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 A View From The Press Box
Troy S. LeBoeuf
Contributing Sports Authority
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Happy Easter to everyone and I know all of the school kids are getting excited as school will be finishing up next month. As I started thinking about this article, I thought why not a success story about a local hero. Have you ever thought about longevity? Well I have. Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak comes to mind; the Atlanta Braves 15 division titles in a row; or how about the UCLA Bruins championship streak back in the 70’s? How ironic it is that a coach named “Hill” finally climbed over that hill and reached the Top 28. Yes, the DHS Tigers and Coach Greg Hill made an appearance in the Top 28 and played well. The final score was not in favor of the Tigers, but a valuable lesson was learned by those players that particular night. I had the pleasure of attending the post game press conference and Coach Hill’s speech in the locker room. To summarize what he said would be an injustice. Coach Hill talked about how proud he was of that group. He stated that they were not even close to being the most talented group he has coached in his 31 years at the DHS. What this group did have was the desire to be #1 and an innate ability to play as a “team”. I need to say that again… they play as a “team” not as a group of individuals trying to see how many points they could score to get their names in The Advocate. Coach Hill thanked his team several times and told them to never be strangers, especially the seniors. He is losing a great group but it’s the same group that has set the foundation for future Tiger teams to strive to return to the Top 28. I want to take this opportunity to salute Coach Hill and thank him for allowing me to be a part of the locker room. As a young coach back in the late 1990’s, I had an opportunity to work under Coach Hill and I will never forget some of the lessons that I learned from him and still abide by today. This 2005-06 season has been a special one and one day this “team” will look back and fully appreciate what a great time they had.
I would be remiss if I didn’t congratulate the LSU Tigers and the Southern Jags for making it to the big dance in both men and women’s’ basketball. What a great run by the Tigers as they made it to the Final Four and proved to the naysayers that LSU is not just a “football school”. The NCAA tourney was a great one and how about little Northwestern State winning in the 1st round? What an exciting finish as the Florida men and the Maryland women get to cut the nets down as national champions.
Our local teams are finishing their seasons in the spring sports as this article goes to press. All of the young girls and boys have shown class as usual and have made their coaches proud in the process. Remember The Titans is one of my favorite movies, but I might try to get the film industry to make a new one, “Remember the Tigers”. Great run guys and you made Donaldsonville very proud. I can be reached at troyleboeuf@hotmail.com. Till next time…
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A publication in conjunction with Donaldsonville Chamber of Commerce www.donaldsonvillecoc.org
