Forty years ago, a couple of local tennis pros were kicking around an idea. Seems some guys in Oklahoma had set the Guinness Book of World Records for playing doubles for 87 hours in order to raise money for a worthy cause.

“Wanna try?” said Chris Brown.

Brown, then the head pro at Pierremont Tennis Club, was posing the question to assistant pro Jimmy Livesay, who already had the right cause in mind.

“This was back when Centenary (College) was getting ready to build the tennis courts,” says Livesay, now the head pro and owner of Indoors Racket Club. “My brother was playing at Centenary and so was Joe Prather. What a great cause. We could try to break the record and raise money for the Centenary tennis courts.”

And so the challenge was on. Brown and Livesay got in touch with fellow local pros Stuart Bunn (East Ridge Country Club) and Marvin Street (Shreveport Country Club) to find out if they were interested in the idea.

It wasn’t long before the four guys had come up with the idea – the Tennis Marathon would be held over Memorial Day weekend and consist of “3 Days and 18 Hours of Non-Stop Tennis.”

On May 27, 1982, at 6 p.m., the four pros started the marathon doubles match at Pierremont Oaks with the goal of breaking the record on May 31 at noon.

People pledged money for certain amounts of time with all proceeds to benefit the Shreveport Metropolitan Tennis Association and the Centenary Tennis Complex Project.

“We set the goal for 90 hours,” recalls Livesay, “and we did it. Three days of non-stop tennis.”

According to the rules set by Guinness, the foursome would get a five-minute break for every hour they played so they’d play for 12 straight hours and got to take an hour break. Cots were set up in the locker room but the pros were too amped up to sleep.

“At one point, Chris just stood there (on the court),” says Livesay. “He was just looking straight ahead and wasn’t saying anything. Then we figured out he had fallen asleep standing up.”

Sleep deprivation was a common consequence. At one point, local pro Lance Dreyer saw Marvin Street wandering in the parking lot and asked what he was doing. “I’ve got to play in the marathon,” answered Street.

Medical personnel were on standby for any emergencies, there was a masseuse on hand, and there were always people in the stands watching – sometimes more than others.

“The worst time was about two in the morning,” says Livesay, “and early mornings were tough.”

When it started raining, the foursome would run over to the indoor courts and keep playing until they could resume outside.

And so it went, on and on. “Even in those last hours, we played some pretty good tennis,” remembers Livesay. By the time Monday rolled around, Pierremont Oaks was packed with people. Radio stations and TV stations were on site to capture the world record.

“We felt like big celebrities,” says Livesay. “It was so cool.”

Not only had the local pros broken the record, they had also raised over $10,000 for local tennis to help in the construction of the Centenary Tennis Complex.

My, how times have changed. According to Livesay, those tennis courts for which they raised the money to build will soon be torn down. Brown and Bunn have retired from tennis and moved away. After serving as the pro at Querbes Tennis Center for years, Street has also retired.

So, no rematch? “No way,” says Livesay, who underwent his second knee surgery six weeks ago. “But we had a blast. It’s just hard to believe that was 40 years ago.”

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Two years ago when I visited the Tensas National Wildlife Refuge in Madison Parish for the first time, I hoped to see a bear. It didn’t happen but I saw enough and triggered the interest in my wife sufficiently that she wanted to go see this remarkable place.

A year later, it all came together when we were invited by my friend and regular Tensas visitor, Dr. Terry Jones, for the trip over to tour the refuge which touches parts of three parishes, Madison, Tensas and Franklin.

This special part of our state has a fascinating history. Founded in 1980 to preserve one of the largest privately owned tracts of bottomland hardwoods remaining in the Mississippi River delta, the refuge encompasses some 80,000 acres of pure swampy bottomland hardwood majesty. This type of habitat once covered 25 million acres, the majority of which over the years was cleared to make way for farmland, the rich soils being the major attraction.

Today, these same rich soils support some 400 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. The largest population of the threatened Louisiana black bears live here. Tantalizing too is the fact that the last verified sighting of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, now believed to be extinct, was in 1940 on the area that now makes up the Tensas National Wildlife Refuge.

