Originally Posted by
HogDawg
I knew Dr. "Coach" Billy Jack Talton fairly well back in the 1970's. I first met him when he was the Head Football Coach at Cedar Creek High School back in 1973-75. Cedar Creek was my school's big football rival back then, so I later razzed him about losing to me 3 years in a row. Anyway, in December 1974, I was named to play in the Louisiana All-Star Football Game (I don't want to hear any jokes from you guys, okay) that the Louisiana Independent School Athletic Association (LISAA) played back in those days. Well, Coach Talton ended up being my "North" team's head coach that year. Apparently Talton's Cedar Creek team beat just about everyone that year but us. So he was named Coach of the Year, as well as our head coach for the All-Star team. So we spent a whole week practicing at LA Tech under his tutelage before the game was played in Baton Rouge.
A couple of years later, I was working on The Tech Talk newspaper when I heard that Coach Talton had moved to LA Tech and taken a job in the Physical Education (?) dept. Moreover, he had started a LA Tech Powerlifting team, and Wiley Hilburn (former head of Tech Journalism Dept) asked me (or rather TOLD ME, ha!) to go interview him. Man, I walked in the door of Talton's office laughing. It was just like old times. LOL! He and I got along very well. I ended up interviewing Coach Talton many times over the next few years while I was still at LA Tech.
I can honestly say Dr. Billy Jack Talton was one of the nicest men I ever met and associated with. When people talk about good men who have a heart for educating young people, they are talking about Coach Talton.
As for the Powerlifting team, Talton started recruiting former HS football players to his new team in 1975. Some of the names on his team skip me now, but I'm sure I have that info somewhere. Back then, the king of Powerlifting was Texas A&M, so Talton knew who to chase. He told me he wouldn't be satisfied until he could beat TX A&M. Talton was a very educated man (3 college degrees?) and therefore, was incredibly well organized. He started "scheduling" Dual and Triangular meets that included Texas A&M as often as possible. He wanted his guys to get used to competing against the best. Talton quickly learned that to win a title, you need a lot of lifters covering all of the weight classes. Everything from the 125 lb class to the 250 lb plus. So he continued recruiting hard.
Next thing you know, Talton's lifters started beating everybody, including TX A&M. If my memory serves, Talton's Powerlifting team won their first national title in 1977 or 1978. I gave his team a lot of ink in The Tech Talk back then. It was new, and it was exciting. And it was a fun group to be around. It was almost like being around a startup company. Later, Coach Talton added a women's lifting team, and he eventually earned his way into some kind of Women's Hall of Fame back in 2006 or so. I believe he retired from the Powerlifting gig in 2001.