It’s impossible not to reflect on 9/11 on the fifth anniversary of the tragic events of 2001.
The entire NSU athletic department was together, attending the always entertaining and mandatory fall semester department meeting, beginning at 7 a.m. that morning in the Stroud Room of the fieldhouse.
I was one of a few people at the meeting with a cell phone. Sometime about 8:30, I got a call from a good friend who was shaken up by what she was watching on television – something none of the five dozen of us in the meeting had any idea was unfolding.
The meeting was about to conclude, so I waited for it to wrap up a couple of minutes later and spread the word as quickly as possible. As I was explaining what I’d heard, athletic department icon Thomas Foster walked into the room and said the Pentagon had just been hit and the situation was unsettling.
I remember football coach Steve Roberts canceling practice that afternoon. I remember the confused discussion that ensued among athletic administrators around the nation, and certainly in the state and Southland Conference, trying to figure out what was prudent and appropriate. Some schools, very few, went forward with activities and games. I can remember thinking that if we were worried about security and logistics in the SLC, I couldn’t imagine how a BCS school could give any assurance of safety at its stadium that weekend.
Ultimately, all games in all sports for NSU and the SLC were postponed or cancelled through the weekend. That meant Demon QB Ben Beach and his family never saw his picture on the cover of the game program for the home game that weekend against Gardner-Webb.
An interesting byproduct of the cancellation of the G-W game was our entry into the scramble to fill the sudden open dates. The Demons were able to hook up with Oklahoma State for a game on Sept. 29, since both teams lost games on Sept. 15 and had open dates that weekend. The connection was NSU strength coach David Deets, who came to us from OSU (where he is now back, on staff as a fulltime coach, still with enough purple in him to greet and eat dinner with Coach Mike McConathy and the Demons basketball team last December a night before NSU toppled the Cowboys at Stillwater). Deets had close ties with the assistant AD in charge of scheduling at Oklahoma State.
When the football team took the field again, on Sept. 22 at TCU, we like to reflect on the thrilling 27-24 overtime win by a team that went on to reach the I-AA playoffs and nearly beat Montana in Missoula. I remember the pre-game ceremonies and the vibe around the stadium before kickoff in Fort Worth on a lovely September evening. Nobody knew what might be ahead, but we were truly the United States of America. You saw as much red, white and blue as you did purple in the tailgating area on that beautiful campus.
I heard today that one in five Americans knew somebody who was killed or injured on 9/11. I am fortunate not to be in that number and I hope you are too. But one former Demon football player was very close to the scene.
Carl Hazlewood, who graduated two years ago after helping the Demons win the 2004 SLC championship as a tight end, was a Naval Academy student and football player on 9/11. He came to NSU the next spring.
He had been at the World Trade Center, on the roof, three weeks earlier. He had friends who worked in the building. There were Navy graduates killed at the Pentagon.
Hearing Carl talk about how the campus in Annapolis quickly changed into a tightly guarded military installation, in part because at the time authorities considered it a potential target for terrorists on 9/11 and in the aftermath, was chilling.
I remember trying to reassure my friend when she called that morning. No foreign government would be involved in such an attack, I said, and I told her the world was about to see the best of America. That proved true, for a time. Hopefully today’s observances can rekindle some of that collaborative spirit and determination.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Friday, September 08, 2006
Not a Demon, but NSU has a soft spot for Joe Dumars
Joe Dumars is being enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame tonight and we all should be proud.
Joe grew up in Natchitoches. He was raised less than a mile from our campus, right across the street from a business owned by the Maggio family, and little Joe and little Chris Maggio spent days and nights playing together. Chris, of course, is now NSU’s Alumni Director. They’re still dear friends.
Joe’s charming mother, Ophelia, worked on campus, I’m told. When he was in high school, Joe spent a lot of time in Prather Coliseum playing pickup games against the Demon players of the day, really good players including Wayne Waggoner and Kenny Hale.
Joe was recruited by NSU, but chose to leave home and play at McNeese. He had a great career there and brought a lot of attention to the Southland Conference. What he did in 14 great NBA seasons is astounding – six All-Star Games, a 1989 Championship Series MVP award, and a 16-point career scoring average. For anybody who knows him or his family, it’s not surprising that he won the first NBA Sportsmanship Award and since then, the annual honor has been named the Joe Dumars Trophy.
Although I saw him play at Natchitoches Central High School for coach J.D. Garrett, I first met Joe and his parents when I was working at the Alexandria Town Talk, and had the opportunity to visit his home for a story I wrote. At times during his NBA career, on his very low-key visits home, I’d get a call from his mom asking if I could get the lights on in Prather because Joe needed to come work out. Excellence doesn’t happen by accident.