With that bit of history laid out, now back to this past Monday when we drove over to see what Tensas would show us. She didn’t disappoint.

First, Jones led us to the check station where mandatory forms were completed so refuge managers can keep count of the number of visitors. Then we headed down Mill Road where Jones and I had seen alligators on our previous visit. While not as many as we had seen on our last visit, they were there; we watched five gators paddling easily over the waters of a borrow pit with the largest being maybe 10 feet long.

After photographing the alligators, we reversed course, drove back to the check station where Jones suggested I lead out on a slow drive down Quebec Road, telling us to keep an eye out for “critters.”

“We have sometimes seen bears along this drive,” Jones said as we motored away.

A mile or so down the road, something caught my eye. There was a bear in the roadside ditch maybe 10 feet from the car. She ascended the shallow bank and stopped next to a large tree. My wife and watched spellbound as two tiny bear cubs followed her up the bank. Our cameras and those of Jones, who had pulled to a stop behind me, were busy photographing the bear and her little ones.

They remained in the same spot as we drove off down the road talking about how fortunate we were to see such a sight. Turning around half an hour later and returning to the spot, lo and behold, the trio of bears was still there.

We got to watch one of the little guys climb a few yards up the tree for a better look, with our cameras snapping away and disrupting their afternoon of doing whatever they were doing when we spotted them.

Finally, mama bear had had enough of all the attention. She glared at us sitting in our vehicles 20 steps away from her, then rushed forward a few feet making a “huff, huff” sound.

We got the message. We had gotten to witness what we came to see and drove away leaving the bears to themselves but left with memories we won’t soon forget.

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Before Bossier High’s rise and the Bearkats’ return to greatness, or Mikaylah Williams being justifiably heralded as the No. 1 girls’ prep player in the nation, Shreveport-Bossier was one of the pinnacles for high school hoops in the South.

Back in the days of the CNB Times Classic, teams from all over the state, and various parts of the country, came here to play. The competition here was some of the best anywhere. But hey, the high school historians in the area can tell you that.

The same thing should be said about grassroots or AAU or summer travel basketball. Whatever you call it, Shreveport-Bossier should be a hotbed for it.

There has been only one thing stopping Shreveport-Bossier from being a hub for grassroots hoops, however— a facility worthy of holding these contests.

Well, that was a problem. Last week’s report in The Journal about the renovation project to convert Expo Hall into a multi-sport, public facility is the game changer that Shreveport has needed for grassroots.

This indoor sports facility will bring teams, competition, and tourism dollars to the area. You want the high school basketball players to get better in the area and gain more exposure? Hosting regional and national grassroots tournaments for them to participate in has now become a tangible goal.

Those who believe the concept is far-fetched obviously do not know or have yet to see what Shreveport-Bossier can offer the grassroots basketball community. It’s not hard to see. Just open your eyes.

We have Interstate 20 which is one of the main interstate exchanges in America. Shreveport Regional Airport is highly serviceable and numerous teams can fly in from different areas. We actually have teen-friendly entertainment venues, if people are worried about something for the kids to do when they’re not on the court.

Mix all of these assets with the high number of quality basketball players and teams in the Ark-La-Tex, add the short distance that teams from Oklahoma and Mississippi would have to travel, and Shreveport-Bossier has the makings of one of the best places to play grassroots basketball, period.

I know, I know. We will always have pushback from the “too much crime” crowd. However, we find a way to host baseball and softball tournaments all summer, the largest slow-pitch softball event in the south, and even the nationally-televised Independence Bowl. So, you’d have to come up with a bigger argument than that.

In reality, I am aware that we will continue to send our teams and our money to Fort Worth, Dallas, Ruston, and other places. The athletes in the area need to be exposed to other areas and have other life experiences. However, there is no place like home! Getting to compete with other high profile basketball players from around the country, at home, would be a major plus for our local athletes.

Now, let’s welcome influential entities like Prep Hoops, the Under Armour circuit, Adidas, and even Nike to northwest Louisiana.

The recently restructured Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission should be making plans to gain the ear of these grassroots entities with target dates in tow. Once the renovated Expo Hall opens, the benefits to the athletes and the area will be boundless.

