Sunday, April 26, 2015

Cinematic celebration of a special 70th anniversary: V-E Day


From Sunday's TIMES and NEWS-STAR


Many of you were around for May 8, 1945, when you and the rest of America and Great Britain celebrated Victory in Europe Day, the end of World War II and the Allies’ victory over the Nazi war machine.

Some of us were then only gleams in the eyes of our veteran fathers, or gleams-to-be in the eyes of our still-teenaged dads. But we know much about it, sometimes through talking to veterans, but mainly because no other war has had more books written or movies made about it. I am counting on cable to hook me up with movies in the next few days as a week from Friday marks the 70th anniversary of V-E Day.

To get your cinematic wheels spinning, we offer here what we think are the best WWII movies ever made. “Best” here means “most entertaining, realistic and/or informative. Some are historical in the strict sense and some just use the war as a backdrop for a good war-seasoned story; “The Pianist” and “The Americanization of Emily” don’t involve so much fighting but could have happened only during the war, and both are top shelf.

Neither of those make this list, which hurts me. Other wonderful movies you should see that aren’t included are “Sand Pebbles,” “Where Eagles Dare,” “The Guns of Navarone,” “Midway,” “Inglorious Bastards,” “The Longest Day,” “Sands of Iwo Jima,” “PT 109,” “Guadalcanal Diary” and “Hell is for Heroes.”

HBO’s “Band of Brothers” mini-series is the best WWII film I’ve seen, and its sister film “Pacific” closely follows the books it’s based on, but neither is a theatrical release. The following are.

10.  Saving Private Ryan: I have to agree with William Goldman, who wrote “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” my favorite movie ever. The first half of this movie says ‘war is hell’ as no other movie does; but once they find Ryan, “the last hour tells us that war can be a neat learning experience for little Matt Damon.” Hollywood having it both ways.

9. A Bridge Too Far: Read the backstory on this movie sometime, the financial risks involved by one man to make it. Workmanlike effort to cover on screen a mission this complicated. Far from perfect but lots of stars, lots of Brit accents. And from real British people!

8. Bridge Over the River Kwai: Alec Guiness. Pride vs. duty vs. duty vs. pride. More Brits!, and in talking roles, too.

7. Stalag 17: Even though I’m not a huge William Holden fan, it’s hard to dismiss what was the first movie focused on prisoners of war. Otto Preminger gets the line of the movie: “No more Mr. Nice Guy.”  

6. Kelly’s Heroes: Not realistic but, unlike “Saving Private Ryan,” it doesn’t try to be two things at once. Entertainment. Think “Ocean’s Eleven” in cammo in 1944. Don Rickles is beautiful: “What’s in it for me?” Eastwood. Telly Savalas. Donald Sutherland as an early-hippie Sherman commander.   

5. The Great Escape: Can’t not watch it. Filmed 10 years after “Stalag 17” and based on a true story. Hello Steve McQueen and your motorbike and baseball glove. James Garner. Bronson. Coburn.

4. Schindler’s List: To write a story for the newspaper, I watched this in a cinema filled with only Jewish moviegoers. And me. Silence when it ended, for maybe a minute? That’s a long time for a lot of people to be still and quiet. Had to lean against a pole outside when it was over.  

3. Casablanca: Please. This could be No. 1 for me, depending on the mood. “I remember every detail. The Germans wore gray, you wore blue…”

2. The Dirty Dozen: The perfect cast and story – and the Krauts the perfect foils -- for these fictional misfits led by Lee Marvin. The best – besides Jim Brown counting and running -- is the Dozen’s rhyming review of their mission: “Franco goes in / where the others have been.”

1. Patton: It opens with a kind of disciplined red-white-and-blue wonder, and George C. Scott never lets up, as Patton didn’t, in this non-fiction re-telling of the general’s greatest hour.

If you disagree, no hard feelings. The war’s over.

