Jerry Barksdale Byrd was born in Shreveport, La., on Oct. 4, 1935, received his Bachelor of Arts degree at Northwestern State College in May of 1957, and went to work as a sports writer at the Shreveport Journal at 6 o'clock the following morning.
He was still at the Journal when it folded in 1991. Since then, he has worked at two other newspapers, the Minden Press-Herald and the Bossier Press-Tribune.
Byrd was the second sports writer inducted into the Louisiana High School Athletic Assn. Louisiana High School Coaches Assn. Hall of Fame in January of 2001. He was the first person to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Louisiana Track and Field Coaches' Assn. in 1992. He is the only sports writer to be selected "Mr. Louisiana Basketball" by the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches, also in 1992.
In addition to winning numerous writing awards, he has coached youth sports in swimming, track and field, football, basketball, baseball and soccer, developing national age group champions in swimming and track and field. He has written two other books, "Jerry Byrd s Football Country" and "Louisiana Sports Legends," and hopes this will be the first in a series of "Louisiana's Best" books on high school sports. He has also written a book, "First Down and Forever," on the history of the Evangel Christian Academy football program that has not been printed yet. He is currently working on a track and field book.