Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Remembering Dwight “Bo” Lamar and Louisiana’s High Scoring Basketball Era
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Remembering Dwight “Bo” Lamar and Louisiana’s High Scoring Basketball Era
News of this week’s passing of former University of Southwestern Louisiana (now UL-Lafayette) basketball star Dwight “Bo” Lamar sparked a lot of memories.
Lamar was 74 and passed away at a nursing home in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
College basketball in Louisiana when Lamar played during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s was filled with dominant scorers and very little defense. The word “defense” seemed to have been banned during this period.
Explosive offense had become the name of the game.
This brief period was defined by expert marksmanship and crowd-pleasing showmanship. The high scoring antics of college basketball players like LSU’s “Pistol” Pete Maravich and the University of Houston’s “Big E” Elvin Hayes (born in Rayville, Louisiana) captured the imagination of fans.
Less than an hour west of Pistol Pete Maravich and LSU, Bo Lamar and the USL Ragin’ Cajuns were entertaining fans in front of packed basketball arenas, too.
Lamar was a virtual basketball scoring machine for the Ragin’ Cajuns from 1969-1973. He averaged 31.2 points per game over his entire four-year college basketball career. A first-team All-American as a senior, he was joined on that squad by future basketball Hall-of-Famers Bill Walton of UCLA and David Thompson of North Carolina State.
The 6’2” Bo Lamar had one of the best jump shots I have ever seen.
He elevated off the floor with ease and then lofted up a high arcing shot from long-distance. This came nearly 20 years before college basketball would adopt the three-point shot.
He would have averaged over 40 points per game with today’s three-point line.
Bo Lamar glided down the basketball court with ease in leading USL’s frantic fast breaks. He bombed-in a school-record 62 points during a game against Northeast Louisiana University (now UL-Monroe).
Scoreboards routinely registered more than 100 points during Ragin’ Cajun basketball games in this era.
A 1984 Louisiana Sports Hall-of-Fame inductee, Bo Lamar opted to play professional basketball for the ABA’s San Diego Conquistadors in 1973. He scored 50 points in one game during his rookie year while averaging nearly 21 points per game.
After several years in the pro ranks, Lamar later became part of the radio broadcast team for Ragin’ Cajuns basketball games.
Mike Green at Louisiana Tech became one of Bo Lamar’s biggest foes
If you have watched current NBA star Kevin Durant of the Houston Rockets, he looks and plays like a modern version of former Louisiana Tech basketball star, Mike Green. The 6’10” Green played for the Bulldogs from 1969-1974.
Mike Green was listed as a center but possessed an incredible outside shooting touch to stretch the opposing defenses.
Like Bo Lamar at USL, Green was a prolific college basketball scorer. He averaged 31 points per game as a senior at Louisiana Tech. Add a 15.4 rebounds per game career average, and you understand why Mike Green earned the AP’s Small College Player of the Year award in 1973.
He was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall-of-Fame in 1996.
A friend of mine attended Louisiana Tech in 1971 during the Mike Green basketball era.
He recalled a highly anticipated home game against high-scoring Bo Lamar and the nationally ranked Ragin’ Cajuns. Fans lined up for hours hoping to gain entrance to watch this game. Mike Green scored 22 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, and blocked numerous shots as the Bulldogs raced to 103-94 win at Tech’s Memorial Gymnasium.
Future Louisiana Tech Hall-of-Fame women’s basketball coach Leon Barmore also witnessed that encounter. He recalled, “It was the greatest game ever at Louisiana Tech – bar none!”
While he was a sophomore, Mike Green’s Louisiana Tech team averaged 101 points per game for the entire season. Defense? What defense?
Mike Green passed away in 2018 at the age of 67.
Time to celebrate Centenary College center Robert Parish!
Shreveport’s 7’1” center Robert Parish took Louisiana’s top college basketball player baton from Bo Lamar and Mike Green during the early 1970’s.
Robert Parish played high school basketball in the late 1960’s during a difficult time when federal integration mandates forced some schools to close. Parish and his fellow Union High School students suddenly found themselves being bussed to nearby Woodlawn High School.
Though this period caused angst for both students and teachers, Woodlawn’s basketball team morphed into a state powerhouse with the addition of talented center Robert Parish.
He led Shreveport’s Woodlawn High School to the Class 4A state basketball title as a senior in 1972. Parish was named a national high school All-American.
