Gary and Gail Sides: Memories of Central High’s 1966 State Championship Year

By Elva Jo Crawford
    Please contact us if you would like to share your experiences from the 1966 championship game or that season.  It was a particularly special time in the life of the Central Community.  In 1966 The Advocate reported that Central High had never had a State Championship (up to that time) in ANY sport.   So, the community was behind the team with a vengeance.  The first in our series of memories is from Gail and Gary Sides.  Let us hear from you!
    Wearing maroon and white, Gary and Gail Sides at their home in Central today with a treasure——– Gary's football helmet from his senior season with the Central High School football team's 1966 Class AA State Championsip team.   There are lots of stains and scrapes on the head piece- Gail says the green stains are most likely from the District 8-AA championship game with Redemptorist High, whose colors were green and white and who were our arch rivals at the time. That game was a very hard-fought one and ended in a tied score 7-7. The District victory had to then be decided on the basis of which team had the most first downs- Central had 4 more first downs than Redemptorist.  The stickered stars on the helmet each represent one of Gary's 19 touchdowns he made that season with the Wildcats.  There were also 19 seniors on the team that year.  Along with two other seniors, Billy Potts and Clem Kaiser, Gary made the All-State team and was one of four seniors to be on Louisiana college football teams the next fall- Gary was on the Southeastern Louisiana Universitiy football team his freshman year.   He was also awarded Central's Most Valuable Player for the 1966 team.
     Gary and Gail have been sweethearts since they met at a party given by one of his cousins, Glenda Sides (Hunt).   Gail was 13 and Gary was 14.  Their first date was an outing to a church banquet.  Since neither one of them was old enough for a driver's license, Gary's dad, Mr. Gerald "Cooter" Sides along with his friend,  Mr. Peanut Carpenter, drove.   By 1966 Gail was a junior in high school, in the Pep Squad, and was a junior class officer; and, Gary was a senior and a football player on the Central High State Championship Football team. 
    Gary had played football for Central 7th-12th grades and says he was blessed to have had O.R. Smith as his coach for each of those six years.  He describes O. R. as a Christian man and an encourager.  As it turned out, he says, he and O.R. were both sort of promoted together through those years, O.R. first being the coach of his 7th and 8th grade teams, and then his JV team and eventually becoming Central's varsity coach and head coach the same years that Gary was moving through the school grades.
    He recalls that some of the game preparation practices from 50 years ago for a high school football team were a lot different than they are today.  One of the things he remembers was that the players were not allowed to drink water at practice.  During what seemed like very infrequent breaks during practices, they were given only iced down orange slices.  And, they had very little to no access to air conditioning.   Looking back, now, it's hard to imagine how they survived in this Louisiana heat; particularly these days when so much attention is put on hydration before and after football practices. Gatorade did not become commercially available until 1967.  He also recalls that the entire team was taken to Dr. Holt's office every Thursday before game day Fridays for B12 injections.   Greenwell Springs Tuberculosis Hospital was still operational that fall of 1966.  During the team's state play-off game at Lake Charles the week prior to the state championship game, Gary had sustained multiple,  severe bruises to his right thigh.  So, Coach Smith brought him to see Dr. Jesse Fairchild at the Greenwell Springs Tuberculosis Hospital for x-rays.  Apparently, the x-rays did not show any damage; but, he says Coach Smith was still concerned and took him out to LSU to have a tougher, more protective thigh pad made to wear to keep him from getting more injuries in the up coming championship game.  Considering all the hits he took in football in his younger years, Gary says he feels very blessed today to be healthy.
    As far as the actual state championship game night, December 16, 1966, when the Central Wildcats played the Jesuit of Shreveport Flyers, he says his most vivid memory was the moment when the players came out of the locker room and stepped into Shreveport's State Fair Stadium.  He was completely caught off guard by the site of the overflow crowd in the stadium.  There was just no way to describe how taken aback and overwhelmed he was by the sight of so many people from Central who had come all the way from home to Shreveport to be there for the game.  Unbelievable.  The Baton Rouge newspaper reported that  3,000 people from the Baton Rouge area had come to the game.  Central had just as many fans in attendance as their Shreveport opponent.
    Gail's remembrance of the 1966 football team was that they were a remarkably special group and a true "TEAM" – a team with "heart" – they shared the "plays" and shared the "praise"- and really had  a "brotherhood".  She also remembers the community being just as much a part of the team- completely  supportive and fully behind the team's every endeavor.  One of the sports writers for the Advocate, now retired, said that he also remembers Central having some great coaches and great players that year; but, says the community was also particularly great in following the team everywhere they went.
    Gail says that her dad, Mr. Bill Sparks, was one of those devoted Central fans who followed the team faithfully.  He had not missed a single one of Gary's games in two years.  When he found out that the final game of the year for the state championship would be played in Shreveport he had a problem.   Commitments and responsibilities at his job were going to make it impossible for him to get to Shreveport for the game by driving.  But, desperate times call for desperate measures- he was not going to miss that games.  He bought airline tickets for his entire family- both for he and his wife Jonnie, as well as all three of their children- Gail, her brother Rodney, and her sister Brenda.  They flew up for the game and flew back the next morning. 
    In the years since that big game have come and gone, Gary had a career and retired from BREC, having served as a maintenance supervisor.   Gail retired from Central High, having served as an executive school secretary.  And, after retiring they moved to Tennessee for several years and loved it.  While in Tennessee Gary went back to work up there doing several jobs that he really enjoyed.  And Gail, in addition to playing a lot of tennis, worked for the Mayville Police Department.  Working for law enforcement was an eye opening experience for her and gave her an even greater appreciation for police officers than she already had.  So, when the pull of the grandchildren brought them back to Central in 2010, and after she had settled back in her home and the grandkids were in school, she took note of Police Chief Salisbury's plans to expand the services of the Central Police Department.  With law enforcement being a cause very dear to her heart and since she had gotten the two years of experience working with law enforcement in Tennessee, she decided to volunteer at the Central Police Department to help in any way she could.   After a year of volunteering she was hired to work there part-time, which she did until retiring in June of this year.  Gary is currently serving as maintenance supervisor for Zoar Baptist Church.  This year Gary and Gail will celebrate 47 years of married life.  They have two grown children, a son, Damon Sides, and a daughter, Amie Sides Cahill, a son-in-law, Ben Cahill, and two grandchildren, Emerson and Caleb Cahill.
    Congratulations to the Central Wildcat State Football Champs from 1966 on celebrating the 50th Anniversary of their win for the school and the community.  And best wishes to the 2016 Central High School Football Team.  May God Bless You with a safe and successful year.