The Allstate Sugar Bowl Sports Awards Committee will highlight the accomplishments of eight outstanding sports figures as it celebrates Black History Month this February. The sports figures, all members of the Allstate Sugar Bowl's New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame, had careers which combined to span nearly 175 years of history. They include three legendary coaches, a pair of women's basketball superstars, an NFL star and an NBA standout, as well as one of New Orleans' trail-blazing baseball players from the Negro Leagues era.

The Sugar Bowl will spotlight the legends on its social media channels and post their full stories on its website throughout the month of February.

New Orleans Legends:
Perry Clark – Basketball, 1988-2000
Warren Braden – Football, 1944-85
Barbara Farris – Basketball, 1990-currently
Otis Washington – Football, 1958-86
Bruce Seals – Basketball, 1967-80
Roosevelt Taylor – Football, 1956-72
Carvie Upshaw – Basketball, 1985-89
Milfred Laurent – Baseball, 1918-37

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Milfred Laurent – Baseball, 1918-37
New Orleans native Milfred "Rick" Laurent had a long Negro Leagues baseball career that began with the Crescent Stars of New Orleans in 1921 after starring for numerous semipro teams from 1918 to 1921. He was selected for the Allstate Sugar Bowl's New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.

Laurent, a standout outfielder also played for the Caulfield Ads, New Orleans Black Pelicans, Nashville Elite Giants, Memphis Red Sox, Birmingham Black Barons and the Cleveland Cubs. He closed his professional back where he started, playing for the Crescent Stars of New Orleans from 1933-37.

"I never had the opportunity [to play in the Majors]," he told the Louisiana Weekly in 1981. "I was born 50 years too soon."

In 1926, he was a member of the Black Pelicans' Negro Southern League championship team.

While the 5-10, 180-pounder was known primarily as an outfielder, he was also known for his versatility as he played every position on the field, including pitcher and catcher, during his stint with the Memphis Red Sox.

Laurent was born in New Orleans on December 26, 1901. He died in his hometown on October 25, 1995, at the age of 93. He is buried in Holt Cemetery in New Orleans.

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Carvie Upshaw – Basketball, 1985-89
In 1985, the University of New Orleans was playing at Lakefront Arena for the third year.
 
The men's basketball program was on the verge of turning the corner to become an NCAA tournament team under Benny Dees, who came on board.
 
The women's basketball program was solid but needed one big, missing piece to become an NCAA tournament team under Joey Favaloro, who served as the head coach from 1980-2004, winning 382 games.
 
Enter Carvie Upshaw from Brandon High in Tampa, Florida as Favaloro was able to convince the talented high school senior to fend off significant overtures from Florida and Florida State to make her way to New Orleans.
 
Wins, records, and many, many great games and memories followed, thanks to the talented center performing brilliantly. She was selected for the Allstate Sugar Bowl's New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.
 
"I am so pleased to have made the decision to play at UNO," Upshaw said. "I recall many things from UNO and once I saw the list of records of everything that have my name on it, I was a bit shocked. A lot of that, I didn't even know about it. After all these years, it is amazing and enlightening to me to be able to actually see everything written down. I shared it with my family and it was heartwarming."
 
There were a few special moments which stand out for Upshaw from her days as a player.

"Going to the NCAA Tournament, winning the tournament we played in when we played in Alaska were special memories," Upshaw said. "I remember when we went to California twice. We did so much as a team. I have a lot of great memories as a team. I took a lot of pictures. I remember the wall by the locker room with all the records on there. It was humbling to see my name."
 
Favaloro had the pleasure of coaching Upshaw at UNO.
 
"Carvie was our first dominant big player," Favaloro said. "She was the first at six-foot-five or above and she had the ability to dominate the game at both ends of the floor. She was very easy to work with, very easy to coach. She was well-coached and well-prepared in high school so the transition was pretty easy. It was a lot of fun working with her. I really enjoyed working with her. She had a disposition about her that made it very easy to work with her."
 
It did not take long for Upshaw to make her mark.

As a freshman, Upshaw earned Freshman All-American honors in 1986.
 
By her sophomore season, Upshaw averaged 18.1 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, leading the team then known as the Buc-kettes to a 25-7 record and their first and still only appearance in the NCAA tournament.
 
