baton Rouge, LA – July 24, 2025 – Friends of Louisiana Public Broadcasting (Friends of LPB) is proud to announce the appointment of Billy West of Natchitoches to its Board of Directors. West brings with him a wealth of experience, community spirit, and a deep appreciation for the importance of public broadcasting and educational programming in Louisiana.

Friends of LPB’s mission is to cultivate members, funding, and resources that enhance and expand LPB’s programming and educational initiatives. Driven by a strong commitment to education, opportunity, and access, the organization supports LPB in its role as Louisiana’s largest classroom—providing free, high-quality educational resources for children and families, along with trusted emergency information and enriching cultural programming for communities statewide.

“Billy West’s passion for education and community engagement makes him an invaluable addition to our board,” said Bo Harris, Board Chair. “We are confident that his leadership and vision will help us continue to advance LPB’s mission and expand its impact across Louisiana.”

As a board member, West will play a critical role in strengthening fundraising efforts and expanding community outreach at a time when public media is facing significant challenges and a growing demand for quality, educational content. His leadership will help ensure that LPB remains a vital resource for communities across Louisiana.

For more information about Friends of LPB and its mission, visit www.friendsoflpb.org.

By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports

It was about 20 years ago when he was driving down Highway 71 crossing into Natchitoches Parish and realized where he was. Strictly on a whim, he pulled into the parking lot of Fairview-Alpha Elementary & Junior High School a few miles north of Campti.

It had been years since consolidation relocated Fairview-Alpha’s high school classes, but that really didn’t matter. All he wanted to see was one particular building.

And more importantly, one particular spot in that building.

There was activity going on in the gym but no one seemed to notice the man who was obviously a visitor. As he walked across the floor, memories began to flood his mind like flashes of lightning. As he looked around to take it in, things weren’t exactly the same, but it didn’t matter that there had obviously been a paint job or two and the basketball goals were different than before. But this was it. This is what he came to see.

But not just to see it. To live it again.

He saw himself as an 18-year-old, pulling up for a jump shot that was unlike any of the thousands he had taken before. The arc of the ball. The swish of the net.

“I looked up at that goal and saw it all one more time,” he says today. “And then I turned around and walked out. Nobody said anything to me.”

Little did the girls’ P.E. class at Fairview-Alpha realize that Greg Procell had come to relive the moment he became the greatest scorer in the history of high school basketball.

That night.

That gym.

That spot.

* * *

In high school sports, records get set all the time that no one thinks will ever be broken. It may take a while, but eventually, almost all of them are.

It’s been 55 years since Ebarb’s Greg Procell did something that still hasn’t been broken. When his career at the Sabine Parish school was finished in 1970, all of the newspaper accounts were of how he had set the state record. At the time, no one wanted to assume that there might be someone else out there in another state who had more than 6,702 points.

They should have known better.

(Whether or not Procell still holds the record depends on how you look at it. Demond “Tweety” Carter of Reserve Christian finished with 7,494 points, but that includes his point totals as a seventh and eighth grader on the varsity. Some sanctioning organizations only recognize points scored during high school years.)

Ask men of a certain age who know high school basketball about Greg Procell and just watch their reaction. They still don’t believe it.

Nobody does.

You’d get lost trying to make sense of all that Procell accomplished: Points in a game … points in a season … points per game … scoring records set in gyms that still haven’t been broken … and a fairly unbelievable final game of his high school career.

That’s how it ended.

But only when you know how, when and where it started can you grasp just how amazing all of this really is.

* * *

Parishes in Louisiana each seem to have their own identity, but none of the other 63 can quite match Sabine Parish. Located along the Texas border along Toledo Bend, the area began to grow as a railroad town but also as the home for the Choctaw-Apache Tribe, the second-largest tribe in the state

And more than half of the tribe’s population had traditionally been in and around the town of Ebarb. The tribe’s roots dates back to the indigenous people of the 18^th century. Surnames such as Sepulvado, Meshell, Remedies, Ebarb and Procell are quite common throughout the parish.

There is no shortage of pride in Sabine Parish. And that is particularly the case in high school  basketball. There are seven high schools in the parish and all seven have won a boys state championship in boys basketball. There’s no need to even look that up to see if it’s a record in Louisiana.

