Perhaps it is fitting that men’s basketball practice is opening on the same weekend that McNeese State faces Central Arkansas on the (multi-colored) football field.

The head coaches of the McNeese basketball team and UCA football team, Dave Simmons and Clint Conque, remain linked because of a picture taken more than two decades ago — an impressive feat given that neither of them actually appeared in it.

The photo in question is the cover of the 1988 McNeese football media guide featuring their sons, Chasse Conque and David Simmons.

Rarely can a media guide cover be described as iconic. As Sports Information Director Louis Bonnette noted, these days the covers are more generic, maybe showing photos of a few players and the coach to go along with a graphic. Perhaps a catchphrase will be attached — this year’s Kansas guide reads “Believe.”

But back in the ’80s, things were a bit more creative. Bonnette and the coaches from various sports would collaborate on ideas for themes. Some, like the one of former basketball head coach Steve Welch dressed as a train conductor, don’t quite stand the test of time without eliciting a chuckle.

The picture of Conque and Simmons, taken by former McNeese photographer Gray Little, has considerably longer staying power.

It’s a remarkably simple image.

Both kids stand with their backs to the camera, representing the fact they could be anybody’s kids. Above them appear the words “Momma, I wanna be a COWBOY!”

Neither is older than 4 years, making the McNeese jerseys they are wearing appear comically large. The same goes for their footwear — Conque is wearing a pair of cowboy boots that almost reach his waist, while Simmons is wearing cleats that look 10 sizes too big. To complete the motif, Conque has a cowboy hat perched atop his sweet miniature mullet while Simmons wears a McNeese helmet.

As a finishing touch, the two are locked hand-in-hand.

On a larger scale, that tender touch says a lot. Regardless of geographic location, it’s unlikely a similar picture could be placed on a media guide when their own fathers were the same age in the early 1960s without someone raising a race-based ruckus. By 1988, it was just cute.

“We still have that picture. A lot of people loved it, especially the grandparents,” Simmons said. “It was just an honor for us. When Louis approached us, it was a no-brainer.”

Flashing 23 years forward, the most amazing thing about the photo could be the success that has found the coaches who had a piece in its making. At the time, Clint Conque and Dave Simmons were young assistants with no guarantee of running a program of their own someday. As Bonnette recalls, the biggest reason their sons were chosen as the cover models was because they were about the same age and “always running around.”

For Conque and Simmons The Elders, the road to head coach was not easy — both were fired by McNeese early in their careers.

Conque was cast aside along with his father-in-law, head coach Sonny Jackson, after the 1990 season.

“I certainly enjoyed our three years in Lake Charles. I wish we would have won more games there,” Conque said. “But it shaped me as a coach. It was a great experience for us (as a family).”

Simmons lost his job as an assistant when Welch was let go as head coach in 1994.

Despite the setbacks, both have persevered, patiently working through the ranks to make it to the top. Conque is in his 12th year at UCA, successfully leading the Bears in their transition from Division II. Simmons is about to start his sixth year at McNeese, coming off his first conference title.

The two tykes who appeared on the cover, now grown men themselves, aren’t doing so bad either.

David Simmons is starting a venture as an insurance agent, while Chasse Conque is the director of development for the University of Arkansas College of Medical Sciences.

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Alex Hickey covers McNeese State athletics. Email him at ahickey@americanpress.comMSU-COVER2011-10-14T12-33-56