Teaching and learning will be so much fun this fall for Rapides Parish students! Over 300 teachers across the parish began Kagan training on July 10 to infuse more interaction, cooperative learning, and team building into their lessons. 

Benjamin B. Close, MD, Carol Netherland, MSN, CFNP, and the staff of Louisiana Allergy & Asthma Specialists are pleased to announce the association of Rebecca Brady, MSN, APRN, FNP-C.

Brady will greatly enhance the office’s ability to serve its patients and referring providers.  In addition to her role of seeing new and existing patients, Rebecca will focus on education and long term management of chronic illnesses such as asthma, eczema, urticaria, and other respiratory conditions.

Brady is a graduate of Rapides High School, LSU-Alexandria, and University of Louisiana at Lafayette.  She is married to Rob Brady and has two children.

Call 318-445-6221 to make an appointment.

NOTE — This is part of a series of stories profiling the 12-person Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2023, who will be inducted to culminate three days of festivities in Natchitoches July 27-29. For tickets and more information, visit LaSportsHall.com or call 318-238-4255.

By TED LEWIS, Written for the LSWA

It couldn’t have been easy being the guy they called Easy.

Consider the accomplishments of his father and brothers that Eli Manning was challenged to live up to on the way to his own considerable football stardom:

By the time he was a freshman at Newman, older brothers Cooper and Peyton had been highly recruited stars for the Greenies. And as if to put more pressure on Eli, Peyton wrote in his yearbook, “Watch out, world. This one is going to be the best one.”

By the time Eli got to Ole Miss, Peyton had been an All-America and Heisman Trophy runner-up at Tennessee then the first pick in the 1998 NFL draft. That’s not to mention Eli chose to play at the school where his father, Archie, was a living legend. The school speed limit was his number – 18.

By the time of the 2004 draft where Eli matched his brother by being the No. 1 pick, Peyton was coming off the first of his unmatched five NFL MVP seasons.

Eli even had to follow Peyton’s hosting gig on Saturday Night Live, still considered the best-ever by an athlete.

Plus, Eli would spend the entirety of his 16-year NFL career in the media pressure cooker of the Big Apple.

He cooly handled it all, though — becoming the career passing leader for his high school, college and NFL teams, the last where he was the longest tenured player in the 98-year history of the New York Giants and quarterbacked Big Blue to two unlikely Super Bowl championships with two MVP performances, one more than Peyton’s total.

Not bad for someone whose parents questioned whether he had the competitive inclination to follow the route of his father and older brothers.

“It took me a little while before I was comfortable with the idea that maybe I didn’t have to match my family, or at least didn’t have to do it exactly the same way,” Eli said. “I loved playing football, I loved my teammates and I loved the commitment and preparation it took.

“It was never about keeping up with my family.”

Or, as his mother, Olivia, put it more succinctly, “Eli was always a little different from the others.

“He was quieter and calmer and kind of hard to rattle. Eli just rolled along.”

And now, Eli has rolled into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, joining Archie and Peyton in Natchitoches and making the Mannings the only father-brother combination among the hall’s 479 inductees.

“He more than deserves it,” said Peyton, five years Eli’s senior, who was inducted in 2019.

“More than anything else, Eli developed his own identity at every step along the way.

“He was tough-minded, durable, and always took accountability throughout his career. I’m honored to be in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame with him.”

Added Archie, who was inducted in 1988, “Eli had the right disposition to handle everything that came his way.

“He was always low-key, quiet and humble. Eli just didn’t worry about things.”

Well, not always.

When he was a senior at Newman and the Greenies were playing a Thursday night game, Eli made an urgent pregame call from the locker room to his mother asking her to be sure to tape Seinfeld.

Years later, when Jerry Seinfeld heard the story, he sent Eli an autographed DVD set of the entire series. Such are the benefits of celebrity in New York.

Of course, there is a burden as well.

Although Eli famously never read what was written about him (Olivia would alert him when there was something she knew he would be called on to respond to), he acknowledges that the notorious media pressure in New York is a very real thing.

“Early on, it was difficult for me because everything in New York is overanalyzed,” Eli said. “You have to learn pretty quickly not to listen to it.”

Winning became habitual for Big Blue with No. 10 behind center, including two Super Bowl triumphs after a record-shattering career at Ole Miss, including wins in the Independence Bowl and Cotton Bowl in his last two seasons.

Eli’s love of all things Giants led to what Archie calls him becoming a “Jersey boy,” settling with his family — wife Abby, a fellow Ole Miss alum, and their four children — in Summitt, New Jersey where he remains an ambassador for the Giants and an active participant in charitable and community activities, including being a fan at his kids’ hockey, lacrosse and softball games.

