First Down & Forever

About the Book

First Down & Forever is the story of the first 14 years of the Evangel Christian Academy football program, starting from scratch with a rag-tag group of kids wearing borrowed uniforms and practicing on a church parking lot.

Evangel later won eight Louisiana state championships in 10 years, and was ranked in the nation’s Top 20 by USA Today six times in a span of seven years. Two Evangel quarterbacks, Josh Booty and Brock Berlin, were selected offensive “Player of the Year” by USA Today, and Berlin also was Gatorade national “Player of the Year.”

Going into the 2003 season, Evangel quarterbacks held the top four positions on the list of Louisiana career passing yardage leaders, and three of the top eight positions on the national career passing yardage list.

About the Author

e married Patricia Hood on June 6, 1965. They have two children: Peggy Tricia Ward and Jerry Byrd, Jr. Patricia died on Nov. 22, 2001, and Byrd married Barbara Copeland on Aug. 1, 2003.