A Job Well Done By Bill Blackwell I am sure that many USM fans are worried about their football program after the announcement over this past weekend that Head Coach Todd Monken had taken an NFL position as the Offensive Coordinator for Tampa Bay. While the timing could hardly be worse with National Signing Day […]
A Daunting Task By Bill Blackwell As I take over the leadership of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, I am keenly aware of the responsibility that has been given me. For a small and impoverished state Mississippi has produced leaders in many categories. In the arts, music, literature and of course […]
By Bill Blackwell Working at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum we deal with death way too often. Many of our inductees had their glory days in the 40’s, 50’s, or 60’s and it is always a sad day when we lose one of these heroes. This morning I was shocked to […]
It is happening far too quickly. We lost the third member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame within the past five weeks. This time it was Leon Bramlett, who follows fellow Hall of Fame members Bert Jenkins and Tom Goode to those pearly gates. Leon, was a Clarksdale, MS native and graduated from Clarksdale […]
How does a state with a small population and low per capita income produce so many great writers, actors and athletes? At the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, we tell the stories of the Walter Paytons, Jerry Rices, Steve McNairs, Archie Mannings, Boo Ferrisss and so many more greats from Mississippi that have […]
It was brought to my attention last week that in 1908, the last time the Cubs won a World Series, they did their spring training in Vicksburg, MS. In that era training in the spring was much different than it is today. Teams would find someplace with a better climate than their northern weather […]
by Bill Blackwell The news this morning that Yogi Berra, one of my childhood idols had passed away at 90 years of age brought back a swirl of memories. During my days in baseball I was fortunate enough to have met Yogi on several occasions, first with the Astros where Yogi served as a coach […]
Mississippi’s Sanderson Farms Championship has often served as a springboard to success for some of the biggest names on the PGA Tour. Former Clarion-Ledger sports editor Rusty Hampton, now a board member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, was on the Annandlae practice range in 2008 when he encountered a 20-year-old named Jason Day. […]
