C Spire Conerly nominees announced

The following, in alphabetical order, are the nominees for the 2012 C Spire Conerly Trophy:

Johnthan Banks: Mississippi State senior cornerback from Maben, a preseason All-American who is a finalist for several national awards. Ranks first among active NCAA players in career interception yardage.

Cornelius Brown: Alcorn State offensive lineman. Says Coach Jay Hopson: “He's an unselfish, hard-working leader who was the anchor of our offensive line.”

Jamie Collins: Leads USM with 80 tackles, 18 for loss, nine sacks and four forced fumbles. The nine sacks total 77 yards in losses. He leads Conference USA in sacks and tackles for losses.

Kendall Hunter: Delta State offensive tackle from Mound Bayou , who made 38 consecutive stars at right tackle and had a career offensive line grade of 89 percent. Allowed only one sack this season and led DSU in knockdown blocks with 129.

Garrett Pinciotti: Millsaps senior quarterback led team to 7-3 record. Threw for 24 touchdowns vs. only four interceptions. Led the conference in passing yards per game with 273.

Rico Richardson: Became the fifth receiver in Jackson State's rich history to surpass 1,000 yards receiving in a season. Heading into season finale, Richardson has 1,027 yards and nine touchdowns on 52 catches.

Robert Simpson: A junior defensive tackle for Mississippi Valley State, leads the NCAA FCS Division with 20.5 tackles for loss. He has 53 tackles and 5.5 sacks on the season.

Keith Villafranco: Mississippi College senior defensive back from Kenner, la, who led NCAA Division III with six forced fumbles. Also was in on 76 tackles, nine for losses. He intercepted five passes, broke up 11, intercepted five passes and recovered a fumble.

Bo Wallace: The Ole Miss junior quarterback has thrown for 12 touchdowns and run for six. Wallace has completed 183 of 279 passes for 2,239 yards. He has completed 65.6 percent of his passes. He threw for a career-high 404 yards against Vanderbilt.

Isiah Wiley, Belhaven: Senior cornerback and kick returner from Monroe, La., who transferred for his senior season from Southern Cal, where he started six times as a junior. Wiley led the nation (NAIA) in punt returns with 19.4 yards per return. He was fifth in kickoff returns with 28.6. Returned two punts for touchdowns and also intercepted two passes.

The nominees and their head coaches are expected Tuesday, November 27, 2012 at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum for the 17th Annual C Spire Conerly Trophy Presentation.   The reception starts at 5:30 pm with the banquet immediately following at 6:30 pm.

Tickets are $25 & $100.  For ticket information, contact the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum at 1-800-280-(FAME)3263.

Orley Hood: Open a can of memories

I sat on the edge of my bed. He sat on my desk chair. I was 8, maybe 9. Eisenhower was President of the United States. Jack Cristil was the Voice of the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Bacon, I remember my mother complaining, had reached 18 cents a pound. An outrage.

My little Arvin radio was on, the one Daddy made the leather case for. State was probably winning. Back then, the Maroons won just about all the time. That was because they had the best player, Bailey Howell. Years later when Pete Maravich set the SEC career scoring record, the mark he beat was Bailey’s.

I saw Bailey (and his wonderful wife) not all that long ago at the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in downtown Jackson and a thousand kid memories raced through my old guy brain. He knows I love him a lot and I know he really likes me and when I mentioned that game when he scored 47 points against Union University, he looked down at me with a smile. It’s the kind of thing he knows I would remember.

Basketball season starts today at 4:30. Michigan State’s playing UConn at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, a holy place for Americans because our people often come back through there when their tours of duty are up. Or when some filthy scum has shot a hole in them.

Tonight, 7:30, Kentucky plays Maryland in the new arena in Brooklyn.  We get to see Cal’s new kids.

