Mary Jo Lewis
September 20, 1943 – June 22, 2025
Service: Thursday, June 26, 2025, 10am at St. Peters Catholic Church, Elmer.

Glenda Hicks Cedars
November 25, 1944 – June 21, 2025
Service:  Wednesday, June 25, 2025, 10am at Hineston Tabernacle, Elmer. 

James Henry Stroderd
October 14, 1947 – June 19, 2025
Service: Tuesday, June 24, 2025, 1pm at Rush Funeral Home, Pineville.

Richard Donald Preston Jr.
December 21, 1945 – June 17, 2025
Service: Friday, June 27, 2025, 10am at John Kramer & Son Funeral Home, Alexandria. 

Mary Lynne Heald
December 22, 1942 – June 16, 2025
Service: Thursday, June 26, 2025, 11am at Gallagher Funeral Home, Ball. 

Ryan Neil Goodman
October 29, 1974 – June 15, 2025
Service: Saturday, June 28, 2025, 10:30am at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Alexandria. 

Martha Elizabeth Shaver Scogin
October 13, 1959 – June 13, 2025
Service: Tuesday, June 24, 2025, 1pm at Magnolia Funeral Home, Alexandria. 

Gregory Harville
September 7, 1958 – June 12, 2025
Service: Thursday, June 26, 2025, 11am at Second Nazarene Baptist Church, Alexandria. 

Rodney Dale Bagwell
November 3, 1949 – June 1, 2025
Service: Saturday, July 5, 2025, 10am at Rush Funeral Home, Pineville.

Bobbie Sherlene Langston White
April 17, 1932 – May 17, 2025
Service: Saturday, June 28, 2025, 11am at Calvary Baptist Church, Alexandria. 

The Rapides Parish Journal publishes paid obituaries – unlimited words and a photo, as well as unlimited access – $95. Contact your funeral provider or RPJNewsla@gmail.com . Must be paid in advance of publication. (Notice of Death shown above are FREE of charge. You may email them to RPJNewsla@gmail.com)

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Rapides Parish – On June 22, 2025, at approximately 12:06 a.m., Louisiana State Police Troop E responded to a fatal crash on West River Road south of Louisiana Highway 462. This crash claimed the life of 13-year-old Kyndal Vidrine of Oakdale.

The initial investigation revealed that a Can-Am Outlander Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV), driven by a Juvenile, was traveling north on West River Road. For reasons still under investigation, the Juvenile lost control of the vehicle which caused it to leave the roadway. After leaving the roadway, the Can-Am struck a parked Honda Foreman UTV. This action ejected both Juveniles from the Can-Am and the driver of the Honda Foreman from the vehicles.

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Vidrine sustained severe injuries and was transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced deceased. The juvenile driver and the Honda Foreman driver sustained minor injuries and were transported to a local hospital for treatment. Routine toxicology samples were obtained and submitted for analysis.

The crash remains under investigation.

At approximately 8:15, deputies responded to a report of a domestic disturbance where allegedly shots were fired in the 1500 block of Hyland Park Drive in Tioga.

Upon arrival, Deputy’s detained two subjects for further investigation. No injuries were reported .

Sheriff’s Detectives and Crime Scene Unit are on the scene processing the scene and gathering evidence.

There is no eminent threat to public safety so no further information will be released at this time.

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The next step in GAEDA’s not paying two invoices from the city seems up to Mayor Jacques Roy’s administration.

A motion to pay a total of about $113,000 for work at the Weiss & Golding building failed to get a second from Greater Alexandria Economic Development Authority members at their June meeting.

Absent that second there was no discussion that might indicate how wide the schism between the Authority and the city is.

GAEDA’s attorney in early May recommended it move to nullify a cooperative endeavor agreement for refurbishing the long-vacant building for development purposes as well as future plans for the Bolton Avenue Community Center.

Whether that ever got formal consideration is not clear. Roy took conciliatory steps in the interim. What the current rub is is uncertain.

In matters that did get a second, the board approved paying attorney costs incurred by it and its executive director over litigation by then-member John Callis.

He won in district court, over a disputed meeting last February, then lost when the board appealed to the circuit court.

Callis is seeking review of the case by the state Supreme Court. The Authority has until mid-July to respond to that petition.

Callis has since resigned. Whether members John Carroll and Chris Patel did likewise is indeterminate but they apparently are no longer members under attendance requirements of the Authority Rules of Procedure.

Three absences in a calendar year sans acceptable reason is the limit. Neither has attended meetings in the wake of the new board majority formed following city elections.