Eli acknowledges it’s been a good ride.

 “I grew up with a wonderful family and friends,” he said. “And now I’m living my second chapter in a terrific place to raise my family and doing things that are important to me while getting time to play a little golf.”

So maybe it wasn’t that much of a burden being Eli Manning.

Like another very famous former resident of New Jersey, Eli did it his way.

Natchitoches attorney-at-law Jack O. “Britt” Brittain Jr., one of the most remarkable and beloved ambassadors ever in his community, passed away Tuesday morning at age 67 after a brief illness.

A celebration of life service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at The Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception Church in Natchitoches, with Father R. B. Williams, O.P., under the direction of Blanchard St. Denis Funeral Home. A visitation will be held at the funeral home in Natchitoches from 9-11 a.m. on Thursday.

He was born June 20, 1956, and died July 11, 2023. He was preceded in death by his parents, Jack Oliver Brittain and Ann Williams Brittain, paternal grandparents, Clarence Lafitte Brittain and Irene Humphries Brittain, and maternal grandparents, Judge R. B. Williams and Ora Garland Williams.

He is survived by six treasured siblings: Dr. Marguerite “Cissy” Picou and her husband, Dr. Bryan A. Picou of Natchitoches; Rebecca Brittain Morris and her husband, Wallace “Wally” E. Morris of Alexandria; Judge Lala Brittain Sylvester, and her husband, Russell “Rusty” L. Sylvester of Natchitoches; Eliza Brittain Behrendsen, and her husband, Gunnar F. Behrendsen of Natchitoches; John A. Brittain, and his fiancé, Janice Wheat of Youngsville; and Mary Jane “Cookie” Brittain Richardson, and her husband, Kirk J. Richardson of Nashville, Tenn.

Britt has 16 beloved nieces and nephews: Marguerite “Megan” Picou Bishop, and her husband, Ashley, Sara Picou McCann, and her husband, Gabe, Catherine “Catie” Picou Oryl, and her husband, Ben, Dr. Bryan A. Picou, Jr, and his wife, Kassie, Winfield Hancock Morris, and his wife, Lidiane, Wade Hampton Morris, and his wife, Kathryn “Kat,” Lala “Brittany” Sylvester Gaspard, and her husband, Brett, Courtney Elisabeth Sylvester, Ashley Kathleen Sylvester, Kathleen Marie Sylvester; Behrend Brittain Behrendsen, Ashton Lafitte Behrendsen, Sydney Brittain Dickson, and her husband, Clayton, Ann Marie Brittain; Stanley John Richardson, Richard Blanchard Richardson.

He loved his 15 grandnieces and grandnephews: Emma Virginia Bishop; Ella, Liam and Andrew McCann; Mack, Molly, Fiona and Claire Oryl; Amelia, Oliver and Eleanor Picou; Cooper Morris; Maeve Bailey Gaspard; and Rigby and William Dickson.

In lieu of flowers, the family hopes friends will consider contributions to the Jack Brittain, Jr., Memorial Scholarship Fund at Northwestern State University to benefit a female student-athlete.

Contributions can be made online by visiting: fundraise.givesmart.com/vf/nsujack. Contributions can also be mailed to: Demons Unlimited Foundation, Attention: Jack Brittain, Jr., Memorial Scholarship, 468 Caspari Street, Natchitoches, LA 71457. For more information, please contact NSU Associate Athletic Director Darian Westerfield at 318-357-4560.

He was a faithful parishioner of The Minor Basilica Immaculate Conception Church. Among his social memberships, he was a longtime member of the Krewe of Dionysos, and had been a member of Holiday In Dixie Cotillion, Holiday In Dixie Planter’s Ball, and an escort for the St. Denis Art Guild.

“Britt” was a 1974 graduate of St. Mary’s High in Natchitoches and was one of the first people inducted in the St. Mary’s Athletic Hall of Fame. He lettered four years in track, football and basketball, and played in the Louisiana High School Coaches’ All-Star Football Game in 1974. Britt was selected to attend Boys State, and also served as a page in the Louisiana Legislature and at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. He also worked for U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston, helping staff his north Louisiana office. In his senior year of high school, his fellow students voted him Mr. SMH. As an adult, he was an active member of the Tiger Athletic Association.

He chose to stay home and attended Northwestern State University, earning a football scholarship. He lettered in all four seasons (1974, 1975, 1977, 1978) first as a running back, then a receiver, and was a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity. Britt graduated with a business administration degree in 1979, and set his sights on law school to become an attorney like his father.

He was admitted to the Paul Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University and earned his Juris Doctorate in 1982.

He served as a clerk for Louisiana Head Supreme Court Justice Jack Watson.