Versatile Class of 2013 announced

The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame's Class of 2013 was announced at a press conference Wednesday afternoon and the Jackson museum.   The Class of 2013, which will be inducted August 2, 2013, will feature a diverse and accomplished group, representing several facets of the Mississippi sports world. In alphabetical order, the Hall of Fame's Class of 2013: • Bill Buckner: Buckner, a native of Starkville, has the unique distinction of being selected his football team's MVP four times in five years — at three different schools. Those schools included Starkville High, East Mississippi Junior College (where he played for Hall of Famer Bull Sullivan) and Delta State where he was a two-time All American. Buckner also played one season  at Mississippi State (1965), when he threw the first touchdown pass in the Houston Astrodome against the University of Houston. Buckner, the state director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for 25 years, already has been inducted to the Mississippi Community College Hall of Fame, the Delta State Hall of Fame and the East Mississippi Community College Hall of Fame. • Jimmy Giles: Giles, a native of Greenville and a former standout for Hall of Famer Marino Casem at Alcorn State, was inducted into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Ring of Honor in 2011. He was named to the All-Time Tampa Bay Buccaneer team in 2004 and to the All-Time NFC Central Division team in 2001. Giles, a tight end, played in 188 NFL games, caught 350 passes for 5,084 yards and 41 touchdowns. He played in four Pro Bowls. Giles was All-SWAC in football and baseball at Alcorn for two seasons. • Gerald Glass: Glass, a native of Greenwood, was named to the Ole Miss basketball All-Century Team in 2009. After graduating from Amanda Elzy at age 16, Glass starred first at Delta State where he was All-Gulf South Conference in both 1986 and 1987 and the league's MVP in 1987. He led DSU to two NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and scored 1,249 points in just two seasons. He followed Coach Ed Murphy to Ole Miss, where he was a two-time All-SEC player who averaged 24 points per game as a senior. He was a first-round draft choice of the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA. Glass has returned to his high school alma mater, where he coached Amanda Elzy to a state championship in the 2011-12 season. • Earnest Larry “Doc” Harrington: Harrington, a Hattiesburg native, served Southern Miss as head athletic trainer for 30 years and as the head tennis coach 27 years. He also served as a trainer in the Senior Bowl for 25 years. Doc served as trainer for U.S. Olympic teams and has lectured in athletic trainer clinics around the world. This will be Doc's fifth Hall of Fame induction, following his induction into the Southeast Trainers Association Hall of Fame (2007), the Mississippi Athletic Trainer Association Hall of Fame (2003), the National Athletic Trainer Association Hall of Fame (1987) and the Southern Miss Athletic Hall of Fame (1987). His USM tennis teams compiled a match record of 407-179-2. • Langston Rogers: Langston Rogers: One of the nation's most decorated and award-winning sports information directors, Rogers is a native of Calhoun City and a graduate of Delta State where he played baseball for Hall of Famer Boo Ferriss. Rogers has received almost every honor that can be bestowed upon an active or past member of CoSIDA, the national sports information directors association, including induction into the organization's Hall of Fame. He also played baseball for Hall of Famer Bull Sullivan at East Mississippi Community College. He has been inducted into East Mississippi, CoSIDA, Delta State, Mississippi Sports Writers Association and Ole Miss Halls of Fame. In 1980, at age 36, he became the youngest president in CoSIDA's history, and in 2001 received CoSIDA's highest honor, the Arch Ward Award. • Michael Rubenstein: The late Michael Rubenstein, a native of Booneville, was one of the founders of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and the museum's only executive director until his death in December, 2011. Rube, as he was known, helped create the Conerly, Howell, Gillom and Ferriss trophies. The Vanderbilt honors graduate was the sports director of WLBT in Jackson from 1974 until 1991 and is generally considered the most popular and most highly rated sports anchor in Mississippi TV history. He pioneered TV coverage of Mississippi's SWAC schools and won numerous broadcasting and reporting awards. In 2012, Boo Ferriss was named the first-ever winner of the The Rube, an award established in Rubenstein's honor to celebrate contributions to Mississippi sports. The BancorpSouth Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Induction Weekend is set for August 2-3, 2013. The induction banquet will be held at the Jackson Hilton the night of August 2. For more information, contact: Rick Cleveland Executive Director Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum rcleveland@msfame.com 601 982-8264

Wiley joins watch list; C Spire forum today

Belhaven's outstanding cornerback/kick return Isiah Wiley has been added to the C Spire Wireless Conerly Trophy watch list.

Wiley, a transfer from national powerhouse Southern Cal, started six games last season for the Trojans. He has been a standout for Belhaven this season, returning 12 kickoffs for 370 yards and returning 15 punts for 312 yards and two touchdowns.

Wiley, a senior, also has intercepted two passes and forced two fumbles. He ranks second nationally in NAIA in punt returns and third in kickoff returns.

Wiley is a Monroe, La., native and was a first team junior college All American at Arizona Western before transferring to USC.

C Spire Wireless, the only wireless provider in the U.S. that offers consumers and businesses a suite of personalized wireless services, is hosting its first live online forum, in partnership with the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, to officially announce the C Spire Wireless Conerly Trophy “watch list” and discuss with fans those on the watch list.

Rick Cleveland, executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, will lead the discussion and answer fan questions about who may have the “inside track” to win the C Spire Conerly Trophy, given annually to Mississippi’s best college football player. 

The live discussion will take place on CIRCLE, C Spire’s online community forum, on Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m.   Anyone can join the online forum by visiting www.cspire.com/circle and registering for the discussion. 

