It was 54 years ago this week, about a month before the 1960 Rome Olympics. Ralph Boston, a Laurel farmer’s son and the youngest of 10 children, was a nobody, a largely unknown 21-year-old student at Tennessee State. Boston, at 75, well remembers the night a nobody became a big somebody. The U.S. Olympic track […]
Apparently there is much method to the madness that is the ice bucket challenge we keep seeing on the news and on social media. The ALS Association reported Sunday it has received $13.3 million in donations compared to $1.7 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 17). These donations have […]
Consider this column a tribute to the spirit of small-town Mississippians who happen to be athletes. Consider this a shout-out to the work ethic small-town Mississippi produces decade after decade, from way down in Kiln to far up in Booneville from Ol’ Man River to the Alabama border. Six new members were inducted into the […]
RAY Guy finally goes into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend, which is a good thing. He is deserving. His induction is long overdue. The Seniors Committee of the Pro Football Hall of Fame meets again this weekend to select two more old-timers who have been bypassed in the past. They can […]
This is the sixth of a series on the MSHOF’s Class of 2014… ••• Coach Richard Williams provided me with one of the great rides of my sports writing career. His 1995-96 basketball Bulldogs not only won the SEC Tournament championship in New Orleans, they continued winning until the Final Four at The Meadowlands. Along […]
The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame’s annual Drawdown of Champions, a $5,000 drawdown that also features a silent auction, will be held Saturday night at Hall of Fame and Museum beginning at 6:30. Among the items to be auctioned is a framed, signed poster featuring three quarterbacks named Manning you see above. The minimum bid […]
This is the fifth in a series about the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2014. ••• When we were doing the highlight video for Calvin Smith’s new Hall of Fame exhibit, I asked him where he got his speed. I asked because Calvin wasn’t a heavily muscled guy like most sprinters. […]
This is the fourth of a series on the MSHOF’s Class of 2014… ••• The first time I saw Steve McNair play football he was a 16-year-old junior at Mount Olive High making the State 1A Championship Game his personal playground. He kicked off through the end zone to start the game. He never […]