The three vacancies leave the board at its quorum number – 4. An absence by any one of them results in no official business conducted, as occurred at May’s meeting.

Each City Council member has an appointment, routinely approved by the panel. There is as yet no indication of nominations for the empty Authority seats.

The Authority was created as an independent agency funded by a hotel-motel occupancy tax.

By RAYMOND PARTSCH III, Written for the LSWA

George “Bobby” Soileau taught his son how to throw a punch.

Every day after coaching and teaching students at Sacred Heart High School, Soileau would come home to his wife and three sons and put on his worn-out gloves and show his youngest son, Robert, how to throw a jab.

“He always loved to put the gloves on and box with me when I was little,” Robert recalled. “Every day, it is what we did together. We would box in the backyard or even in the living room. I was six or seven years old, and he would get on his knees and box me. He would let me swing, and then he would swing, and then teach me how to block. That’s what my dad and I did nearly every day.”

The older Soileau does not always remember those days of bonding with his son.

There are more days than not when he does not recall being one of Louisiana’s elite boxers with a fierce left jab that helped him claim four state championships and an individual national championship in college.

He sometimes forgets returning to his alma mater and turning the high school football program into a perennial and respected playoff team, with immense toughness and discipline. Even the faces of his former players or his assistant coaches seem like strangers to him now, and there are even days when he doesn’t recognize his son.

Dementia has taken that away from the 89-year-old Soileau. The accomplishments in the boxing ring and gridiron are only slight flickers of light now as Soileau is unable to relive those moments that will see him be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2025, Saturday night to culminate the three-day Induction Celebration in Natchitoches. Visit LaSportsHall.com for event information.

“He just doesn’t understand,” Robert said. “I ask him the same questions every single day because the doctors told us that it helps. To his credit, he can still tell me his momma’s name, his brothers’ names, and their nicknames. He even remembers being a boxer. He will sometimes say, ‘Yeah, I was a national champion at LSU.'”

A few moments later, though, Soileau will not be able to remember his time as the Trojans’ head coach or his time serving the public as a member of the Evangeline Parish School Board or Police Jury.

“I tell him all of the stuff he did in his life,” Robert said. “How he coached at Sacred Heart for 30 years and served on all those boards, or the players that coached underneath him for years. He won’t remember it. He will ask me, ‘I don’t know where you learned all of that.’ I just smile and tell him, ‘I learned it from you. I was living with you’.”

Dementia may prevent Soileau from reliving those cherished memories and accomplishments, but so many others that he coached are honored to share those stories on his behalf.

“We took on his character,” said Gary Inhern, quarterback on the 1967 state title team. “He was tough, but he was also a daddy to us. There is not one of us who played for him that would not have run through a brick wall. We would have it done then, and we still would.”

In the 1950s, boxing was one of the more popular high school sports in Louisiana. From October through March, high school gyms and auditoriums would be transformed into makeshift boxing arenas for three-round matches drawing thousands of spectators.

For kids in that era, the passion for the squared circle began at an early age.

“The kids at Sacred Heart started young like I did,” Soileau told The Ville Platte Gazette in December of 2015. “When I was boxing at Sacred Heart, we had fifth- and sixth-graders who were training. That is just what we did.”

His prep career began in the eighth grade at Sacred Heart under famed coach Jack Reed, and he won the 90-pound state championship in 1950. He would proceed to take the 100-pound crown in 1951, the 110-pound title in 1952, and the 125-pound championship in 1954, the same year he was awarded the prestigious Francis G. Brink Trophy for being the state’s best boxer.

In his five-year career, Soileau went 96-2-1, won four state championships, and finished as state runner-up in 1953 when he lost to Plaquemine’s Bruce Boudreaux in the 115-pound title bout, a fight considered to be one of the greatest in state history. 

“He was just such a good fighter,” Ville Platte High fighter Glenn Fontenot told the Gazette in 2015. “I think my record in high school was like 60-5. The only year I reached the state tournament, I fought Bobby in the opening match. He beat me by TKO. He took care of me. He beat everybody to the punch.”

Soileau received a boxing scholarship from LSU, which was established as one of the best boxing programs in the country. The Tigers had won the NCAA team national championship in 1949, and also had claimed several individual national championships before Soileau arrived.

“We had a good boxing team,” Soileau said in 2017. “We couldn’t box against people around Louisiana. We had to go thousands of miles away to find people who were still boxing in college. We won most of our boxing matches that we went to out of state.”

As a sophomore with the Tigers, he helped the team to a 7-1-1 dual-meet record and won the 1956 NCAA national title in the 125-pound (featherweight) division.

