Remembering the Amazing Shreveport Artist Ron Rice

Just as a bit of clarification before we get in to the story of this amazing local artist, I (Rueben Wright) had only just recently heard of Ron Rice. My mother is an avid garage and estate sale patron, and from time-to-time she finds something for me like old records or weird art. Last year, I was gifted one-such item at Christmas. It was a bordered drawing of an oafish-looking man shooting the screen out of his television (seen above), and I immediately loved it.

After having it around my home for a short while, I noticed that was a cartoon drawn by Ron Rice that may have been published in the Shreveport Journal, a famous publication in Shreveport from the 1800's all the way until 1991. That's when I began learning all I could about Rice.

Ron Rice was born in Waco Texas in 1933, and moved with his family to Shreveport in 1937. Rice attended public schools here in Shreveport and graduated from Fair Park High School in 1951. From there he attended college at Centenary, and then moved to Sarasota Florida where he attended Ringling Art School. After college Rice worked in Dallas for a while stretching his artistic vision in every medium from newspapers to television.

After returning to Shreveport, Rice worked as a graphic artist for both the Shreveport Times as well as the Shreveport Journal Until he retired from the Times in 1998. Rice was also commissioned to do drawings and caricatures of people all over the Ark-La-Tex including one of KEEL's own Robert J Wright.

Though Rice's profession was art, the man had a huge affinity for sports. Rice spent much of his time as a volunteer coach for every age-range in baseball. Rice was a beloved coach for years before ending his coaching career in 2002 after coaching the freshmen ballplayers at Captain Shreve High School.

Ron Rice practiced his art until his health would no longer allow him to. Ronald Rice passed away after battling Parkinson's and Alzheimer's March 15, 2021. Rice is well remembered and thought of by all who's lives he impacted. His art as well as the lives he touched through coaching will live on forever here in Shreveport.