Contact at teddy@latech.edu
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Friday, April 24, 2015

Paul Hoolahan to receive 2015 Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award





NATCHITOCHES – Paul Hoolahan, whose shrewd leadership over 19 years has helped keep the Allstate Sugar Bowl among college football’s elite postseason contests, has been named the 2015 recipient of the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award presented by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Hoolahan became the Sugar Bowl’s executive director in 1996 and has added the role of Chief Executive Officer of the organization, which not only hosts at least one of college football’s premiere games annually, but also stages a continuing series of events promoting high school and college sports around the state.
  
The Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award is presented annually by the LSWA’s 35-member Hall of Fame selection committee to an individual who has played a decisive role as a sports leader or administrator benefiting Louisiana and/or bringing credit to Louisiana on the national and international level.

Dixon Award winners are enshrined as Hall of Fame members and are featured in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum in Natchitoches.

The award is named in honor of Hall of Famer Dave Dixon, the driving force behind bringing the NFL to Louisiana with the creation of the New Orleans Saints franchise. Dixon, who passed away in 2010, is also considered the “father” of the Mercedes-Benz Louisiana Superdome, developing the concept for the innovative domed structure and pushing state officials for its construction in the late 1960s.

Hoolahan will be among the 11-man 2015 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class to be spotlighted in the annual Induction Dinner and Ceremonies on Saturday evening, June 27, at the Natchitoches Events Center. The Induction Dinner and Ceremonies are the culmination of the 2015 Induction Celebration beginning Thursday afternoon, June 25, with a press conference and the La Capitol Kickoff Reception.

LSU’s all-time leading rusher, three-time Super Bowl champion Kevin Faulk, joins UL-Lafayette great and Super Bowl quarterback Jake Delhomme, former NBA champion point guard and Coach of the Year Avery Johnson, along with coaching legends Pat Collins, Yvette Girouard and Otis Washington, among eight greats chosen for the 2015 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class. College Football Hall of Fame member Leonard Smith and championship Thoroughbred racing trainer Frank Brothers are also in the Class of 2015 announced by the Hall of Fame and LSWA last October.

Also honored with enshrinement will be south Louisiana newspapermen Glenn Quebedeaux and the late Bobby Dower, chosen the 2015 recipients of the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism.

The 2015 Induction Class will be showcased in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum, operated by the Louisiana State Museum system in a partnership with the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. The striking $23 million, two-story, 27,500-square foot structure faces Cane River Lake in the National Historic Landmark District of Natchitoches and has garnered worldwide architectural acclaim and rave reviews for its contents since its grand opening during the 2013 Hall of Fame induction weekend.

Hoolahan’s Dixon Award honor was jointly announced Wednesday by Hall of Fame chairman Doug Ireland and LSWA president Brent St. Germain.

Hoolahan has directed the bowl’s operations for 21 bowls, including five national championship games during his tenure in New Orleans.

While successfully hosting multiple bowls and national championships, Hoolahan has maintained the bowl’s status as one of the premier bowl games in the nation. Most recently, he brokered an arrangement with the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12 Conference to host the top available teams from each conference in the Sugar Bowl through 2025 - except for when hosting four College Football Playoff national semifinal games, as it did in 2015.

In Hoolahan’s nearly two decades with the Sugar Bowl, the organization has generated well over $2 billion for the local economy.

During his tenure, the bowl has more than doubled its number of ancillary community events. In 2014, the Sugar Bowl took on title sponsorship of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s slate of state championship events. Hoolahan also spearheaded the Sugar Bowl’s involvement with New Orleans’ successful bid to host the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four, as well as the 2013 NCAA Women’s Final Four.

In addition to its many events, the Bowl is also heavily involved with several other local organizations. The Allstate Sugar Bowl sponsors the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame, The Manning Award, given to the nation’s most outstanding quarterback, and the local chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame. It took over title sponsorship of the Crescent City Classic in 2012.

Formerly the AD at Vanderbilt, Hoolahan served as chairman of the Football Bowl Association and was a member of the NCAA Football Board of Directors.

Fourteen men have previously been presented the Dixon Award since its inception in 2005. Last year there were two recipients: Tynes Hildebrand, a coach and later athletics director at Northwestern State who served a decade as one of the NCAA’s top basketball officiating administrators, and Wright Waters, the longtime Sun Belt Conference commissioner.