Since his playing days ended, Joe has become one of the NBA’s most respected executives in his role as the president of basketball operations for the Pistons. One thing that hasn’t changed, he deflects the attention, never seeking the spotlight. In February, he came home to visit when his brother David was in town as an assistant coach at McNeese and the Cowboys were playing the Demons at Prather Coliseum.
We didn’t know he was coming to the game – nothing unusual. Joe likes to, understandably, fly under the radar when he’s home. Otherwise there are just so many people, most of whom are well intentioned, wanting to visit him while he’s in to share time wit h his mom and family. Well, he sat up there in a white warmup suit, and it took just a few minutes before we noticed – seeing a commotion and a flow of well-wishers heading his way kinda tipped us off on press row.
Joe greeted friends and autograph seekers alike, graciously, in typical Dumars style. He did an interview with Brian Vernellis of the Shreveport Times and pointed out he’s a “Southland Conference guy” who still keeps track of the SLC scene regularly. He expressed his admiration for the Demons and coach Mike McConathy.
A month later, he showed it.
When NSU headed to Auburn Hills, Mich., for the NCAA Tournament, after a phone conversation early in the week with his old friend and then-NSU assistant coach Dave Simmons, Dumars rolled out the Pistons’ red (and blue) carpet. He made their practice facility (on a hill overlooking the Palace at Auburn Hills) available to the Demons even though he was out of town himself on Wednesday. He got back into town Thursday morning and attended practice – his office has a window looking out on the court. (His desk, by the way, is immaculate and lit by a small lamp. There’s a round table nearby that obviously is for small meetings, and there’s a bookcase and some family photos. I didn’t sneak in – there are curtains, left open, on the glass window looking out on the practice floor.)
Joe spoke to the team, at coach Mike’s request, at the end of the workout. He told them not to worry about the team names on the front of the jersey, that he’d played against the best players in the world, and nobody was any tougher than guys from back home in Louisiana. He told them he’d seen them play and he was sure they could win if they believed they could.
That evening, Joe and his son, Jordan (named for, yes, Michael Jordan, who said Joe was the toughest defender he ever faced) went to dinner with the Demons. The next day they were in Joe’s box at the Palace. At halftime, Joe had to leave for the Pistons’ game at New York that night, but Jordan and friends remained. At the end of the game, Jordan excitedly called his dad and told him the great news – the Demons won. That night, Joe talked to the New York Times about the Demons, and that story took up three quarters of the front page of the NYT’s Sunday sports section. What an incredible coup for NSU, courtesy of Joe Dumars!
Two days later, Joe was again in his box at the Palace, having flown in from Charlotte the night before. On that Sunday, he greeted a number of NSU fans in his box as they watched West Virginia end the season for the Demons of Destiny.
It was a thrill for our players (and coaches and staff) to have Joe be so kind and supportive, not to his college, but to the team in his hometown. Time and again that week, he demonstrated and expressed his admiration for a coach, a team and a program that carry the same “work hard” approach that helped Joe become, truly, one of the greats of the game.
The Basketball Hall of Fame is on a more grand scale; even, than the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, NY, or the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. In Springfield, MA, they honor a select few inductees from all around the world, not just the NBA or college basketball. It’s a truly incredible accomplishment to be enshrined – and nobody is more worthy than Joe. I’ll be watching tonight at 6:30 on ESPN Classic to see his shining moment in Springfield. I hope you do, too.
Joe grew up in Natchitoches. He was raised less than a mile from our campus, right across the street from a business owned by the Maggio family, and little Joe and little Chris Maggio spent days and nights playing together. Chris, of course, is now NSU’s Alumni Director. They’re still dear friends.
Joe’s charming mother, Ophelia, worked on campus, I’m told. When he was in high school, Joe spent a lot of time in Prather Coliseum playing pickup games against the Demon players of the day, really good players including Wayne Waggoner and Kenny Hale.
Joe was recruited by NSU, but chose to leave home and play at McNeese. He had a great career there and brought a lot of attention to the Southland Conference. What he did in 14 great NBA seasons is astounding – six All-Star Games, a 1989 Championship Series MVP award, and a 16-point career scoring average. For anybody who knows him or his family, it’s not surprising that he won the first NBA Sportsmanship Award and since then, the annual honor has been named the Joe Dumars Trophy.
Although I saw him play at Natchitoches Central High School for coach J.D. Garrett, I first met Joe and his parents when I was working at the Alexandria Town Talk, and had the opportunity to visit his home for a story I wrote. At times during his NBA career, on his very low-key visits home, I’d get a call from his mom asking if I could get the lights on in Prather because Joe needed to come work out. Excellence doesn’t happen by accident.