“Bobby was a fantastic boxer,” LSU football legend and Louisiana Sports Hall of Famer Billy Cannon said in 2017. “I followed Bobby’s whole career. I went out every time LSU had a sporting event.”

Soileau’s time at LSU was cut short.

The LHSAA decided to drop boxing as an officially sanctioned sport in 1958. At the same time, universities were eliminating their boxing programs. LSU did it in 1956, and the NCAA in 1961.

“I had just won the national championship in college, and my coach called me in one day and he said I got some bad news, we are losing boxing,” Soileau said in 2017.

Soileau considered turning professional, but breaking his shoulder during a practice at the Olympic Trials in Wisconsin for the 1956 Summer Olympics derailed that, as did a pinched nerve that bothered him for the rest of his life.

Soileau’s boxing career may have ended, but the lessons he learned inside the ring would last for decades.

“Boxing made me a better person and it made me a better coach,” Soileau said.

Discipline, accountability, and hard work were the pillars of Soileau’s three decades at Sacred Heart.

Soileau would lead the Trojans for 30 seasons, compiling a record of 159-100-9 and winning at least a share of nine district titles, the 1967 Class B state championship and finishing runner-up in Class 1A in 1971. He was twice selected as the LSWA Coach of the Year and inducted into the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1988.

Soileau will now receive the state’s most prestigious honor — membership in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Although he won’t be there to enjoy it in person due to his health, those young boys who he molded into young men will be there. Even after the weekend ends, they will still remember the impact he made on their lives.

“He touched so many lives,” David said. “Yeah, he coached football, but he coached you about life. The only thing that is keeping him alive is his will to live. It is the same will that he had when he was boxing and when he was coaching. That only comes from the soul. He was and still is a part of the soul of Ville Platte.”

As the years go by, the memories of a Hall of Fame career fade more and more, but they still flicker inside Soileau, even if it is only for a few moments. Every day when Robert leaves the nursing home where his father resides, he goes through a familiar routine, which he learned from sparring with his dad six decades ago. Now he gives that precious gift back to his father.

“Before I walk out, I put my hands up and ask if he can still move,” Robert said. “Without hesitation, he throws me a few of those left jabs. His hands are still really fast. He is still in there.”

Contact Raymond at sportswithRP3@gmail.com

The Louisiana Center for Health Innovation at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs are conducting a survey study to identify opportunities for growth in serving Louisiana’s veterans and their families.

Veterans, family members of veterans, and those who work for or volunteer in a veterans service organization are invited to take a one-time survey to answer questions about background and needs for support. If anyone would like to participate, visit https://louisiana.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4JhZaLTX0bMfKtg to give consent and get started. Interested individuals may also scan the QR code in the image above to access the survey. The survey closes on July 31.

On May 18, 2025, Patrol Deputies responded to a residence in the Echo, LA community in reference to a reported home invasion. Upon arrival, deputies were unable to locate the suspect, later identified as Evan Guillory. Deputies took the initial report and Sheriff’s Detectives were assigned the case for follow-up investigation.

During the investigation, interviews were conducted with multiple witnesses who stated on the evening of May 18, Guillory allegedly arrived unannounced at the residence where a verbal altercation occurred. According to statements provided, things escalated when Guillory allegedly forced entry into the home after being denied access and a physical struggle ensued between Guillory and one of the victims. The altercation continued outside the residence, during which Guillory fled the scene.

According to the victim(s), multiple threats were allegedly made by Guillory during the incident, including threats directed at the other occupants of the residence.

As a result of the investigation, Sheriff’s Detectives were able to obtain arrest warrants for Evan Guillory for Home Invasion, Interfering with Emergency Communication, and Domestic Abuse Battery with Child Present.

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With the assistance of the Bunkie Police Department, Guillory was arrested on June 16, 2025 and was extradited back to Rapides Parish. Guillory remains in jail at the time of this release, being held on a $75,000 bond.

“The Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office remains committed to the safety of our community and will pursue all leads to bring those responsible for violent offenses, especially those involving domestic violence or children, to justice” said Sheriff Mark Wood.

Arrestee: Evan Michael Guillory, 29
Address: 90 Guillory Lane, Echo, LA
Charges: Home Invasion, Interfering with Emergency Communication, Domestic Abuse Battery with Child Present

ALL PERSONS ARE PRESUMED INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY IN A COURT OF LAW OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION.

Arrests are accusations, not convictions.

