Believe it or not, high school football is upon us.

The Siloam Springs football team will begin spring practices on Monday of next week at Panther Stadium.

Spring football is something that evolved over the years in Arkansas.

When I moved to the Natural State nearly 13 years ago, spring practice was a brand new thing, as was the summer 7-on-7 competition, summer workouts and basically everything extra that now takes place beyond the realm of football season in the fall.

The Arkansas Activities Association allows for football teams to have 10 days of practice in pads, and a few years ago the AAA adopted a rule that teams couldn't practice in pads on back-to-back days.

Siloam Springs has a total of nine practices scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m. on April 24, April 26, April 28, May 1, May 3, May 5, May 8, May 10 and May 15, with the annual spring game scheduled at 6:30 p.m. on May 19.

Head coach Bryan Ross didn't schedule any from May 11-13 as that's when the school district will be hosting the state soccer tournament at Panther Stadium and Sager Creek Soccer Park across the street.

As of right now the spring game on May 19 should not conflict with any potential 6A state soccer finals. However, weather, scholarship programs and graduation times almost always come into play and games are often rescheduled.

Last year, for example, the Siloam Springs soccer teams ended up playing the two afternoon games on a Friday, and the spring game was played later that night at Panther Stadium. It was a busy day!

Farewell to Louis Houston

One of our newspaper's most faithful columnists, writer and friend Gene Linzey wrote a very moving and powerful goodbye in the April 12 edition of the Herald-Leader to fellow columnist Louis Houston, who passed away on April 5.

I would also like to say a word or two about Louis and my appreciation for him as a writer and contributor to our newspaper.

Typically, we would get Louis' columns over the weekend, and it was always fun to see what he was going to write about for that particular week.

In our office, his columns -- and the stories they told -- have become stories of legend. It wasn't uncommon for someone to say "You've got to read Louis Houston's column this week. It's simply an amazing story." Like the time he met Elvis Presley, or the amazing story of the pigeon that followed his family on a cross-country move or the tales from New Mexico, Texas or the family home here in Siloam Springs. The man was full of great stories, and several of them won awards at the Arkansas Press Association conventions. Louis and his columns will certainly be missed.

-- Graham Thomas is the managing editor for the Herald-Leader. He can be reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.