Since his playing days ended, Joe has become one of the NBA’s most respected executives in his role as the president of basketball operations for the Pistons. One thing that hasn’t changed, he deflects the attention, never seeking the spotlight. In February, he came home to visit when his brother David was in town as an assistant coach at McNeese and the Cowboys were playing the Demons at Prather Coliseum.
We didn’t know he was coming to the game – nothing unusual. Joe likes to, understandably, fly under the radar when he’s home. Otherwise there are just so many people, most of whom are well intentioned, wanting to visit him while he’s in to share time wit h his mom and family. Well, he sat up there in a white warmup suit, and it took just a few minutes before we noticed – seeing a commotion and a flow of well-wishers heading his way kinda tipped us off on press row.
Joe greeted friends and autograph seekers alike, graciously, in typical Dumars style. He did an interview with Brian Vernellis of the Shreveport Times and pointed out he’s a “Southland Conference guy” who still keeps track of the SLC scene regularly. He expressed his admiration for the Demons and coach Mike McConathy.
A month later, he showed it.
When NSU headed to Auburn Hills, Mich., for the NCAA Tournament, after a phone conversation early in the week with his old friend and then-NSU assistant coach Dave Simmons, Dumars rolled out the Pistons’ red (and blue) carpet. He made their practice facility (on a hill overlooking the Palace at Auburn Hills) available to the Demons even though he was out of town himself on Wednesday. He got back into town Thursday morning and attended practice – his office has a window looking out on the court. (His desk, by the way, is immaculate and lit by a small lamp. There’s a round table nearby that obviously is for small meetings, and there’s a bookcase and some family photos. I didn’t sneak in – there are curtains, left open, on the glass window looking out on the practice floor.)
Joe spoke to the team, at coach Mike’s request, at the end of the workout. He told them not to worry about the team names on the front of the jersey, that he’d played against the best players in the world, and nobody was any tougher than guys from back home in Louisiana. He told them he’d seen them play and he was sure they could win if they believed they could.
That evening, Joe and his son, Jordan (named for, yes, Michael Jordan, who said Joe was the toughest defender he ever faced) went to dinner with the Demons. The next day they were in Joe’s box at the Palace. At halftime, Joe had to leave for the Pistons’ game at New York that night, but Jordan and friends remained. At the end of the game, Jordan excitedly called his dad and told him the great news – the Demons won. That night, Joe talked to the New York Times about the Demons, and that story took up three quarters of the front page of the NYT’s Sunday sports section. What an incredible coup for NSU, courtesy of Joe Dumars!
Two days later, Joe was again in his box at the Palace, having flown in from Charlotte the night before. On that Sunday, he greeted a number of NSU fans in his box as they watched West Virginia end the season for the Demons of Destiny.
It was a thrill for our players (and coaches and staff) to have Joe be so kind and supportive, not to his college, but to the team in his hometown. Time and again that week, he demonstrated and expressed his admiration for a coach, a team and a program that carry the same “work hard” approach that helped Joe become, truly, one of the greats of the game.
The Basketball Hall of Fame is on a more grand scale; even, than the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, NY, or the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. In Springfield, MA, they honor a select few inductees from all around the world, not just the NBA or college basketball. It’s a truly incredible accomplishment to be enshrined – and nobody is more worthy than Joe. I’ll be watching tonight at 6:30 on ESPN Classic to see his shining moment in Springfield. I hope you do, too.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Baylor president has Natchitoches roots, Demon tie
First: that’s a “Demon tie” as in a connection to NSU football, not a tie that Dr. John M. Lilley would wear.
The 1961 Baylor graduate officially took office as Baylor’s 13th president on Jan. 1, 2006, after serving four years as president at Nevada.
While a youngster, Dr. Lilley lived in Natchitoches, as his father served as pastor of Westside Baptist Church.
He’s also related to former Demon linebacker James Lilley, one of the hardest hitting folks ever to wear the purple and white during his days playing for coach A.L. Williams, lettering from 1976-78.
The 1961 Baylor graduate officially took office as Baylor’s 13th president on Jan. 1, 2006, after serving four years as president at Nevada.
While a youngster, Dr. Lilley lived in Natchitoches, as his father served as pastor of Westside Baptist Church.
He’s also related to former Demon linebacker James Lilley, one of the hardest hitting folks ever to wear the purple and white during his days playing for coach A.L. Williams, lettering from 1976-78.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Getting a history lesson from a history maker
Did you know the goalpost at the north end of Turpin Stadium is the original one that went up when the stadium was completed in 1976?
Robert Weeks knows.
The Demons’ sophomore kicker got that nugget from Chuck Bourg, whose job it is to know all about NSU’s athletic facilities. Bourg is the director of special facilities for athletics, and is also back in the equipment business handling football and other sports. So that brings him to each day’s Demon practice.