C Spire Conerly Trophy list updated

Mississippi football has produced several candidates worthy of consideration for the C Spire Wireless Conerly Trophy, which goes annually to the Magnolia State's most outstanding collegiate football player.

The C Spire Conerly Trophy will be presented at a banquet Nov. 27 at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Each of the 10 football-playing senior colleges in Mississippi will select a finalist and voting will be done by a statewide panel of sports media. Southern Miss quarterback Austin Davis won the C Spire Conerly in 2011.

 

What follows is a 2012 C Spire Conerly Trophy watch list, in alphabetical order:

• Mississippi College wide receiver Alex Archer: Added three catches for 38 yards on Senior Day in MC's 70-28 loss to Louisiana College. Now has 37 catches for 712 yards., ranking him second in the American Southwest Conference.

• Mississippi State cornerback Johnthan Banks: The senior All America candidate was in on eight tackles against Texas A & M. He is a semifinalist for both the Jim Thorpe and Chuck Bednarik national awards.

• Southern Miss defensive end Jamie Collins: A bright spot in a dismal season, Collins had nine tackles (four for losses) and three sacks. He also forced two fumbles and broke up a pass in USM's loss to UAB. He leads USM with 73 tackles, 16 tackles for losses and nine sacks.

• Jackson State defensive end Joseph LeBeau: A senior from New Orleans, LeBeau had six tackles and one sack in victory Grambling. Now has 15.5 tackles for loss.

Orley Hood: Big Friday, huge Saturday

Big, big night for some big, big schools in the last games of the high school regular season. Think of it as moving day, like Saturday in major championship golf. A win tonight could mean two victories. A loss may equal two losses and a quick adios from the state tournament.

Example: Brandon plays at ever improving Hattiesburg tonight. A Bulldog victory and they get a home game in the first round next week against the No. 3 from the Coast. A loss and they come in fourth, which gets them a road game at the Coast No. 1.

So … Far more than a single game could be at stake tonight.

•••

Big, big start to the sporting calendar Saturday morning. Manchester United-Arsenal at 7:30 on ESPN2. A&M at State at 11 on ESPN. Ole Miss at Georgia at 2:30 on CBS.

The plan: Throw your steaks in the marinade at halftime of the Ole Miss game. Light the grill after the game. Prepare beverages. Gear up for Alabama at LSU at 7 on CBS. During commercials, switch to Oregon at USC on Fox.

And don’t forget the Tylenol and eye drops.

•••

And now for our post-post season awards:

Austin Davis, quarterback, Southern Miss. The Ex Post Facto Heisman Trophy. The Golden Eagles could hardly lose in 2011. In 2012, without Davis, they can’t win.

On the pro level, Peyton Manning. With him in 2010, the Colts were great. Without him in 2011, they were helpless. So, the Ex Post Facto MVP to Peyton.

It's time to start thinking CSpire Conerly

As always, Mississippi football has produced several candidates worthy of consideration for the CSpire Wireless Conerly Trophy, which goes annually to the Magnolia State's most outstanding collegiate football player.

The C Spire Conerly Trophy will be presented at a banquet Nov. 27 at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Each of the 10 football-playing senior colleges in Mississippi will select a finalist and voting will be done by a statewide panel of sports media. Southern Miss quarterback Austin Davis won the CSpire Conerly in 2011.

What follows is a 2012 CSpire Conerly Trophy watch list, in alphabetical order:

• Mississippi College wide receiver Alex Archer: The senior has caught 34 passes for 674 yards and five touchdowns. His 82 yards per game receiving ranks him second in the American Southwest Conference.

• Mississippi State cornerback Johnthan Banks: The senior All America candidate has intercepted four passes, bringing his career total to 16. His 320 yards of pass interception returns ranks him first among active college players.

• Southern Miss defensive end Jamie Collins: Collins, a senior, leads USM with 64 tackles, 12 tackles for losses and six sacks.

• Jackson State defensive end Joseph LeBeau: A senior from New Orleans, LeBeau ranks fourth in the NCAA Football Championship division with 14.5 tackles for loss, including six sacks and a forced fumble.

Big game, great cause Saturday

Bulldog Sports Radio is throwing a party for Mississippi State fans and for a good cause.

The on-line network will host a State-Bama watch party starting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Burger and Blues Restaurant in Ridgeland to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Mississippi.

Bulldog fans and friends are invited to come cheer the Bulldogs as they face the No. 1-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide.

The game will be shown on a big screen in the dining room and throughout the restaurant, and 10 per cent of sales of all food ordered during the game will go to Make-A-Wish. That’s not all. Raffle tickets will be available for great prizes at just $5 each, and 100% of the raffle sales will go to Make-A-Wish.

