THE C.E. BYRD LEGACY CONTINUES

By the time Charles Allen arrived in Shreveport — he and his family had moved from south Louisiana in 1949 — the school year had already begun. Allen didn’t know anyone, so he was understandably nervous walking into C.E. Byrd. The size of the high school — Allen came from small elementary and junior high schools — heightened his anxiety.

“I felt nervous because it was such a huge building. I was kind of apprehensive about finding my way around to those classes. In junior high, I didn’t go from room to room. I stayed in one room for all my classes. At Byrd, every class was in a different room — maybe on a different floor.”

But once Allen stepped inside what is now a Line Avenue institution, his nerves settled.

“I walked in the door, and the first person I met was Grover C. Koffman, the principal. He invited me in, filled out my schedule and took me to my first class. I was never back in his office again, thank goodness!”

But June 5-7, Allen, now 89 years old, will be back at Byrd for the school’s Centennial Celebration. Thousands of people are expected to participate in everything from a Thursday night Hall of Fame Induction Dinner to a Friday evening Decades Reunion covering five blocks of Texas Street in downtown Shreveport to the Ultimate Reunion Saturday night.

Members of the Byrd Centennial Committee: (back row, left to right) Kenneth Favrot, Jennifer Earnest, Michael Angelo; (from left, middle row) Torie Prothro Crichton, Jill Favrot, Veronica Bell, Donna Courtney, Waynette Ballengee, Jerry Badgley; (front row) Marilyn Prothro, Taylor Prothro, Shelvia Grant Davis and Kristin Parsons.

“We’ve got people flying in from Alaska, Virginia, D.C., Florida and California,” said Jennifer Earnest, Byrd’s alumni membership chairperson. “From all over, they’re coming back to celebrate.”

From big cities to rural dust bowls, high school reunions are a dime a dozen. But schools don’t often live to see their 100th birthday. And former students don’t usually fly in from throughout the United States to reconnect with their past. So, there must be something special — really special — at Byrd.

“When Grover Koffman was principal, he believed in students being involved in the school,” said Jerry Badgley, a member of Byrd’s Class of 1976 and his 20th year as the school’s principal. “From Day One, (Koffman) was creating organizations and sports, because his simple vision was that a student who wants to get up in the morning and go to school because they enjoy the things they are doing, is going to be a better student, and the school is going to be a better school. You’re creating this culture of the kids going to school to get an education, but they’re having a good time.”

That “good time” came — and still comes — in and out of the classroom.

“I think we have improved on our academics,” Badgley said. “Things have come along that we have embraced, like dual enrollment — being able to earn college credit and remain here on the high school campus. … Students can be in their English 4 class and earn six hours of college credit. A lot of our seniors will earn 12-plus hours of college credit. Some of them will actually earn enough college credit to be sophomores when they go off to college.”

Athletically, Byrd is home to 14 school-sponsored teams.

Students have proven they can compete with the best — and sometimes, be the best — in the state.

Byrd Legacy Families: Jack Parsons, Patrick Hernandez, Rebecca Parsons, John M. Parsons, Marion Frierson Kacos, Archer Frierson, Elizabeth Frierson Buhler

“The biggest thing has been just the sheer will and determination of so many young people who are really smart and well-educated, who maximized their athletic ability,” said Charlie Cavell, the longtime radio play-by-play voice of Byrd football, who has been associated with the school’s athletic programs since 1996. “Many of them haven’t been the most talented or gifted athletically, sizewise. But their effort and willingness to leave everything on the field is probably the biggest thing.”

As a “tall, skinny kid,” Allen wasn’t built for sports. But for him and students like him, Byrd has offered — and continues to offer — a wide range of extracurricular activities. The school has 80 clubs and organizations.

“Nowadays, they have so many clubs it’s unreal,” Allen said. “I went to Byrd not too long ago, and they were advertising all the clubs. They had tables set up, and it encompassed the entire first floor. I was shocked at how many clubs there were. If you had an interest, you could find it right there.”

