NATCHITOCHES — Vastly accomplished sportswriters John James Marshall of Shreveport and New Orleans native Gil LeBreton have been selected for the 2026 Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.
The duo will be inducted June 27 in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, LSWA president John Marcase, a Pineville resident, and Hall of Fame chairman Doug Ireland announced Wednesday.
Marshall has been a columnist and writer for the Shreveport-Bossier Journal since its founding in early 2022. He is also a popular sports talk show host daily from 5-6 on 1130 KWKH-AM in Shreveport.
Both LeBreton and Marshall have been broadly acclaimed by the LSWA and national organizations. LeBreton is the only person named by the National Sports Media Association as the top sportswriter in both Louisiana and Texas. Marshall has won a national award from Associated Press Sports Editors and a large collection of LSWA honors. Both have won the LSWA “Story of the Year” award.
Marshall, 66, continues to make wide-ranging impact primarily in the Shreveport-Bossier metro rea, and also around north Louisiana, for his coverage of sports from the professional level down to high school and amateur competition, and his long-running sports talk radio show.
LeBreton, 77, a distinguished LSU graduate, began his career as one of the state’s top young sportswriters in New Orleans and Baton Rouge before 37 years covering top-level sports events for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The DSA honor, to be made official this summer in Natchitoches, means LeBreton and Marshall will be among an elite 12-person Class of 2026 being inducted in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. They were selected from a 25-person pool of outstanding nominees for the state’s top sports journalism honor.
The Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism recipients are chosen by the 35-member Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame selection committee based on nominees’ professional accomplishments in local, state, regional and even national circles, with leadership in the LSWA as a beneficial 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 503 current athletes, sports journalists, coaches and administrators chosen since 1959. Just 77 leading figures in the state’s sports media have been honored with the Distinguished Service Award since its inception 43 years ago in 1982.
“Gil and J.J. are two of the top sports journalists in the country and deserving of the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism,” said Marcase.
“J.J. has been a trendsetter in many ways. There is little he has not done or accomplished in sports media, from sports information to sports reporting to sports commentating to being an innovative journalism instructor. Yet, in everything he has done and continues to do, he does so at the highest level possible,” Marcase said.
“Sports fans in Northwest Louisiana are fortunate that J.J. never left the region and that he continues to chronicle sports in print online and on the long-running and trailblazing radio show he hosts with his brother, Ben.
“Gil may have made his mark in Texas in the fiercely competitive Dallas/Fort Worth market, but his Louisiana roots run deep and he continues to return home on a regular basis. He has not forgotten his home state and he has been a welcome and familiar sight each June at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame festivities and Louisiana Sports Writers Association meetings held in conjunction with the Hall of Fame since retiring,” said Marcase.
“Gil’s versatility as a reporter and later a columnist served his readers well, and truly showcased his talents.”
Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame 2025 inductee Sylvia Fowles, NFL stars Joe Horn, Todd McClure and Pat Williams, Major League Baseball All-Star Jonathan Lucroy and legendary basketball coaches John Brady (LSU), Mike McConathy (NSU) and Dewain Strother (Florien HS, and a Rapides Parish-Fairview HS product) make up a star-studded eight-member group of competitors’ ballot inductees chosen for 2026 induction in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
For the third time this decade, the Hall will present the Louisiana Sports Ambassador Award, this time inducting Warren Morris into the LSHOF. The Alexandria native and resident whose walk-off home run won the 1996 College World Series for LSU and resulted in the Bolton High School product becoming a lifelong spokesman for college baseball, the CWS and LSU.
The 2026 recipient of the Hall’s Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award will be announced Thursday and will also be enshrined in the LSHOF.