But it is not the most affluent – the most recent census shows that one in five residents live below the poverty level – and that was certainly the case for Procell when he was growing up. His household didn’t even have electricity until the early 1950s.

Though Procell was stricken with polio when he was five years old, he began playing basketball as soon as he could. One of his first basketball goals was constructed by his friend, Walter “Tootsie Roll” Meshell – it was simply a bicycle rim attached to a tree. Their group of friends spent as much time as they could playing basketball on a dirt court, often barefoot.

Sneakers were a little too much to ask for during those times.

When Procell was in middle school, he begged Frank Ebarb, his basketball coach, to give him a key so that the seventh grader could go to the gym and practice shooting. But that was against the rules so instead, Coach Ebarb just happened to leave a window open “by accident.”

There was an understanding between the two that it was their secret. No one else was invited.

Led by Procell, the seventh-grade team got to be pretty good and they begged their coach to let them go play in an eighth grade tournament in Noble.

“Y’all can’t play with them eighth grade boys,” Ebarb told them.

“I told Mr. Frank that if he’d let us play, we’d bring the trophy home,” Procell says.

The seventh graders played Pelican’s eight grade in the first game of the tournament.

Ebarb 98, Pelican 6.

“True story,” Procell says. “That was crazy.”

But not as crazy as what was about to happen for the next few years.

* * 

For many years in Louisiana high school basketball, schools could play an unlimited number of games. Non-football schools such as Ebarb started playing in October, but that really didn’t inflate Procell’s scoring numbers. (He played in 31, 39 and 42 games in his first three seasons.)

And the Rebels would play whoever walked in the gym. During his senior year, Procell and the Rebels played Captain Shreve (who would go to the Class AAA state championship game) two times, plus Bossier, Airline and Jesuit (now Loyola), among others.

As a freshman, Procell averaged 24.1 points per game. As a sophomore, it was 34.7 (making 52 percent of his field goals). As a junior, he averaged 34.0 per game.

That set a very big stage for Procell’s senior year. Early in that season, he had consecutive games of 70, 64, 48, 50, 50, 40 and 56 points and all but one of those was a win.

Perhaps even more than the career scoring mark of 6,702, there was one number that might still stand out above all others – 100.

That came on Jan. 29, 1970, in the opening round of the Ebarb Tournament. Previously, Procell’s high had been 72 points, but taking on Elizabeth that night, everything fell into place.

He had 42 field goals and made 18 of 19 free throws that night in a 139-79 win. Procell said he really didn’t realize how close he was to the magic number until the late stages of the game.

“When I got to about 80 (points) they started hollering out how many I had,” he says.

That also broke the state record of 82 points by Plainview’s Truitt Weldon in 1958. Amazingly, Procell doesn’t really recall much else about the game other than being taken out when he had 55 points “and the fans getting on Coach (Ken) Hebert pretty bad, so he put me back in.”

Interestingly, Hebert was the fourth different coach Procell had in four years of high school.

But the game record and the season record and the career record were all nice, but there was still one thing missing – a state championship.

And just as improbable Procell’s career had been in his first 179 games, it was the last one which took that to another level.

* * *

The boys state basketball tournament has had a number of different titles in various cities around the state, but one thing is for sure — there has never been anything like the 1969-70 Top 20 in Alexandria.

Crowds of 10,000 or more were in attendance for almost every game at Rapides Coliseum. The overtime finals between Captain Shreve and Brother Martin drew 15,657 fans.

It was the first school year after court-ordered integration, though not all the schools had begun the process. Newspapers actually charted the total number of starters in the tournament who were minorities (30 of 100; but 13 of 20 in the highest classification, it was noted).

Teams and fans came from all over the state came for the tournament, but there was no doubt who the biggest drawing card was – Greg Procell.

In the Class C semifinals against Maurice, Ebarb won 97-82 but the real story was the freeze that Maurice coach Johnny Picard instructed his team to do, even though they were losing by double figures in the fourth quarter. Not only did it prevent Procell, who had 51 points, from breaking the Class C scoring record for a state tournament game, but it also kept the Rebels from breaking the team scoring record of 103 set by, you guessed it, Maurice.

“We have the record,” Picard said. “And we want to keep it.”

Procell let Picard know about it. With eight seconds left in the game, he twice screamed at the Maurice bench “We’re Number 1, Coach.”