To the dismay of national college recruiters, Robert Parish chose to stay in Shreveport and attend Centenary College. As a freshman, Parish lined-up to play in one game against Louisiana Tech’s talented senior big man Mike Green.
Green dazzled the crowd by scoring 40 points on the young Robert Parish.
Robert Parish continued to work and improve his game every year. He collected a school record 33 rebounds in one game. Parish’ gifted shooting touch produced 25 points per game for Centenary. His dominant offensive and defensive play as a senior led to a first-team college basketball All-America selection.
Parish became a first round draft choice of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
Traded four years later to the Boston Celtics, Robert Parish (along with Larry Bird and Kevin McHale) won three NBA titles and played 21 seasons in the NBA. Parish was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Naismith Basketball Hall-of-Fame in 2003.
Have you heard of Olympic gold medal winner Glynn Saulters?
Today’s story about talented Louisiana college basketball stars of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s wouldn’t be complete without mentioning an Olympic gold medal winner.
In the year 1968, Northeast Louisiana University (now ULM) basketball star Grady Glynn Saulters was nearly invisible on the national college basketball stage.
The Lisbon, Louisiana native didn’t possess the blazing court speed of Southwestern Louisiana’s Bo Lamar or the shot-blocking skills of Louisiana Tech’s Mike Green.
Oh, but Glynn Saulters could shoot a basketball with the best of them.
He became a prolific college scorer. Saulters averaged a nifty 31 points per game as a senior in 1968 to lead the Gulf States Conference in scoring. Not too shabby.
The Olympics games were being held in Mexico City a few months following Saulters’ senior season. The year 1968 was an extremely politically charged period as Dr. Martin Luther King and presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. Several top college basketball players such as Lew Alcindor and Elvin Hayes decided not to even try-out for the US Olympic team in 1968.
That opened the door for NLU’s 6’2” guard Glynn Saulters to qualify for the Olympic basketball team.
His competition included stars like high-scoring Pistol Pete Maravich of LSU and Niagara guard Calvin Murphy. Surprisingly, neither Maravich nor Murphy made the final cut. Ditto for Kentucky’s Dan Issel and Purdue sharpshooter Rick Mount.
But Glynn Saulters from tiny Class “C” Lisbon High School in north Louisiana made the US team.
Legendary college basketball coach Hank Iba’s “No Name” US Olympic basketball squad was comprised of several small college role players and just a few top college stars.
Future NBA Hall-of-Fame forward Spencer Haywood and guard JoJo White led the US team in scoring. Glynn Saulters and the US Olympic team went a perfect 9-0 in Mexico City to bring home the gold medal.
Glynn Saulters was inducted into the ULM Sports Hall-of-Fame in 1978 and into the Louisiana Sports Hall-of-Fame in 1981.
Don’t forget “AJ from the Parking Lot!”
New Orleans’ Cohen High School basketball player Aaron James journeyed northward from the Crescent City to Grambling State University to begin a memorable college basketball career.
The 6’8” sharpshooting forward poured in more than 32 points per game as a senior at Grambling to become the Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year in ’73-74. He earned the nickname “AJ from the Parking Lot” for his uncanny accuracy on long-distance shots. Aaron James was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
Minden and Webster High School product Louis “Sweet Lou” Dunbar was another prolific high school scoring sensation. This 6’9” big man also possessed a sweet jump shot. Dunbar received numerous college scholarship offers and left his home state to play for the University of Houston in the early 1970’s. He averaged 22 points and eight rebounds over his career with the Cougars.
Louis Dunbar would join the Harlem Globetrotters and play for the next 27 years! “Sweet Lou” is one of only eight Globetrotters to have his jersey (#41) retired. Dunbar was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.
Let’s not forget Shreveport Valencia High School basketball star Roosevelt Fuller. This silky-smooth high-scoring guard torched the nets for 64 points in a Shreveport high school basketball game in the late 1960’s. Fuller averaged an incredible 44 points per game one season at Valencia High. He played college hoops from 1970-1972 at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, TX.
He still holds the school scoring record of 53 points and posted a 28 points per game average as a sophomore. Roosevelt Fuller was inducted into the Trinity Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 2025.
No, it wasn’t just Pistol Pete Maravich exciting Louisiana’s basketball fans during the late 1960’s into the early 70’s.
This week’s passing of Dwight “Bo” Lamar served as a reminder of just how special his era of basketball was in the Pelican State.
