Unless your basketball team was competing against his, you might have found yourself cheering for Ervin Johnson. And no one would have blamed you. What was not to like? Ervin Johnson was as unassuming and mild-mannered as Gomer Pyle, but he had the drive of Gen. George S. Patton -- minus the vulgarity, of course. Self-motivated, but never self-centered. From a-zillion-miles-off-the-radar in high school to an All-America player at the University of New Orleans to a 13-year career as an NBA center . . . and now a spot in the 2013 class of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Johnson will be enshrined Saturday night, June 29, at a sold-out induction ceremony in a basketball-heavy class. His journey to state legend status is one of the more unlikely in the Hall’s history, but it had a solid base. "You could sum it up in one word," Johnson said. "Faith. Belief in myself, belief in God. He had a plan for me. I was just following His lead." In a nutshell: Johnson quit his team in the 10th grade at Block High School in Jonesville, La. -- about a 100-mile drive from Natchitoches -- grew eight inches after graduation (to 6-11) and worked in a Baton Rouge supermarket for 2½ years before enrolling at UNO in January 1989. He offered his services to Tim Floyd, then in his first season as UNO's head coach, on the final night of the early signing period in November '88 after hearing of UNO's need for depth and height. Floyd, whose first UNO team had no starter taller than 6-5, instantly awarded Johnson a scholarship and redshirted him. Then Johnson climbed the heights, though it wasn't easy. He bristled at Floyd's suggestion in the spring of 1989 to transfer to a junior college -- "At that point we just didn't think Ervin was ready to play at the D-I level," the coach said -- then showed him. And wowed him. Johnson wowed everybody. By the time he finished his UNO career in 1993, Johnson had started for three conference-championship teams, played in two NCAA Tournaments and set UNO records for career rebounds (1,287), field-goal percentage (.591), blocked shots (294), games started (116) and minutes played (3,694). His 1,608 points ranked second in UNO history. He was Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year as a senior on a team which was 18-0 in conference and 26-4 overall. Though his ranking on UNO's career scoring charts has changed, this fact hasn't: He's UNO's only first-round NBA draft choice. "Ervin Johnson is an example of a lot of things," said Floyd, who also coached against Johnson for five seasons in the NBA. "He was a non-pampered athlete who was determined to change his life. He was a guy who was hungry, who was driven, who has high character. He's counter to the way the American player is developed today. Instead of being a workout guy -- 1½ hours three times a week -- he chose to spend many lonely hours in a gym by himself. He is a testament to the ability to listen and to personal responsibility. "His story doesn't appeal to the pampered athlete. He's a kid who was hopeful and was willing to work and not give up on his dream." In short, character. Floyd loves to point out that Johnson gave his employer two weeks' notice before heading to UNO. Johnson completed correspondence courses through the University of Washington to help him earn his UNO degree in December '96 -- and then was the commencement speaker. Shortly after he turned pro, Johnson contributed a sizable amount of money to help UNO athletics upgrade its weight room. "Ervin never forgot where he came from," Floyd said. "He was always humble, true to his convictions, to God and his religion. He's a real person who cared about the team than himself." Seattle drafted Johnson, and he played there for three seasons. He spent a year in Denver and averaged 7.1 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.8 blocks while starting all 82 regular-season games, but he was traded for three players the following year to Milwaukee, where he spent seven of his final nine seasons. Johnson started more than half of his 845 NBA games with career averages of 4.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 20.1 minutes per game. "He was a tough defender," said New Orleans Pelicans coach Monty Williams, who played against Johnson while at Notre Dame and in the NBA. "He could finish around the basket. He played the game the right way. If you played in the league, you knew about him."

