SHREVE'S LENZY BRYANT (RIGHT) COMPETES IN 2022 YELLOW JACKET RELAYS
This isn't how the 2024 season was supposed to begin for the Captain Shreve Lady Gator track and field team.
Monday, on what was to be the first day of track practice for the upcoming indoor season, the team was called in to visit with counselors after learning over the weekend of the tragic death of assistant coach Reginald Howard, who was murdered early Saturday morning in his hometown of Natchitoches.
Howard was 45 years old.
"After meeting with the counselors, I told the team to go home," Shreve head coach Kendrick Law said. "We came back the next day and met as a team. They are handling it fairly well. Better than I expected."
The team will be wearing new uniforms when they begin their indoor season on Saturday, January 20th at the LSU High School Qualifier, but they will be without their coach who collaborated with team captains to come up with the uniform's design.
"He was so proud and excited about the new uniforms," Law said. "He was taking the picture around and showing everyone what the new uniforms are going to look like."
One of the team captains Howard collaborated with on the new uniforms was senior Lenzy Bryant.
"What made him different is that he really cared about us," Bryant said. "Some coaches don't care about their athletes. He did. He was like a second father to us. We could talk to him about anything. He would laugh with us and other students too. He was hard on us, but he cared for us."
Howard demonstrated as much earlier in the day before he was murdered late Friday night.
"We had just finished up in the weight room Friday afternoon," Bryant said of the last time she saw her coach. "He said 'Y'all hungry? Come eat.'"
Feeding his girls was nothing new for Howard. A few weeks ago, his mother made some gumbo and he brought some to school for his track girls.
As Bryant made her way into the room carrying two backpacks, Howard was standing nearby.
"Don't bump into me," Howard told Bryant. "You better learn how to get around carrying two backpacks."
Bryant laughed at her coach.
"When I left, I told him that I loved him and to be careful," Bryant said. Those words would be her final words to her coach.
Bryant's teammate, sophomore Marcayla Stevenson, called Bryant Saturday morning.
"I thought it was weird that she was calling me," Bryant said. "It is rare to get a call. I answered and she said 'you might want to sit up.' She told me that coach had passed away. She had heard about it from Coach Howard's nephew who is on the Captain Shreve football team."
Bryant was in disbelief.
"I didn't believe it," Bryant said. "I was blowing up his (Coach Howard) phone to find out if it was real. There was a debate on social media. Some said it was a lie. When we found out it was true, it was very heart breaking."
Bryant busied herself for the remainder of the weekend.
"I did some things so it could distract me and get my mind off of it," Bryant said.
Then Monday came.
"It didn't really hit until I got to school on Monday and his car was not in his normal parking spot and he was not standing by the cafeteria," Bryant said.
A few girls on the team came up to Bryant. She told them not to cry because she would cry. The team was called into the conference room to meet with the counselors.
"It was very sad," Bryant said. "It made me break down."
After the adults spoke with the team and Bryant had she her tears, she was able to address the Lady Gator track team.
"I told them that we're doing this for him," Bryant said. "That's what he would have wanted. His main objective is that he wanted us to go to state. He always talked about that."
At 2:06 am on Saturday morning the Natchitoches Police Department responded to a shots fired call in the 500 block of Myrtle Drive. As soon as police arrived, they rendered first aid to Howard, who had been shot multiple times.
Derrick Booker, 47, has been arrested by the NPD for second-degree murder for his alleged involvement in the shooting. The investigation by the NPD is ongoing.
"Dedicated."
It was a word often used by Law as he described Howard's involvement with the track team.
"He was dedicated to those girls," Law said. "He worked hard to instill in them what it means to work hard. He has been working with them in the weight room during the off season at least two times a week. He didn't have to do that-especially living in Natchitoches and having to make that drive every day."
Howard, who was also the ISS facilitator at Captain Shreve, was getting ready to begin his second year with the track and field program.
Arrangements for Howard are pending.