June 22

Willie James Augustine, 39, Alexandria – bicycle reflectors required, five counts contempt of court, $83,100 bail;

Michael Francis Bayonne Sr, 46, Alexandria – simple burglary, criminal trespass, criminal damage to property, criminal conspiracy, no bail data;

Diane Marie Evans, 27, Pineville – three counts of possession of CDS, paraphernalia, contempt of court, $5,500 bail;

Bridget Renee Gagnard, 41, Pineville – possession of CDS, paraphernalia, use of CDS in presence of person under 17, safety belt violation, $3,600 bail;

Alexis Noel Smith, 28, Pineville – OWI first offense, improper lane usage, $600 bail;

June 21

Logan Bordelon, 23, Colfax – OWI second offense, three counts open container, speeding, failure to change address on driver’s license, $2,000 bail;

Eric Dixon, 25, Alexandria – Louisiana fugitive, two counts legend drug possession, expired MVI sticker, $3,100 bail;

Brandi French, 47, Pineville – OWI first offense, careless operation, open container, $1,200 bail;

Jake General III, 53, Alexandria —  OWI third offense, improper lane usage, restricted driver license violation, probation violation, ignition interlock devices required, $100,300 bail;

Tyler Matthews, 26, Alexandria – second degree battery, $1,000 bail;

Terricke Jermome Payne, 46, Alexandria – theft, improper display of license plate, obstruction of justice, $100 bail;

Thadeus Sampson, 35, Mansura – OWI first offense, open container, improper lane usage, $1,200 bail;

Cory Stroud, 37, Montgomery – OWI first offense, improper lane usage, limitations passing on left, $1,200 bail;

Rodney Gregory White Jr, 37, Deville – three counts contempt of court, $13,500 bail;

June 20

Joshua Blaine Burnette, 37, Glenmora – first degree rape, sexual battery, indecent behavior with juveniles, taking contraband to and from penal institutions, battery of a correctional employee, aggravated resisting a police officer with force or violence, $500,000 bail;

Keith Dauzat, 56, Marksville – simple battery, $1,000 bail;

Jarius Daymon Johnson, 18, Alexandria – domestic abuse battery, $1,500 bail;

Lonnie Ray Joseph, 37, Alexandria – second degree battery, simple burglary, $505,000 bail;

Shawna C. Thompson, 40, Pineville – contempt of court, $10,000 bail;

Erin F. Tracy, 33, Pineville – OWI first offense, improper turn, improper lane usage, improper window tint, resisting an officer, open container, $1,900 bail;

Antoine K. Williams, 35, Pineville – fire raising on land of another with malice, simple arson, criminal trespass, contempt of court, $31,000 bail;

June 19

Erika Eskeve Pantallion, 30, Alexandria – contempt of court, $5,000 bail;

Steven Jo Ray, 48, Alexandria – simple strangulation, domestic abuse battery, $75,000 bail;

Jeronda Reed, 24, Pineville – obstruction of justice, three counts contempt of court, $8,500 bail;

Ruth Ann Strother, 67, Plainview – OWI first offense, improper lane usage, failure to yield to emergency vehicle, open container, $1,300 bail;

Kaleb John Zimmerman, 23, Alexandria – OWI first offense, off road vehicle on public road, $1,100 bail;

June 18

Dejuan Carmouche, 19, Simmesport – producing manufacturing distributing marijuana, illegal carry firearm with drugs, possession paraphernalia, $10,500 bail;

Keldrick Deion Gaines, 37, Alexandria – contempt of court, $3,500 bail;

Otha Lee Tatum Sr, 41, Alexandria – aggravated battery, aggravated assault, resisting an officer, contempt of court, $32,500 bail;

Gage Anthony Webb, 31, Pineville – OWI second offense, improper lane usage, expired MVI sticker, $2,200 bail;

The Village of Forest Hill has issued notice regarding a water outage. The water is out on Willis Gunter Rd. from Vargas Nursery to the end of the line, including Bell Rd. A boil advisory will follow.  The Village is installing new 6″ pipe and fire hydrants on Willis Gunter to improve water quality. There may be interruptions in the water service.

During the Alexandria Farmer’s Market tomorrow, June 24, the LifeShare Blood Center will be on site to receive blood donations from 2pm to 6:30pm. 

The first 10 donors get rewarded with a $5 market token. Plus, all donors walk away with the market’s exclusive crawfish t-shirt! Schedule a slot beforehand here: https://donor.lifeshare.org/…/sch…/drive_schedule/287465.