Being well-rounded has made the transition from high school to college easier for many Byrd alums.

“I was fully prepared for LSU after being at Byrd, academically, socially and spirit-wise,” Earnest said. “I definitely feel that those four years in high school were absolutely my favorite — way more than my years at LSU. Byrd was really something special. There was so much camaraderie with the football games and banner painting. We would do banner painting on bedsheets and hang them all over the city the night before football games, especially the (Captain) Shreve games. That was just so much fun.”

Each year, Badgley talks to former Byrd students when they return for their reunions.

“What I’m listening to them say is I went off to LSU, SMU, Louisiana Tech or wherever, and my freshman year in college is not much different than my senior year in high school. What they’re saying is they’ve got the academics down. They’re well-prepared. They write well. That’s a big component of what we do here in English classes. Their teachers make them write, and write, and write. Their teachers in college are very impressed by that. They know that when they get a student from Byrd, they’re getting one who is going to be able to communicate well and put it in a written format.”

“I felt really comfortable at Tech,” Allen remembered. “I never felt like I was behind. I knew kids who came from much smaller schools who really struggled. I felt sorry for them. Byrd offered us so much. It’s up to you to take it if you want it.”

At Byrd, culture has been built through continuity. Just six people have occupied the principal’s office.

With one exception, they all served at least 15 years.

“That’s just unheard of,” Badgley said.

“You can look at a lot of schools that struggle, and they have a high turnover rate at the administrative level. When you have that, you’re not consistent with your teachers. What are the expectations? Are they going to change after three of our years?”

And when Badgley interviews prospective new teachers, he’s cautious of someone who wants to rest on the school’s laurels.

“I think when people apply for jobs here, I want them to want to teach at Byrd, but I don’t want them to have the impression that because we’ve maintained such good academics, teaching here is going to be easier than it was somewhere else. It may be easier in one way, but it’s going to be harder in another because the expectations are so much higher.”

The road to 100 hasn’t always been smoothly paved in Byrd’s colors of purple and gold. In the early 1980s, the school’s future was in serious doubt.

“It went through some trouble,” said Kenneth Favrot, president of Byrd’s alumni association. “The neighborhood around the school changed. It grew older and really started to lose students all the way to the point where they were getting ready to close it down. They didn’t want to put money into a dying school.”

But alumni and supporters came to the rescue. As Byrd prepares to celebrate its 100th birthday, the question is asked, Will the school be around for its 200th birthday?

“We’ve had some ups and downs population-wise, and that trend has followed Caddo Parish, Badgley said. “Most of the students we lose over a four-year period don’t go to Bossier Parish. They don’t go to DeSoto Parish. They move out of state.”

Still, Badgley is confident that Byrd will have a bicentennial celebration when the year 2125 rolls around.

Byrd’s past and future: The school’s oldest living alumnus, Bobby Robertson, and future grads Palmer and Prothro Crichton with mom, Torie Prothro Crichton.

Byrd High School sweethearts married 18 years: Kenneth and Jill Favrot

Chairman and co-chairman of the Centennial Celebration: Torie Prothro Crichton and Shelvia Davis Grant

“I truly believe that after another 100 years have passed, this building will still be here, and it will still be a school.”

Earnest manages a database of more than 20,000 alumni, who make up what she says is the country’s largest high school alumni association.

“I talk to people all over the country every single day who graduated from Byrd. There is just this sense of pride. Anyone who’s ever heard of Byrd knows that Byrd graduates love Byrd more than anything and have more school spirit than anyone in the country. There’s something special there, and everybody knows it.”

To learn more about C.E. Byrd’s Centennial, you may visit byrdhighalumni.org.

2025 graduate Darell Cottonham Jr. with his father, Darell Cottonham Sr., a 1997 grad who delivered the commencement address.