Please allow the Vidalia High School family the opportunity to express our appreciation to the following:

1. Thank you to the City of Vidalia, Vidalia Police Department and Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office, Mayor Hyram Copeland, Police Chief Tapper Hendricks and Sheriff Randy Maxwell. Your monetary support is greatly appreciated. The security that you provided at the home and away games was exceptional. A special thank you to Mr. Charlie Ferguson for organizing and supervising the security at all our basketball games. You all made my job a lot easier.

2. Thank you to the parents, relatives and other adult supporters of VHS basketball who followed the team throughout the season. Your support and attendance at the games showed our students how much you cared for our team.

3. Thank you to all of the adults and students from the surrounding area who came to our games, especially the playoff games and the two games in Lafayette. We do appreciate your support.

4. A special thank you to the VHS student body. Your school spirit and attendance has been documented and noticed by various newspapers and individuals in Lafayette. This year’s school spirit was the best since I’ve been here. It definitely gave our basketball team a huge home court edge. There were some away district games where we had more students attending than the home team. Now that’s impressive.

5. Finally, a huge thank you to the 2008-2009 boys’ basketball team. As a group, you represented VHS in a positive way, and I’m very proud of you for that. You all played with such spirit and emotion. That carried over to your fans. As coach Robert Sanders has said, the game that defined this team’s character was at Marksville. The team showed tremendous pride and determination. You are all winners because of your desire, character and pride. You brought the community together in a way that is seldom done. Coach Sanders and coach Damus Smith were great leaders, coaches and role models for you and for all of us, and they also, have my undying gratitude.

Be proud of what you accomplished this year on the court. You should be even prouder of what you became because of this past season and your ability to bring the surrounding area together with a common goal and voice.

Thank you, Vikings.

Rick Brown

Vidalia High School principal