Grassroots basketball and Shreveport-Bossier are a couple made in hoops and economic heaven. Now we just need to see if it can be a marriage that can last a lifetime.

After $4.5 million renovation, Expo Hall will be indoor sports venue

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At a party over the weekend, I overheard a woman saying she had put a bet on 80-1 longshot Rich Strike to win the Kentucky Derby. While she did collect about $150, she was just one horse away from winning the trifecta – and pocketing over $300,000.

Or something like that. I know less about betting than I know about social media (remember, I had to get someone to make those awful videos disappear from my Facebook screen).

Over/under? That was a game we played during P.E. in high school – the one where you stand in line and pass the ball to the next person, one under, next over, etc.

One of my fondest (translated funniest) memories from that game was when I passed the ball to Susan McClamroch, who reached down between her legs to get the ball, stepped on her hair and came up with a handful of her ponytail. I figure the odds of that happening had to be greater than 80-1.

At 80-1, Rich Strike became the second-longest odds winner in the history of the Kentucky Derby, behind 1913 winner Donerail at 91-1 odds. I’m sure that means some people really raked in the dough. Out of curiosity, I looked up just how much money was actually wagered at the Triple Crown race this year.

Turns out, Rich Strike wasn’t the only one who made history. According to ESPN, a record $179 million was wagered at Churchill Downs this year. Turns out, also, that’s not even close to what was wagered at the Super Bowl ($1 billion) and even further removed from this year’s March Madness ($3.1 billion).

I don’t know how much will be wagered on this year’s College World Series – either in softball or baseball, but I’ve got a couple of bets for you.

The first one is a sure bet (I think that’s what they call a “lock”): take Oklahoma in the Women’s CWS. Now that the conference championships are under way, it won’t be long until we get to one of my new favorite times of the year – the WCWS. When OU goes to Oklahoma City to defend its title beginning on June 2, the Sooners will have the advantage of fielding one of the greatest players in college softball history.

Utility infielder (and NFCA Player of the Year last season) Jocelyn Alo, who became the all-time home run leader when she smashed her 96^th career homer on March 11, will be trying to close out her Sooners’ career with another national championship. The Sooners, who return almost their entire team, also have returning NFCA Freshman of the Year Tiare Jennings, who was second in the NCAA in home runs and led the nation in doubles.

If I were a betting person, that’s where my money would go.

I’m not sure who will be favored to win it all when the CWS begins June 16 in Omaha, Neb., but Tennessee has got to be the front-runner. If you’re looking for a dark horse, however, I’ve got one for you.

When Coastal Carolina won the national championship in 2016, it was the first time that a team won the title in its first CWS appearance since Minnesota in 1956. It was also the first national title for the Big South Conference. The Chanticleers joined the Sun Belt Conference shortly thereafter. Florida was the favorite going into the tournament that year.

While the Division I conference tournaments haven’t even gotten under way, I’ll give you an early long shot for this year’s CWS – Eastern Kentucky. The Colonels are currently leading the West Division of the Atlantic Sun Conference. Like the 2016 Chanticleers, the Colonels would be making their first-ever appearance in the national tournament.

If EKU makes it to the A-Sun Tournament (May 24-28), ends up winning the title, and makes it through the June 3-6 regional AND the Super Regional (June 10-13), the next stop would be Omaha. With closer Will Brian leading the nation in saves and left-fielder Kendal Ewell at No. 8 in the nation in batting average, the Colonels are primed for a Cinderella run.

Could the Colonels be the next Chanticleers? You can bet on it.

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 Growing up in the late 1960s and early 70s, families sat around the kitchen table each morning before heading to school and work.

Scrambled eggs, hard talks, and loose laughter set the day’s tone.

My friends spent part of that time reading the “funny pages”— formally known as the newspaper comics.

Not me.

My Dad taught me to read two things — the stock market page, and the Daily Racing Form.

Today, I would probably be better off had I stuck with the ins and outs of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Instead, I focused on the Beyer Speed figure for horses in the seventh race at Churchill Downs.

But, just before my 11^th birthday, I received the best gift of all.

