Jerry Byrd

It's All On The Record

Jerry Byrd has come full circle since his days at Bossier High School on Coach Frank Lampkin’s junior varsity football team. The circle encompasses  a career as one of the state’s leading sports journalists and as THE authority on Louisiana high school athletic records.

Now the Sports Editor for the Bossier Tribune Byrd has covered sports for 50 years, most of those with the, where he was Sports Editor in the 1970s and '80s. Along the way, he earned honors within his profession and without. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association in 1996 and was voted into the Louisiana High School Athletic Association/Louisiana High School Coaching Association Hall of Fame in 2001, one of only two journalists so honored. These are among numerous other honors he laughingly points out may have come "because people think I'm near the end of the line."

In another twist, Jerry, who left the playing fields for the pressbox as a member of the Fair Park High School newspaper in his sophomore year, was named Louisiana's Mr. Basketball by the Louisiana Basketball Coaches Association in 1992. He also was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Louisiana Track and Field Coaches Association.>

In his spare time, Jerry did try his hand at coaching, fashioning state and national age group champion swimmers as the mentor of the Shreveport Swim Team.

Byrd has been a dominant figure in his profession, winning awards in 25 of 30 years that he entered the Louisiana Sports Writers Association writing contests. He has been selected as Louisiana's top sports writer many times over by various journalism groups.

Jerry also has written and published six books on Louisiana sports, including his most recent, Perfect Seasons: 95 Years of Basketball in Louisiana. His first is Jerry Byrd's Football Country, and that was followed by Louisiana Sports Legends and Louisiana's Best High School Football. He also wrote First Down & Forever, the story of Evangel Christian Academy football, andRunners Whom Renown Outran, a look at 95 years of track and field in Louisiana.

Jerry Byrd Online, he has compiled more than 250 columns he considers his tops (from over 10,000 he has written in his career). Their subjects include four Super Bowls and seven college games that decided national championships. They deal with those who reached legendary status and lesser-known individuals whose exploits just made good stories. In looking back over the years, he recently reflected, "I always thought I could write." And his day-to-day work substantiates his appraisal.