Upshaw guided UNO to the Women's NIT in her junior season as well, one of only two NIT appearances in program history as Upshaw was named an honorable mention All-American as New Orleans won 25 games again.
 
In her senior season, Upshaw was named third-team All-American.
 
Upshaw earned All-Louisiana honors three times, scoring 1,759 points.
 
Upshaw remains the all-time leader in rebounds in UNO history with 1,124 and is first all-time in blocks with 492. Upshaw also remains the all-time leader in triple-doubles with three in UNO history. Upshaw is second all-time in field goals with 723, ranks second in field goal percentage (.556) and third in career scoring average (14.8) and third in points scored (1,759).
 
Upshaw helped lead the Privateers to 82 victories, the best four-year stretch in program history.
 
Upon graduating, Upshaw went on to play professionally overseas and became the first female to play in the all-male Polish league.
 
Upshaw ranks among the best ever to play for the Privateer women.
 
"We had many big wins with her and she was the primary reason we won," Favaloro said. "She made others around her better. We had a very good group to play around her. She was a joy to work with. Carvie was as good as any player, if not the best player, I ever coached at UNO. She would be right there. I was so blessed to have her."
 
A humble person, Upshaw has never forgotten her days in New Orleans.
 
"New Orleans holds a special place in my heart," Upshaw said. "Many of my teammates get together for reunions. It is special. So many of us are really close, to this day. I always felt that I never accomplished much. To be able to be recognized for my playing days, it is totally an honor to know that I left a mark in New Orleans and that the people remember me."

Story by Ken Trahan of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Sports Awards Committee

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Roosevelt Taylor – Football, 1956-72
After a standout career as a three-sport letterman at Clark High School, Roosevelt "Rosey" Taylor walked onto the Grambling football team before earning a scholarship. He was a key part of Grambling's first SWAC Championship defense in 1960 – a group which included four future NFL All-Pros (Taylor, Willie Brown, Buck Buchanan, Ernie Ladd). He was inducted into the Allstate Sugar Bowl's New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1979.
 
After his college career, he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Chicago Bears in 1961 and went on to a 14-year NFL career with the Bears (1961-69), the San Francisco 49ers (1969-71) and the Washington Redskins (1972).
 
In 1963, the 5-11, 186-pound Taylor led the Bears in interceptions (9) and kick returns as they won the NFL Championship.  He also had three fumble recoveries as his 12 takeaways remain the Bears' single-season record. He was named first-team All-Pro and voted to the Pro Bowl. He followed that with back-to-back seasons being selected as a second-team All-Pro.
 
In 1968, he scored six touchdowns, including a 96-yard interception return, and made his second Pro Bowl appearance.
 
He credited those ball-hawking skills to a simple lesson he learned from Bears defensive coordinator George Allen.
 
"He pounded it into me that once that ball goes up in the air, it belongs to anybody who can get it," Taylor said in an interview with The Tribune.
 
In 1970 Taylor won the Eshmont Award, which is the 49ers' most prestigious annual honor. It is given each year to the Niner who best exemplifies the "inspirational and courageous play" of Len Eshmont, a player from the original 1946 Forty Niners' team. A few years later, he was among a group of athletes invited by President Nixon to the White House to participate in an anti-drug campaign.

A true iron man, Taylor started every game in 11 of his 12 seasons, missing just two games in his career, both in 1971 with San Francisco. Taylor played in 166 NFL games, starting 152. He played in 112 straight games with the Bears.
 
"I think they got a pretty good deal with me," Taylor told GramblingLegends.net about his time with the Bears. "I was out there every second when I was with the Bears."

He made his only Super Bowl appearance in his final year in the NFL, helping the Redskins to a Super Bowl VII loss to undefeated Miami. He started every game for Washington that year.

Taylor finished his 166-game NFL career with 32 career interceptions, including three that he returned for touchdowns. He also recovered 13 fumbles, returning one for a score and forced a pair of fumbles.
 
Taylor was ranked as the 43rd best player in Bears history by the Chicago Tribune in 2019.

Born July 4, 1937, Taylor was raised in the Lower Ninth Ward and attended McCarthy Elementary School. He was a three-sport star at Clark, excelling most in basketball. 
 