On Oct. 30, 1974, Louisiana Downs opened its starting gate.

I now had a “home” track.

Never mind I was too young to get inside. Settling for the next best thing, I watched through a chain link fence, separating the rising grandstand on Highway 80 East from its parking lot.

This was the routine: I worked in the family business, which was open seven days a week. Our Sunday hours were 9 a.m.-3 p.m. With an early afternoon card, there was time to watch — and bet on — several races. That included the feature race — the best horses — saddled with the best jockeys, running for the most money.

Racing Form in hand and dollar bills in pockets, we would leave my mom’s car at the old Chateau Hotel downtown, hustle into my dad’s car, and “race” toward I-20 East and the “Race Track” exit.

We parked, Mom and Dad went inside, and I stayed outside at my usual post position. The view wasn’t great. Heck, it wasn’t even good. But I could hear the action, described by track announcer Bob Kinney.

That was good enough for me.

Between races, my mom would walk over to the fence. I would give her a piece of paper — and my two dollars — with my bet written down for the next race. Sometimes, she would bring me a hot dog or an ice cream cone. Let me tell you, it takes a mom with skills to squeeze food through a chain link fence!

After the last race, I would meet my parents in front of the grandstand for the long (and in the summer, sweltering) walk to the car. In Louisiana Downs’ heyday, that meant to the back of the parking lot. If the timing was right, we would hop the shuttle. That’s right, so many people used to go to the Downs that the track had shuttle buses carrying folks around the parking lot!

Such good memories. It didn’t matter if I won or lost. I was at the track (kind of), could hear the thundering of hooves, the roar of the crowd, and the excitement in Kinney’s voice:

“They turn for home now, and Shishkabob shows the way by two!”

I’ve been to Louisiana Downs only a handful of times in the past 10 years. With just a few railbirds standing near the finish line, and most horses one step from the pasture, the excitement was gone.

But now I have hope. Hope that new ownership — more of an individual instead of a casino corporation, which appeared to care very little about racing — will turn the track around. I’ve interviewed the new owner a few times. He says the right things. He says he has a plan.

But the proof will be in what he does.

If he does what he says, I’ll be back. And this time, I’ll be inside of the fence.

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The most satisfying thing I have accomplished in my lifetime of hunting has to be the completion of my wild turkey Grand Slam in 2003.

There is another grand slam I have to my credit that I’ve thought little about. In fact, I’ve completed this feat several times, as far as I can recall. This “grand slam,” while not gaining me but a snippet of the acclaim I got from my wild turkey slam, was legitimate and what is significant about that is that I got the series of slams all right here in my home state.

What am I talking about? Catfish. I’ve been successful in landing the four species of catfish that live in Louisiana’s fresh waters – the flathead, blue, channel, and bullhead, and I’ve done it several times over.

If you fish at all within the waters of Louisiana, you have no doubt duplicated my feat; you’ve caught all four species at one time or other and you probably never even thought of the possibility that you gained a measure of notoriety by landing a Louisiana Grand Slam of catfish.

Let’s examine more closely the four species that make up the Bayou State Catfish Grand Slam.

FLATHEAD CATFISH

There is no way to pin down the absolutely best spot to catch a flathead catfish in Louisiana because they inhabit practically all of our lakes, rivers and larger streams. These are the fish mostly sought after by anglers bent on a night of “setting out hooks.” A trotline or several limb lines are baited with live bait, such as bream, small bullheads or goldfish, with a return trip the following morning to see what’s there. Finding a 40 pounder on your hook is not at all uncommon.

BLUE CATFISH

If you are looking for genuine heavyweights, blue catfish, especially those that inhabit our larger lakes and rivers, can grow to extreme sizes. Ancient records boast of blue catfish weighing in the 250-300 pound range although the Louisiana record, caught in the Mississippi River in 1997, tipped the scales at 105 pounds. Again, no doubt larger specimens have been taken on trotlines and set hooks.

Blue catfish can be caught on a variety of baits, from live or cut shad to big crawfish to stink baits containing tainted chicken blood or rancid cheese.

Blue cats are the primary target of commercial fishermen but are also sought by recreational anglers.

