The Monroe Monarchs

Of all the sports topics I've studied, none captured my imagination like the Monroe (La.) Monarchs, a Negro Southern League baseball team that competed in the 1930s.

I discovered the team's existence while thumbing through a book on baseball stadiums (Green Cathedrals) in a store in 1992. The small entry on Casino Park, home of the Monarchs, sent me on a quest to learn more.

I soon found the team's second baseman, Augustus Saunders, living in Monroe. I couldn't wait to talk to him, but unfortunately my timing was bad. His wife passed away the week that I made first contact and he was in no mood to visit.

Eventually though, he welcomed me to his home and shared his amazing stories about the team's short, rich history.

"We had a team," Saunders began that hot summer day in his living room, "a good, black baseball team."

Imagine my surprise to discover that the Monarchs played the Pittsburgh Crawfords in the 1932 Negro League World Series and helped produce future Hall of Fame pitcher Hilton Smith and outfielder Willard Brown. The Crawfords beat the Monarchs, thanks to a loaded lineup that featured pitcher Satchel Paige and catcher Josh Gibson.

Saunders grew up in Whistler, Ala., and said he watched Paige pitch as a youngter in Mobile. He took pride in the one hit he collected off Paige in the World Series.

"Boy he could pitch," Saunders said. "He just looked like a big old bear standing up there. He was just a natural born baseball player."


Gibson hit a tape-measure home run in Game 5 at Casino Park. Saunders said the towering shot to left field was one of the longest he ever saw.

"He hit it out towards the tracks in left field," Saunders said. "There was a train on the track at the time and we always said the ball carried on the next town."

Years later, late Negro League legend Buck O'Neil told me in a phone interview that he played against the Monarchs at Casino Park in 1935. He vouched for the amazing teams that played in Monroe in those days.

"It was a very good team," said O'Neil, who was Hilton Smith's roommate with the Kansas City Monarchs. "You named some guys that were on that team like Hilton. Willard Brown was on that team. Ted Mayweather. Very good."


Owned by a white drilling company operator named Fred Stovall, the Monarchs played in Casino Park, which stood near what is now Carroll High School. The park is no longer in existence.

"It was down at the tail end of DeSiard," O'Neil said. "It was more like an amusement park. They had a dancehall and a swimming pool. It was one of the few swimming pools in the South for blacks."

O'Neil said Stovall's generosity with his players was legendary."He was just like J.L. Wilkinson in Kansas City," O'Neil said. "Stovall was the type of guy that when things got tough in the winter and his players needed some spare change to get by, he'd give it to them."

In an interview with Black Ball News in 1993, former Monroe Monarch Marlin Carter talked about playing for Stovall: "Fred Stovall was a very wealthy man. On his plantation he built a ballpark for his team. He also built a recreation center where the players relaxed when they weren't playing.Stovall spent a lot of money on his ball team. The players lived in houses on Stovall's plantation, and our meals were prepared by a cook the Stovalls employed. In 1932 he bought three brand-new Fords for the team to travel in. But, most importantly, we always got paid. All the way around, the Monarchs were a pretty classy operation."

Super Agent Albert Elias

Sports agents get a bad rap sometimes, but I like the way that Monroe native Albert Elias handles his business. He tends to represent good character guys, which is smart if you think about it. Teams are more likely to take care of talented athletes who keep their nose clean. I know several of his clients and all fit a similar profile. I profiled Elias a couple of years ago, noting his string of clients who participated in the Super Bowl.