Britt entered public service after law school, and joined Senator Johnston’s staff in a full-time capacity, working both in Washington, D.C., and around Louisiana.

“Britt worked for us even in high school. We trusted him to represent the requests of North Louisiana for his entire tenure with our offices,” said Senator Johnson. “My wife and I have known Britt since he was born. He will be missed.”

Britt worked with Senator Johnson until the senator’s retirement. He was immediately offered, and accepted, a position with new U.S. Senator John Breaux as his North Louisiana Chief Political Aide and served until Senator Breaux closed his Shreveport office.

After coming back to Louisiana, Britt settled in Shreveport, where he was well-known and beloved in Shreveport-Bossier society. He was even named by the Shreveport Times as one of the city’s “Most Eligible Bachelors,” a distinction he informally retained for years to come.

He became a member of the Indoor Tennis Association in Shreveport and later was part of a United States Tennis Association national finalist and state champion team. He was a state-ranked singles player.

After leaving government service, Britt worked as a Merrill Lynch Financial Planner in Shreveport. He ultimately returned to his hometown and joined the Brittain Family Law Firm as an attorney-at-law, remaining in practice for the rest of his life, with specialties including estate planning, timber management and oil & gas leasing. His invaluable service to a far-reaching and diverse group of clients and friends was universally admired.

He was among the best of the best and always provided the life and joy of any event. Britt made his priorities in life serving others, supporting countless noble causes and especially his beloved hometown and alma maters of St. Mary’s, NSU and LSU. For decades, he was an avid friend to NSU’s Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority co-founded by his grandmother Ora G. Williams in 1929. Early this century, the sisters showed their love and appreciation by creating the “Jack ‘Britt’ Brittain Service Award” given to a person who is remarkably supportive of the Tri Sigmas at NSU.

“Jack defined the virtue of generosity. He was generous of time, generous of treasure, and most importantly generous of spirit,” said Dr. Jim Henderson, president of the University of Louisiana System and former president of NSU. “His support for our alma mater knew no bounds and was exceeded only by his love and support of his family and friends. When our fathers met as football teammates at Louisiana Tech in the 1940s, they had no idea their sons would bond as Demon alums some 70 years later. Jack was a treasure to us all and I will cherish his friendship for life.”

He spent 18 football seasons as the often unconventional, always passionate sideline reporter for the Demon Sports Network, and did everything he could in support of NSU Athletics in all sports. Britt’s loyalty and service was recognized by the N-Club, the university’s association of former athletic letterwinners, in 2013 when he was surprised by being inducted into the N-Club Hall of Fame as a winner of the Distinguished Service Award. He was a founding member of Demon Brothers, a football alumni group, a member of the Demons Unlimited Foundation and the NSU Alumni Association, and was universally beloved by student-athletes, coaches and staff from all sports and all ages.

Through his involvement with NSU Athletics, he developed deep friendships with sports media, coaches and athletic personnel from around the state and Southland Conference. He volunteered to do legal work for the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, some which was vital to the location of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum in Natchitoches. He also enthusiastically attended annual inductions and assisted in LSHOF operations, notably taking a major role in hosting golf tournaments. He was awarded a Life Membership in the LSWA and later, in 2017, became a recipient of the organization’s most prized honor, the Mac Russo Award, given to an individual who “contributes to the progress and ideals of the LSWA.”

He made it his mission to spread joy and happiness at every opportunity, throughout his life, and was lovingly loyal to his family and friends. He was a trusted confidant and advisor to people in all walks of life, a gracious and festive host, and a servant/leader in his community, state and nation.

He will be missed. Britt left an indelible, lasting impact with no boundaries. To know him was to love and admire him, and also, to feel his unabashed love that he shared with everyone.

November 5, 1944 – July 7, 2023

Funeral services for T.J. Speir, Jr. will be held at 11:00 a.m., Monday, July 17, 2023 at Philadelphia Baptist Church, Deville with Reverend Jacob Crawford, Reverend Tom Jordon, and Philip Robertson officiating. Burial will be in Slay Cemetery, Holloway.

The family requests that visitation be observed at Hixson Brothers, Pineville Sunday, July 16, 2023 from 2:00-6:00 p.m. and continued at the church Monday from 9:00 a.m. until time of service.

Mr. Speir, 78, of Pineville, passed from this life on Friday, July 7, 2023 at his home.

TJ, “Skeeter” Speir was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, son, brother and friend. Foremost, he loved his grandkids Mackenzie, Tyler, Kennady and Briley more than anything and attended nearly every event that each participated in. They were his pride and joy. As a son, he took great care of his parents TJ Sr and, especially his mother, Townsend for many years. He loved his brothers, Blackie (Bity)and Mickey (Sharon)and their families. He was involved with ward 11/Dixie youth baseball and softball at Philadelphia ball park for 15+ years. Coaching and providing recreational opportunities for hundreds of kids in our community.