"Basketball was my best sport," Taylor said in a 2012 interview with The Louisiana Weekly. "When I was in the 11th grade I could dunk the basketball with two hands even though I was only 5'11".
 
At Grambling, the former basketball star evolved into a star after walking on to the football team. As a sophomore, he scored on runs of 87 and 75 yards in back-to-back games. Though it was on defense where he truly established himself.
 
Robinson's 1960 SWAC championship team allowed just 7.7 points per game while posting three shutouts. The shared title was the first for Robinson (it was just the third year of the SWAC) and he would go on to earn 18 total league championships.
 
"Our greatest ball players at the black schools back in the day would have beat the living hell out of the best — Michigan State, Ohio State and all these schools — if we could have played against them," Taylor once said in a 2012 interview in Louisiana Weekly.

Taylor's son, Brian, played in the NFL briefly with the Bears and Buffalo in 1989 and 1991, respectively, after starring at St. Augustine and at Oregon State.

Taylor died on May 29, 2020, at the age of 82. He was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Grambling Hall of Fame in 2010.

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Bruce Seals – Basketball, 1967-80
After earning Louisiana MVP honors at Booker T. Washington High School, Bruce Seals became an NAIA men's basketball All-American in 1971-72 and 1972-73 and one of the leaders of the renaissance of Xavier University of Louisiana men's basketball in the 1970s. The 6-8, 210-pound forward played five seasons in the ABA and the NBA. He had his start in basketball at the Rosenwald Recreation Center.
 
During Seals' junior season, Booker T. Washington won the Louisiana Interscholastic Athletic and Literary Association state championship, the last year of the governing body for Black high schools. As a senior in 1970-71, Seals led BTW's Lions to the LHSAA Class 4A semifinals and was selected as the state's Most Valuable Player. The Lions lost to eventual state champion Woodlawn in the semifinals – Woodlawn was led by future Boston Celtics star Robert Parish.
 
Although he had offers from more publicized schools, Seals opted to stay home and attend XULA with BTW teammates Greg Berniard, James Williams and Ames Growe.
 
As a freshman at XULA, Seals averaged 18.7 points and 12.2 rebounds in 26 games for a team that was 22-5, won the NAIA District 30 championship and reached the second round in its first-ever appearance at NAIA nationals.
 
The next year Seals averaged 25.6 points and 13.7 rebounds in 27 games for a 21-6 team that repeated as District 30 champion and reached the NAIA's national quarterfinals. In a 67-60 upset of top-seeded and unbeaten Sam Houston State in the second round on March 14, 1973, in Kansas City, Mo., Seals produced the program's first triple-double: 32 points, 10 rebounds and 12 blocked shots, the latter still a XULA record.
 
"Bruce wasn't the biggest thing out there, but he was the biggest thing out there," said teammate Victor Duvernay, Jr. "He blocked more shots and shot the ball so well and got so many second and third shots. You had to be there to see it. He was unreal."
 
His two-season totals at XULA included 22.2 points per game in 53 contests. Seals shot 52 percent from the floor (486-of-934) and 61.7 percent from the line (206-of-334). He scored 1,178 points and grabbed 688 rebounds.
 
Entering the 2020-21 season, Seals still held six XULA records, including rebounds per game in a career, 13.0.
 
After two seasons, Seals departed XULA to play professionally. He was drafted by the Utah Stars in the first round of the 1973 ABA Draft and played two seasons in Salt Lake City, helping the Stars to the Western Division title and a trip to the ABA finals, where they lost to the New York Nets.
 
He joined the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics from 1975-78, playing for two years for NBA legend Bill Russell. Seals averaged in double figures in scoring twice (1975-76 and 1976-77) with the Sonics. In Seattle he was reunited with guard Donald "Slick" Watts, who starred for XULA from 1970-73.
 
"Every night was an adventure," Seals remembered. "One night I guarded [John] Havlicek, one night I guarded Doc [Julius Erving], Rick Barry, Jamal Wilkes.
 
"I remember I blocked a shot; I knocked it into the fifth row. And he [Bill Russell] called timeout and said, 'Son, whatcha doing?' I said, 'Coach, I was sending a message.' And he looks at me and he says, 'All you did was give them the ball back.' For a minute I stood there and thought about it, and then I said, 'You're right Coach.' And I never did it again."
 