Prizes include a pair of tickets to the Nov. 17 Arkansas-Mississippi State game, as well as a helmet and football autographed by Dan Mullen, and a baseball autographed by John Cohen. Gift certificates from several Jackson-area restaurants and businesses also will be available.

Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. The late Kent Hull, the Bulldog great and Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer, was a long-time supporter of Make-A-Wish Foundation.

For more information, visit VSporto.com.

Orley Hood: Special night, special man

The boys got together Tuesday night — his boys — to give the old guy grief.

The yelling and hollering, the twisting of the face masks, the attention to detail that marked so vividly a 60-year career trying to grind concentration and dedication into locker rooms filled with kids.

It was Jack Carlisle Night at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, the first of many annual roasts to come of Mississippi Hall of Fame greats. And it was wonderful. The Murrah years. Jackson Prep. Ole Miss. East Tennessee State. MRA.

His guys showed up en masse, some old, many older than old, filled with memories and laughter — and terror, more than one roaster said.

Happy Jack is the guy whose track teams at Murrah didn’t lose a meet for seven straight seasons, whose football teams won umpteen championships, who went to the wall that autumn afternoon in 1977 at Memorial Stadium to get Ken Cooper to put in substitute quarterback Tim Ellis, who immediately led Ole Miss on a game-winning drive against Notre Dame, which won the national title that year.

“He told me if I threw an interception that we’d both be fired,” Tim said. Carlisle wasn’t kidding. But Tim Ellis’ coach believed in him 100 percent.

There was one story after another, all the Carlisle eras overlapped into one, the MRA guys with the Prep guys with the Murrah guys with the Ole Miss guys, everybody nodding in recognition at every story. That’s because the players may have changed, the schools may have changed, but Jack Carlisle never did, not for a second.

Jack Carlisle: So many stories . . .

You will see on the front page of this website and on the "news and updates" page where the Hall of Fame will be holding a first annual Roast on Oct. 16. The first honoree — or victim — is legendary coach Jack Carlisle, Happy Jack to his legion of admirers. Folks, we are going to have some fun with this and we're going to make some money to make some badly needed improvements here at the museum.

For those who may not know about Happy Jack, here's a column I wrote about him years ago for The Clarion-Ledger:

You coach football for 50 years, mostly in Mississippi, you see some stuff. Jack Carlisle, retired and living in Brandon, has seen plenty. This is really his column. These are his stories. I'll do the typing. We start with Carlisle's first coaching job at Lula-Rich High School, north of Clarksdale. This was in 1954 and tiny Lula-Rich had only 14 players. One night they were playing at Oakland High, south of Batesville. There was no money for a bus — and with 14 players and a manager — no bus was necessary. The team made the trip in five separate cars. "Well, it got to be 8 o'clock, gametime, and one of the cars hadn't made it," Carlisle says. "Turns out, it broke down on some backwater road in the Delta. It was carrying the left side of my line." Carlisle was down to 11 players and the manager, a kid named Harris. Carlisle asked Harris to dress out. Harris said they'd have to ask his mom. So Carlisle asked the mother, whom he knew as Miss Polly, a science teacher. Miss Polly wasn't keen on the idea, but she reluctantly agreed. Sure enough, Carlisle's best player got hurt and was carried off the field. "So I tell my manager to go in the game and just stand off to the side and stay out of the way," Carlisle says. "I didn't want Miss Polly on me if the boy got hurt." First play: Lula-Rich was on defense and the smallish manager, draped in a uniform several sizes too large, stood 40 yards down the field. You've heard of the lonesome end? Harris was a lonesome safety. Of course, an Oakland runner broke through the line and barreled down the field with blockers ahead of him. One of those blockers took dead aim at Harris and knocked him head over heels into next week.

Orley Hood: Our pal, Duff . . .

Decades ago it was, a smashup between sports and music, a reminder that the best nights often start with one purpose and finish with another.

Something was happening with Ole Miss football. I forget what. It was 30 years ago. After covering a basketball game at Tad Smith, Rick and I wandered over to The Gin (may it rest in peace). “The Tangents are playing,” he said. “Bound to be some football players there.”

I don’t remember whether we got anything on Ole Miss football for the paper that night. I do remember the band — Winter time? What wintertime? — and he drank a lot of beer and they played a lot of songs I dearly loved then and still love today.

That was my introduction to Duff Dorrough, one of the all-time great guys. Duff died today after a long and Duff-like weirdly cheerful battle with liver cancer. He was to get a liver transplant a couple of weeks ago. Duff was the Pied Piper at the hospital, one doctor told a friend, playing his guitar and charming the other patients into random moments of care-free fun. But the cancer had spread out of control and the liver went to someone else, who, to my way of thinking, is now responsible to squeeze as much life as possible out of that organ.