He served the parish as chief sanitarian at the Rapides Parish Health Unit for 33 years, (etc. other boards). As a father, he was the very best role model and example Brad and Brent could ever had. His love and support was never ending for his family. He would help anyone and everyone in need, with a giving heart and a smile on his face. He loved duck hunting, fishing, golf, and mowing Speir Hill.

Lastly and without question, Skeeter was a loving and devoted husband to his wife Ann for 56 years, 11 months and 2 days. He was as honest, as kind, and respected man that ever lived. Those that knew him know this to be true. He always put others ahead of himself in everything he did. The world was a better place with him in it. He will be missed so much by so many.

He was preceded in death by his parents, T.J. Speir, Sr. and Townsend Porter Speir, and brother, Mickey Speir.

Those left to cherish his memory include his wife, Ann Curtis Speir; sons, Brad Speir, and Brent Speir (Melinda); brother, Blackie Speir (Bity); sister-in-law, Sharon Speir; grandchildren, Mackenzie S. Carter (Alex), Kennady Speir, Tyler Speir, and Briley Speir, and numerous other family and friends.

In lieu of flowers please donate to the Holloway Methodist (Slay Cemetery), 182 Denny Rd, Deville, LA 71328.

BOM was a sponsor of the Bayou Title, Inc. 2023 Realtor CE Conference in Baton Rouge. Pictured left to right: BOM’s Kristina Bagwell and Thomas Zabasky with Bayou Title.

By JIM BUTLER

Cleco is seeking a rate increase, effective next July, while also proposing a significant change in how it computes residential billings.

The proposal was filed with the Public Service Commission on June 30. A year to decide such a rate case is not extraordinary for the PSC.While the 3.9 percent rate hike (first-year change, after proposed mitigation) request would not generate the  return on investment the utility feels is justified, it does allow for the unspoken reality of elected PSC members’ sensitive to public pressure.

In the first year under the request revenue from all operations would rise $115.5 million, then another $40 million the second year, reaching $155.5 million after year two.

According to the application, monthly first-year billing for a 1,000 KW residential account would rise from $131 to $138, not counting any fuel adjust charges.

Without proposed credits, the monthly bill cited would jump to $156 monthly, absent the fuel charges. That is the projected level for year three.

A substantive change – residential rate decoupling – is also proposed by the utility headquartered in Pineville.

Decoupling lowers customers’ bills when weather-related sales increase while benefiting the utility by creating more financial certainty when sales decline.

According to the application, Cleco Power currently recovers substantially all its residential base revenue requirements through volumetric charges applied to customer consumption.

Decoupling would effectively cap total base revenue for residential customers when weather has a higher-than-normal impact on their bills, while allowing Cleco to revise its residential rate design without “substantial additional risk of revenue erosion.”

As proposed, when weather and energy consumption are above normal and residential average base revenue exceeds the threshold established in this rate case, customers would realize reductions in their bills over a following 12-month period.

Conversely, when weather and energy consumption are below normal, and residential average base revenue is below the threshold, bills would increase over a following 12-month period.

Cleco notes it is at a critical juncture, as is the whole industry, as it transitions from fossil fuel to renewable resources, for example a $250 million, 240 megawatt solar farm being developed at Dolet Hills, a former fossil-fueled generating site.

Loss of wholesale power sales from the Dolet site are put at $89.4 million annually and coupled with rising expenses and flat load growth make a rate change necessary, Cleco officials say.

The utility’s senior management team has developed a strategic plan, Vision 2025, “to provide safe, reliable and clean electric service to customers at affordable rates, on a sustainable basis.”

Cleco operates in 24 of the state’s 64 parishes.

By JIM BUTLER

When a special operation in Rapides Parish cast its net recently for probation and parole violators one very familiar fish was in the catch.

Allen Craig Bell, 46, of Alexandria was among 45 nabbed in the multi-jurisdictional sweep.

He is charged with three counts of contempt of court, three counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, illegal carrying firearm with drugs, possession of paraphernalia and possession of CDS I 14 grams or less marijuana, tetracycline or chemical derivatives thereof.

Most recently Bell had been picked up on three contempt warrants and jailed on Feb. 14. He posted $51,000 bond the next day.

That Valentines Day booking was Bell’s first since September 2020, when he was charged as a fugitive and on a contempt count. He posted bail a week later.

A year earlier Bell was arrested twice in 10 days.

On Feb. 13, 2019 he was booked as a fugitive and also charged with flight from an officer, disturbing the peace sound system, trespass remaining after forbidden and contempt of court. He posted $3,000 bond the next day.

