When I enrolled at Northwestern State College in September of 1953, another member of the freshman class was James “Red” McNew, who had been an All-State quarterback at Ferriday High the previous year.
Both of us quickly made our presence felt at the Natchitoches school – McNew on the football team and me as the sports editor (and, later, editor) of the student newspaper, The Current Sauce.
I graduated from Fair Park High, although I never lived in the Fair Park school district while I was in high school. I went to Fair Park because I had a severe stuttering problem at that time, and it was the only school in this area that offered a remedial speech class, taught by Lillian Polk. (In recent years, my biggest speech problem has been that I don’t know when to shut up.)
Fair Park also had a journalism class, taught by Antoinette Tuminello, and she appointed me sports editor of the student newspaper, The Pow Wow, launching my sports writing career.
The Indians’ football team gave me plenty to write about that year, winning the state championship for the only time in the school’s history. Sixty years later, Fair Park is still looking for its second state title.