The post Remembering Dwight “Bo” Lamar and Louisiana’s High Scoring Basketball Era appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.
View all episodes
By SwampSwamiSports.comNews of this week’s passing of former University of Southwestern Louisiana (now UL-Lafayette) basketball star Dwight “Bo” Lamar sparked a lot of memories.
Lamar was 74 and passed away at a nursing home in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
College basketball in Louisiana when Lamar played during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s was filled with dominant scorers and very little defense. The word “defense” seemed to have been banned during this period.
Explosive offense had become the name of the game.
This brief period was defined by expert marksmanship and crowd-pleasing showmanship. The high scoring antics of college basketball players like LSU’s “Pistol” Pete Maravich and the University of Houston’s “Big E” Elvin Hayes (born in Rayville, Louisiana) captured the imagination of fans.
Less than an hour west of Pistol Pete Maravich and LSU, Bo Lamar and the USL Ragin’ Cajuns were entertaining fans in front of packed basketball arenas, too.
Lamar was a virtual basketball scoring machine for the Ragin’ Cajuns from 1969-1973. He averaged 31.2 points per game over his entire four-year college basketball career. A first-team All-American as a senior, he was joined on that squad by future basketball Hall-of-Famers Bill Walton of UCLA and David Thompson of North Carolina State.
The 6’2” Bo Lamar had one of the best jump shots I have ever seen.
He elevated off the floor with ease and then lofted up a high arcing shot from long-distance. This came nearly 20 years before college basketball would adopt the three-point shot.
He would have averaged over 40 points per game with today’s three-point line.
Bo Lamar glided down the basketball court with ease in leading USL’s frantic fast breaks. He bombed-in a school-record 62 points during a game against Northeast Louisiana University (now UL-Monroe).
Scoreboards routinely registered more than 100 points during Ragin’ Cajun basketball games in this era.
A 1984 Louisiana Sports Hall-of-Fame inductee, Bo Lamar opted to play professional basketball for the ABA’s San Diego Conquistadors in 1973. He scored 50 points in one game during his rookie year while averaging nearly 21 points per game.
After several years in the pro ranks, Lamar later became part of the radio broadcast team for Ragin’ Cajuns basketball games.
Mike Green at Louisiana Tech became one of Bo Lamar’s biggest foes
If you have watched current NBA star Kevin Durant of the Houston Rockets, he looks and plays like a modern version of former Louisiana Tech basketball star, Mike Green. The 6’10” Green played for the Bulldogs from 1969-1974.
Mike Green was listed as a center but possessed an incredible outside shooting touch to stretch the opposing defenses.
Like Bo Lamar at USL, Green was a prolific college basketball scorer. He averaged 31 points per game as a senior at Louisiana Tech. Add a 15.4 rebounds per game career average, and you understand why Mike Green earned the AP’s Small College Player of the Year award in 1973.
He was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall-of-Fame in 1996.
A friend of mine attended Louisiana Tech in 1971 during the Mike Green basketball era.
He recalled a highly anticipated home game against high-scoring Bo Lamar and the nationally ranked Ragin’ Cajuns. Fans lined up for hours hoping to gain entrance to watch this game. Mike Green scored 22 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, and blocked numerous shots as the Bulldogs raced to 103-94 win at Tech’s Memorial Gymnasium.
Future Louisiana Tech Hall-of-Fame women’s basketball coach Leon Barmore also witnessed that encounter. He recalled, “It was the greatest game ever at Louisiana Tech – bar none!”
While he was a sophomore, Mike Green’s Louisiana Tech team averaged 101 points per game for the entire season. Defense? What defense?
Mike Green passed away in 2018 at the age of 67.
Time to celebrate Centenary College center Robert Parish!
Shreveport’s 7’1” center Robert Parish took Louisiana’s top college basketball player baton from Bo Lamar and Mike Green during the early 1970’s.
Robert Parish played high school basketball in the late 1960’s during a difficult time when federal integration mandates forced some schools to close. Parish and his fellow Union High School students suddenly found themselves being bussed to nearby Woodlawn High School.
Though this period caused angst for both students and teachers, Woodlawn’s basketball team morphed into a state powerhouse with the addition of talented center Robert Parish.
He led Shreveport’s Woodlawn High School to the Class 4A state basketball title as a senior in 1972. Parish was named a national high school All-American.
To the dismay of national college recruiters, Robert Parish chose to stay in Shreveport and attend Centenary College. As a freshman, Parish lined-up to play in one game against Louisiana Tech’s talented senior big man Mike Green.
