In 1959, George Tedford, Bo Campbell and George Tedford made the All-State track and field team because they were the only runners in the state who broke 50 seconds in the 440-yard dash (which is slightly longer than 400 meters).

They were also members of a Byrd High mile relay team that lowered the state record to 3:20.0. It was the seventh straight year that Byrd's mile relay team made the All-State team, and the Yellow Jackets would make it four more years before the streak was snapped.

All of this happened during a 12-year span in which Byrd teams coached by the late Woodrow Turner won nine state titles in the top classification of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association.

Byrd athletes made the All-State team in the 440 10 times in 12 years -- all except 1962 (when Cline Averett of West Monroe and Jimmy Howard made it) and 1963 (when Stefan Anderson of Fair Park and Howard made it).

That streak ended after Charles Beazley made the 1966 All-State team. Since then, the only Byrd All-Staters in the 440 (or 400 meters) were Keith Carter in 1977 and Albert Fulwood in 2004 and 2005.

In addition to running a slightly longer distance before the conversion to metric distances in 1980, high school meets were run on cinder tracks in the 1950s and 1960s. And that was long before public schools were integrated, so we're talking about an all-white mile relay team.

There are no other cases of three athletes from the same school making All-State in the same individual event, but there were a couple of unique relay performances this year.

South Plaquemines made the All-State team in the 400-meter relay with 41.70, and is the first Class A team I can recall making All-State in a relay. That speed may be one of the reasons the Hurricanes averaged over 50 points per game in the state football playoffs.

Class 3A Port Allen had the fastest time in the state (1:25.85) in the 800-meter relay after going into the state meet as the No. 9 seed in 3A, which placed them in the outside (ninth) lane. Switching Jonathan Johnson to the relay team in the state meet, they were five seconds faster than they had been in the regional a week earlier. They not only shattered the Class 3A state meet record, but had the fastest time in any class in the last six years.

In individual events, great athletes can come along in any class. In the late 1950s, Don Troutman of Class C Roanoke was one of the greatest of all time in the long jump and triple jump (then called the hop, step and jump), and also tied the state record in the 440 with 49.4. In 1961, Larry Shirey of Class C Sikes broke a state record in the mile run that had stood since 1927 with a 4:23.4 in the New Orleans Recreation Dept. Meet of Champions.

But in relays, it is very unusual for a Class 3A or Class A school to turn in faster times than the 4A and 5A schools.

There is a correlation between success in track and football, especially in events such as the 100, 200, long jump and shot put. Ever since Byrd's string of track and field titles ended, the Yellow Jackets haven't been as successful in football playoffs. Evangel athletes who excelled in track, such as Jonathon Wade in the sprints, Richard Smith in the long jump and Byron Dawson in the shot put, had a lot to do with their football success, too. Terry Bradshaw (who set the national javelin record) and Joe Ferguson (who was an All-State high jumper) are other examples.

Of course, that isn't always the case. I don't recall Josh Booty, Brock Berlin or Jacob Hester doing anything in track. But they were pretty good football players.

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