Billy Wayne Montgomery

Montgomery's Bucs Always Representative

The picture is vivid, just as if it happened moments ago: Coach Billy Montgomery looping a towel around the neck of a Haughton High basketball player and drawing him face to face, intently giving him instructions over the crowd noise from 12,000 fans in Alexandria's Rapides Coliseum. There could be no chance the player misunderstood the coach's wishes in this state championship game.

The 1969 photo and the intensity it portrayed captured Billy Montgomery, the coach and the man. His intensity was matched by his commitment to his basketball players being the very best they could be. As a coach, Billy Montgomery could make on-the-spot decisions that paid dividends. But he was an analytical student of the game who thrived on preparation. In his career at Haughton High, he coached teams to Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class A championships in 1968 and 1969. He is the only Bossier Parish basketball coach ever to guide back-to-back state championship teams. The Buccaneers were 38-2 during the 1968-69 season and the winning percentage of .950 established a record for Bossier schools in the LHSAA. His teams won 305 games and lost 68 (an .817 win percentage) and he was twice selected Class A Coach of the Year in Louisiana.

As much as he savored winning, Montgomery had little taste for losing. A setback on the court usually was followed by a long soul-searching period locked away in the dressing room with his players.

Montgomery was a disciple of defense. His practices, often long and strenuous, focused on fundamentals, especially on the defensive side. His teams ran a full-court press all game, every game. As a coach, he was a perfectionist, according to one of his top players, Kenny Covington. "He taught values and a work ethic that were not only good for basketball and sports. They were things we could apply to everyday life. I hold him in the same esteem that I hold my parents. His practices were intense. He worked us extremely hard to get us ready, but he worked harder. He worked harder than any of us or any coach I've ever known."

The coach's most successful teams started as a group of sophomores who reached the state championship game in 1967 only to lose to Many High School. Essentially the same players were involved in the two championships and they won 50 of the last 52 games they played. The group included Covington, Benny DePrang, Kenny Cowan and John Bradshaw.

Montgomery, a graduate of Provencal High School and Northwestern State University, retired from coaching in 1979 and after five years as Haughton High School principal he retired from the school system in 1988.

Montgomery was elected a state representative in 1988. In his time in the Louisiana legislature until term limited in 2006. In his time in the legislature, he has been a strong proponent of horse racing, an important industry in his home district, and a friend of other sports activities involving Northwest Louisiana.