Kickers being kickers, they have a lot of down time during a two-hour practice. You can only kick so much before your leg gets tired – a lot like pitchers in baseball or quarterbacks in football.
So at some point, Weeks and the other kickers engaged Bourg in a discussion of the goalposts, wondering why the north end goalpost and uprights is sturdier. The uprights on that end tend not to lean to one side or the other, but on the south end, a windy day might create a little lean to one side on the south goal.
Bourg had the quick answer – it’s the 30th birthday for the north goal post. The south goalpost – at least the uprights and crossbar – came tumbling down for the first time at the end of the final regular-season game of 1997, the Thursday night, Nov. 20 showdown for the Southland Conference championship won by the Demons 38-24 over Stephen F. Austin. I get goose bumps remembering it, watching from the press box, wishing I was down on the field in the sea of Demons celebrating.
The south end zone uprights and cross bar came down again the next season, also on a Thursday night, this time when No. 8-ranked NSU beat then No. 1-ranked McNeese State 14-10.
Another attempt came in 2000 when the Demons knocked off highly-ranked Troy State 24-17 with a stirring goalline stand (four downs from the 2 yard line or closer) in the final two minutes clinching the outcome. That happened at the north goalline; students rushed both goalposts, but the combination of security and the sturdy north goalpost stopped the attempts.
Weeks, by the way, noted that one of the two sets of uprights at Kansas last week seemed to bow inward slightly, narrowing the angle at the north end zone. Interesting that all of his record four field goals came at the south end, kicking into the scoreboard and the open end of the horseshoe-shaped Memorial Stadium.
The Pineville product found out he’d been voted SLC Special Teams player of the week when his grandmother called Tuesday night to congratulate him. He quickly visited www.nsudemons.com to get the whole story and by Wednesday, was well versed in the history of his achievement, having erased a nine-way tie for the school record.
UPDATE – Sophomore receiver Dudley Guice had another surgery on his broken jaw on Tuesday in Lawrence, Kansas, and is due to return home this weekend.
Robert Weeks knows.
The Demons’ sophomore kicker got that nugget from Chuck Bourg, whose job it is to know all about NSU’s athletic facilities. Bourg is the director of special facilities for athletics, and is also back in the equipment business handling football and other sports. So that brings him to each day’s Demon practice.
Kickers being kickers, they have a lot of down time during a two-hour practice. You can only kick so much before your leg gets tired – a lot like pitchers in baseball or quarterbacks in football.
So at some point, Weeks and the other kickers engaged Bourg in a discussion of the goalposts, wondering why the north end goalpost and uprights is sturdier. The uprights on that end tend not to lean to one side or the other, but on the south end, a windy day might create a little lean to one side on the south goal.
Bourg had the quick answer – it’s the 30th birthday for the north goal post. The south goalpost – at least the uprights and crossbar – came tumbling down for the first time at the end of the final regular-season game of 1997, the Thursday night, Nov. 20 showdown for the Southland Conference championship won by the Demons 38-24 over Stephen F. Austin. I get goose bumps remembering it, watching from the press box, wishing I was down on the field in the sea of Demons celebrating.
The south end zone uprights and cross bar came down again the next season, also on a Thursday night, this time when No. 8-ranked NSU beat then No. 1-ranked McNeese State 14-10.
Another attempt came in 2000 when the Demons knocked off highly-ranked Troy State 24-17 with a stirring goalline stand (four downs from the 2 yard line or closer) in the final two minutes clinching the outcome. That happened at the north goalline; students rushed both goalposts, but the combination of security and the sturdy north goalpost stopped the attempts.
Weeks, by the way, noted that one of the two sets of uprights at Kansas last week seemed to bow inward slightly, narrowing the angle at the north end zone. Interesting that all of his record four field goals came at the south end, kicking into the scoreboard and the open end of the horseshoe-shaped Memorial Stadium.
The Pineville product found out he’d been voted SLC Special Teams player of the week when his grandmother called Tuesday night to congratulate him. He quickly visited www.nsudemons.com to get the whole story and by Wednesday, was well versed in the history of his achievement, having erased a nine-way tie for the school record.
UPDATE – Sophomore receiver Dudley Guice had another surgery on his broken jaw on Tuesday in Lawrence, Kansas, and is due to return home this weekend.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Tough break, class move
Demon receiver Dudley Guice suffered a broken jaw in Saturday night’s game at Kansas. He remained in Lawrence and had surgery Sunday. He could miss the rest of the season.
Sunday afternoon, Kansas head coach Mark Mangino took time to visit Guice at the hospital.
Sunday afternoon, Kansas head coach Mark Mangino took time to visit Guice at the hospital.
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