By Jackie HuntContributing WriterWhen Linda Andrews married Glenn Collins 39 years ago, it was predictable that they might have tall and talented offspring. After all, she was 6 feet tall and a record setting star for Northeast Louisiana University’s Lady Bulldogs. Her husband was 6 ft 5 in and had been a very good player at nearby Linville High. Both …

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 …

Editor’s Note: This is the second 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 From 1947 until 1959 Marion Industrial High School set among pine trees on the area that is now the Oliver Recreation Center and served as the education hub for …

Editor’s Note: Click the link to read the entire When Marion Played Sports series. By Jackie HuntSpecial to The Gazette             There was a time beginning in the 1960s that Marion played sports. The sleepy town of less than 1000 where log and pulpwood trucks dominated the streets and locals made their way across the Arkansas state line to work …