You know, the way Duff would have.

There are a thousand stories about a guy who had thousands of friends and spread music and happiness around like they were peanut butter and jelly on Wonder bread.

Here’s one more:

Long time ago, we’re sitting on Lallah Perry’s porch in Sleepy Hollow at the Neshoba County Fair, Lallah and me and Duff. She taught him art at Delta State. It was late morning, lazy time, no where to be and nothing to do. Coffee. A roll. Maybe a thought to the day’s first beer, Lallah telling stories about Duff.

He goes inside, maybe to find a top to pop. Lallah said, “You know, Duff is a deeply talented painter. The soul of a poet.” I nod like I know what she’s talking about.

“He’s good at everything,” she said. “Especially at being a human being.”

Orley Hood: When Saints really were Ain'ts

Oh, the humanity …

OK. The Saints aren’t a zeppelin burning in Lakehurst, N.J. As far as I know, nobody died in the Superdome last Sunday. Technically, anyway. The Saints are 0-3.

We can be forgiven, I guess, for thinking they’d be 3-0 going into the Packers game this week.

Alas … You win a Super Bowl, you figure, hey, this is the way life’s going to be. You go 14-4 before losing at San Francisco in last season’s playoffs. You suffer the weirdest lousiest off-season maybe ever, lose your all-world coach for a year, and a lot more besides, you haven’t tackled anybody the last two seasons, and still …

Washington, Carolina, Kansas City? Oh, please …

Who dat?

We can blame the refs. On the bright side, unlike John Fox and Jack del Rio, we didn’t get fined 25 grand for dissing the bums. On the downside, did you see that travesty?

Anyway, maybe we can figure the Packers got screwed even more egregiously and have spent valuable time this week venting because they got stone cold robbed at Seattle the other night.

Things could be worse. Trust me. I covered the Saints decades ago when J.D. Roberts, second only to owner John Mecum Jr. on the all-time Saints clueless list, coached. After the final game of one particularly awful season, Dave Parks, who had been a fine passing-catching tight end at San Francisco before coming to New Orleans, passed out a press release in the locker room at Tulane Stadium.

I read it, one page. It said he would never play for New Orleans again no matter what.

“You’re firing the organization?”
“I am,” he said.

I laughed.

He smiled.

At least now, the Saints have a chance.

Don’t they?

Orley Hood: Cool air + Friday night = bliss

Kismet or serendipity, take your pick. Autumn and cool weather have arrived in tandem as our high school lads in the larger classifications begin their quest to make the state football tournament tonight.

All across the state questions will be asked, and some answered, as we put away sweet old rivalries — aka, the preseason — and dive into divisional games, many of which are based these days not on the ancient hatreds but on the algorithms of enrollment figures with a necessary but often subtle nod to geography.

Can Brandon be that good? Or are Clinton and Northwest Rankin that bad? What of Madison Central and South Panola, two titans in apparent decline, scarred by staggering early losses?

What of Olive Branch? Are the Conquistadors the colossus of the North now that the sun seems finally to be setting on South Panola?

What of mighty Meridian? Petal?

Oak Grove? Would you bet a Coke and a hotdog against a team whose offensive coordinator is a three-time NFL MVP?

Regardless, fans will park their cars beneath the magnetic glow of stadium lights all across our state tonight, drawn to the light, to hope, to the idea that the opening of division play can be the start of a magical run.

Lather yourselves in bug spray, my friends, and may you go unbeaten, unbowed and unbitten.

 

Roasters aplenty for Carlisle event

Roasters of Jack Carlisle at the first annual Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Roast Oct. 16 will include many of his players from the many successful stops in his legendary coaching career.

Skipper Jernigan, who played for Carlisle at Murrah before going on to be a standout offensive guard at Ole Miss, will be the master of ceremonies. “That means I get to roast the roasters,” Jernigan said.

Roasters will include Rhesa Barksdale (Murrah), Wallace McMillan (Murrah), Paul Dongeiux (Murrah), George May (Prep), Tim Ellis (Ole Miss) and James Smith (Madison-Ridgeland Academy).

Carlisle, as an offensive assistant coach at Ole Miss in 1977, insisted on inserting Ellis into a game against eventual national champion Notre Dame. With Ellis at the helm, Ole Miss rallied in games waning moments for a 20-13 victory, one of the biggest in school history.

All proceeds from the roast will go to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, which has operated for more than 16 years without any tax money from any level of government. Carlisle was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004.