Seals averaged 8.9 points and 4.2 rebounds in 348 combined ABA-NBA games.
 
Seals followed his NBA career with a stint in the Italian professional league.
 
Seals later moved to the Boston area with his wife Shirley and his children, Bruce Jr. and Denitra, and spent many years as athletic director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dorchester, Mass. (1991-2020). He also served as a basketball assistant coach at Boston's Emerson College for 17 years (1994-2011).
 
"Coach Seals was a person of tremendous knowledge and humility. He had great impact and influence on all of the Emerson players that he mentored and coached throughout the years," said Sam Presti, a longtime NBA executive who played for Seals at Emerson. "We would often marvel about the fact that someone like Coach Seals, with his experience and resume, would be volunteering his time to help us. Coach had a true love of the game, but as one can see through his role with the Boys and Girls Club for all of those years, he had an equally deep love for supporting young, aspiring people."
 
Born June 18, 1953, Seals was inducted into the New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1995, and the Louisiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999. He died on December 15, 2020, at the age of 67.
 
Bill Forry, a writer for the Dorchester Reporter, wrote about Seals following his death, "Bruce helped to create the club's signature program of the 1990s— Safe Summer Streets— and much of it revolved around basketball. This was Bruce's passion: teaching kids and teens the game of basketball. Many went on to play college ball and can thank Coach Seals for the degrees on their walls. Thousands more simply learned how to have fun, secure in the fact that they were safe in Bruce's house…There'll never be another Bruce Seals."
 

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Otis Washington – Football, 1958-86

Otis Washington is recognized as one of the greatest high school football coaches in Louisiana history due to a stunning stretch of 11 years at St. Augustine High School (1969-79) when he compiled a record of 113-17-1 with three state championships (1975, 1978, 1979) in the state's highest classification. He posted a winning record in all 11 seasons while earning seven Catholic League titles and sending more than 120 players into the college football ranks.
 
"When somebody wins as much as he won, people usually don't like them because they win so much," said Ro Brown, a legendary New Orleans sportscaster. "He is the only person I know that won that much and people still liked. You won't hear anything bad about him from anyone. You just won't."
 
A native of Selma, Ala., Washington came to New Orleans on a scholarship to play football at Xavier University. He captained Xavier's final intercollegiate football team in 1959 and earned All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors as an offensive guard and linebacker. He also was a baseball standout, earning all-conference honors on the diamond as well.
 
After his graduation in 1961, he was hired at St. Augustine High School as a teacher and coach. He served eight years as an assistant coach, helping the team to three Louisiana Interscholastic Athletic and Literary Organization (LIALO) state championships. After integration, St. Aug joined the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) in 1967.
 
Washington took over the head coaching duties for the Purple Knights in 1969 and in his second season he led his team to a 9-1 record and a three-way tie for the Catholic League title with Holy Cross and Jesuit. Only two teams from each district were allowed to make the playoffs and a coin toss determined which two teams would go.
 
"That was a really good football team, and you should never think negative, but I just knew we were not going to win that coin toss," Washington said in a 2015 interview.
 
One of his players on that 1970 team was Burton Burns, who would go on to play at Nebraska. After his playing career, Burns became a prominent collegiate coach, including many years as Nick Saban's recruiting coordinator at Alabama. "He supported all of us after we graduated from St. Aug," said Burns. "Any success I've gotten in this world of coaching, I owe it to coach Wash. We were very prepared. We had the answers to the test."
 
He was selected as the New Orleans States-Item Coach of the Year for his 1970 achievements.
 
In 1971, his third year as head coach, he directed St. Aug to the LHSAA state championship game, losing to Brother Martin in the Class 4A state final at Tad Gormley Stadium, 23-0. The following year, he was named Louisiana's Class 4A Coach of the Year by the Louisiana Sportswriters Association.
 
In 1975, St. Augustine capped a 15-0 season – the only perfect season in school history – with a 35-13 victory at Covington for its first state championship.
 
"We weren't saviors of the black community or anything like that," Washington said in 2015. "We just went out and did a good job of playing football. And New Orleans, over the years, has seen that they can be proud of the things we did."
 