CHANNEL CATFISH

 When it comes to popularity, no catfish approaches the channel cat in popularity. These are the filets and small fiddlers you find on the platter at catfish restaurants all across the state. While these fish are generally pond raised, which controls their diet, wild caught channel catfish are also delicious on the table.

Around Louisiana, they are everywhere. Blindfold yourself, take a Louisiana map and jab a finger anywhere on the map and chances are, your digit is resting near a good spot to catch channel cats.

BULLHEAD CATFISH

While Louisiana keeps no records on bullheads, the largest ever caught and entered in the records weighed about 9 pounds and was caught in Michigan.

Those we caught as boys on Molido Creek down home weren’t called bullheads; they were “mud cats” to us. Perhaps it was that name that caused us to shy away from them when they ended up on the table.

Bullheads live in practically every lake, pond, creek or slow-moving bayou all over the state. They are easy to catch and when cleaned properly and soon after being caught, they can be rather tasty when fried up golden brown.

Completing a wild turkey Grand Slam is quite a feat. A Louisiana Catfish Grand Slam is not so bad itself.

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Calvary Baptist made quite a few statements when it captured its fourth state softball championship in Broussard over the weekend.

One was that it doesn’t seem to matter in what class or division the Lady Cavaliers play. Saturday’s 8-4 victory over Opelousas Catholic School gave Calvary its second consecutive Division IV state championship. The Cavs also went back-to-back when they won the Class 2A title in 2016 and the Division III title in 2017. Next season, they will move back up to Division III.

The Cavs also showed they can win with offense and defense. Their quarterfinal victory over Central Catholic was a pitcher’s duel that went scoreless until the bottom of the seventh inning, when senior Kelsey Coburn put down a bunt that induced a two-base error to score pinch runner Maggie Moore from second base. Calvary eighth grader Kynzee Anderson, who went toe-to-toe with Central Catholic senior pitcher Hallie Crappell, gave up just three hits and struck out four in the complete-game shutout.

And the play of that game came on defense, when ninth grader Elana Franks made a spectacular, diving catch at the left-field wall in the top of the seventh inning to deny an extra-base hit that certainly would have changed the momentum of the game.

Then at the state tournament in Broussard, Anderson kept the opponents’ bats quiet and pitched out of a number of jams while the Calvary bats lit up St. Julien Park.

In Friday’s 7-1 victory over Riverside Academy, Franks went 4-for-4 with two RBI singles, seventh-grader Carlie Guile was 3-for-4 with two triples and two RBIs, seventh grader Mallory Carver went 2-for-4 with one RBI, Coburn put the Cavs on the board in the bottom of the first inning with an RBI single, and sophomore Mary Grace Woodle had an RBI double. Oh, and by the way, Anderson gave up just four hits and struck out six.

“Our bats were alive,” Calvary coach Tiffany Wood said after Friday’s win. “That was a good all-round game.”

So was Saturday’s victory. Anderson, who got out of a number of jams in innings 3-5, earned MVP honors by striking out 12 batters and giving up just six hits and three walks. And at the plate? Sophomore DJ Lynch went 2-for-5 with a three-run home run and an RBI single, sophomore Ramsey Walker was 2-for-3 with two doubles, and junior Tavia Leadon was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer.

All of the above are pretty loud statements. But the loudest, perhaps, is that the Cavs are for real.

“A lot of people doubted us,” Wood said after the championship game.

The Cavs were doubted because of their youth – this season, they started two seventh graders, two eighth graders, one freshman, three sophomores, one junior, and one senior. The above tells you they may be young in age, but they’re veterans on the softball field.

The Cavs were doubted because of their record – they went into the playoffs as the No. 2 seed with a 20-12 record. Opelousas Catholic went into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed with a 25-5 record. Lost on anyone who doubted Calvary was the fact that the majority of the Class 1-A Cavs’ regular season was against 5A teams – with six wins over those opponents.

“We play the toughest schedule in the state,” Calvary assistant coach Greg Frazier said immediately after the championship game. “A lot of people would have cratered. It made us even better.”

Looks like the doubters have been silenced.

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