This is a talk I made to a group of Fair Parkers six years ago that tells much of my story.

In the Book of Psalms, Chapter 143, Verse 5, King David says, "I remember the days of old." David was a man who had a lot to remember, starting with the young shepherd boy who took a slingshot and a rock, and killed a lion, and a bear, and a Phillistine giant named Goliath.

When I remember the days of old, I never killed a lion, or a bear, or a giant. But I lived in a time when I walked the halls of Fair Park High School with giants. Not in size, but in deeds. Some of them are in this room. Some of them are no longer in this world.

I have come today to deliver a message that was given to me by one of those giants 16 years ago. When Tommy Davis made his last trip to his home town a few months before he died, I visited with him for a half hour in his sister's home. We talked about old times and new times, about the ways the world had changed since we were boys, and the ways it had not changed. As I was leaving, Tommy said, "Tell my old cronies hello for me. As I looked back after I pulled out of the driveway to wave at him, and see him wave at me for the last time, I could not help thinking that "goodbye" would be a more appropriate word than "hello."

Of course, one of the people we talked about on that October day was Rogers Hampton. Tommy said, "Rogers Hampton is the greatest athlete who ever walked the streets of Shreveport."

I have thought about that statement many times since then. Tommy spent most of his life in San Francisco. Since college, I have spent all of my life in Shreveport and Bossier City. I thought about all of the great athletes I have seen here, starting with Terry Bradshaw, who set the national record in the javelin throw and led the Woodlawn Knights to the state football finals and the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl victories; Joe Ferguson, who rewrote national passing records and led Woodlawn to its only state football championship and had a great NFL career; and Stan Humphries, who led Northeast Louisiana to a national championship and San Diego to the Super Bowl.

In basketball, Robert Parish led Woodlawn to a state championship and is now in the Hall of Fame after a great career in the NBA; Stromile Swift was a great player at Fair Park and is still playing in the NBA; Karl Malone led Summerfield High to three state championships and is one of the greatest who ever played in the NBA. Greg Procell of Ebarb scored more points in high school basketball than anybody else ever thought about scoring; Bobby Joe Douglas of Marion still holds the national record of 54 points per game.

In baseball, Albert Belle went from Huntington High to LSU and then to the major leagues, where he did things that nobody had done since the days of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig; Todd Walker went from Airline High to LSU and the big leagues, and is hitting home runs in the playoffs now under way; Cecil Upshaw went from Bossier High to Centenary College and then became one of the best relief pitchers in the big leagues.

In track and field, Hollis Conway of Fair Park set the American record in the high jump and won medals in the Olympics twice; Lamark Carter of Captain Shreve also made the Olympics; Arnold Campbell of Airline threw the shot put 75 feet; Owen Self of Byrd broke the state record in the mile run by 10 seconds; Rod Richardson of Fair Park broke the national record in the 100 meter dash; Jonathan Wade of Evangel broke the state record in the 200 meter dash; Rocky Johnson of Parkway broke the state record in the 800 meter run; Janet Hill of Booker T. Washington was No. 1 in the nation in the girls' discus; Rachel Walker of Benton was No. 1 in the nation in the girls' javelin.

In golf, Hal Sutton of Northwood and David Toms of Airline ranked among the best in the world. In swimming, Damon McCoy of Southwood was one of America's best, and Micah Martindale of Airline still is. Of course, there were many others.

Then I think of the 5-6, 150-pound boy with wide shoulders and narrow hips who won state championships in the 100 yard dash, long jump and shot put, throwing it 52 feet; who dunked a basketball and hit a softball a mile; who made All-State two years in a row in football, and was selected the greatest local high school athlete of the 1950s eight years after he finished high school; and I realize that, although he never saw the great athletes I saw, Tommy Davis hit the nail on the head. Rogers Hampton was, and still is, the greatest athlete who ever walked the streets of Shreveport.

When I remember the days of old, I remember the sun glistening off the gold helmets of Rogers Hampton, Number 44, and other heroes on a Thanksgiving Day afternoon. But I would be remiss in delivering this message if it did not include a few words about the greatest player I never saw play a game. Lee Hedges was my first local sports hero. He was also the hero of Rogers Hampton, Tommy Davis and many others. When I was a seventh grader on the unbeaten, untied and unscored-on 85-pound league Hamilton Terrace Terrors in 1947, one of my greatest thrills was going to a banquet at Princess Park and getting my first glimpse of Lee Hedges.

We had no television at that time, but everybody who listened to Fair Park games on the radio or read about them in the newspapers knew about Lee Hedges. The radio announcer called Fair Park "Lee Hedges and Company." Many years later, in recalling the great football players at Fair Park, Coach Roy Wilson would call him "the All-American boy." There were only 13 boys on that Hamilton Terrace team, and a few of them were fortunate enough to see Lee Hedges play. I wasn't one of them, but I still remember his picture in the newspaper. To me, it looked like a face that should be on the side of Mount Rushmore.

Many times, I have found that great athletes were very ordinary people off the field. That wasn't the case with Lee Hedges. The more I knew him, the more I respected and admired him. If anybody had told that 12-year-old boy that he would spend his life in a job where Lee Hedges and many other heroes he had not met yet would actually know him, and call him by name, and shake his hand, he would've said, "I've got to be the luckiest boy on the face of the earth."

I have come here today to admit that I have always been lucky. Lucky to be born to a long-legged letter carrier from Ajax and a 19-year-old girl from Hosston who gave me everything money could buy, and many things money could not buy. Lucky to go to Fair Park High School and be inspired by principal E.L. Alberson and speech teacher Lillian Polk and journalism teacher Antoinette Tuminello Price and English teacher Jenny Jones, to mention a few.

Twenty-five years ago, I received a letter in hand-writing that looked strangely familiar to me. Then I saw the return address was Route 5, Box 268, and I realized that it was the letter Jenny Jones had each member of her senior classes write to themselves each year, writing about their plans and dreams for the future. My dream was to spend a few years here and then go on to New York City and become a nationally syndicated columnist, like Bob Considine, the best known sports writer of that time.

I was never lacking in confidence in my writing ability. I had a few opportunities to leave, but by that time I was having too much fun in my home town. Looking back, I realize that I was lucky that dream didn't come true, because I would not have had an opportunity to write thousands of stories about those great athletes I have mentioned and many more who I considered just as great because they did the best they could with what they had, as I was doing. I was lucky to watch and know some of the great athletes in this room, and many more who are not in this room. Lucky to be married to a wonderful woman for 36 years and raise two children in Shreveport, Louisiana, the greatest place in the world.

And after my wife, Pat, died on Thanksgiving Day of 2001, this year I got lucky again and met a Fair Park girl who walked the same halls we walked 50 years ago. On Aug. 1, Barbara Crouch Copeland held my hand and took my name. On Aug. 2, I took her to Alaska. To Barbara Byrd, and to all of my friends and heroes in this room and many who are not in this room, I want to say thank you. All of us are lucky to have the memories we shared in the days of old at Fair Park High School, and I still consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.

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