With his solid huddle of upstanding, blue-collar clients, sports agent Albert Elias isn’t a glamour seeker like some of his peers.
But this time of year -- at least in recent NFL seasons -- the Monroe native can be called a “super agent.”
Three players represented by the St. Frederick product – defensive end Jarvis Green, cornerback Randall Gay and Eric Alexander -- will play for the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl on Sunday. In fact, at least one of Elias’ clients has participated in four of the last six NFL finales. Last year it was former ULM star Chris Harris, with the Chicago Bears.
“Agents don’t get any extra money from it – nothing extra like that,” Elias said of his Super Bowl connection. “But the reason I’m an agent, the most important thing for me, is to see my client succeed.”
And what’s bigger than the Super Bowl?
“I know that 20 years from now, my guys will be able to help themselves by going to corporations and speaking and showing off their ring because of this process and the amazing season that they’ve had. I know that,” Elias said. “They don’t know that, because they’re caught up in the moment. But that’s something I can help them with when they’re done with football. That’s a feeling that makes it special.”
A former LSU student who graduated from Loyola University Law School in 1996, Elias has carved out a solid niche for himself as an agent over the past seven years. In addition to the aforementioned Patriots, he also negotiates for Harris, who plays for the Panthers, and ULM product Kevin Payne, now with the Bears. Ruston product Kyle Williams, a starter with the Buffalo Bills, is an Elias client. And he recently added NFL veteran Mark Roman, another LSU product, to the list of 12 active players that he represents.
“It’s not work for me,” Elias said. “They’ll call me at midnight sometimes, asking weird things they’d never ask another agent for. But they do it because they know I’ll take care of it. It’s like taking care of my little brothers. It’s fun.”
The Elias clan has deep business roots in Monroe – Elias’, a shoe and clothing store on Louisville Avenue is owned by his family.
He began his career in business at a consulting firm in Dallas, and the next three years he spent there helped him hone the negotiating skills he utilizes as an agent.
Elias, who owns Dallas-based EMG (Elias Management), has spent plenty of time working with the Patriots. The franchise emerged as modern dynasty during the same time frame that Elias has moved up in his profession.
“I’m a fan of the way they do business, and the way they treat their guys,” Elias said. “Coach Belichick treats the players like men and educates them – not just to be football players, but to be good people.”
Elias said the Patriots -- especially his guys -- have been motivated this season by the death of former LSU defensive lineman Marquise Hill. Elias also represented Hill, who drowned in Lake Ponchatrain in last year.
“Randall was Marquise’s roommate on the road,” Elias said. “Jarvis was Marquise’s mentor. In a weird and kind of friendly way, they were competitors. Now Jarvis wears Marquise’s shoulder pads in every game.”
Elias said Hill’s death has affected him too. He said they have remained close to Hill’s mother, fiancée’ and son.
“I think about him all the time,” Elias said. “He was such a dear friend to me. Marquise always wanted the people he loved in his life to be successful. He always put them first.”
Although Hill was a second-round draft selection in 2004, most of Elias’ clients are mid-to-late round picks. Green was a fourth-round pick in 2002, while Gay and Alexander entered the league as undrafted rookie free agents in 2004.
“My guys are genuine, humble, moral guys,” Elias said. “That’s what we go after. First you’ve got to be a good football player to make it in the NFL. But you’ve also got to be able to handle the pressures of the league. You’ve go to be humble, genuine and grounded. That’s why my guys are successful, whether they’re drafted or not.”
Elias said there’s a certain satisfaction that comes from being associated with players who overcome low expectations to enjoy productive careers in the NFL.
“You know what the odds are of making a roster as an undrafted free agent?” he said. “Much less being a part of a success like that. Randall will be a free agent after this year, and now he’s ranked as one of the top two or three corners who will hit the market.”
This is the third Super Bowl for Green and the second for Gay and Alexander. Elias said that he’ll attend the big game in Arizona, just as he always does when his clients are involved.
“This doesn’t get old for them,” Elias said. “What they’re experiencing this year is just amazing. I think they understand it, but they’ve got a job to do. They are the show in the whole country this week.”
And of course, the big show makes a nice platform for those players to boost their individual stock too. The agent in Elias wants them to seize that opportunity.
“Every team is watching,” Elias said. “Every team wants to be the New England Patriots. Every team wants their players. Every team wants to copycat them.
“What better exposure for a client trying to build his name -- and an agent to be able to build his client’s earning capacity -- than to be one of the players in that game.”

Bradie James

From his own youth, Bradie James recalled the impact of his encounter with former NFL great Willie Roaf.

“I remember one year, Willie Roaf came in and he spoke at a banquet,” said James, a six-year linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys. “I’ll never forget half of the stuff that he said.”

For James, the chance to deliver that same feeling and influence to youngsters in his hometown keeps him coming back annually to put on a free football camp at his high school.