Jerry Lee Fletcher
September 2, 1943 – June 19, 2025
Service: Monday, June 23, 2025, 10am at Hixson Brothers Funeral Home, Alexandria.

Dale Thomas Hebert
January 30, 1951 – June 19, 2025
Service:  Monday, June 23, 2025, 10am at St. Martin Catholic Church, Lecompte.

James Henry Stroderd
October 14, 1947 – June 19, 2025
Service: Tuesday, June 24, 2025, 1pm at Rush Funeral Home, Pineville.

Pamela Welch Burke
April 9, 1967 – June 18, 2025
Service: Monday, June 23, 2025, 12pm at Hixson Brothers Funeral Home, Alexandria.

Richard Donald Preston Jr.
December 21, 1945 – June 17, 2025
Service: Friday, June 27, 2025, 10am at John Kramer & Son Funeral Home, Alexandria. 

Mary Lynne Heald
December 22, 1942 – June 16, 2025
Service: Thursday, June 26, 2025, 11am at Gallagher Funeral Home, Ball. 

Ryan Neil Goodman
October 29, 1974 – June 15, 2025
Service: Saturday, June 28, 2025, 10:30am at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Alexandria. 

Martha Elizabeth Shaver Scogin
October 13, 1959 – June 13, 2025
Service: Tuesday, June 24, 2025, 1pm at Magnolia Funeral Home, Alexandria. 

Gregory Harville
September 7, 1958 – June 12, 2025
Service: Thursday, June 26, 2025, 11am at Second Nazarene Baptist Church, Alexandria. 

Rodney Dale Bagwell
November 3, 1949 – June 1, 2025
Service: Saturday, July 5, 2025, 10am at Rush Funeral Home, Pineville.

Bobbie Sherlene Langston White
April 17, 1932 – May 17, 2025
Service: Saturday, June 28, 2025, 11am at Calvary Baptist Church, Alexandria. 

The Rapides Parish Journal publishes paid obituaries – unlimited words and a photo, as well as unlimited access – $95. Contact your funeral provider or RPJNewsla@gmail.com . Must be paid in advance of publication. (Notice of Death shown above are FREE of charge. You may email them to RPJNewsla@gmail.com)

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By WESLEY MULLER, Louisiana Illuminator

A new spate of undercover seafood testing at restaurants in the Alexandria area found more than half of the sampled eateries serving imported shrimp. 

SeaD Consulting, a food testing company that has been making headlines for uncovering foreign-sourced shrimp sold as local catch at restaurants and festivals across the Gulf Coast, announced that 54 percent of the local restaurants it sampled were serving imported shrimp – and several were lying to their customers about it.  

The company’s use of genetic testing found that 11 of the 24 restaurants sampled offered authentic Gulf of Mexico-caught shrimp, while the remaining 13 sold farm-raised shrimp to dinters. Six of those 13 restaurants, roughly 25 percent of the total, were serving imported fare in an “explicitly fraudulent” manner, meaning they claimed the shrimp was domestic when it wasn’t. 

The company does not publicly disclose the names of the restaurants that fraudulently serve imported shrimp, opting instead to highlight businesses that are following the law and serve domestic shrimp.

Doing it right: the local restaurants tested that offer locally caught seafood were:

• Brocato’s Breakfast, Alexandria
• Bucket’s Crawfish & Seafood, Pineville
• Crawfish Port Inc., Alexandria
• Crazy Cajun, Pineville
• Deborge’s Crawfish, Alexandria
• Koal’s Bar-B-Que, Alexandria
• Pit Grill Diner, Alexandria
• Red River Seafood & Sushi, Alexandria
• Rosie Jo’s, Alexandria
• Rotolo’s Craft & Crust, Alexandria
• Swamp Daddy’s Crawfish, Alexandria

“These restaurants are doing it right,” Williams said. “They’re supporting the local economy and giving customers what they’re paying for — the flavor of Louisiana, from the docks to the table.”

SeaD collected the samples June 3-4 from restaurants across Alexandria and nearby Pineville. The findings are relatively on par with testing the company has conducted in other Louisiana cities. Its testing  in the Shreveport area from March uncovered a 58 percent fraud rate. 

“This is about trust,” said Rodney Olander, chairman of the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force. “Alexandria is a proud river city with deep Louisiana roots, and its people deserve to know when they’re getting wild-caught Gulf shrimp — or when they’re being served imported farm-raised substitutes passed off as local. Having one in four restaurants being explicitly fraudulent is not right.”

In December, the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force, an advisory panel for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, asked SeaD Consulting to analyze shrimp from restaurants across the state in an effort to eliminate consumer seafood fraud. Its analysis includes sampling batches of 24 randomly selected restaurants in different cities across the state.