Three years later, Washington had his Purple Knights back in the state title game – this time against Catholic League rival Jesuit. Due to the overwhelming interest in the game (St. Aug routinely drew 15,000-20,000 fans to its Tad Gormley Stadium games), the rivals moved the title match to the Louisiana Superdome and 44,000 fans turned out to witness St. Aug upend the Blue Jays, 13-7.
 
"I was a little apprehensive going into the game," Washington said in an interview with WLAE. "Jesuit had a lot of tradition. We knew that if we beat Jesuit, then St. Aug would have 'arrived.'"
 
The success of that game drew the attention of Superdome officials and the LHSAA. Beginning with the 1981 season, the Superdome became the home of the high school football state championships, a tradition which continues in 2024, despite some years with the games being played elsewhere.
 
Washington would add a second straight state title in 1979 as the Purple Knights overcame New Iberia at Cajun Field in Lafayette for the LHSAA championship.
 
"I always admired him because of how his teams played – with class, discipline and toughness," said John Curtis coach JT Curtis. "I had a chance to coach with him in the All-Star Game in 1975 or 1976, and we maintained a relationship for years after. He was a great man and a great coach. His influence on St. Augustine and throughout the city was obvious and was there through the end on coaches, players and people like myself."
 
Washington's success on the prep level moved him to the college game as an assistant coach at LSU. He was the Tigers' first Black football coach, overseeing the offensive line on Jerry Stovall's staff in 1980. The next year, Washington became head coach at Southern University, where he stayed for six years, posting a record of 35-30-1.
 
The highlight of a six-year stint at Southern (1981-86) was a 50-20 victory over Grambling in the 1982 Bayou Classic, also in the Superdome.
 
"He was a disciplinarian, a good friend, a good mentor," said Eddie Flint, another New Orleans coaching legend who worked with Washington for many years. "The most important thing he brought was manhood. He believed in what he did, he believed in what he said, and he wanted the kids to be the same way. He was just a good man. A good husband and a good friend."
 
Washington also served as executive director of the New Orleans Police Athletic League (after stints as an assistant coach at LSU and Tulane).
 
The venerable coach was a 2015 inductee into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and also is a member of the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame (2012), the Xavier University Hall of Fame (2022), the New Orleans Prep Hall of Fame and the St. Augustine Hall of Fame.
 
When Washington made it into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2015, he told The Times-Picayune, "People have talked to me about my past accomplishments," he said. "But it has never ever been about me. I just went along for the ride and boy what a ride."
 
Washington, who was born in 1939, died in 2019 at the age of 80.

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Barbara Farris – Basketball, 1990-current

Dobee Plaisance was coaching a girls' AAU team in the summer of 1991. She knew she had something special in an awkward 6-2 13-year old named Barbara Farris.

"I thought she could have the opportunity to play at the next level and maybe even the level after that," said Plaisance, who was right on the money. Farris went from St. Martin's to Tulane University to the WNBA to traveling the world in summer ball.

The dream started watching TV with her father, Alvin. "He loved to watch the Lakers." says Farris. "I was a big fan of the Georgetown Hoyas."

During her three years playing for Plaisance at St. Martin's (1991-94), Farris was a two-time all-Louisiana high school player as she led her team to back-to-back state titles as well as a perfect record when she was a junior.

For college, she chose to stay home and became one of the greatest female athletes in Tulane history. "I loved my time at Tulane," says Farris.  "I loved every minute of it."

Farris led the Green Wave to one of their most successful eras in the school's basketball history as head coach Lisa Stockton's team played in four consecutive NCAA tournaments and posted an 88-32 record. Averaging 16.7 points and 6.8 rebounds in her career, Farris is the only player in Tulane history to achieve all-conference accolades for four straight years.

A WBCA/Kodak honorable mention All-American in her junior year, Farris led the Wave to a 27-5 record, the Conference USA regular season and tournament titles, and a third consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament. She was named to the All-Conference USA all-tournament team and she was named first team All-C-USA at the season's end.

Farris scored 1,729 points (sixth all-time as of 2020) in her Tulane career (1994-98) while starting 114 games. She still holds the school's all-time career field goal percentage record (660-of-1035, .637) and she ranks among the best in Green Wave history in career rebounds (939, fourth), offensive rebounds (351, third), defensive rebounds (588, fourth), free throws made (408, fourth) and free throws attempted (684, third).

