Ram rebirth: How Richwood rekindled its football fire

“You’ve heard ‘The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia?’ They’re about to go out in Richwood.”  — Frederick "Bear" McHenry

The décor inside longtime Ouachita Parish High School athletic director Frederick “Bear” McHenry’s office includes a weathered state championship trophy.

Not the wooden boot the LHSAA uses today. The old-school, glistening football mounted on a golden setting is what sits on top of a corner filing cabinet.

Most would assume it belongs to the 1989 state champion Ouachita Lions. Look again.

The inscription — and the trophy — is the property of the 1974 Richwood Rams.

“I brought it with me to preserve the history,” said McHenry, a graduate and coach at the original Richwood High School.

“I wouldn’t be the man I am if I hadn’t come through Richwood High School. That’s where I learned the difference between right and wrong and I’ve tried to pass that along to these kids.”  

Richwood’s rebirth in 2001 signified a new beginning for a community that longed to see their school reopen its doors. While basketball has long been the galvanizing force for the “new” Richwood, this is northeastern Louisiana, where football will always be king.

The Rams have had moderate success since their return, but nothing like the glory days of Joe Profit, Mathew “Rip” Reed and Sammy White. That was until this season.

The labels of old and new didn’t seem to matter anymore as Richwood inched closer and closer to the Class 3A state championship game. It took a football team and an unexpected run to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to heal the pain of the past.

“The greatest thing that we’ve done is bring everyone back together,” Richwood football coach Robert Arvie said. “The people that were in the stands and Sterlington and at Kaplan were the new and the old and that’s best feeling in the world.”

McHenry, a state-champion quarterback for coach Mackie Freeze in the all-black Louisiana Interscholastic Athletic and Literary Organization, was the head football coach when the Ouachita Parish School System closed the original Richwood in 1987.

Some of Richwood’s students followed “Freddie Bear” to Ouachita. The rest were either sent to West Monroe or opted for Carroll, Neville or Wossman in the Monroe City School District.

“When they shut it down, it was like somebody put a dagger in your heart,” McHenry said.

While their school may have been a memory, this wayward band of Bulldogs, Lions, Tigers, Rebels and Wildcats were still Richwood Rams at heart.

“The community kept this school alive and our football team has only strengthened that bond,” Richwood principal Sharilynn Loche said. “We couldn’t be prouder of our students and we’re behind them all the way.”

Tickets for Richwood’s state title matchup with West Feliciana went on sale Monday and are moving fast. The Rams received raucous send off when they left for New Orleans on Wednesday.

“We’re looking for a great crowd from Monroe,” Loche said. “I’ve been through three championship basketball teams since I’ve been here but this is a whole new thing for me.

“The majority of our staff is going to New Orleans and it’s been wonderful to see all the school pride.”

That school pride extends through two different schools and across multiple generations, states and time zones.

“It’s over with come Friday night,” McHenry said. “I’ve talked to people all the way in Georgia that are going to be there.

“Everybody wants to go home and that’s what it’s going to be like in the Superdome.”

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