1996. What a year. I was a senior at Denham Springs High School and was in my fourth year of playing basketball for the school. We had a rough transition in between my junior and senior years of basketball as we were in the middle of a coaching change. Ms. Niki Leader was on her way out and on her way in was Coach Brenda Loe from north Louisiana. Along with Coach Loe, we received a transfer student from Australia...Katrina Hibbert. Katrina would go on to play at LSU, WNBA and then back to her homeland and not only play professionally, but also coach a professional team. It was a super special time in my young life and I treasure the people I shared those times with and the memories we made.
Which brings us to today. At DSHS we are lucky enough to have a DSTV class for our students at our STEM center campus. The DSTV teacher, Johnny Lombardi, is young, talented, creative and a great asset to our school and our students. At prom this past spring, Johnny, myself and fellow teacher/ alumni Andy McLean were standing on duty when Andy pointed out that it was the 25th anniversary of our State Championship. And the rest, as they say, is history! Johnny and I went to work on gathering all of the memorabilia, audio, and video from that year. I didn't have to look to far. Most of my teammates had kept a scrapbook of some kind and those that were in town were eager to share what they had. The real struggle was converting a VHS and a cassette tape to digital technology of today. I kept saying...I didn't ever really consider myself to be old until I had to find ways to convert the stuff we used on a daily basis growing up.
The plan was set for Johnny to have the documentary done by June 29th. We'd have a premier showing at Big Mike's and invite our family, friends and community. It was wonderful night. I never in a million years dreamed that we'd be so lucky as to have all of our memories from that magical year recorded for a lifetime and beyond. I am so grateful for Johnny and all of his efforts behind this project. Thank you just doesn't seem to do it justice.
It's a great day to be a Yellow Jacket!
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| The man behind the scenes...Johnny Lombardi. |
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| Thankful he puts up with all my craziness! |
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| Mishaux Ballard Ramirez, Becca McKeithen, Tricia Carlton Riche and Jamie Chustz Felder. My Teammates who were able to make it to the premier showing. |