Following her Green Wave career, she went into the professional ranks, playing overseas and in the ABL before launching her 10-year WNBA career with the Detroit Shock in 2000. After playing her first six seasons for Detroit, Farris joined the New York Liberty for the 2006 and 2007 campaigns, followed by one year with the Phoenix Mercury before returning to Detroit in 2009.

She played in more than 280 games and helped her teams advance to the playoffs five times. Her Detroit team won the WNBA Championship under Coach Bill Laimbeer in 2003.

Plaisance was glued to the TV for that one, rooting for her former star. "I swear, the confetti was still falling when she called me and thanked me." says Plaisance. "That is so typical of Barbara, thinking of somebody else even then."

Kari Pardoe, who was working in the Pistons/Shock community relations department, put Farris's "thinking of somebody else" into another perspective. Their paths crossed when Farris volunteered for the team's outreach projects.

"She visited cancer patients at the hospital," said Pardoe. "She helped a needy family for Christmas. Typical of Barbara, she didn't just give them money, she went shopping for them and helped wrap the gifts and put them under the tree."

The two joined a team mission to the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. "I was in shock,' says Farris, "All of those families sitting in the heat waiting for help. My family was okay. I asked myself 'Why me?  Why am I so lucky?'"

Farris's professional basketball career carried her world-wide. In addition to her playing time domestically, she spent three winter seasons in France, three in Spain and one in South Korea as well as playing half-seasons in Greece, Turkey and the Czech Republic.

After two years as an assistant coach with the Liberty, Farris started her prep coaching career as an assistant at Bonnabel High School for the 2009-10 season. She began a 10-year run as the head coach at John Curtis Christian School the following year. During that time, she won five LHSAA state championships with the Patriots, including four straight to close her tenure (2017-20). She compiled a record of 279-54 in those 10 years.

"Those young ladies I coached these past 10 years, and this past year especially, have changed me for the better as a person," Farris told Nola.com. "I really do appreciate them. I don't have children, but they were like my own. You spend so much time in the classroom and workouts and practice with these kids and you know all their little personalities and quirks and when they are having an off day. So I get sad when I think about not having that time and investment in them anymore."

She left John Curtis in 2020 to go into the collegiate coaching ranks as an assistant coach at Stetson University in Florida. After a three-year stint with the Lady Hatters, she joined the staff at Southern Miss for the 2022-23 season. She was promoted to assistant head coach for the 2024-25 season.

She was inducted into the Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2024.

"Barbara has had a tremendous influence on girls' basketball in the New Orleans area," Stockton said. "Her accomplishments as a high school, college and professional player, as well as a high school coach, are unmatched. We are so proud to have been a part of Barbara's journey."

Story submitted by Bill Curl of the New Orleans Sports Awards Committee. Updated February 2025.

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Warren Braden – Football, 1944-85

Warren Braden was a legendary football player and coach for over 40 years. In high school, he helped Xavier Prep to a pair of state titles (1944 and 1945) under another legendary coach, Alfred Priestly, who is also a member of the New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame. Braden was an all-city and all-state selection during his high school days with the Yellow Jackets.

He would go on to become a star quarterback at Southern University (1946-49), twice earning All-America recognition from the Pittsburgh Courier for the Jaguars. Southern posted records of 9-2-1, 10-2, 12-0 and 10-0-1 with Braden at quarterback, winning black college national titles in 1948 and 1949.

"Warren Braden was sort of a Joe Montana type," said legendary Grambling coach Eddie Robinson in 1998. "He was a guy who would take charge, and he was a great ball-handler and field general."

Braden and his teammates made history on December 5, 1948, when they played San Francisco State in the first interracial football game. The historical game was played in a muddy Kezar Stadium in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and Southern won 30-0 with Braden being voted the game's MVP.

Following his playing career, he spent 34 years as a football and track & field coach, including 26 years at Carver High School in New Orleans.

He also worked as a lifeguard in New Orleans in he 1950s and 1960s and was credited with saving multiple lives for which he was recognized by the Orleans Parish Levee Board, City of New Orleans and most notably, two personal letters from the late Congressman Hale Boggs.

Braden is also a member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame (1998), the Southern University Hall of Fame and the Southwestern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame.