“We’ve got a lot of good talent,” James said during a break from the action at West Monroe High School. “We’ve got some eight-year-olds that will be some future NFL stars. We’ve got some 14, 15, 16-year olds, and those guys are looking like real talent.”

History says that James’ assessment is on the mark. The region has served as a pipeline for programs at the next level -- including his alma mater LSU.

“Northeast Louisiana always has a lot of talented guys who come out of this area,” James said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who always get scholarships. Hopefully, we’re doing something right here today that will help these guys in the future.”

James and NFL friends like Felix Jones, Flozell Adams and Marcus Spears, along with Eric Ogbogu of Under Armour fame and ex-LSU teammates like Rodney Reed and Marcus Yanez, provided hands-on coaching for the large turnout of boys. He also enlists help from guys like Kirk Frantom, the longtime West Monroe trainer.

“We just got done with minicamp,” James said. “For Felix, Flozell and Marcus Spears to come out is a good thing. A lot of guys haven’t even gotten any sleep. I wasn’t trying to get a whole bunch of people, but I like to bring different guys who will work. These guys are real good with the kids.”

Jones and Spears said they enjoy pitching in for a good cause.

“I love it,” Spears said. “I’ve been around some good ones (coaches). I kind of know the ends and outs of what to do and how to keep their attention. I know when to lay off a little bit and I know when to push them hard. It’s been fun.”

Said Jones: “This is a great opportunity to give back. I think this is a great thing he’s doing for these young kids coming up, especially since he’s from this area. This is a fantastic camp.”

Despite blazing temperatures on a June day in Louisiana, spirits ran high during the several hours the players spent with the kids. “I know these guys won’t forget it and they’ll cherish every moment of it,” James said. “I’m just trying to do something that will cause some kind of impact in their lives. I think we’re doing a good job.”

Now in its fourth year of existence, “The James Gang” camp has actually taken some of the celebrity shine off James in his hometown. Locals have grown accustomed to seeing him around this time of year.

“After a while, they just start hanging with me,” James said. “When they first meet me, they’re like ‘Man, can I get an autograph?’ “But after a while, they’re like ‘Man, you’re just like us.’ That’s a pretty good thing.”

More from Bradie James
On LSU baseball's run to the College World Series final: "It's time. They've been one of the best teams in college baseball. Hopefully they can bring it home. That's what happens when you get a new stadium. When you get a new stadium, it brings a whole bunch of luck. The Cowboys have a new stadium, so it's our turn."

On the 2009 Cowboys: "You never know until you put on pads. Anybody that tries to predict the NFL season, I'd call them a liar. You never know. So many things go on in an NFL season -- injuries, ups and downs. Right now, with everybody in place, we've got a chance to really compete for a championship."

Will Bradie miss T.O.?: "A little bit. But he's gone so we don't even talk about him."

Willie Roaf

Willie Roaf enters the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame this week, with Canton, Ohio's Pro Football Hall of Fame not so far on the horizon.

I visited with Roaf a couple of years ago when he held his golf tournament in Shreveport. Imagine my surprise when legendary running back Barry Sanders made an appearance at the dinner the night before. Sanders arrived late, shuffling through the room dragging his own suitcase on wheels. Sanders, who shared an agent with Roaf, gave his buddy high praise. He's not alone.

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Others have mulled Willie Roaf’s legacy for years.

The former Louisiana Tech and NFL offensive lineman was a Pro Bowl pick 11 times during his 13-year career. One of the greatest athletes to ever play for the New Orleans Saints, he’s a sure bet for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“He’ll get my vote,” said Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders. “To be good at that position, you’ve got to be tough. He’s not tough off the field -- but when the ball is snapped…”

Roaf, who retired as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs, has been pondering his own place in football history lately.

“I feel like I have a good resume,” Roaf said. “I feel like I kept my nose clean and I played hard. My peers respected me a lot.”

Sanders, who employed the same agent as Roaf, always wanted to play on the same team as his friend. Ironically, his Detroit Lions traded the pick that went for Roaf to the Saints for Pat Swilling in 1993.