I may be going back to Colorado for a while. My son, Joe Hyatt, will know after July 9 if he has to have surgery on his shoulder. My physical therapist says two tears in his rotator cuff means he will have to have it. It is a tough surgery and he will have to sleep sitting up for 2 to 3 weeks. So, his mama is planning to go back out there to stay until he can take care of himself. I am seriously thinking of driving this time as airline tickets recently went up plus I usually buy my ticket early and get a better price. Please keep him in your prayers. Last year I visited out there and after I left, the Waldo Canyon fires started. This year, a week after I left the Black Forest was on fire. I am not really sure they will let me go back, Joe sent me a picture on his phone showing the smoke that he could see. The fire was 32 miles from his home. I am thankful that is under control. Happy anniversary to Randy and Louise Yopp of Vowells Mill. They have been married for 40 years. These are two people who can really make me laugh. You never know what Randy is going to say nor how Louise will react. I can say that she has a great sense of humor. Father’s Day was a very good day at Harmony Baptist Church. We had many visitors and it was good to see some old members come back. Sunday Singing will be at Bellwood Baptist Church June 30 a t 5 p.m. Provencal First Baptist and Harmony churches are involved. There will be refreshments in the fellowship hall after the service. The senior luncheon at Trinity Baptist was well attended this month. It is a potluck affair and we always have plenty of food. Our guest speaker was The Rev. Doug Graffenreid. He is the pastor at First United Methodist in Natchitoches. I read his column every week, but had never heard him speak. He is very entertaining. He has lived many places and can always find humor in any situation. He discussed Vacation Bible School in the South. He says that it is free child care in the summer months. If the churches stagger it out all summer then there is always a place to send your child. We always have great entertainment at these functions. Sylvia says she has retired, but we know she is just taking a sabbatical and will come back strong. The senior luncheon is the second Thursday of every month. SALT will be meeting in the parish courthouse June 25 at 2 p.m. We meet in the homeland security meeting room in the buildings basement. We are a group of senior citizens who have the welfare of our fellow citizens at heart. Many good programs have been developed by this committee. We are always looking for new members and would love to have you join us. Come out and see just what we do. Provencal Village Council meeting is June 25 at 6 p.m. in the Provencal Village office. I had a great visit with Barbara Roberts last week. She is mostly confined to home these days. I made supper for her and her family and just intended to drop it off, but ended up visiting with her for an hour and a half. We had some great discussions on things we have found in genealogy. And also the things we cannot find were a great source of humor. Barbara has been a friend for many years and I will be going back to see her. She enjoys company and says that some days she does not see any one but the kids. She was able to work up until the end of the school year, but has since resigned. Go by and see her and you both will get a blessing. I know that I did. Gardens are coming in. I have plenty of cherry tomatoes but some of my things just did not grow. The weather turned from cold to extremely hot in a matter of days. I was scraping ice off the windshield May 4 and the heat hit me in the face when I left the airport in Houston on June 4. I hope the purple hull peas are in soon. I had called out to the detention center about 2 weeks ago and was told they would have plenty if it rained. It did rain the very next day and I need to check back.

When I attended Catholic High in the ‘60s, the senior class each spring loaded onto buses and went off to a three-day retreat at Manresa House, which still operates today in its antebellum setting on River Road in St. James Parish. There we observed the vow of silence (sort of) while attending lectures, praying and meditating on the meaning and responsibilities of becoming young Catholic men as we approached the age of majority. This summer, Republican legislators are planning a retreat of their own. It won’t be at Manresa, where the Jesuits have yet to come around on co-ed convocations. But there will be discussions and meditation on the opportunities and responsibilities of the GOP in its new age of legislative majority. Some prayers wouldn’t hurt either. Silence will not be the rule—these are politicians—but leaders are hoping their gathering will not be as loud and rancorous as their last one in the bowels of the State Capitol in the final week of the recently ended session. Recriminations flew over how some Republican lawmakers were being disloyal by allying with Democrats, which compared in my day to the risk to our immortal souls of cavorting with Protestants. The spiritual challenge to the Republican majority is dealing with a distant yet controlling authority figure, Gov. Bobby Jindal. A faction of House Republicans, nicknamed the Fiscal Hawks, has rebelled against what they consider his unsound budget practices of relying on one-time money and contingencies. Most Republican legislators, not as fiscally fervent, accept using one-time money as the lesser evil to raising taxes or cutting deeper into higher education and health care. Either they think the governor knows best or they don’t want to cross him and lose their allowance money. To pass his budget last year, Jindal out-maneuvered the hawks by combining the votes of cooperative Republicans with the Democrats, who had nowhere else to go. In a strange alliance this year, the band of hawks joined forces with the Democrats, including the Black Caucus, to form a majority that rewrote the governor’s budget. They combined some judicious cuts with a tax amnesty program to wring the one-time money out of the appropriations bill. They also adopted stricter procedures to curb budgetary abuses. What most upset mainstream Republicans, however, was that the hawk-Democrat alliance changed the rules to give Democratic caucus leader Rep. John Bel Edwards of Amite, a candidate for governor, and Black Caucus leader Rep. Katrina Jackson of Monroe seats at an expanded negotiating table to write the final bill. “They stabbed us in the back,” fumed Rep. Gordon Dove, R-Houma. In the end, one-time money was limited though not eliminated and compromises were reached on new budget procedures. The biggest concession won by the Democrats was $69 million added to K-12 education, split between a modest teacher pay raise and the needs of school boards. The increase in base funding for education was the first in five years, during which time businesses have feasted on many more millions in new tax breaks. Education Superintendent John White called the pay increase the best thing to happen in the session. For the state as a whole, the final spending plan was as good as could be expected, and passed with only one dissenting vote in either chamber. But what really steamed Republicans was that while they were in the majority they were not in control. Senate Republicans say their House counterparts could have got much the same deal had they banded together instead of hooking up with the Democrats. Perhaps so. They just didn’t. Many of the same budget dynamics will be present again next year. What would mark progress for Republicans is to concede that the hawks had good ideas though flawed methods. From there, they could re-coalesce as a principled majority that would deal with Democrats from a position of strength but without the heavy-handed partisanship that afflicts Washington. Once they put away their toys, their perks and dwindling project money, and realize who really is dividing and controlling them, the Republicans could emerge to lead the house of the people, standing equal to the Senate and respectfully apart from the governor. A retreat would be a good start on forming a responsible, enlightened majority. As the brothers at Catholic High and the Jesuits at Manresa told us boys, it’s time to grow up.