It is illegal under federal and state law to mislabel imported seafood as local and can result in fines or other penalties.

Local seafood was once easy to find in Louisiana, but an influx of cheap foreign catch – particularly shrimp and crawfish – has flooded the market over the past two decades. 

For more than a decade, Louisiana law has specifically required restaurants and other food establishments to state on their menus the country of origin of any shrimp and crawfish being served. The same requirement applies to food vendors at fairs and festivals. 

A 2023 review of state enforcement records revealed many restaurants had not complied with the law. State health inspectors issued thousands of citations to restaurants but levied no fines against them, drawing criticism from state lawmakers and local fishermen.

SeaD Consulting launched its testing efforts last year using undercover inspectors to purchase shrimp dishes from restaurants and festival vendors. The inspectors run the shrimp through a rapid field testing kit that examines seafood tissue genetics. 

SeaD’s investigation of the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City led to public outrage when four out of five vendors there were found to have fraudulently served foreign shrimp. 

Dave Williams, a commercial fisheries scientist and founder of SeaD Consulting, said consumers can play an important role in combating seafood fraud. They should always ask restaurant staff where their seafood comes from, look for clear menu labeling indicating the country of origin and report suspicions of seafood fraud to local or state health officials, Williams said.

Original Article: CLICK HERE

Oak Hill Fire Department has released its data relating to calls made between June 10 and June 17.

• Keep fireworks at least 200 feet from buildings, vehicles, and flammable debris
• Never let children handle fireworks; offer safe alternatives like glow sticks
• Avoid using fireworks if impaired by alcohol or drugs
• Light one firework at a time and monitor with a hose or bucket of water nearby
• Soak used fireworks before disposal—never toss them dry into the trash

By TEDDY ALLEN, Written for the LSWA

She picked up a basketball as a challenge when she was 9 and used it to prove a point, first in the back yard against her brother and two cousins in Coushatta, then on her way to becoming a two-time Kodak All-American at Louisiana Tech, then through 13 seasons in the WNBA and a concurrent 15 overseas, and now through another 15 seasons as a WNBA coach.

All the while, that crimson dirt of Louisiana’s rural Red River Parish on her hands proving she’d worked for it, that she’d earned it, Vickie Johnson has remained about the most genuine and gentle, polished, unassuming off-the-court ballplayer you could ever meet, even if, like her, you’d traveled from the banks of Loggy Bottom and Grand Bayou to the Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston to Madison Square Garden to the gymnasiums of France and Hungary to Israel and Turkey.

“Polite, well-mannered, very bashful and shy,” said her long-ago summer ball AAU teammate Sarah Harrison Zeagler of Natchitoches.

“And,” Zeagler laughs at the memory, “insanely talented.”

It’s that delightful mix of sweet, super, and stubborn that vaulted Johnson, a 5-9 guard with a pure all-around game highlighted by a sweet baseline jumper, above the field at every level of basketball and has ultimately landed her a well-deserved, “it’s-about-time” spot in Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 2025.

Family and friends from her Coushatta hometown will make the 30-minute trip south to Natchitoches for the Induction Celebration June 26-28. Event information is available at LaSportsHall.com.

It was back home in Coushatta that she wanted to prove a point to her big brother.

“I didn’t start playing because, ‘Oh, I love basketball,’” Johnson said. “I started because my oldest brother said it was for guys, for the boys. ‘Girls don’t play basketball.’ So I picked up a ball and went to the back yard. I was 9. From that day on, I loved it.”

A year later, 1982, she saw Louisiana Tech and USC, titans of the women’s college game at the time, playing on television.

“I watched with my mom and it … I was thrilled, you know?” Johnson said. “I told her, ‘One day, I’m playing college basketball. I’m gonna play for the team in the blue, the team with the stars going down their jerseys.”

The ‘team in blue’ was the Lady Techsters, only about 70 miles away through the pine trees and winding state highways from her back yard court.

“Well,” said the lady everyone in Coushatta called ‘Mrs. Susie,’ the single mom with three jobs, “if you’re gonna play for them, you’d better get back outside.”

She dribbled her way out the back door and kept shooting.

Often joining her was her father’s youngest brother from Shreveport, her Uncle John, a veteran of semi-pro hoops and a serious student of the game.

“He taught me how to play basketball,” Johnson said. “He just … how to dribble, to move, to guard, understanding the game. ‘What did you see? How could you have done better?’ He took care of me.”