The first winner was Randy Gregson, a New Orleans native/resident and former president of the United States Tennis Association. In 2006 the winner was Emmanuel “Boozy” Bourgeois, president of Louisiana Special Olympics since 1972.

The 2007 recipients were Don Landry, a longtime collegiate administrator and basketball coach, and Doug Thornton, the executive director of the Superdome.

In 2008, the Dixon Award went to world renowned orthopedic Dr. James Andrews, a Homer native, LSU graduate and SEC champion pole vaulter.

The 2009 recipients were George Dement, a Bossier City boxing and youth sports activist; and “Mr. Softball” Benny Turcan, a New Orleans native and long-time state ASA softball commissioner.

In 2010 the Dixon Award winner was Gerald Boudreaux, the longtime City of Lafayette recreation director best known as one of the country’s top college basketball referees in the last three decades.

A year later, the committee honored Elmo Adolph, an Olympic and professional boxing official, and Billy Montgomery, who as a highly-regarded state legislator championed sports causes including construction of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame museum.

In 2012, the Dixon Award went to Marksville physician Dr. L.J. Mayeux, the former national president and chairman of the board for Ducks Unlimited renowned for his efforts to restore duck habitat across the nation.

The 2013 recipient was New Orleans businessman and sports benefactor Milt Retif, whose influence has been especially significant for American Legion baseball and Tulane baseball in his hometown.

The 2015 Induction Celebration will kick off Thursday, June 25 with the press conference and reception. It includes three receptions, a youth sports clinic, and a Friday, June 26 celebrity pro-am golf scramble at Oak Wing Golf Course in Alexandria. Tickets for the Induction Dinner and Ceremonies, and golf entries, are on sale through the LaSportsHall.com website.

Adding to the 310 sports competitors currently enshrined, 14 previous winners of the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership award and 54 prior recipients of the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism, there are 378 members of the Hall of Fame prior to this summer’s ceremonies.

The 2015 Induction Celebration weekend will be hosted by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, the support organization for the Hall of Fame.  The LSHOF Foundation was established as a 501 c 3 non-profit entity in 1975 and is governed by a statewide board of directors.  For information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Foundation President/CEO Lisa Babin at 318-458-0166 or lisababin@LaSportsHall.com.  Standard and customized sponsorships are available.  

LSWA names Bobby Dower, Glenn Quebedeaux as 2015 Distinguished Service Award recipients







NATCHITOCHES – Bobby Dower (top) and Glenn Quebedeaux (in  a suit jacket!), whose innovation and leadership helped shape the modern era of sports coverage around the state, are the recipients of the 2015 Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

Dower was a writer and editor for the Lake Charles American Press for 43 years. Quebedeaux had a 33-year newspaper career in Acadiana. Both have been cornerstone figures in the LSWA, including terms as president of the organization and roles on the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame selection committee, for five decades.

Close friends, they each resided in Crowley until Dower’s sudden, unexpected passing from cancer last July. Dower was elected by acclamation and presented the award shortly before his death. Quebedeaux was recently selected from a 16-person pool of outstanding nominees.

The Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism is the most prestigious honor offered to sports media in the state. Recipients are chosen by the 35-member Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame selection committee based on their professional accomplishments in local, state, regional and even national arenas, with leadership in the LSWA a contributing factor and three decades of work in the profession as a requirement.  

Distinguished Service Award winners are enshrined in the Hall of Fame along with the 378 current athletes, sports journalists, coaches and administrators chosen since 1959. Only 54 leading figures in the state’s sports media have been honored with the Distinguished Service Award since its inception 32 years ago, in 1982.

Dower and Quebedeaux will be among the 2015 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class to be spotlighted in the annual Induction Dinner and Ceremonies on Saturday evening, June 27, at the Natchitoches Events Center. The Induction Dinner and Ceremonies are the culmination of the 2015 Induction Celebration beginning Thursday afternoon, June 25, with a press conference at the Hall of Fame museum at 800 Front Street in Natchitoches.

