(This was my column in The Clarion-Ledger, the day after Juli Inkster won the U.S. Open at Old Waverly in 1999.) WEST POINT – Not another working mother in these United States swings a golf club like record-setting U.S. Women’s Open champion Juli Inkster. But every working mother alive can identify with what Inkster goes […]
(What follows is my syndicated column from last week. Jim Kelly has been open about the challenges he faces with cancer. Last week, he completed his first round of chemotherapy and radiation. He will have two more rounds of chemo in the next six weeks, along with daily radiation treatments. Kelly’s doctor has described his […]
There’s an old baseball adage that goes something like this: Every time you go to the ballpark, there’s always a chance you’ll see something you’ve never seen before. At Swayze Field in Oxford last Friday night, more than 9,000 folks — or at least those who hung around until the 13th inning — saw something […]
We are in the 77th year of so-called March Madness, which means we are, in Super Bowl terms, about to watch Final Four LXXVII. Do the math and you know that 304 (CCC) teams have taken part in the Final Four — only one (I) from Mississippi. In 1996, Richard Williams, a former volunteer junior […]
(At Ole Miss, Deterrian “D.T.” Shackelford has been selected the winner of the 2014 Chucky Mullins Courage Award, becoming the first two-time recipient of the honor. What follows is the column I wrote in 1989 on the 20th anniversary of the injury that eventually caused Chucky’s death.) • RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. — Roy Lee “Chucky” Mullins’ […]
Every evening when I pull out of the museum parking lot, I see Little Leaguers warming up for the night’s games across Lakeland Avenue. It brings back so many memories — of playing ball myself and then of watching my kids play. It also reminds me of my late friend Willie Morris and his ineffable […]
Now comes the news Tiger Woods will miss The Masters with a back injury. And now — for the first time since Tiger won The Masters by 12 shots as a 21-year-old (17 years ago) — I seriously doubt Tiger will break Jack Nicklaus’s career record of 18 major championships. Tiger has 14. He has […]
PHILADEPHIA — I am here at a sold-out Neshoba County Coliseum where tonight Super Bowl-winning football Tony Dungy is the keynote speaker at a fund-raiser for East Central Community College’s football program. Dungy’s connection to East Central, located in tiny Decatur? Dungy and ECCC second-year coach Ken Karcher are long-time friends who share not only […]
