Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month

The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee began in 1957 when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the 1971 creation of the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the top amateur athlete in the Greater New Orleans area each month – the honors enter their 63rd year in 2019. To be eligible, an athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region. Each of the monthly award winners are honored in the summer at the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony, hosted by the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Photo by Bill Arthurs

Ron Franklin was selected as the Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month for June after an outstanding month for the Gibbs Construction American Legion Baseball team. In the month of June, Franklin helped lead the Cardinals to an 11-3 record. He hit .380 with an on-base percentage of .594 and a slugging percentage of 1.103. He hit seven home runs, including three against eventual Legion state champion Gauthier Amedee (one on June 10 and two on June 14). He finished the month with 20 runs batted in. A 2019 graduate of Archbishop Rummel High School, Franklin played in five games this spring for Bossier City Community College before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports.

Franklin was selected for the honor over two other local standouts.

• Grayson Gilbert, a member of the UNO golf team, posted a third-place finish in the Louisiana Amateur Championship at Bayou Oaks at City Park on June 11-14 against 144 of the best amateurs in the state. A sophomore from Monroe, Gilbert matched the course record in the second round with a 67. Trailing by three strokes entering the final round, he nailed a 30-foot chip for birdie on hole two to gain early momentum – another birdie two holes later tied him for the lead entering the back nine. He finished with a three-round score of 281, two strokes behind the winner John Humphries. It was the second straight win for the 40-year old Humphries, from Woodworth, who also won the 2003 title. Gilbert’s finish was the best by a Privateer golfer since 2010 in the event which has been a crown jewel of the Louisiana golf scene since 1920.
• Joshua Orr, a right-handed pitcher for Ponstein’s American Legion, played infield in six games and batted .313 with a .688 slugging percentage. He also tallied nine innings of relief work on the mound in five games, recorded an earned-run average of 2.33 with 16 strikeouts. Orr will be a senior at Holy Cross this fall.