Uncle John was a good teacher. By the time Johnson was a sophomore at Coushatta High (now Red River), she’d verbally committed to play for “the team in blue.”

But it wasn’t the same program she’d watched on TV in 1982. Tech fell out of the Top 25 in 1990-91 for the first time in 13 years, then lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The next season was equally mediocre.

“No question that Vickie coming to Louisiana Tech really helped put the program back on the national map,” Tech’s head coach Leon Barmore, a Louisiana Sports and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, said. “If we hadn’t signed that class — Vickie, Racquel Spurlock, Amy Brown — we would have disappeared from the national spotlight. Vickie wasn’t a savior by herself, but she sure was instrumental.”

As a rookie Lady Techster in 1992-93, Johnson helped take the team to the NCAA Regional Finals, a snapshot of things to come. During her four seasons with Tech, the Lady Techsters were 116-17 and finished as national runner-up in 1994 when Johnson, a sophomore, was chosen to the All-Final Four team.

“Vickie was the ultimate teammate,” Barmore said. “She did whatever it took to win, whether that meant playing defense or scoring or just being a leader.”

“She’s a winner,” said Brown, a former Parade All-American, Johnson’s Tech teammate, and now director of teacher education at Tennessee Tech after a successful, championship-filled coaching career there. “She was the type of player who wasn’t going to allow her team to lose. She practiced every day like she played every night. It was contagious with her teammates.”

Whether it was a trait developed in the back yard or through emulating Mrs. Susie, Johnson’s selflessness came early, as sweet and as necessary as her baseline jumpers.

“Vickie could have played all five positions by herself,” her AAU teammate Zeagler said. “She could see the floor, everything, everywhere, like she had eyes in the back of her head.

“But the thing that always stood out about her was I felt like I belonged on the court with her, and that was because she made us feel that way,” Zeagler said. “She made us feel like we belonged on the court as much as she did.” 

Although as a freshman and sophomore she helped Tech claw back onto the national stage, turns out Johnson was just getting started when it came to giving the folks around Cut-Off Road and Lone Star Feed down in Coushatta plenty to talk about. She earned spots on both the Kodak and Street & Smith All-America teams the next two seasons, Sun Belt Conference MVP in 1995 and 1996, and 1996 Louisiana Player of the Year.

She did it with a silky grace and salty presence.

“She was as smooth a basketball player as I can remember coaching,” Barmore said. “The baseline was her home. She would roam the baseline and make that little jump shot all night. It was a beautiful thing to watch. She was one of the players that our fans enjoyed watching the most.”

Thomas Assembly Center proved to be only a launching pad. There was more where that came from.

In the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft, Johnson was the 12^th player chosen. A quick look at only a few high points from her pro stat sheet, which is almost 30 years old — and counting…

• Nine seasons with the New York Liberty and four with the San Antonio Silver Stars;
• Twice an All-Star;
• First person in the league to collect 4,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 1,000 assists in a career;
• Dependable-plus, a starter in 408 of 410 games played and the first person in WNBA history to play 11,000 minutes;
• Won the league’s Sportsmanship Award in 2008, her last as a player, and has been a coach in the league since.

“As good a player as she was on the court, she’s a better person,” Brown said. “She deserves every honor she’s received for what she did as a player, but it’s even sweeter because of who she is off the court.”

“Quiet off the court, but once it was time to play, all that went away,” Zeagler said. “Never mean, but always purposeful. She was very sportsmanlike-minded: you got knocked down, she’d help you back up. Just an incredible all-around person.”

All that, the total package, game after game and year after year, in a sport that “girls don’t play.”

“A lot of people told me I wasn’t good enough,” Johnson said. “That was my fire. And that’s how I played. I wanted to guard the best players. When I chose to play overseas, I chose countries with the best players. That’s where I got my joy, from playing against the best.

“I played because I enjoyed it,” she said. “The accolades that come with it? They come with it. But my goal was to be the best I could be and get in Louisiana Tech, and I did that.”

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu

NATCHITOCHES – As a track and field coach, Leon Johnson left an indelible imprint upon Northwestern State, the region it serves, and the entire state..

The impact he made upon those who competed for him – regardless of when or where – is of matching depth and importance.

Johnson, a legendary figure in Northwestern and the Southland Conference’s track and field history, died Tuesday at the age of 86. There will be a celebration of life for Johnson held at Magale Recital Hall on the NSU campus at 3 p.m. Sunday. Visitation will be held from 5- 8 p.m. Saturday at Blanchard St. Denis Funeral Home, located at 848 Keyser Avenue in Natchitoches.

