re: Who here went to Boys State at LSU?

Summer of 00. I was in Cataouatche parish, Jefferson or Jackson city I can't remember. Some dude brought a big cast iron skillet and everywhere we went another guy that was a drummer was banging on that thing.

All in all I had a good experience, but there were certainly terrible bouts of boredom.

The dance was pretty nice though.

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‘81 Lasalle, rep like others have said jumper hard to forget.

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Damn, this thread has brought back some memories.

'81 Assumption (Assassins). Yep, the year that guy fell to his death from Kirby Smith. From what I recall it may have been sleepwalking, it may have been suicide; no one really knew. I remember the news being shared by the staff and counselors and we all had some talks about it in our city groups.


Our city:


I made that banner.

Our high school's contingent that summer:

Grace King HS; it had just gone co-ed, and it was their first time sending boys to Boys State.

Boys State was an experience. I was never in the military, and I figure that was the closest I ever got to being in boot camp. A mix of of young guys from all over the state, being thrown together, bunking with strangers, marching in formation and chanting military style all around campus, and a severe lack of sleep.

It was neat how we had such a mix of guys in our own city: crazy Cajuns from Delcambre and Bourg, rural guys from places up north like Farmerville, New Orleans urban preps and creoles from Jesuit, Newman and St. Aug, and a lot of suburbanites from places like Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Lake Charles and Lafayette-- just a broad mix of fellows, but all were generally guys who were each outstanding in some way, kind of at the top of their game.

I found out about REAL politics that week, especially during the party convention when I learned how all the back-room, "you support this guy and I'll support your guy" deal-making works. I also learned that (at least in Louisiana) candidates need a bit of a gimmick, and almost need to entertain the electorate. I'm reminded of that when I saw John Kennedy's cornpone senate ads about how he'd "rather drink weed killer".

It was also kind of neat to me how the different races got along so well back in those days, not just in our day-to-day activities but also in our elections: we wound up with a black Lieutenant Governor and Commissioner of Insurance, and an Asian State Treasurer.

Looking back, it was also kind of neat that in 1981, the state governorship was the classic Louisiana Long/Anti-Long battle. The Federalist candidate was named Long and was a scion of that family. A rather stern, dour candidate, his big selling point was all of his experience in government as a page. He was soundly defeated by an friendly, down-to-earth guy from Shreveport.

One of our two city counselors was the son of the Lt. Governor at the time, Bobby Freeman.

"Superfreak" by Rick James was THE summer jam then. We adapted it into a song for some city competition ("Supergreat") and I remember the band at the dance playing it two or three times, saying it was requested.

It's been 40 years, but I haven't seen anybody I remember from Boys State do anything in local or state government. But I know a LOT of them became lawyers, and some did other things:

--The St. Aug guy from our city became a priest and the New Orleans Saints' pastor: he was even in some TV national commercial a few years back.

-- Keith Melancon was elected Commissioner of Agriculture; he later played line for LSU and became a orthopedic surgeon; he died a few years ago from cancer.

-- My friend Kevin from our high school was elected Secretary of State; he went to the Naval Academy, became a Marine fighter pilot and served in combat, and still serves, now as a 3 star general in the Corps.

Governor, my year, was an African-American from my city, Concordia. Ernie Kinchen, 1983.

The biggest "divide" in our city or on our floor was the elevators, and the offset halls of Kirby Smith. They guys from one end of the hall wouldn't always hang with the guys in the other end.

We had a guy, Liffond "Action" Jackson who was a high hurdles track athlete. He'd practice every night in the hall when all the guys would take their desk chairs and line them down the hall.

I was in that room too. I also ran lol.

Summer 2000
Amite


Some of the stuff was pretty funny.

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Summer of 1997 for me. Still waiting to get called back as a counselor.

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Same year as you. We won best Parish! T'Bone!!!!!

‘02. Was a mayor but don’t remember the parish.

Our two counselors acted like they were juniors in college or something until the last day, when they finally revealed they were only a year older than us. Was that a common swerve?

Ike Hilliard was elected as our mayor of Assumption. I talked to him about going to LSU, but he was dead set on Florida at that time. He basically said Ivory Hilliard (his brother/cousin, not sure the relation) told him to go somewhere other than LSU. Good advice looking back on it. Curley Hallman really was that bad.

Was it always Nats vs Feds?

I remember a “who dat” chant for the nats. For some reason still remember:

LA boys state sing this song,
La boys state thousands strong,
Proud of LA there’s a mighty sum of us
And we’re proud of La and she’s very proud of us, etc.

We're the best
We have been blessed
We pass the test
We beat the rest