hagan714

For those of who moved away and still miss Louisiana I really enjoyed this article. Maybe it's because i did not live in New Orleans but on the North Shore long before it became what it is today. disappointing. guess i am a country hick at heart after all.

Life on the Mississippi: Tramon Williams Remembers Growing Up on the Bayou

Growing up in Assumption Parish, Louisiana, there wasn't much for Tramon Williams to do.

"Playing sports: That's all you can do," Williams said. "There ain't that much to do down there. It's an old country town."

Assumption Parish ("parish" is the Louisiana term for "county") is 365 square miles of sugarcane plantations and bayou 70 miles west of New Orleans. Napoleonville, the parish seat and location of Assumption High School, is a town of about 700 people on the banks of Bayou Lafourche.

Napoleonville has a 19th-century courthouse, an above-ground cemetery in the courtyard of St. Anne's church, one red light, a bank, a hardware store, a gas station and a few government buildings and churches. Belle Rose, Williams' hometown 10 miles up the road/river, is slightly more populated but has even fewer amenities.

When Williams was in high school 15 years ago, the Dairy Inn on the outskirts of Napoleonville was the only local restaurant. A highway truck stop offered sausage and biscuits for breakfast, hamburgers and shrimp burgers for snacks after football practice. For "real" fast food, Assumption High students like Williams had to go to Popeyes in not-so-nearby Donaldsonville. The nearest movie theaters were in Thibodaux, 18 miles to the south, or nearly an hour north in Baton Rouge.

"There's only two highways to get in and out: Highway 1 on one side of the bayou and 308 on the other side of the bayou," Williams said of his hometown. "That's it. It was as simple as that."

Life on the Mississippi: Tramon Williams Remembers Growing Up on the Bayou | Bleacher Report

"We may have lost the game, but you'll be hurting tomorrow." Doug Atkins

QBREES9

I love reading story on the players. Good read.

Crusader

Great piece. I grew up in rural Sweden and can see many similarities in the close communities and not having much else to to than sports.

SaintFanQ

That's a good story and and interesting account of life on the bayou!

Nice to read about someone who is willing to work hard (mentally and physically) and get the benefits from all that effort!

Rugby Saint II

Our home town was so small we had to play six man football because we didn't have eleven players. What sucks is back then I couldn't even make the team. lol

hagan714

growing up on the north shore and going to St. Pauls, we had a small team. a lot of two way players. I remember every year playing the christian brother jamboree in new orleans and getting blown out. every play it seemed the had a new players on the field in pretty clean uniforms all the way thru the 4th. we got pounded lol. just moved up into AAA back then.

all we did was sports and of course parting. started working at 13 all around town till i was 17 then worked part time nights on the weekend shifts at the pre stressed concert plant. blah blah blah

so this article hit home. looking back on it now, Covington and Mandeville were a slice of heaven.

"We may have lost the game, but you'll be hurting tomorrow." Doug Atkins