Not yet.

Three days later, Ebarb had to play Sabine Parish neighbor Pleasant Hill for the 11^th time that season in the championship game. (Ebarb had won seven of the previous 10.)

Ebarb trailed by eight late in the game before mounting a comeback, but it looked as if it would fall short. Trailing by a point with seven seconds left in the game, Meshell missed the second of two free throws and Pleasant Hill grabbed the rebound. But Robert Jackson threw the ball away with three seconds left and Ebarb had one final chance.

While Pleasant Hill was furiously scrambling to cover Procell, who had scored 44 points, on the inbounds pass, Meshell slipped open. The pass was knocked out of his hands before he regained it in time to get off a 17-foot shot — just before the buzzer — that went through the net.

“I thought I got fouled (on the inbounds pass),” Meshell, who finished with 33 points, said after the game. “But I couldn’t wait for the whistle.”

The Rebels scored 11 of the game’s final 13 points.

“We really should have lost that game to Pleasant Hill,” Procell says now. “They were bigger and stronger and had better athletes. It was just incredible.”

* * *

Once described by his future college coach as “short, slow and couldn’t jump, but nobody had a better shooting eye,” Procell thought he was going to Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) to play in college. In fact, Procell says “Coach Hebert came to Ebarb as our coach to recruit me to USL.”

That didn’t work out, so Procell went to Panola Junior College before transferring to Northwestern State. He had a solid career in his two seasons with the Demons, averaging 11.6 per game in 1972-73 and 7.1 the following year.

“They played that (slowdown) style ball at Northwestern,” Procell says. “It was pass it, pass it, pass it. But in fairness to him (coach Tynes Hildebrand), that’s all he knew. There weren’t a lot of teams that got up and down the floor like we did when he averaged 92 points a game (at Ebarb).”

Procell taught at Natchitoches Central for three years and at Huntington for another 18.

But it was a part-time career as a professional fishing guide that has made Procell perhaps as well-known across the country as for his high school basketball notoriety.

It was as a fishing guide on Toledo Bend that he made an acquaintance with a petroleum engineer, which has led to his career as a salesman in production chemicals for the last 32 years.

And it was on one of those sales trips that led him to the gym at Fairview-Alpha to relive the day of December 13, 1969, when Greg Procell made a shot that etched his name into a record book.

These days, he touches a lot more golf balls than he does basketballs. At 72, he’s still on the job and traveling throughout the area. And if you need a fishing guide, you don’t need to ask twice.

“Tootsie Roll” Meshell, who made that fateful shot in the state title game, recently retired after a career in teaching and the Sabine Parish sheriff’s office.

Procell stays in touch with his teammates from the 1970 team that went 56-12. He may have forgotten a few details of some of those games, but he hasn’t forgotten those who helped him along the way.

Earlier this week, Procell had a special lunch companion: 90-year-old “Mr. Frank” – the middle school coach who let that seventh-grade kid sneak into the gym and set the foundation for a career unlike any other.

“I just wanted to tell him thanks,” Procell says.

Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com

By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

Donald J. Trump has not been reluctant to go where no previous U.S. president has gone before and Thursday, he rocked the college sports landscape by issuing an executive order that did exactly that.

Not since Teddy Roosevelt decried the violent nature of football and ordered college officials to make the game safer more than 100 years ago has a president made such a direct impact on the sports staged by colleges and universities.

The White House announced Trump has set new guidelines for name, image and likeness and revenue sharing deals. His order banned “third party, pay-for-play payments to college athletes” but did not prohibit the players from making endorsement deals. The decree also said the House settlement outlining multi-million revenue-sharing between universities and athletes must not threaten scholarships for women’s sports and so-called Olympic sports that do not produce revenue approaching expenses.

His sweeping order tasks the National Labor Relations Board with “clarifying the status of collegiate athletes” in an apparent move to stymie efforts by some student-athletes to earn status as university employees to expand their benefits past completion of their college days.

The order was titled “Save College Sports.”

Immediate questions developed on how his order will be administered. He instructed federal officials to develop a plan within 30 days to use “regulatory, enforcement and litigation mechanisms” to enforce his order.