“You look at his body of work, you look at how he competed and really dominated his peers,” said Sanders. “He’s definitely a Hall of Famer.”

Respect for Roaf also runs deep back home too.

“He came from a small town and Louisiana Tech,” said Tech offensive line coach Petey Perot, who played in the NFL himself. “To do the things that he’s done, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s a Hall of Famer. And I think it will be on the first ballot.”

At 6-5, 320 pounds, Roaf had prototype size. But he also had the passion to compete at an elite level.

“Obviously, he was big and strong,” Sanders said. “But a lot of guys are big and strong that didn’t always feel like playing. Willie had that toughness about him when you snapped the ball. I think he loved the position that he played. You could see that in the results of all the guys that ran behind him.”

STILL A SAINT AT HEART
Roaf didn’t finish his career with the Saints, but he spent the first nine years of his NFL career in New Orleans.

He understands his place in team history. Roaf will be the first Pro Football Hall of Famer inductee who spent the bulk of his playing career with the Saints.

“It will be special for New Orleans fans,” Roaf said. “I’ll go into the Hall of Fame as a Saint. There are no Saints in the Hall of Fame, so it will be great.”

Roaf was the eighth overall pick out of Louisiana Tech in 1993. He started all 16 games at right tackle as a rookie before making seven consecutive Pro Bowls at the left side, a streak that was snapped in 2002 when he suffered a knee injury.

Although he has few personal ties to the Saints these days, Roaf noted that his relationship with the team is good. With that said, he’d like to see the organization do more to maintain its ties to former greats.

“You wish you could see more of the old guys who played there be embraced and go back there,” Roaf said. “I know Archie (Manning) lives there and is in that community. But the Ricky Jackson’s, the Wayne Martin’s, the Vaughn Johnson’s, they need to do more to bring those guys back to show the history of that team.”

Roaf cheered for his old team when the Saints made it all the way to the NFC Championship game.

“I was very excited to watch them play and happy they were playing good,” Roaf said. “The great thing about it is, it’s a great young team with a young nucleus. They’re going to be good for a long time.”

RETIRING AS A CHIEF
Roaf suffered a knee injury that made him expendable to the Saints in 2002. The Chiefs made a deal to get him and he continued playing at a high level as part of one of the most dominating lines in the league.

Players like quarterback Trent Green and running backs Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson became the darlings of fantasy football operating behind Roaf.

“After going to Kansas City, I was on some of the league’s top offenses for a four-year period,” Roaf said. “Being a part of that probably helps a little in becoming a Hall of Famer.”

Roaf missed six games in 2005 with a strained hamstring, which led him to mull his future in the game.

“There comes a point in time where you decide, ‘I’ve played a long time – do I want to continue?’” Roaf said. “I went through a couple of injuries. It was just a decision I had to make.”

His retirement caught some by surprise. After his announcement, there was speculation that he could eventually change his mind.

He didn’t

“It was tough to walk away from everything,” Roaf said. “It was the right time and you have to move forward from there.”

Roaf played in 189 NFL games, all starts.

“It’s unbelievable what he did and how he trained,” Perot said. “It’s amazing how far he came from where he was when he first got to Louisiana Tech.”

The inspiring story of Bob Love

Spending 17 years as a sports writer had its perks. My favorite though, was meeting legendary athletes from my native northeastern Louisiana. Former NBA star Bob Love passed through his hometown of Bastrop a couple of years ago while promoting a documentary about his life. Re-reading this piece reminds me that I never actually saw the documentary. ...

Some of the memories sting Bob “Butterbean” Love as he retells his story, again and again.
Yet, this is what the former NBA star from Bastrop does now – recounts a remarkable journey filled with wonder and woe.
“I wouldn’t trade my life for anybody’s life in the world,” Love said. “I’ve had a wonderful life.”
Love kept beating his own long odds. From humble beginnings in northeastern Louisiana, he found NBA stardom in the 1970s.

After back surgery ended his career, he wasn’t supposed to walk normally again. He did.
Then, he overcame a severe speech impediment to earn a living as a motivational speaker.
Every setback the man ever faced, he refused to relent.

