Before basketball’s three-point line, Shreveport’s Kenny Simpson said, “anywhere in the gym is a good shot.”

Simpson should know. He’s taken them all and made them all and goes into the Ark-La-Tex Museum of Champions Saturday night at 6:30 in the Shreveport Convention Center. (Ticket info below!)

“It’s very humbling,” Simpson, 58, said Wednesday night from his home in Arlington, Texas, where he owns a software technology firm. “It throws you back to the start when I was born at 920 Travis…one of those little shotgun houses.”

He was a hoops star at Fair Park High. When he led the Indians to a 20-point victory over 20-point favorite McKinley from Baton Rouge in the state quarterfinals in the late-70s, he scored 39 points and had 23 rebounds. The headline on the story by Louisiana Sports Hall of Famer Jerry Byrd the next morning in the Shreveport Journal: “McKinley Simpsonized!”

“Loved that,” Simpson said.

Simpson was recruited by UCLA, Kentucky, St. John’s, Marquette, and the list goes on. But he went to Grambling because of coach Fred Hobdy and because he wanted to be a fourth-generation Tiger.

After a Kodak All-America career, he was drafted by Kansas City in 1982, but most of his success came overseas. His career stretched from 1982-1995; he led his Spain pro team to five European Championships.

“It took 38 years (to get to this Saturday night),” he said, “but I’m the only player ever to start every game at Grambling, and if you can do that and Fred Hobdy’s the coach, I guess you gotta be doing something right.”

We’ll have more on Kenny later. See ticket info below, and Designated Writers hopes to see you there Saturday night.

Joining Simpson as members of the Class of 2018 are former big-league lefthander George Stone of Ruston, LSU legend Jerry Stovall of West Monroe, Haynesville star and 10-year NFL veteran Demetric Evans, and the late Don Shows, a Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame coach who won eight state titles at West Monroe High School. Shreveport’s Tim Brando of FOX Sports will emcee.

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.

For tickets, contact Dr. George Bakowski, 318-868-6118. Do it quick(ly)!

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It’s not the most unusual thing in baseball, but a guy pitching a no-hitter is still a special thing. And it’s not the result; it’s more about the process.

There have been three no-hitters pitched in the Major Leagues this year (in three different countries, by the way). There have been 299 since somebody invented baseball. Atlanta’s Sean Newcomb had a chance Sunday to make it an even 300.

But what’s special about a no-hitter is how it evolves during a game. You notice it after the fifth inning. Things start getting interested after six innings. You don’t call anybody and let them know after the seventh inning, but you want to. (ESPN will start running a crawl across the bottom of the screen around now.)

At this point, you strap in for the final six outs. But there is an X Factor in today’s baseball: Is he even going to get the chance?

Pitch counts being what they are in today’s baseball, you’d better check that total before you get too invested. The woods may be full of pitchers who have lost a no-hitter after the seventh inning, but the woods are also getting crowded with managers who have yanked a pitcher with a no-hitter after seven.

Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said later he knew after the seventh inning that he was going to let Newcomb go for it, even though the pitch count was elevated. Good for him. Though he had thrown more pitches than in any other game in his major league career, Newcomb was pitching with the same ease that he had earlier in the game.

So Newcomb cruised through the eighth. (Now it’s time to start calling people.) Everyone in Atlanta just wanted to skip through the Braves’ turn at bat and get to the big moment.

Newcomb got the first out.

Newcomb got the second out.

He got two strikes on the final batter. One strike away. The crowd was cheering like a World Series game.

And then he left one in a bad spot and Los Angeles’ leadoff hitter Chris Taylor ripped one in left field. Collective groan.

But the point is that a late July game became something special before everyone’s eyes. I know a guy who had a ticket for a Nolan Ryan-pitched game in Houston in the early 1980s and decided not to go (as I remember, it was hangover-induced reason). Of course, Ryan threw a no-hitter. My guy has regretted it ever since.

Sean Newcomb may never get a chance to pitch a no-hitter again. The 40,000 fans at SunTrust Park may never get a chance to see a no-hitter in person again.

But it was fun while it lasted.