On Feb. 25 he was back in familiar surroundings, charged with:

Parole violation, simple assault, cyberstalking by electronic mail, false imprisonment, trespassing remaining after forbidden, possession of paraphernalia and possession CDS III.

He made $14,600 bail on April 9.

Initial appearance of Bell in accessible Rapides Parish Jail records is September 2014, when he was accused of illegal carrying of a firearm.

He made headlines in February 2017 after a traffic stop by Alexandria officers.

As a result he was charged with resisting arrest by false statement, resisting by flight, unauthorized entry and battery of an officer.

At year’s end, Dec. 28, 2017, he was accused of three counts of contempt, theft, possession of paraphernalia, possession of CDS II and possession, manufacture, distribution, dispense CDS II.

He was in jail more than a year until posting $19,100 bail on Jan. 16, 2019.

Currently, the fish is back in the sea, making $45,000 bail on July 5.

All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

A multijurisdictional roundup operation conducted last week results in 45 arrests, methamphetamine and firearms seized.

In the early weeks of June 2023, Agents assigned to the Rapides Area Drug Enforcement (RADE) Unit began coordinating with Louisiana State Probation and Parole Agents in Alexandria in reference to a multijurisdictional operation roundup. The proposed mission had an emphasis on individuals who were currently being supervised by Probation and Parole and had active arrest warrants for failing to comply with the terms of their probation or parole status.

On June 29th, 2023, Agents from the Louisiana Department of Probation and Parole from around the state joined RADE Agents, deputies with the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office and Pineville City Marshals Office and Officers with the Alexandria and Pineville Police Departments as well as Troopers with the Louisiana State Police, in an effort to reduce the number of active Probation and Parole warrants in Rapides Parish.
In total, forty-five suspects were arrested during this multijurisdictional operation. Thirty-two were Probation/Parole warrant cases closed by arrest and fifteen were other local arrest warrants, weapons violations, and narcotic related charges. Additionally, over fourteen pounds of methamphetamines was seized, eight firearms recovered and over $8,600.00 was seized due to being revenue from the illegal sales of drugs.
The arrests were all made without incident and were conducted in the Alexandria, Ball, Boyce, Cheneyville, Deville, Hineston, Lecompte, Pineville and Woodworth areas.
Agents say the success of this multi-agency operation will lead to future operations being conducted in Rapides Parish.

Chewing the fat about this and that:

Legendary Menard coach and math and religion teacher Wally Smith celebrated his 80th birthday and his and Becky’s 57th wedding anniversary a few nights ago. Smith, as tough a competitor as there is, is no longer able to run, but the retired track and cross country coach can ride a bike. He does it better than men half his age, as he set and achieved his goal to “ride his age” in bike miles on his birthday. He did concede that he didn’t do all 80 miles in one ride, but he split it up and got it done on the same day.

If that doesn’t impress you, how about this tidbit: he and Becky frequently write love letters to each other, and he says their marriage has gotten stronger with each year they’ve been together. Becky says she is often “finding out something I never knew” about Wally through the letters. Then again, in retirement, Wally has become a prolific writer, self-publishing nine books. He is the Cenla Authors Club “author of the month,” with meet-and-greet sessions scheduled this Thursday and next Thursday, respectively, at the Westside Regional Library and the Main Library, both from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. …

Carole Baxter texted me the other day that her and husband Lee’s prize Tennessee walking horse Jimmer Fredette had to be euthanized last month. She named the horse after her favorite basketball player, Brigham Young University’s former college basketball player of the year.

Although she and Lee owned several walking horses, this was their crown jewel. Jimmer, trained by Dale Watts, won two Tennessee Walking Horse national championships, the first as Reserve World Grand Champion 2-year-old in 2012, then as the World Grand Champion 4-year-old in August of 2014, when he was later voted Horse of the Year by walking horse trainers across America.

In addition to Jimmer’s stellar show career, he retired as a breeding stallion and produced a world grand champion filly out of his first crop of offspring.

He was 13. …

Watching some of the first round of the MLB draft, I was surprised to see so many high school players selected, including four of the top 10 and even the third pick of the draft behind LSU’s Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews: centerfielder Max Clark of Franklin (Indiana) Community High School.

Former Alexandria Aces manager Stan Cliburn, in his 50th year of professional baseball as both a player and manager, agreed that it was an uncharacteristically high number of prep players selected. Drafted himself out of high school (Forest Hill, Jackson, Miss.) as a catcher by the California Angels in the fifth round of the 1974 draft, Cliburn suggests some of that might have to do with college players “hanging around for transfer portal money.”