LSU’s all-time leading rusher, three-time Super Bowl champion Kevin Faulk, joins UL-Lafayette great and Super Bowl quarterback Jake Delhomme, former NBA champion point guard and Coach of the Year Avery Johnson, along with coaching legends Pat Collins, Yvette Girouard and Otis Washington, among eight greats chosen for the 2015 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class. College Football Hall of Fame member Leonard Smith and championship Thoroughbred racing trainer Frank Brothers are also in the Class of 2015 announced by the Hall of Fame and LSWA last October.

Also honored with enshrinement will be the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award winner, to be announced Wednesday.

The 2015 Induction Class will be showcased in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum, operated by the Louisiana State Museum system in a partnership with the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. The striking $23 million, two-story, 27,500-square foot structure faces Cane River Lake in the National Historic Landmark District of Natchitoches and has garnered worldwide architectural acclaim and rave reviews for its contents since its grand opening during the 2013 Hall of Fame induction weekend.

The selection of Dower and Quebedeaux was jointly announced by Hall of Fame chairman Doug Ireland and LSWA president Brent St. Germain.

Dower began his career as a freshman at McNeese State when he walked into the American Press sports department asking for a part-time job. At the age of 25, he was named sports editor in 1976, then in 1993 took over as the paper’s news editor, later moving to editor-in-chief and managing editor roles, along with serving as chairman of the newspaper’s editorial board.

Best known for his personal and insightful coverage of McNeese athletics, Dower greatly expanded the American Press’ overall scope of coverage, adamant through his various positions that the paper could exceed the range of a typical small-town daily. He added new emphasis on local reporting on LSU and the New Orleans Saints while raising the bar on coverage of area high school and amateur sports.

A winner of numerous LSWA and Associated Press awards for writing and editing, including the inaugural LSWA Columnist of the Year Award, Dower’s ability to hire and mentor talented sports staffers was remarkable, and resulted in the American Press collecting hundreds of honors for its sports coverage during his career.

Quebedeaux started in 1975 at the Abbeville Meridional and two years later started a 15-year run as sports editor at the New Iberia Daily Iberian, where he was an innovator and acclaimed writer and editor. After entering private business, he continued as a sportswriter until 2005 as a correspondent for the Baton Rouge Advocate and other publications, primarily with UL Lafayette coverage.

His service to the LSWA has included managing the organization’s expansive writing contest annually since 1993. Before taking on that role, he won more than 50 awards in categories such as deadline writing, columns, spot news, headlines, makeup, section design, special section design and the LSWA’s Prep Writer of the Year honor in 12 years from 1980-92. One page design win in the LSWA contest came in a year when entries from all state papers, large and small, were combined into one category.

Quebedeaux’s Daily Iberian sports section, an afternoon paper, was a trendsetter. It was the state’s first to feature a full agate page, regarded as absurd by some colleagues at larger dailies. The coverage included hockey results at the dawn of its regional interest; racing entries with morning odds for two Louisiana tracks (Evangeline and Delta Downs), believed to be a first by any state daily; and morning betting lines on pro and college sports, not acceptable at the time at many papers. Quebedeaux also was one of the early trailblazers in state recruiting coverage.

In his term as LSWA president, Quebeaux reached out to smaller dailies and weekly papers, teamed with vice president Dan McDonald to produce a monthly newsletter before the internet, and membership reached an all-time high of 165.

The 2015 Induction Celebration will kick off Thursday, June 25 with the press conference and reception. It includes three receptions, a youth sports clinic, and a Friday, June 26 celebrity pro-am golf scramble at Oak Wing Golf Course in Alexandria. Tickets for the Induction Dinner and Ceremonies, and golf entries, are on sale this spring through the LaSportsHall.com website.

Adding to the 310 sports competitors currently enshrined, 14 previous winners of the Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership award and 54 prior recipients of the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism, there are 378 members of the Hall of Fame prior to this summer’s ceremonies.

The 2015 Induction Celebration weekend will be hosted by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, the support organization for the Hall of Fame.  The LSHOF Foundation was established as a 501 c 3 non-profit entity in 1975 and is governed by a statewide board of directors.  For information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Foundation President/CEO  Lisa Babin at 318-458-0166 or lisababin@LaSportsHall.com.  Standard and customized sponsorships are available.