Geraldine "Jelly" Pigott

Jena coach gets posthumous induction into Hall of Fame By Bret H. McCormick bmccormick@thetowntalk.com (318) 487-6352

JENA -- Finally, there is good news to report out of this LaSalle Parish community that has become well-known nationwide for something it would rather forget. The problem, however, is that this news should have been reported more than 20 years ago, in the eyes of some. Legendary Jena High School girls basketball coach Geraldine "Jelly" Pigott will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in June. But it's happening now, nearly 20 years after her death, rather than when she was still alive to enjoy the honor. "She should have been inducted before she passed away," said Doris Bell, who played for Pigott from 1953-56. Pigott coached at Jena for 18 seasons, from 1952-70, and finished her tenure with six state championships. The Lady Giants also finished runners-up three times under Pigott. "Ms. Pigott put Jena on the map a long time before the 'Jena Six' did," Bell said. "For many years, she held the record for the most state championships." Jena has been in the national spotlight for much of the last year after racial tensions arose in the wake of six Jena High students who were arrested and charged in a Dec. 4, 2006 attack at school on a fellow student.

Ahead of her time  Many favorable words have been used to describe Pigott, including that she was an innovator and ahead of her time. During her stay in Jena, the Lady Giants were known for their pre-game warmups, which drew comparisons to the Harlem Globetrotters and put fear in the hearts of their opponents. "She had drills that the girls would get on the court before the game with 12 balls," Bell said. "One coach told her that they were beat before the game began."  "It was Springhill," said Neva Ingram, who played for Pigott from 1959-62 and won two state championships. "I'll never forget that game."  Sadly, though, much of Pigott's accomplishments have been forgotten in Jena. It's been nearly four decades since she last coached, and 28 years since Jena won a girls basketball title. Jena, however, still owns the record for most Sweet 16/Ladies Top 28 appearances with 23, and is third only to Southwood and Anacoco with eight state titles. However, most of Pigott's success came before the Sweet 16 began in 1969. "It breaks my heart that the tradition is gone," Ingram said.

Different era "It was nothing until she came there," Bell said of Jena's girls basketball program before Pigott's arrival. Pigott was a trailblazer, coaching during a time when girls basketball wasn't the same game the boys played. Instead of the full-court five-on-five basketball seen today, girls during Pigott's time played six-on-six. Each team had three players on each side of the court, and they were not allowed to cross the midcourt line. Instead, each player participated either on the offensive or defensive end, not both. It wasn't until the end of Pigott's career, in 1968, that the Louisiana High School Athletic Association instituted a rover -- a player who could cross midcourt. The rover eventually spread into fullcourt basketball like the boys played.  Despite her success in the earlier era, Bell believes Pigott would have been even better in today's game. "She believed in discipline -- work, work, work," Bell said. "She ran plays and tried to out-do everyone. She out-thought everyone. She was years ahead of her time."

'Bittersweet' moment Yet, her induction into the Hall of Fame comes years behind its time. It was an opinion even Pigott didn't try to hide. In her final interview, given to The Town Talk just three days before her death on Jan. 9, 1988, Pigott said it was "unfair" that a committee from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, which elects unductees into the Hall, didn't give her its approval. "I fought for that basketball till I, I just died," Pigott said. "I fought for girls basketball." At the time, though, not many women or high school coaches had been inducted into the Hall of Fame, which began in 1958. In fact, it was just three years before Pigott's death, in 1985, when the first woman, golfer Clifford Ann Creed, was inducted into the Hall. "It's kind of bittersweet," Bell said of Pigott's posthumous induction. "She should have been there many years ago because she deserved it. She earned it."  Doug Ireland, the executive director of the Hall of Fame, said Pigott's induction shows the continued evolution of the Hall of Fame. "She first became a candidate in the mid '80s, and such is the level of her impact that more than 20 years later she's elected," Ireland said. "Typically, that is not the case. "The committee ends up saying they're just not good enough." But Pigott was good enough. Ireland said Jena High is still one of the programs considered for setting the "gold standard" for girls basketball in Louisiana. However, at the time, she simply didn't get her just due with the media and many of her accomplishments were documented. "She was a trailblazer, and her accomplishments were not tracked in the media as much as they should have been," Ireland said. But her players tracked them, and are still remembering those accomplishments today. "She ate it, slept it and thought it 24 hours a day. That was her life," Bell said. "Basketball was her life." "She taught us more than basketball," Ingram said. "She taught us to be ladies off the court."