DeMoss Interview (Entirety)

RUSTON -- When Louisiana Tech hosts Conference USA leader UTEP Saturday evening at 6 p.m. at the Thomas Assembly Center, a strong representation of 42 years of one of the most storied programs in the history of women's basketball will be present for the game.

UTEP enters the contest 22-2 on the season, 13-1 in Conference USA play and atop the league standings. The Miners defeated the Lady Techsters 86-80 back on Jan. 30 in El Paso. LA Tech enters the game 13-11 on the year, 8-5 in league action and in a two-way tie with Charlotte for fourth place.

In addition to Legends Day, it's Louisiana Tech's Pink Out game as the first 500 fans through the TAC doors will receive a free Pink Out t-shirt.

More than 50 former players, coaches and support staff members and their families have RSVP'd for Legends Night.

Legendary Hall of Fame coaches Leon Barmore and Sonja Hogg headline the star-studded cast that will include a representation of players from all four-plus decades of Lady Techster basketball.

Second-year LA Tech head coach Tyler Summitt, who wasn't even born when Hogg, Barmore and the early Lady Techster teams were winning their three national championships, said that Legends Day is a very important part of continuing the program's tradition.

"I think Legends Day will be a very, very special day for our program, for the people coming back and for our players to see who they are representing and our tradition," Summitt said. "Our entire staff and team want to embrace the tradition. We are so blessed to have this tradition. It will be a very special night, and it will be great for our players to talk and mingle with the former players and coaches. We are very excited about Legends Night."

Although every former player, coach and support staff member are invited back for the event (they can RSVP by calling Emily Embree at 318-257-5152), it will be Hogg and the 12 players that made up the inaugural Lady Techster team in 1974-75 that will be recognized on the court at halftime of Saturday's game.

Eight of the 12 original players have committed to returning for Saturday's event, including current Lady Techster Associate Head Coach Mickie DeMoss.

"It's been great to reconnect with some of these players," DeMoss said. "I saw some of them back when LA Tech had the 25th anniversary celebration in 1999. That's was last time I've seen a lot of them. To get on phone with them, some emails and some texts, it brought back so many good memories. I certainly hope that as many former players as can come back for the day; it will be great."

From the very first meeting in the late Tech President F. Jay Taylor's office where Hogg and DeMoss presented the idea of forming a women's basketball program to the decision on the mascot to the jerseys, Hogg and Taylor both remembered the events like they were yesterday.

"Dr. Taylor was very adamant about us presenting ourselves as ladies," Hogg said. "He wanted us to have the best. We were probably the only team in Louisiana that had regular basketball uniforms. "Everyone else had shorts and T-shirts with ironed on names and numbers. That's the way most people started ... most of my budget that first year went to my uniforms. Dr. Taylor was good and saw the value in what we were trying to do. I give him full credit. It was his vision that got us to where we are, and his vision alone."

Hogg also remembers the process of deciding on a nickname for the team since she wasn't real high on being called the Lady Bulldogs.

"The very first year we had a women's basketball team, I had a very serious talk with (Ruston Daily Leader Sports Editor) Buddy Davis about not calling us girls," Hogg said. "We were young women; girls were in high school.

"Also, not knowing how we were going to be received, I did not want my young ladies to be called the Lady Bulldogs because the connotation of a lady dog in the south isn't so good. I just really didn't want us to be called that. (Longtime area writer) Major Fox always used to call former Tech players `Techsters' in his stories. So I just decided we would add lady on the front of that. That's how those Lady Techsters got their name."

Taylor, who is considered the father of Lady Techster basketball, said in an entire a few years prior to his passing that the idea of forming the team came at just the right time.

"The Feds were already pushing for Universities to start women's athletic programs due to Title IX," Taylor said in the interview. "I had already been thinking we needed to do that (at Louisiana Tech) because we didn't have any. I was looking for a way to put Louisiana Tech on the national map. I thought starting this program was the perfect way to do just that."

Taylor was right.

Forty-two years later, the Louisiana Tech is still known for its success in women's basketball, ranking No. 2 all-time in wins with 1,071. On Saturday, DeMoss, Hogg and her teammates on that original squad will get together to remember win No. 1 against LSU on Jan. 24, 1975.

"Time flies," DeMoss said. "It really does. It's amazing that I'm back here now. It's come full circle where I started my career. To be back now and to contribute to the future and help get the program rolling in the right direction ... it's something I know this current staff is working hard to do. We all understand and respect the tradition that we have at Louisiana Tech."

Louisiana Tech fans can purchase tickets to Saturday's contest by calling the Tech Ticket Office at 318-257-3631 or by emailing techtickets@latech.edu.