The Louisiana Legends Festival is a tourism event designed to showcase Claiborne Parish as a great place to live and work. The festival celebrates the people, history and resources of Claiborne Parish. Each February open nominations are made to determine the year’s Louisiana Legend. For the first time in 2024 there will also be recognition of a Legacy Legend.
The Louisiana Legends Council is honored to announce as this year’s Legend the 1957 Homer High School Football Team. The first Legacy Legend is fashion designer Geoffrey Beene.
Homer Iron Men
The 1957 Homer High Pelicans were one of the greatest football teams to ever play in Louisiana. This small-town team only fielded 19 players, yet they defeated teams from much larger schools all over Louisiana.
Renowned sportswriter Jerry Byrd gave the team its nickname- The Homer Iron Men. The 1957 Louisiana State Championship game ended in a 6-6 tie with the Homer Iron Men standing toe to toe with a much larger Bossier High School. The 19 Iron Men scored a winning touchdown, but it was overturned by a penalty.
Twelve team members made All-District, five made All-State, one made All-Southern and two made High School All Americans. Following their semifinal win over Ruston, LSU football coach Paul Dietzel told Homer Coach Glenn Gossett that he would offer every player on that team a football scholarship to LSU. At least eight players played college football, four at LSU, one at Tulane, and three at Northwestern.
This team’s history continues to bring great memories and recognition to Claiborne Parish. The Iron Men’s legacy is one of skill, determination and grit, attributes that make them perfect candidates to be honored as the Louisiana Legends Festival 2024 Legend.
This team legacy continues to bring great memories to Claiborne Parish. The skill, determination, and grit are the things that attributes that keep this team recognized in Claiborne Parish history and make them the perfect recognition as 2024 Louisiana Legends Fest Legend.
Geoffrey Beene
One of America’s true fashion design pioneers, Geoffrey Beene was known for his timeless designs and iconic sense of style.
He was born on August 30, 1927, in Haynesville, La. into a family of doctors and was encouraged to follow in their footsteps. He studied medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans, but dropped out in 1946, following three years of study. Beene moved to Los Angeles, where he studied fashion design at the University of Southern California and began his career in the fashion industry. Geoffrey also attended the Traphagen School of Fashion in New York, the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne (ECSCP) in Paris and the couture house of Molyneux in Paris.
Beene founded his firm, Geoffrey Beene, Inc., in New York City in 1963, in partnership with Teal Traina’s Leo Orlandi in a Seventh Avenue Showroom. In 1976, Beene became the first American designer to show a collection in Milan, Italy. This international success in the fashion industry led to his sixth Coty Award in 1977, giving impetus to American fashion abroad. In 1982, Beene received his eighth Coty Award; the most awarded to any one designer. [11] He went on from there to receive three CFDA awards, and a honorary doctorate from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Mr. Beene challenged the American fashion establishment by creating haute couture for women and classic, superbly tailored styles for men that married comfort and luxury. Geoffrey Beene has become synonymous with impeccable styling, superb tailoring, comfort and quality. Beene’s clients included Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Nancy Reagan, Faye Dunaway. and Glenn Close.
Mr. Beene was widely regarded as “America’s Greatest Designer” at the time of his death in 2005. Mr. Beene is buried in Haynesville, La.
The Legends Council is seeking to find more information on the 2024 Legends. If you have a story, question, or connection, please contact the Louisiana Legends Festival by email at claiborneunite@gmail.com
The Louisiana Legends Festival will be Saturday, October 19, 2024, in Downtown Homer, Louisiana. The Louisiana Legends Festival is a day full of music, activity, vendors, and great food. For more information, please visit http://www.legendsfest.us.