He passed away on June 19, 2016 at the age of 87.

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Perry Clark – Basketball, 1988-2000

It was Fall, 1989. Perry Clark, a young 38-year old basketball coach was excited about his first day of practice as the new head coach of the Tulane Green Wave - the first Black head coach in Tulane history. Finally, his dream is realized – for the first time he would direct a major college program.

Four years earlier Tulane's basketball program was discontinued by the university's president due to an embarrassing point-shaving scandal. The former Georgia Tech assistant had the task of building a basketball program from scratch in the Metro Conference – one of the best college basketball leagues in the country.

Excitement, enthusiasm and optimism were in abundance. But something was missing.

"We realized we didn't have enough basketballs to do all of our drills. We only had about three or four balls and we needed at least 12 or 14," he chuckled.

Two years later, 1991-92, Tulane Basketball was perhaps the story of the college basketball season, winning the Metro Conference regular season crown (the only conference title in Tulane history) and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. It was the start of the most successful decade in Green Wave basketball history as it featured seven March Madness appearances – three trips to the NCAA Tournament and four bids to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

Because of those accomplishments, Perry Clark will be inducted into the Allstate Sugar Bowl's New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 2020.

"It's a tremendous honor because I love the City of New Orleans and I tried to work hard to make us part of the fabric of New Orleans," Clark said. "I wanted to represent the city in a very positive light and I think we did. It means an awful lot to me. I can honestly say, going into this hall is one of the highlights of my life and my career."

Clark-coached teams registered six seasons of at least 20 wins, 1992 (22-9), 1993 (22-9), 1995 (23-10), 1996 (22-10), 1997 (20-10) and 2000 (20-10). Before his arrival in New Orleans, the Green Wave had a total of three 20-win seasons – the most recent in 1948-49 under coach Clifford Wells, himself a member of the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame.

The Greenies notched first round victories in each of their three trips to the NCAA Tournament with wins over St. John's in 1992, Kansas State in 1993 and Brigham Young in 1995.  Clark remains the only coach in Tulane history to direct the Green Wave to the NCAA Tournament.

Tulane went to the NIT four times (1994-96-97-2000), reaching the Final Four and a trip to Madison Square Garden in New York in 1996. The Green Wave fell to Nebraska in the semifinal but finished in third place in the tourney after an 87-76 win over Alabama.

Clark, a Washington D. C. native, says he can't pick just one highlight during what was certainly one of the great program-building jobs in college basketball history. But an 87-83 overtime win, on the road over perennial power Louisville on January 4, 1992, had loads of meaning. It was win number nine of a season-opening 13 game winning streak and Tulane was ranked as high as No. 13 in national polls.

"We earned everybody's respect that we were legitimate," he said. "And my ultimate respect for Denny Crum [Louisville's hall of fame coach] and that program always made the Louisville game significant. Because I always felt like to be the king you had to beat the king."

A member of the Tulane Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Clark was voted winner of the Hank Iba Award given by the United States Basketball

Writers Association as the National Coach of the Year in 1992. He was Metro Conference Coach of the Year and Louisiana Coach of the Year in both 1991 and 1992.

"My time at Tulane was Camelot," he continued. "We accomplished so much and everything just came together. We couldn't have done it without people like Dr. Eamon Kelley (Tulane president), M. L. Lagarde (athletics staff) and Bill Goldring (booster). It was just a great time that can never be duplicated. And that's why going into this particular hall of fame is so special and important to me."

He also credits his high school coach and mentor, the late Morgan Wootten of DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Md., the gold standard of high school basketball coaches, for much of his success.

"He told me people may forget your name. They may forget what you've done for them. But they never, ever forget how you make them feel."

Following his tenure at Tulane, Clark served as the head coach at the University of Miami (2000-04), leading the Hurricanes to a school-record 24 wins and the NCAA Tournament in 2002. He also directed the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi program for four years (2007-11) and has been an assistant coach at the University of South Carolina since 2013, helping the Gamecocks to a program record 26 wins and the NCAA Final Four in 2016-17.

Despite it being over 20 years since he patrolled the hardwood in New Orleans, Tulane and New Orleans will never forget Perry Clark.

Story by Ro Brown of the New Orleans Sports Awards Committee.