His high school football teams won 262 games and lost 70, a winning percentage of 82 percent. He also served as the head coach at East Tennessee State where he coached current Atlanta Falcons coach Mike Smith.

The event is set for Tuesday, Oct. 16, at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. A reception will begin a 5:30, followed by dinner and the program at 7. For more information on tickets or sponsorhip opportunities, call 601 982-8264 or go to msfame.com.

Click here for Roast Order Form

Orley Hood: Rankings are nice, but ...

‘Tis a heady thing, this Top 25. As Lewis and Clark might have said, it’s a big country. Filled with darkness and dread. Wildcats and Gators. Red Tide and roaring Tigers.

To shove your way into the Top 25, even at this early date, is one small step for State, one giant leap for Bulldog Nation.

So, lads. Take a bow.

But don’t linger, lest the blood rush to your head and blind you to the dangers that await in the sweaty and suffocating SEC jungle.

Three up and three down is sweetness itself, the nectar of the football gods. But before we get carried away — if, indeed, we haven’t already — let us stare reality in the face.

Troy.

First downs: 30. Total yards: 572. It’s enough to make a full-grown middle linebacker weep.

Saturday night was a whisker from disaster, from bursting the air out of the Auburn bubble, from splashing Dear Ol’ State into the soul-sucking morass of the mediocre.

Hood: The Horns are here! Lots of 'em

Longhorn Nation has invaded Oxford and you couldn’t get a restaurant reservation on The Square with a fistful of $100 bills.

Just about every young Ole Miss grad that I know of — a couple who are blood kin — is heading up this afternoon to get a load of the burnt orange on sacred Rebel soil.

There are all kinds of Texas-Mississippi connections through the years, though most involve Mississippi State. Before he became a demigod at Texas, the great Darrell Royal put in a couple of years at State — 1953 and ’54. Royal’s top assistant, Mike Campbell, joined up from Carr Central High School in Vicksburg — I went to first grade at Bowmar Avenue Elementary with the Campbell twins, who became legendary players at Texas. Royal and Campbell won three national championships in Austin.

Later, of course, State hired Emory Bellard, godfather of the Wishbone offense at Texas, as its head coach.

Ole Miss has its own state of Texas connection, the legendary coach John Vaught, a TCU man.

RVs and buses from Texas began arriving on Wednesday and the lovely air around Oxfordtown already has been fouled by the odor of foreign substances — Texas style briskets and beef ribs.

One hopes that if the Rebels can’t prevail in Saturday night’s game, then at least baby back pork ribs and Boston butts will kick some, uh, butt in The Grove. And that Southern Magnolia and Abita Amber will hold their own against Shiner Bock.

Carlisle Roast set for Oct. 16

Hall of Fame coach Jack Carlisle, legendary in Mississippi football circles, will be the subject for the first annual Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum Roast on Oct. 16 at the museum on Lakeland Ave.

Carlisle quite possibly coached more players, at more schools, at more levels than any coach in Mississippi history. He was inducted into the Mississippi Coaches Hall of Fame in 1989 and into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. His coaching career spanned six decades.

He coached championship teams at both Jackson Murrah and then Jackson Prep and later at Madison-Ridgeland Academy. As an assistant coach at Ole Miss, Carlisle inserted Tim Ellis into the game before Ellis led the Rebels to a game-wining drive to defeat eventual national champion Notre Dame in 1977.

He later served as at head coach at East Tennessee State where he coached current Atlanta Falcons coach Mike Smith.

Carlisle's high school teams won 262, lost 70 and played to 17 ties, a winning percentage of nearly 82 percent.

“He took his players to a higher level than they knew they were capable of,” said Mike Dennis, who played for Carlisle at Murrah and later starred at Ole Miss and was first round draft choice of the Buffalo Bills. “He demanded hard work, but nobody worked harder than he did.

“Jack Carlisle prepared me not only for college and professional football, but also for the rest of my life,” Dennis added.

The Oct. 16 program will include a reception at 5: 30 p.m., followed by a dinner at 7. Tickets for the reception, dinner and program are available for $100 each. Varying levels of sponsorships are also available. For more information, call 601 982-8264.

Click Here for Roast Order Form

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Orley Hood: Team Europe looking up

For those of us with the random overseas sporting bent, it has been a summer — really, several years — of interesting developments in Europe.

First, the Spanish:

Alberto Contador, two victories in the Tour de France, although it’s hard to say how many he still has.

Fernando Gonzalez, two World Driving Championships in Formula 1.

Tennis? Fifteen of the world’s top 100 men’s players at one stage, 11 major championships by 2008 Olympic champ Rafael Nadal, including this year’s French.

Jose Maria Olazabal captains Europe’s Ryder Cup team in next week’s competition. And Sergio Garcia has found his game.