There were elements of the order that clashed with the recent House settlement that among other things created a $2.8 billion NIL compensation pool for prominent Division I competitors from 2016-21, with it being partially funded (up to 40 percent) by non-Power 4 conference members including the four Division I college athletic programs in north Louisiana – Grambling, Louisiana Tech, Northwestern State and ULM – with annual payments of about $300,000 into the pool over the next 10 years.

NCAA President Charlie Baker issued a statement that thanked Trump for the “focus on the life-changing opportunities sports provides millions of people.”

The statement noted “there are some threats to college sports that federal legislation can effectively address … (using) a bipartisan solution with Congress and the (Trump) Administration.”

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

You’ve probably heard the proverb “don’t meet your heroes” and, sadly for me, I found out about this first-hand as a 12-year-old.

Well, that’s not completely accurate. I didn’t actually meet mine. But that makes no difference.

Growing up, my brother was a Boston Red Sox fan and I was a fan of the New York Yankees. As fate would have it, in August 1972, the Texas Rangers had a homestand in which they played the Red Sox one night and the Yankees the next.

Older brother Ben was about to head off to college and I was about to begin two-a-days for eighth-grade football (our coach was a maniac), and so our father made arrangements for us to head over to Arlington for a late-summer trip to see our favorite teams on back-to-back nights.

The Red Sox were pretty good that year (eventually finishing second in the American League East) but the ’72 Yankees were fairly awful. I mean, how good could you be with third baseman Celerino Sanchez and shortstop Gene Michael combining for ONE home run all year?

Anyway, the Red Sox scored three in the eighth inning to beat the Rangers 4-3 the first night we were at Arlington Stadium. I had to act like I was excited about it, even though I wasn’t.

The next night was my turn. My first time to see my favorite team in person.

And more importantly, my favorite player.

When I was younger, I tried to be a Mickey Mantle fan like a few million other kids, but The Mick was pretty much done by the time I climbed on board the fanwagon. But there was this kid on the Yankees who was also an outfielder from Oklahoma who was showing great promise named Bobby Murcer.

Good enough for me. I’ll take him! (Who else … Horace Clarke?)

In 1970, Murcer hit four consecutive home runs in a doubleheader to set a club record and was also a starter in the famed 1971 All-Star Game which featured some of baseball’s all-time greats in the starting lineup.

Murcer was having another really good year in 1972, so I was anxious to see my guy and try to get an autograph.

I should have known this wasn’t going to be my night. If you ever went to Arlington Stadium, you might remember they would post the starting lineups by displaying uniform numbers on the scoreboard in the panhandle part of the state of Texas.

Catcher Thurman Munson was my No. 2 favorite but as we were walking through the parking lot, I didn’t see “No. 15” displayed by the “C.” Instead, it was No. 23, John Ellis.

You mean we came all this way to see some second-string catcher?

Nevertheless, the mission at hand was to try to get Murcer’s signature during the pre-game.

If you can believe this, back in those days, you could climb on the dugout and look inside to see if any players were there and ask for an autograph.

I passed on Ron Blomberg and Roy White because I was focused on trying to get Murcer, who I didn’t see sitting on the bench and wasn’t warming up on the field.

It was getting close to gametime and I knew I was about to get chased off by what little security there was in those days … and then I saw him! Standing in the darkened runway that led from the clubhouse to the dugout.

It was Bobby Murcer.

And he was smoking a cigarette.

He looked at me, I looked at him and that was it. I was done.

Totally and complete stunned. When I got back to our seats, my brother asked if I got the autograph and I could hardly speak. I just said no and left out all the sordid details.

Bobby, how could you do this to me? As far as I was concerned, he might as well have been holding a crack pipe in one hand with a bottle of vodka in the other.

The Yankees got blasted that night 11-2 (it was 11-0 after the fourth) and Murcer struck out twice.

Of course he did with all of that nicotine poisoning his body.

When I tell you that I remember this like it was yesterday, that’s exactly what I mean. I may forget a lot of things in my advanced age, but I’m not forgetting this. Call me in 20 years and I will still be able to recite this down to the last detail.

Some things you don’t forget. Even if you want to.

(It should be pointed out that Bobby went on to have a solid baseball career. He later became a great baseball broadcaster with the Yankees and was known as a really, really good guy. Sadly, he lost a very courageous and public battle with brain cancer in 2008 at the age of 62.)

Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com