Bienville Families: McConathy newsapaer articles, Bienville Parish Louisiana Submitted by Donna Sutton ladyhawke1214@hotmail.com ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ McConathy: George, John, and Leslie The following information was transcribed from various old newspaper articles. McConathy Named Kats’ Cage Coach (Shreveport Times, Wednesday, May 23, 1956) Johnny McConathy, former Northwestern State College basketball great, and current Gibsland High School cage mentor, has been named head basketball coach at Bossier City High School. The announcement was made yesterday by Bossier Parish Superintendent of Schools designate T. L. Rodes. McConathy, a former National Basketball Association star, replaces Frank Lampkin, another NSC product. Lampkin, now the school’s assistant principal, ended an eight-year term at the helm of the Bearkats this past season when he was appointed principal. ONE OF A SERIES Lampkin’s appointment was one of a series caused by the retirement of parish schools superintendent, R. V. Kerr, who retires officially on July 1. The 26-year-old McConathy has been at Gibsland four years, during which time his basketball squads have compiled a 113 won, 61 lost record. A two-time All Gulf States Conference basketball team member, McConathy was born in Gibsland and played his prep ball at Bryceland. At Northwestern, he was the second of three McConathy brothers to write Demon basketball history. During his career there, he was named to the little All-American team for the 1950-1951 campaign and set school records which still exist for the most points in one game (35), most points in a season (582), and the highest season average of 21.5 in 27 games. His 1950-51 performance was good enough to land him a berth on the college-professional All-Star team. The youngest of the McConathy clan, George, graduate at NSC this year. He was named to the 1954-55 All-GSC team and was on the second team this past season. The eldest brother, Herschel, was also an all-conference choice and is currently the Neville High basketball pilot. APPLIED IN JANUARY John, or “Hound” as he was called during his college career, applied for the position on Jan. 24 this year, shortly after Lampkin’s appointment as principal was announced. During his eight-year stay at the Bearkat helm, Lampkin squads ran up a record of 229 wins and 72 defeats. Lampkin’s last squad finished with an 18-8 mark and lost to Ruston in the bi-district playoffs. McConathy will assume his duties at the beginning of the fall term. He will teach social science. “McConathy Era” Ends This Year As George Completes Demon Career (This same article also ran in another newspaper, dated Feb. 27 Natchitoches, under the headline “ ‘McConathy Era’ To End at Last”) More than tens years ago, a tall, big-boned basketball player from Bienville Parish enrolled at Northwestern State college in Natchitoches. (Its name had just been changed from “Louisiana Normal” the year before.) His name was Leslie McConathy, and when George, his youngest brother, is graduated from Northwestern this year, a remarkable “McConathy Era” will pass into Demon cage history. In between Leslie and George, both of whom were All-Conference forwards, came brother Johnny, who received All-American acclaim in 1950-51, and cousin Hershell, the “runt” of the clan. Co-captain of Northwestern’s freshman-loaded 1955-56 cage team, 6’ 3 1/2” George McConathy has increased the family reputation during his four years at Demonland by pouring more than 1,400 points through the hoops. The only Northwestern cager in history to score more was Claude “Jodie” Stoutamire, who got 1,534 while playing with the other three McConathys. But prolific scoring isn’t even half the story on the last of the McConathy’s, Demon fans avow. Most believe he would be an invaluable starter if he couldn’t find the bucket with a telescope, because of prodigious rebounding and defensive feats. For two years, George has been the Demons’ top rebounder, despite the fact that he usually competes with players three or four inches taller. He’s also got enough speed to lead the Demons’ fast break - which he often does. Although his scoring isn’t up to the 17 point-per-game pace he set last year, George has hit a higher percentage of shots both from the field and free throw line, than ever before. The smaller average is due to the playmaking role he has stepped into as a senior. In high school he was a four-time All-State center at class “C” Bryceland, winning innumerable “Most Valuable” trophies at prep tournaments throughout the state. When his mother, Mrs. O. L. McConathy, was honored as the modern “Basketball Mother” of Northwestern at the Demons’ home opener this season, George came through with one of the greatest performances of a great career. He hooked and trapped 29 points through the rims in leading NSC to an 85-77 triumph. The McConathy name as been so prominent around Natchitoches since Leslie’s arrival that only one person has passed by without at least one member of the clan on the Purple and White roster. That was the 1951-52 campaign, and the 17-14 record that year was NSC’s worst won-lost season of the entire McConathy era. On two Demon cage teams there were three McConathys. Those were the 1947-48 and 1948-49 editions, and both won conference titles and went to the NAIB tournament at Kansas City. George plans to coach after graduation, although he’ll be facing a two-year Army stint as a Second Lieutenant, a product of the Northwestern ROTC. There’ll be a collective sigh of relief next fall when opposing Gulf States Conference coaches scan the Northwestern State roster and - for the second time in a dozen years - find no McConathy. BROWN-McCONATHY George McConathy and Dick Brown were recently elected co-captains of Northwestern State college’s 1955-56 basketball squad, Coach Charles “Red” Thomas announces. McConathy, a forward from Bryceland, led the Demons in scoring last season with 16.8 points per game. Close on his heels was Dick Brown, a Converse guard, with a 16.4 per game average. Both McConathy, a senior, and Brown, a junior, have been NSC regulars during their entire college careers. Last year, McConathy duplicated the feats of older brothers Leslie and Johnny, both of whom were All-Conference stars at Northwestern, by winning a first team ward spot. Brown was named to the All-GSC second team, the All-Midwest tournament squad and Centenary college’s All-Opponent five. Brown is the first non-senior to captain a Northwestern team in Thomas’ five-year tenure as head coach. The co-captains form half of the letterman group that was left from the 1954-55 Demon crew that won an unprecedented second straight GSC co-championship. The other two monogram-winners are center, Lavelle “Loopy” Langstor and guard, Ronnie Lebo. CAGERS HONORED (The following paragraph accompanied a newspaper photo.) Trophy winners at Northwestern State College’s annual basketball banquet were Jimmie (Red) Leach, voted the team’s “most valuable freshman”, George McConathy, “most valuable player”, and Dick Brown, winner of the free-throw award for the second straight year with a charity-line percentage of 78 per cent. Brown and McConathy were all-conference selections, while Leach set a freshman scoring record at NSC with 317 points. Contributed by Donna Sutton