Then there’s England and, if you will, Team GB — Great Britain:

Astonishing major championship golf domination from Northern Ireland  — Grame McDowell, Darren Clarke and the remarkable Rory McIlroy, who has won three of his last four starts, including the PGA Championship, going into this week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta.

Essentially half as many medals in the London Games as we rang up, with one-fifth to one-sixth the population.

Cycling world champion Mark Cavendish, the world’s most feared sprinter, and 2012 Tour de France winner and triple 2012 Olympics gold medalist Bradley Wiggins.

Former F1 world champ Lewis Hamilton won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza Sunday.

And now the Scot, Andy Murray, winning the U.S. Open Monday with Sean Connery and Sir Alex Ferguson in the stands cheering.

Not too shabby.

Orley Hood: Peyton, RGIII have folks smiling

This we think we know (or, at least, suspect):

Mike Shanahan’s happier than at any time since he coached John Elway.

John Elway’s pretty darn happy, too.

And Archie.

Bo Wallace put a smile on Ole Miss fans’ faces, but the defense will give them the kind of digestive problems over-the-counter drugs were never meant to address. That halftime score, 21-0, could have been waaaay different.

Best thing about Tyler Russell through two games? How relaxed he seemed to be. Can’t make good decisions when you’re dry-heaving indecision.

Even if you’re not a Gator fan, don’t you kind of miss that Ol’ Ball Coach passing attack, when it seemed as if four all-American receivers were running loose at once? Today’s Gators are about halfway boring.

Brandon High has its best team since ol’ No. 3, Jerious Norwood, ran like a deer for the Bulldogs.

Despite everything Sunday, I have more than a half suspicion that the Saints would have won had Sean Payton been coaching.

The line’s just out. Florida State’s a 120-point favorite over Pisgah on Saturday. Seriously, FSU’s AD ought to be slapped and sent to his room without his supper.

Is RGIII the ticket? Oh, yeah, babe. Box seats. Front row. Full access credentials. That guy is a party.

Over and out for now.  Got to go outpick Rick.

Orley Hood: Breathe it deeply today

This, friends, is what we’ve been waiting for, the best day since spring, blogging away on the patio under perfect blue skies, a refreshing breeze, the Sunday New York Times in hand, warmed by fresh coffee and the glow of Saturday’s victories by Mississippi State and Ole Miss, anxious for the noon kickoff of the Saints’ season.

Can’t get much better than this.

Not to be intellectually provincial, but it’s the kind of day when I feel a bit sorry for those who face their days with no stake in the sporting world, that anticipation you and I get to share, that flurry of butterflies gently flapping their wings in our innards, when the sweet air we breathe connects us to our childhoods, to our sporting heroes, to the games and the people that have meant so much to us.

Novak and Ferrer finish their semi today, but it could be Sampras-Agassi or McEnroe-Borg, Pancho-Kramer, Laver-Newcombe.

Brees will blow fiercely against the Redskins in the Superdome today, but it could be Archie versus the Rams at Tulane Stadium, or Jake against Billy Cannon or …

It’s a feast, today is. Eat it with a spoon. Rory and Tiger. Braves and Mets. Light the grill. Pop a cool one.

For people like you and me, it’s Christmas morning in September.

We get to be kids again.

Orley Hood: On David Coates. . .

 

Northwest Rankin plays at Brandon High tonight, a big deal east of the Pearl River. The stadium will be full. The bands will be loud. The cheerleaders will be pretty. And the players will get after each other like wild hyenas.

It always was one of David Coates’ favorite nights of the year.

Years ago Northwest turned it around on Brandon, which had dominated the series.

Not too many Septembers ago, on a Saturday morning after a Friday night Northwest-Brandon game, David, who could never sleep after a game, win or lose, pulled up in his old red pickup in the parking lot where our boys, his Pat and my Tucker, were playing soccer. It could have been Memphis or New Orleans, Atlanta or Dallas. The routine seldom changed. We did it for years and years.

He plunks his chair down next to mine and hands me the sports section of The Clarion-Ledger.

I see the score, read a bit of the story. My team, Brandon, lost.

“You coach better now than you used to.”

“Couldn’t do it without the players,” he said.

Hull joins elite MSU group

 

Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer Kent Hull will be honored Saturday, becoming the fifth person in Mississippi State history to have his name permanently added to Davis Wade Stadium.

Hull, who died last year at the age of 50, will join Jack Cristil, Jackie Parker, D.D. Lewis and his former teammate Johnie Cooks. Members of Hull's family will take part in the ceremony on the field during State's (11 a.m.) game with Auburn.

