Feature

By Markel BraggsContributing WriterWhat an ending to a great season!! We are the Division III non-select 2023 State Champions!Coach Joe Spatfora, the assistant coaches, and the Farmers’ football team entered the 2023 season with many high school football experts and enthusiasts and even some fans believing this was going to be a rebuilding year, not a championship year. But the …

By Jackie HuntContributing WriterOne of the more interesting and informative times of researching and developing articles for When Marion Played Sports was a long conversation I had with Mr. Malcom George, the long-time multi-sport coach at Marion High. Jackie HuntJackie Hunt is a native of Marion who served 26 years as a U.S. Marine, 16 of which were served as …

Editor’s Note: This is the tenth installment of the When Marion Played Sports series. Click the link to see all the articles in the series. By Jackie HuntContributing Writer Legacies – “something that is a part of your history or that remains from earlier time”… Cambridge Dictionary.  It would be hard to discuss sports legacies around Marion, LA without starting with the …

By Jackie HuntContributing Writer Editor’s Note: This is the ninth installment of the When Marion Played Sports series. Click the link to see all the articles in the series. The early to mid-1970s was a time of program building for Marion High School. Although the school was just a small lower classified school, it did not take long to see there was …

By Jackie HuntContributing Writer Editor’s Note: This is the eighth installment of the When Marion Played Sports series. Click the link to see all the articles in the series. The seniors and juniors of Eastside were not happy with the move to the local white schools for the second semester of the 1969-70 school year.  The seniors had been looking forward to …

By Jackie HuntSpecial to The Gazette Editor’s Note: This is the seventh installment of the When Marion Played Sports series. Click the link to see all the articles in the series. While still basking in the glory of a state football championship and watching their girls’ basketball `team race out to an 18-0 record and the boys 17-2, Eastside athletes were on …

By Jackie HuntSpecial to The Gazette Editor’s Note: This is the sixth installment of the When Marion Played Sports series. Click the link to see all the articles in the series. “Confident” is how Bobby Lanell Andrews recalls the 1969 Eastside Demons squad at the beginning of the season. “We just felt we were going to be good. We had some very …

Editor’s Note: This is the fifth installment of the When Marion Played Sports series. Click the link to see all the articles in the series. By Jackie HuntSpecial to The Gazette The doors to Marion Industrial High School closed for a final time at the end of the 1958-59 school year. Students who had studied and played in the cluster of buildings …

Editor’s Note: This is the fourth installment of the When Marion Played Sports series. Click the link to see all the articles in the series. By Jackie HuntSpecial to The Gazette Long before Lillie E. Davis became a teacher and principal at Marion High School, and a prominent respected face throughout the parish, she was an athlete at Marion Industrial High School.  …

Editor’s Note: This is the third installment of the When Marion Played Sports series. Click the link to see all the articles in the series. By Jackie HuntSpecial to The Gazette Jordan, Koby, Bird or Labron? Brady, Montana, Manning or Brees? Ruth, Bonds, Aaron or Mays? Enter the term “Greatest of All Time” into a conversation and varied opinions will …