Born: May 20, 1942
Hometown: Bardwell, KY
Year of Induction: 2005
High School Career
Carlisle County High School, Bardwell, KY (1957-1960)
College Career
Copiah-Lincoln Junior College (1960-1962)
• All State JUCO player, team captain
Livingston University, Livingston, AL (1963-1964)
• Led team in scoring, All Tournament Team
• All Alabama Collegiate Conference
• Most Outstanding Athlete & Most Valuable Player
• Who’s Who in American Colleges & Universities
Professional Career
Graduate assistant coach, Livingston University team record 15-9 (1964-1965)
Head basketball coach, assistant football coach, Cobb County High School, Cobb County, GA (1965-1967)
Assistant coach, Livingston University, (1967-1968)
Head basketball coach and athletic director Copiah-Lincoln Junior College (1968-1974)
• MS JUCO titles (’73, ‘74)
• 3rd in the nation, Region VII champions (’73)
• NJCAA Regional Coach of the Year (’73)
Assistant coach, Memphis State (1974-1976)
Head basketball coach Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (1976-1996)
• Six NIT appearances
• NIT Championship, the first national hoops crown for any Mississippi Division 1A school (’87)
• Metro Conference regular season championship (’91)
• Back to back NCAA appearances (’90, ‘91)
• Top 25 national ranking (’91)
• Metro Conference Tournament title (’95)
• Metro Conference Coach of the year (’86)
• NIT Coach of the Year (’87)
• Coach of the Year by the Mississippi Sportswriters (’91)
Hall of Fame Memberships
• Livingston University Athletic Hall of Fame (1981)
• Copiah-Lincoln CC Athletic Hall of Fame (1987)
• Southern Mississippi Athletic Hall of Fame (1991)
• Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame (2005)
Did You Know?
Coach Turk would lead the Southern Miss program into national prominence as his teams racked up a mark of 301-266 in 20 seasons. He is the winningest coach in school history and accomplished what no Southern Miss coach had been able to achieve: back to back trips to the NCAA Tournament and the NIT Championship.