“All you have to have is a dream,” Love says during his big finish each time he addresses a crowd. “See, I’m living proof that dreams do come true.”

The story -- heartbreaking but even more inspiring -- was the subject of a one-hour documentary about his life -- Find Yourself A Dream - The Bob Love Story.

“I’ve seen a lot of documentaries,” Love said. “But nothing as heart-touching as this. We had the first showing with the Chicago Bulls about a month ago. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. It made me cry.”

HUMBLE BEGINNING
The son of a sharecropper who was born on a plantation in Delhi, Love moved to Bastrop when he was three.

“I remember a lot of hard-working people and some great athletes here,” Love said.
He rose from Morehouse High School in 1961, starred at Southern University and played 11 years in the NBA, primarily with the Chicago Bulls.

A three-time All-Star, Love’s retired jersey number 10 hangs in the rafters alongside Michael Jordan’s and Scottie Pippen’s. He ranks behind Jordan and Pippen on the Bulls' all-time scoring list with 12,623 points.

“I was the first player to ever score 2,000 points for the Chicago Bulls,” Love said. “I led the Bulls in scoring seven straight years. Michael Jordan didn’t break that, but he tied me.

“Michael got most of my records, except my free record. I’m a better free throw shooter than him.”

Overall, Love averaged 17.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game as a pro and scored a total of 13,895 points including stints with four other teams.

Today, Love’s job as community relations director for the Bulls takes him all over the world where he shares his powerful story.

“The gift of speech is the most wonderful gift in the world,” Love said.

Love said his upbringing helped him become a success.

“I went to school to get an education,” Love said. “I didn’t know anything about being in the pros. I wanted to make my grandmother proud of me and get a good job afterward.”

A burning feeling of insecurity pushed him to outwork the competition. He said he didn’t even have a girlfriend until his senior year at Southern, preferring to spend date nights in the gym.

“I really didn’t want anybody to take my place,” Love said. “All my friends were out there courting. I was either on basketball court or in the football stadium, running up the stairs.”

STARTING OVER
But when his career ended in 1977 after a second back operation, the doctor told him he’d never walk normally again.

At this point when he needed support, his wife left him and took everything.

“One day, I walked into my house and everything was gone,” Love said. “My money, my car, my trophies, my all-star rings. Everything material thing was gone.”

On the floor was a note from his wife that ripped his soul.

“The note basically said that she didn’t want to be married to a guy who couldn’t talk,” Love said. “She definitely didn’t want to be married to a guy who was going to be crippled the rest of his life. That may have been the lowest point in my life. I was scared and I was broke. I could hardly walk.”

Love hit his knees that night and prayed for the strength and courage to begin his journey back.
The next day, he said he walked a mile, up and down the hills of Seattle. He continued this routine each day to strengthen his back, dismissing the words of a doctor who told him that he’d need a cane the rest of his life.

“The doctor didn’t know the willpower that I had,” Love said. “He didn’t know that every night, I got on my knees and prayed.”

Call it a miracle. After a month, he could walk without that cane or crutches.

For years, Love struggled to keep steady employment. In the early 1980s, Love applied for a job at Nordstrom’s in downtown Seattle. But his status as an educated man and former pro basketball player meant nothing.

“Despite the fact that I had a college education and had accomplished everything in the world of sports, I couldn’t talk,” Love said. “I had to start off washing dishes and busing tables at $4.45 an hour.”

The experience was embarrassing and humiliating for Love, who was occasionally recognized as a former NBA player.

“I could always hear them whispering about me,” Love said. “’Man, that’s Bob Love. That guy used to be a great basketball player.’”

Rather than quit in shame, this was the fuel that Love used to drive forward.

“I took all those stares and whispers and became the best busboy and dishwasher in the world,” Love chuckled. “No one was going to keep me from my goals. I worked that job six straight months and didn’t take one day off.”

So impressed were his employers in his upbeat attitude that they offered to get him speech therapy.

Finally he was able to take on his stuttering problem, and eventually exorcise his greatest demon.

“For 47, 48 years of my life, I stuttered,” Love said. “I couldn’t say one single word. People laughed at me and told me what I couldn’t do.

“But you know what I do for a living now? I talk.”