Green dazzled the crowd by scoring 40 points on the young Robert Parish.
Robert Parish continued to work and improve his game every year. He collected a school record 33 rebounds in one game. Parish’ gifted shooting touch produced 25 points per game for Centenary. His dominant offensive and defensive play as a senior led to a first-team college basketball All-America selection.
Parish became a first round draft choice of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
Traded four years later to the Boston Celtics, Robert Parish (along with Larry Bird and Kevin McHale) won three NBA titles and played 21 seasons in the NBA. Parish was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Naismith Basketball Hall-of-Fame in 2003.
Have you heard of Olympic gold medal winner Glynn Saulters?
Today’s story about talented Louisiana college basketball stars of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s wouldn’t be complete without mentioning an Olympic gold medal winner.
In the year 1968, Northeast Louisiana University (now ULM) basketball star Grady Glynn Saulters was nearly invisible on the national college basketball stage.
The Lisbon, Louisiana native didn’t possess the blazing court speed of Southwestern Louisiana’s Bo Lamar or the shot-blocking skills of Louisiana Tech’s Mike Green.
Oh, but Glynn Saulters could shoot a basketball with the best of them.
He became a prolific college scorer. Saulters averaged a nifty 31 points per game as a senior in 1968 to lead the Gulf States Conference in scoring. Not too shabby.
The Olympics games were being held in Mexico City a few months following Saulters’ senior season. The year 1968 was an extremely politically charged period as Dr. Martin Luther King and presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. Several top college basketball players such as Lew Alcindor and Elvin Hayes decided not to even try-out for the US Olympic team in 1968.
That opened the door for NLU’s 6’2” guard Glynn Saulters to qualify for the Olympic basketball team.
His competition included stars like high-scoring Pistol Pete Maravich of LSU and Niagara guard Calvin Murphy. Surprisingly, neither Maravich nor Murphy made the final cut. Ditto for Kentucky’s Dan Issel and Purdue sharpshooter Rick Mount.
But Glynn Saulters from tiny Class “C” Lisbon High School in north Louisiana made the US team.
Legendary college basketball coach Hank Iba’s “No Name” US Olympic basketball squad was comprised of several small college role players and just a few top college stars.
Future NBA Hall-of-Fame forward Spencer Haywood and guard JoJo White led the US team in scoring. Glynn Saulters and the US Olympic team went a perfect 9-0 in Mexico City to bring home the gold medal.
Glynn Saulters was inducted into the ULM Sports Hall-of-Fame in 1978 and into the Louisiana Sports Hall-of-Fame in 1981.
Don’t forget “AJ from the Parking Lot!”
New Orleans’ Cohen High School basketball player Aaron James journeyed northward from the Crescent City to Grambling State University to begin a memorable college basketball career.
The 6’8” sharpshooting forward poured in more than 32 points per game as a senior at Grambling to become the Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year in ’73-74. He earned the nickname “AJ from the Parking Lot” for his uncanny accuracy on long-distance shots. Aaron James was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
Minden and Webster High School product Louis “Sweet Lou” Dunbar was another prolific high school scoring sensation. This 6’9” big man also possessed a sweet jump shot. Dunbar received numerous college scholarship offers and left his home state to play for the University of Houston in the early 1970’s. He averaged 22 points and eight rebounds over his career with the Cougars.
Louis Dunbar would join the Harlem Globetrotters and play for the next 27 years! “Sweet Lou” is one of only eight Globetrotters to have his jersey (#41) retired. Dunbar was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.
Let’s not forget Shreveport Valencia High School basketball star Roosevelt Fuller. This silky-smooth high-scoring guard torched the nets for 64 points in a Shreveport high school basketball game in the late 1960’s. Fuller averaged an incredible 44 points per game one season at Valencia High. He played college hoops from 1970-1972 at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, TX.
He still holds the school scoring record of 53 points and posted a 28 points per game average as a sophomore. Roosevelt Fuller was inducted into the Trinity Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 2025.
No, it wasn’t just Pistol Pete Maravich exciting Louisiana’s basketball fans during the late 1960’s into the early 70’s.
This week’s passing of Dwight “Bo” Lamar served as a reminder of just how special his era of basketball was in the Pelican State.
The post Remembering Dwight “Bo” Lamar and Louisiana’s High Scoring Basketball Era appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.