NEWS

Note: During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have the chance to learn a little more about our Louisiana Tech University Family: students, staff, alumni, faculty, and friends. We’ll call it Tech Top 5. Go to LATechSports.com for more Top 5s. #TogetherApart

Bill Campbell, ’84

Camden, Arkansas native Bill Campbell is the Director of Communications for the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas. He graduated from Louisiana Tech with a degree in journalism and served as a student assistant in what at the time was called Sports Information. He covered national college football and other sports for both The Times-Picayune and the Dallas Morning News, and once had a back-row seat to concerts in Memorial Gym, now Scotty Robertson Memorial Gym, and later in Thomas Assembly Center. Here are his Top 5 Concerts, presented by Tech’s Union Board, from his days as a Tech student. It’s sort of a time capsule musical education.

1. Styx: These boys haven’t held up over time. We know now it was all a grand illusion. But at the time, in a brand new Thomas Center, they rocked. We jammed.
2. Peter Frampton: Frampton came alive in Memorial Gym, but without the trademark hair. In fact, he looked more like someone’s dad who could care less if we felt like he did. So it was halfway through the show before everyone figured out which one was singing. They rocked though. We jammed.
3. Hank Williams Jr.: Hank married the homecoming queen, at least one of them, from north Louisiana and he didn’t mind singing about it in Memorial Gym. He countried. We jammed.
4. Beatlemania: Found out sometime later it wasn’t actual Beatles. My bad. They rocked. We jammed.
5. Hall & Oates: Sometimes you can take the wrong train and still get to the right destination. That describes Oates. No doubt he was a good guy, but Hall did all the heavy lifting here. Boy has soul.