From today's TIMES and NEWS-STAR
I
wasn’t at the induction ceremony the night basketball great Elvin Hayes of
Rayville and Eula D. Britton High joined the Class of 1988 in the Louisiana
Sports Hall of Fame. But I’ve been told.
The
Class of 2015 is scheduled for induction Saturday night (June 27) before the
biggest crowd in the event’s history. Organizers spent a part of this week
planning how to comfortably adjust to the unprecedented response to Induction
Weekend and Saturday’s banquet at the Special Events Center in Natchitoches,
there on Front Street on the banks of the Cane River, which isn’t really a
river.
But
then, the banquet hall isn’t really a banquet hall as much as it’s a cozy
stadium for the state’s best sports night of the year, one where fans and
supporters and families get together and dress up to celebrate excellence
demonstrated in an arena of entertainment and competition over a long period of
time.
It’s
a different kind of night, because you never know when an Elvin Hayes will
happen.
An
All-American and player of the year at Houston, an All-Star in 12 of his 16 NBA
seasons, and a world champion with the Washington Bullets in 1978, Hayes, who
played in an era before much cable television, said something really close to
this during his happy and humble acceptance speech.
“When
we beat UCLA and Lew Alcindor in ’68 before the biggest crowd to ever watch a
basketball game at that time, I wondered if the people back home in Rayville
were watching,” he said. “When we played in the Final Four and later in the NBA
playoffs and finally in ’78 when we won the NBA title against the SuperSonics,
even as they were in the locker room pouring champagne on my head and on the
trophy, I wondered if the people back home in Rayville were watching…
“But
tonight, a reason why this is so special, is I don’t have to wonder. Tonight, I
know the people back home in Rayville, and all around Louisiana, are watching.”
Avery
“Little General” Johnson, former NBA champ San Antonio Spur, former 5-4
basketball player in high school – he made it all the way to 5-10 – grew up on
all the playgrounds that dotted the city, spread in points from the Lafitte
Projects in New Orleans liked uneven spokes on the wheels of a bicycle, which
is what he pedaled to get to games as a kid. From those asphalt courts he went
to world champ, then NBA Coach of the Year in Dallas, and now to the SEC, where
he’ll coach Alabama this winter.
But
all those courts and moments and awards don’t have quite the pull of the Louisiana
Sports Hall of Fame, which he’ll join this weekend as a member of the 2015
Class. “This,” he said, “is the top of the line. My roots are still in
Louisiana.”
Shaquille
O’Neal declared the town “Shaqatish” two years ago during his induction. In
2011, Bobby Hebert performed a 25-minutes (or more?) unplanned comedy routine
when introducing his kicking teammate, Morten Andersen. After 15 minutes,
Hebert finally said, “Now … about Mort…” Even Andersen wondered if his friend
had forgotten about him.
You
never know.
You
want class? Joe Ferguson was inducted in 1994, three weeks after Buffalo Bills teammate
O.J. Simpson’s White Bronco incident. It was in the back of everyone’s mind, of
course. At the end of Ferguson’s gracious speech, Hall of Fame Chairman Doug
Ireland recalls Joe saying precisely this, while more than 100 of Ferguson’s
fellow Woodlawn High of Shreveport alums, teachers, coaches and friends “hung
on every syllable”:
“Before
I go, I want to share something with you,” Ferguson said. “We’ve all watched
the news from Los Angeles, and I’ve been asked about it a lot. I’d like to ask
you all for a favor: please pray for my friend O.J.. Thank you very much.”
Stories
about the inductees will be on the sports pages all week; I hope they’ll team
to make Saturday another night they’ll remember fondly, as they remember big
wins or big plays or big friendships they’ve earned or were granted through
athletics.
It
would be tough to get in with a shoehorn this weekend, but maybe it’s time you
planned to go, if you never have been. The Class of 2016 will be announced in
the fall. Keep an eye out and think about a weekend in Natchitoches and being
part of a once-a-year-night, a night when all the people back home, and all
around Louisiana, are watching.
-30-
