To Coach Gio and all Wolfpack hoopsters I have ever written about:

The pleasure was all on my side of the notepad. It was like I blinked, someone hit the fast-forward button and senior year zoomed by before I could open my eyes again, but it was all a privilege.

Some of the stories were pretty stressful. During the first two seasons, I covered men’s basketball, Loyola won nine games. They lost 38. Waiting outside of the locker room to interview Gio after each loss began to feel like sitting outside the principal’s office after being busted for making faces at your homeroom teacher.

The one time the ‘Pack won a home conference game my sophomore year was the same night I took my mother out to Applebee’s because it was her birthday. Right as I asked for the check, Associate Athletic Director Brett Simpson called me. After I answered, he began cackling because he had a message to pass on from Gio.

“Don’t come to any more home games,” Simpson said. “Coach just told me, ‘Now that we win, that little bastard isn’t here to ask me any questions?’ Hahaha. He’s so mad.”

What a way to start my time.

From there, things started to get better. Simpson convinced Gio to lift my ban from The Den before the next home game, for starters.

Then, after practice one night, history senior Torry Beaulieu told me the story about his friendship with Ryan Francis, his best friend growing up in Baton Rouge.

Francis and Beaulieu won a high school state championship in Baton Rouge as seniors in 2005, before Francis became a star for the University of Southern California Trojans and Beaulieu began his career here. On Mother’s Day weekend in 2006, the friends met up in Baton Rouge. Before the weekend ended, a man mistook Francis for someone else and murdered him.

Beaulieu told, retold and retold the story over the next week as I wrote and published it.

In April 2007, judges at a statewide journalism competition honored their friendship, awarding the story I wrote the first-ever first-place writing prize I won in my life. I can never thank you enough, Torry, for your trust.

And from there, Loyola basketball blasted off. Gio, Beaulieu and the ‘Pack men charged to back-to-back winning seasons. Meanwhile, the women’s basketball team won three conference titles and two conference post-season tournaments. Players, Coach Plaisance and Coach Kennedy, I look forward to your Hall of Fame inductions.

After graduation, my time covering ‘Pack basketball ends, but I’ll be in New Orleans for at least the next couple of years.

Look for me in the bleachers from time to time. You may not recognize me right away. I won’t be hunched over a notepad. But when you do, stop over and say hi.