The Angels signed Cliburn for $22,000, “and,” he says, “I thought I was a millionaire.”

NOTE — This is part of a series of stories profiling the 12-person Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2023, who will be inducted to culminate three days of festivities in Natchitoches July 27-29. For tickets and more information, visit LaSportsHall.com or call 318-238-4255.

By TEDDY ALLEN, Journal Sports/Written for the LSWA

A two-time All-America receiver and the SEC Player of the Year as a senior in 1987, former LSU Tiger Wendell Davis is so unassuming, so under the radar and in the moment, that how good he was can somewhat escape a lot of folks, including, of all people, Wendell Davis.

“It’s beautiful to see how the game’s evolved, especially at the receiver position,” he said from Chicago, where he’s lived and worked and raised a family since his NFL career ended after a devastating injury five games into his sixth season with the Bears in 1993. “These guys today are a lot taller, a lot faster, a lot stronger … they make such a big difference out there.”

In his LSU-loving mind are pictures of Kayshon Boutte, Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Jarvis Landry, Josh Reed, Odell Beckham Jr., dude after dude from the past 20 years, guys who, if you saw them walking in Baton Rouge, you’d know where they were going and why: to Tiger Stadium, to catch a bunch of footballs.

“To me,” Davis said, “as a receiver, it’s beautiful to see … the way they’re built, the way they move. They possess it all.”

He smiles — it’s a sideline-to-sideline smile, always — and he shakes his head, almost in disbelief. And then with a hint of shy amazement, one of the most prolific receivers in school history says, “I couldn’t do what they do.”

Which is fine except … well, he did.

He did what they’re doing.

And he did it before many of them were born.

While it’s been 30 years since he retired as a player and a quarter century since he finished his college career with three touchdown catches and the Most Valuable Player award in the 1987 Gator Bowl, and while the world and the game has changed plenty, the LSU record book hasn’t changed as much as you’d think.

The record shows that even the passing of time makes it impossible to overlook the accomplishments of Wendell Davis, a member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame’s outstanding Class of 2023.

“We sort of changed the SEC in the mid-’80s, the way teams had to defend; Wendell was a big part of that,” said Tommy Hodson, also a Louisiana Sports Hall of Famer and the triggerman for all those passes to Davis those final two fabulous years of Davis’s college career in 1986-87. “When you look back now, what he did still stacks up.”

Davis still holds the school record for career receptions with 183, and outside of Eric Martin — his Hall of Fame immediate predecessor at LSU — and a Todd Kinchen, Andy Hamilton and Carlos Carson dotted here and there, each an outstanding player, Davis is the only guy who played pre-2000 whose name still litters the receiving Top 10 lists, most of which he was at the top of when he left LSU as a first-round pick to Chicago.

Davis left LSU as the leader in receptions in a game (14) and in a single season (80), in single-season receiving yardage (1,244), in receiving TDs (11) in yards per game (113.1) and in career receiving yards (2,708).

Dude from Shreveport-Fair Park could play.

And remember: until the 2002-03 season, statistics in bowl games and playoff games didn’t count. Plus teams played 11 game regular seasons then, and maybe a bowl. Now a team can play as many as 15 in a season.

Take the Top 50 receivers in either catches or yardage last year in the NCAA and compare them to Davis’s junior season: only six had more yardage, only 13 had more catches, and all but two had the advantage of playing more games. Insane when considering we’re comparing today’s throw-it-everywhere game to what LSU and Davis and Hodson did 37 years ago.

The problem for defenses and the advantage for Davis and his teammates was so simple it’s elusive: nobody could cover him.

“What he did was amazing back then,” Hodson said. “It’s even more amazing today. He had a great final game in the Gator Bowl (nine catches for 132 yards and three TDs) and that doesn’t even count.

“Funny to think about it, but it started out with eight catches here, seven there, another eight or 10 …,” Hodson said. “Then the story started to grow.”

“The best thing I can say about Wendell is that as a safety, I was playing against all kinds of great receivers every week in the SEC,” said former teammate Jamie Bice. “But we knew we’d never see a better receiver on Saturday than we’d seen every day in practice in Wendell; that receiver just didn’t exist.”

The Davis Story started innocently enough when he showed up in Baton Rouge largely unannounced. He’d been recruited lightly and late by the staff of head coach Jerry Stovall, who signed Davis — right before the whole staff was fired.

Davis thought, “Uh-oh.”

“They listed me at 6-1; I’m about 5-11, really,” Davis said. “Most of my career I played at 185 to 187. Speed’s average. But the thing that stood out was that I could run routes. And I loved football and the whole team concept and I worked hard at everything I did. I was sure if I worked hard, I could be successful.

“It’s just that, with a new staff, they didn’t know what they were getting with me,” Davis said.

