We spent the day in Memorial Gymnasium on the campus of Louisiana Tech, the site of many victories for the Lady Techsters in the early years of their program. The Thomas Assembly Center, where basketball is played now, was built in Ruston because of the success of the Lady Techsters. They were consistently breaking fire codes for exceeding maximum capacity at Memorial Gym and we hear that the Fire Marshall told President FJ Taylor that if they exceeded capacity by even one person, they’d bring the handcuffs for Taylor. So, it was time to build a new arena.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Belinda Jones, who Sonja Hogg called “B.” Belinda was on the First Lady Techster basketball team in 1974-75 and was the first four-year letter winner in program history. In one commanding performance, she scored 43 points against New Orleans.
Pam Kelly, the only three-time Kodak All-American in Louisiana Tech Women’s basketball history stopped by, too. She shared her memories of being recruited by Hogg and leading the Lady Techsters to four straight Final Fours and two national championships.
Debbie Primeaux Williamson never came off the bench as a Lady Techster in a game but relished her role of defending Kim Mulkey and preparing the team every day in practice. Her view from the bench for two national championships served as the inspiration for her career in women’s basketball where she rose to the role of NCAA National Coordinator of Officials.
A Louisiana native who did not play for Louisiana Tech – because she went to college before Tech had a Women’s basketball program – also stopped by for an interview. Lin Gamble played for Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia, Ark., from 1968-71 and was invited to participate in the Olympic Development program. Gamble most recently played in the Senior National Games where her 70+ team finished as national runner-up. Gamble’s older sister Eva made the trip to Ruston. She discussed her time playing at Ouachita and shared newspaper clippings and important documents for the documentary.
