(Please see ticket info for the Aug. 4 ArkLaTex Museum of Champions Induction Ceremony and Celebration at the bottom; Lincoln Parish brothers George and Mike Stone will be there; George will be inducted and Stone, the Lincoln Parish Sheriff, was inducted into the state’s Justice Hall of Fame a couple of weeks ago. Pictured above: George and his Mets teammate, Willie Mays.)

LINCOLN PARISH — This is shaping up to be a big month for the two sons of the late George Sr. and Mrs. Ethel Stone of Ruston.

George Jr. will be inducted into the Ark-La-Tex Sports Museum of Champions in the Shreveport Convention Center Aug. 4. Baby brother Mike, sheriff of Lincoln Parish, was inducted into the Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame last Friday, July 6, at a banquet on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge.

A former two-sport All-State player for Ruston High and a nine-year Major League Baseball pitcher for Atlanta and the New York Mets, George Jr. broke into a big smile automatically Monday when asked about this fortunate timing, less than three full days after he’d attended his six-years-younger baby brother’s induction and a few minutes before he’d tricked a friend he’d asked out to eat into buying his lunch since it was his 72nd birthday. (I’m $7.99 plus tip shorter now; they don’t call lefthanders like George “crafty” for nothing.)

“This whole thing’s wonderful, it really is,” said George, whose best season was 1973 when he was 12-3 for the Mets, led the league in winning percentage, and pitched three scoreless innings against Oakland in the World Series as manager Yogi Berra, for head-scratching reasons, chose to pitch him out of the bullpen even though he’d won eight straight games down the stretch.

“The thing for Mike was a first-class deal Friday,” he said. “And he’ll be sitting with me at my deal in a couple of weeks. It’s all about relationships. Family and friends. It’s funny how it worked out this way.”

“I’m so proud every time George gets recognized for what he accomplished in baseball,” said Mike, who caught future big-leaguer Wayne Cage at Ruston High and caught his big brother whenever he was told to.

 

“I didn’t have a choice,” Mike said. “If I didn’t catch him when he asked, he could be real precise with a gumball right behind your ear. He told me to get in the yard, I’d get my mitt and get out there. I can’t tell you how many thousands of ground balls my daddy hit…

“Listen, he brought us so much joy,” Mike said. “We’d be in the kitchen listening to those games on the radio. (Braves play-by-play man) Milo Hamilton would be fading in and out. Daddy would be working most of the time, but me and my mother, if something bad happened, we’d want to throw the radio, and when something good happened, we’d jump around and up and down.”

It’s really always been about family with the Stones. George Sr. was a police officer for 25 years and, as well as her boys have done, Mrs. Ethel has them both beat, and it’s honestly not that close. Long ago she retired the trophy for Best Fried Pie Maker in Lincoln Parish; the industry took a serious hit with her passing 18 months ago at age 89. No telling how many plates of chicken and dumplings she cranked out for ballplaying boys and men throughout the years.

“George and I just had such a beautiful family,” said Mike, who’s been in law enforcement 42 years. “We grew up good, too good to be true, really. Mother and daddy taught us the foundation of how to treat people, how you should get around. Whatever I’ve achieved, I owe to those two and a few other wonderful people. George will say the same thing; he’ll tell you what we owe them.

“I just wish everybody could have experienced what we did growing up,” he said. “I don’t know; it’s hard to describe. They deserve all the credit. We just had so much love and support. That’s all we ever knew.”

TICKET AND BANQUET CELEBRATION INFO

George Stone is one of five inductees into the Ark-La-Tex Sports Museum of Champions Saturday, Aug. 4, at 6:30 p.m. at the Shreveport Convention Center.

Other members of the Class of 2018 are former Louisiana Tech AD and LSU legend Jerry Stovall of West Monroe, Haynesville star and 10-year NFL veteran Demetric Evans, Grambling basketball Kodak All-American Kenny Simpson, and the late Don Shows, a Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame coach and LATech track standout who won eight state titles at West Monroe High School.

The public is invited to a free open house at the Convention Center from 5 to 6:15 p.m. Tickets to the 6:30 p.m. Induction Ceremony are $45 per person or $360 for a table of eight. Reserved table sponsorships are available for $360 and include eight tickets, signage on the table, and special recognition in the banquet program. Shreveport’s Tim Brando of FOX Sports will emcee. For tickets call 318-868-6118.

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