No. They did not. Who could have figured this average-looking mildly recruited freshman would, as a junior and senior, win so much hardware and help lead his team to a pair of Top 10 finishes.

But he did. New coach Bill Arnsparger kept the signed recruits. A defensive whiz, he bolstered the Tiger line on both sides. And in 1986, after Davis had averaged about a catch-and-a-half a game his first two seasons and Eric Martin had left for the NFL, a freshman quarterback named Hodson from Central Lafourche met Davis.

“He was highly recruited and was going to get the chance to play,” Davis said. “My thinking was I need to get to know him, and the way to do that was to really work out with him.”

Summer meant throwing and catching and talking. Understanding. And then, “the second or third game,” Hodson said, “it just kind of clicked.”

The hash marks were wider then, and Davis usually lined up as the split end to the short side. Teams blitzed a lot and played man almost exclusively.

“On the short side, Wendell’s the easier throw, the shorter throw,” Hodson said. “It just started out as a hook, an out, a fade, a go … it was easier. And his route running as so precise. And to be honest, the corners weren’t as good back then. And that’s really it. That’s how it happened.”

Eight catches here, seven there … Then the story started to grow …

“Just a lot of work,” Davis said. “At practice, getting to become comfortable with each other and trying to understand one another. But the trick was, ‘Can we transfer that to the game field?’ We were able to do that.”

“We were both precise; we both had a lot of discipline,” Hodson said. “In practice if things weren’t lining up, I might ask him to put a hitch step in his route. Or he’d ask me to make it a quick five (step drop) instead of regular speed. The smallest things so we could time it all perfectly.”

If three or four QBs were in a rotation throwing to receivers at practice, Hodson might do some quick math and step out of line.

“I’m skipping,” he said, “until I get to Wendell.”

The out route and the skinny post were the duo’s “go to” throws. “You’ve got the same footwork, the same break,” Hodson said. “Wendell would give you the same look off the ball, but you didn’t know if he was going in or out.

“Or we’d run a corner from the inside slot. The defense would be in man and the guy was always running behind Wendell,” Hodson said. “All the time. I just lob it over the top and he catches it. I bet he scored 10 TDs on that one route.”

He scored the final two on that route in the Gator Bowl when he made South Carolina’s self-named “Black Death” defense look more like they were playing dead. Men against Chickens. The win was LSU’s first bowl victory since 1979 and gave the Tigers their first 10-win season in a quarter century.

(For the record, the first TD was on an out route Davis caught on the hash at the 39. Easily left his defender, juked another, raced down the sideline.)

“Everything just clicked that day,” Davis said. “We went out the way we wanted.”

The end wasn’t as wonderful with the Bears. Averaging 40-plus catches a season in his first five years in the NFL, Davis seemed heading toward a pro career similar to that of his friend Martin, who played 10 years in the league. That changed in October of 1993 at a game in Philadelphia against the Eagles when Davis tried to jump for a pass — and never left the ground. His cleats stuck in the god-forsaken AstroTurf in Veterans Stadium, and the result was a tear of both patellar tendons, the rope that keeps the kneecaps in place.

“They found my kneecaps,” Davis said, “up in my thighs.”

He tried a comeback the next fall with Indianapolis. Didn’t work.

He also got a call from Philadelphia in 2004 right before the Vet was demolished.

“They asked me if I’d like to press the button (to start the implosion),” Davis said. “I just said, ‘No thanks. I’m done. I’m good.’”

And Davis is good these days. Better than good. He says the injury helped him understand more fully that “you’re really not in control of those things, that there’s a purpose for your life,” he said. “And I also learned that it’s not about me; it’s about serving Him and serving others.”

Besides, he says now, the end of playing football was “the end of something great but the start of something awesome.”

The NFL experience, he said, “was wonderful, to be able to have some success at that level. But more important was getting married to the girl of my dreams (Trish, from Illinois) and for us to have kids and be married for the last 32 years. That’s the awesome part. Just transitioning from being a player to being able to coach, then to be a part of corporate America in business, which I love. I’m just so grateful for my opportunities.”

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu

December 18, 2019 – July 8, 2023

Funeral services for Kinsley Marie Winn will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, July 15, 2023 in the chapel of Hixson Brothers, Pineville with Reverend Larry Turner officiating. Burial will be in Greenwood Memorial Park, Pineville.

The family requests that visitation be observed at the funeral home Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. with services beginning at 11:00 a.m. The family is also requesting that everyone attending wear colored attire to honor Kinsley’s bright personality.

Pallbearers will be Eric Winn, Doug Sieckmann, Kayden Crooks, and Jason Mayeux.