“I am saddened to learn of the passing of my dear friend, coach and mentor, Leon Johnson,” said former Northwestern State President Dr. Chris Maggio, who ran for and coached under Johnson before ascending the ranks of university administration. “My life has been greatly blessed and enriched because this gentleman reached out to me 43 years ago and said, ‘My name is Leon Johnson, and I am the new track and field coach at Northwestern State University, and I want you to become my first recruit at NSU.’ Thankfully, I said yes to his invitation and words cannot adequately express the magnitude of life lessons that I learned from him.  

“He will be remembered as a Hall of Fame coach who mentored 50-plus All-Americans and won several conference championships. I, too, will remember him for his coaching accolades, but I will also remember him as a Christian man, a great role model and for the hours and hours he spent working with young men and women on the track no matter their athletic abilities. It didn’t matter if you were an All-American or a beginner, Coach would be there for you teaching and coaching you to be better in your event and better in your life. Thank you, Coach Johnson changing the lives of thousands of young people.”

The individual and team accolades Northwestern compiled under Johnson were many. Three Southland Conference team championships and top-20 finishes in the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Fifty-seven All-Americans among nearly 100 NCAA championship qualifiers. Two Olympic triple jumpers.

There was the 1986 birth of the Lady Demon track and field program that also occurred on Johnson’s watch.

In other words, Northwestern could build a trophy case simply for Leon Johnson and his student-athletes’ accomplishments. What transpired in the past 48 hours could fill a virtual one as well.

“I first stepped foot on the Northwestern State campus 40 years ago this August,” former Director of Athletics Greg Burke said. “Even then, as an intern, I recognized what kind of man, what kind of mentor and what kind of coach Leon Johnson was. I had the good fortune to come back as athletic director and have him sitting at our head coaches’ table. The perspective he offered, the respect he had among coaches and staff within the department was really remarkable.

“One needs to look no further than social media in the past 48 hours and read the number of posts – and not just the number – but the heartfelt messages from so many track alumni,” Burke said. “Oftentimes, the true measure of a coach’s impact — and how lasting that impact is — will be reflected in the sentiments expressed by the student-athletes who practiced and competed under that coach.”

Johnson began his career as a high school basketball coach in Colorado before coaching state champion high school track and field track and field teams in Louisiana at Opelousas and DeRidder, ultimately taking over at Northwestern where his name became synonymous with the school.

Northwestern track and field athletes compete in the Leon Johnson Invitational each spring after entering the Walter P. Ledet Track and Field Complex via Leon Johnson Lane.

The Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s state cross country championships also conclude in that area, thanks largely to Johnson’s push to bring the event to Natchitoches where it has become a staple of the city’s athletic calendar, with Johnson and staff doing yeoman’s work each November to make it happen. They did the same each spring when NSU hosted high school district and regional track meets, and when Special Olympics or the American Heart Association came calling.

What Johnson built at Northwestern was done so on the foundation of a family feel – one that serves as a living testament to Johnson’s approach.

“He helped shape so many men’s and women’s lives,” said current Northwestern track and field coach Mike Heimerman, who competed under Johnson before coaching with him and, ultimately, succeeding him as the program’s leader. “Hundreds of athletes – probably closer to thousands – came through Northwestern under coach Johnson, and he helped shape and mold them into young men and women, good mothers and fathers, good husbands and wives.

“He made Natchitoches and Northwestern State a home for so many young men and women, including myself. That was an attraction to NSU and to Natchitoches. That’s something we’ve tried to instill in the program now. It’s something I learned from him, and we tried to take it up a notch. The other thing I learned most from him is making sure the student-athletes get a degree and that you care for them. When you care for them, they do more for you. That’s been very evident in the past here with the men’s and women’s programs and the success we’ve had.”

Johnson’s legacy was made working with Northwestern’s track and field athletes, but his influence permeated the athletic department as a whole.

Late in his career, former Demon men’s basketball coach Mike McConathy utilized Johnson’s ability to provide insight on flexibility and conditioning for McConathy’s team. It proved to be a learning experience for both the Demon players and their longtime coach.

“His impact was invaluable in the fact he taught me as well as the kids so much,” McConathy said. “It was the respect my players had for him. The way he taught and instructed them was amazing. He used the technique of lower volume. He had something they were interested in. They all locked in with no distractions. That taught me something, taught my staff something.

“The attention he gave them showed me they had a tremendous amount of respect for his ability. It was just incredible to witness. I don’t know that you can paint a word picture to describe what we actually saw.”