Honorary Pallbearers will be Andre Winn, Braden Winn-Phillips, Wesley Crooks and Rick Ranson.

Kinsley, 3 years of age from Pollock, passed from this life on Saturday, July 8, 2023 at her home surrounded by her loving family.

Kinsley always had a smile that was contagious; it would always make others smile. She loved Minnie Mouse, penguins and her favorite song was “Purple Rain.” Kinsley was only with us for a short time but she touched the hearts of many and her memory will be cherished forever.

Those left to cherish her memory include her parents, Andre Winn and Amber Sieckmann; brother, Kayden Crooks; maternal grandparents, Kathy Ranson (Rick), Doug Sieckmann (Kelley), Terri Sieckmann, and Wesley Crooks; paternal grandparents, Angelia Clark, and Eric Winn, Sr. (Mae), and numerous other family and friends.

The Alexandria Police Department has received reports of a scam that is circulating the Alexandria area. A fraudulent city phone number and caller ID is calling individuals to inform them that the city has overcharged them for utilities. The scammer offers a refund if the victim provides their bank routing and account number.

Please DO NOT provide any personal information to someone claiming to be a city employee as a employee of the City of Alexandria will never ask for this information over the phone.

For customers that are owed a refund from the City of Alexandria, a check will be issued.

If you have any questions or information about this criminal activity, please call the City of Alexandria or Alexandria Police Department.

By JIM BUTLER

An alleged OWI offense has the Hammonds back in the Rapides Parish Jail.

Lavonta Hammond, 21, and Deonta, 23, were booked Saturday after a vehicle driven by the younger was pulled over.

Both were charged with probation violations, Lavonta for alleged possession of firearm and Deonta for alleged possession, manufacture, distribution or dispense of CDS I < /8 grams or analogues or counterfeits thereof.

Neither found the jail surroundings unfamiliar.

Lavonta was there two weeks earlier on a domestic abuse battery charge and in late May for alleged criminal damage, released on bond the same day of arrest in each instance.

Deonta’s last visit was February 2022 when he and Lavonta were jailed on multiple charges related to burglaries in several outlying parish communities.

Deonta was booked on Feb. 16 that year and charged with:

Criminal conspiracy three counts, criminal damage three counts, simple burglary, burglary of inhabited dwelling three counts, illegal use of firearm, theft of firearm seven counts, illegal possession of stolen firearm, obstruction two counts, criminal trespass and contempt of court two counts. He was released in May 2022 on $384,000 bond.

Lavonta had been arrested two days before Deonta, on Valentine’s Day 2022.

His charges included criminal conspiracy three counts, burglary of inhabited dwelling, resisting arrest two counts, simple burglary three counts, and criminal damage three counts. He was released in July 2022 on $341,000 bond.

The Hammonds’ parish record dates to 2019, when Deonta was charged with burglary of an inhabited dwelling on Aug. 13 and bonded out the next day.

On Feb. 15, 2020 he was booked on charges of alleged contributing to delinquency and unauthorized entry and released on bond the next day.

In November 2020 he was charged with illegal use of a dangerous weapon, posting bond two weeks later.

Meanwhile in 2020 Lavonta was arrested in May on a theft charge and bonded out the same day.

In November he allegedly burglarized an inhabited dwelling and was also charged with illegal possession weapon. He posted bond the next day, Nov. 18.

He was back in jail on Dec. 9, charged with theft of firearm seven counts, burglary of inhabited dwelling two counts, obstruction simple assault/battery, obstruction destruction/damage vandalism/tampering, criminal damage two counts, criminal trespass, illegal possession stolen firearm, criminal conspiracy two counts, illegal carrying firearm with drugs and possession, manufacture, distribution, dispense CDS I < 28 grams. He posted $74,000 bond on Dec. 15.

Neither Hammond is listed in 2021 jail records.

All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

By JIM BUTLER

Ray Corbett, 42, of Deville made headlines a year ago in a case that quickly faded out of the news. Now he’s back.

Corbett was booked last week on traffic and drug charges.In May 2022 Corbett was accused of aiming a firearm at a passing school bus, charged with 14 counts of terrorizing and 14 of aggravated battery with firearm.

He also faced accusations of possession of CDS II < 2 grams and possession of drug paraphernalia and use in presence of a person under 17.

Subsequent warrant search of his home turned up air soft guns but no firearms, officials said.

Bond was set at $31,500. Corbett was released the same day as his arrest and the case dropped from public attention.

Currently, Corbett is charged with possession of CDS I and 2 < 2 grams as well as CDS in presence of a person under 17 and possession of paraphernalia.

He also has traffic charges of expired drivers license and improper lane usage.

Bond was set at $4,700 and he was released the day of his arrest.

All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.