A Greenwood native, Hull was a four-year starter at center for the Bulldogs before going on to an 11-year NFL career, including participation in four Super Bowls.

Kent's father, Charlie, played three years (1958-60) for some of State's greatest basketball teams.

Whitney recalls Michael Clarke Duncan

By Rick Cleveland

Executive Director

Michael Clarke Duncan, who earned an Oscar nomination for his memorable performance in The Green Mile, died Monday at the age of 54.

Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame basketball coach Davey Whitney remembers Duncan as a power forward on his 1983-84 Alcorn basketball team that won the SWAC championship and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament, beating Houston Baptist before losing by one point to Kansas.

“He was a good athlete, a good player,” Whitney said. “He made our team and he played, so he had to be a pretty good athlete. We had a helluva team. What I remember is he was a fun, very likeable guy, big and strong with a deep voice.

“He was a smart guy. One thing I remember is that he didn't smoke or drink.”

Duncan played only one season at Alcorn before returning home to help his ailing mother in Chicago, where he literally dug ditches before going to Hollywood.

Yes, Whitney said, he did see The Green Mile, in which Duncan played the role of John Coffey opposite Tom Hanks.

Said Whitney, "I thought he stole the show."

Orley Hood: Our TV overfloweth

We’re rich!

It’s only Friday afternoon, Day 1 post Isaac, and our plate overflows with goodies:

Ryan Harrison, our American tennis Bryce Harper (long on talent and crazy pissed off temper), takes the third set against 2009 U.S. Open winner Juan Martin Del Potro, Argentine forehand maestro. Gonna lose, sure, but still.

Chelsea’s getting crunched 4-0 early in the second half of the UEFA Supercup against Atletico Madrid. Chelsea stinks. For all right thinking people, this is good.  Announcers just said the Blues miss ex-England captain John Terry, who is suspended for being a racist. Or being stupid. More likely, both.

Mallory Burdette, NCAA runnerup from Stanford, just got popped one-and-one by Sharapova at the Open, her Welcome to the NFL moment. Back to Palo Alto and college tennis, minus 64G she would have been paid had she not circled “Amateur” on the entrance form.

Tiger shot 64 this morning. Rory’s under par this afternoon. Late summer outside of Boston!  So what if Sox sux.

Orley Hood: Remember those who tried

If you love sports — and, of course, you do — this has been a most invigorating summer — Olympic Games, U.S. Open and PGA Championship in golf,  Wimbledon and U.S. Open tennis, Euro 2012 in soccer, on and on.
 
And now pennant races in baseball, the big European soccer leagues  kicking off, the Ryder Cup later on, and tonight the opening of big boy tackle football, South Carolina at Vanderbilt, 6 p.m., ESPN, be there or be square. I would bet the Ol’ Ball Coach ain’t too thrilled to start the season on the road in a conference game, but ESPN has the dough, and them that’s got the dough bakes the bread. So to speak.
 
All of which reminds us to be thankful to the guy from Zenith who invented the TV remote control. He died earlier this year. May he RIP, while we punch up the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat from here to Atlanta to London to Flushing Meadows.
 
It was there yesterday on TV that I saw a sight that zoomed me back to my old sportswriting days, when the papers had a enough dough to allow us to gang cover big events. The arguments in the press box as time grew short in the fourth quarter inevitably ran toward which paper’s columnist got the loser’s locker room and which drew the winner’s.

Orley Hood: Remembering Slew Hester

Sitting here at my breakfast bar, attuned to the Weather Channel late on a Wednesday morning waiting for the promised catastrophe and exhausted from wandering around Hacienda Hood acting like I'm doing things that will actually save hearth and home from total destruction from Isaac, a poor excuse for a hurricane but a rain event of the first order.

So, naturally, on opening week of the U.S. Open thoughts turn to late Hall member Slew Hester, founder of the River Hills Club in Jackson and builder of the National Tennis Center in the New York borough of Queens.

Slew was a big man with a big cigar and a bigger forehand who knew how to
get stuff done and we at the newspaper loved him dearly. He was a great,
great man. Slew shifted the Open from the leafy and tony West Side Tennis
Club to Flushing Meadows (think: Shea Stadium, LaGuardia airport, 1964
World's Fair) in 1978. We sent Bernie Fernandez, Jackson Daily News sports
writer, up to New York to document proceedings from Slew's point of view.

Two things stick with me, one published, one not. The deadline on the
complex was so tight that workers were still moving giant planters into
place even as the first matches were beginning. And when Bernie got back he
told me how Slew did it in an era of continual construction strikes. He did
what any right-thinking red-blooded man of ambition would have done: He went
to the Mob. I don't recall which of the Five Families had dibs on the
construction rackets near LaGuardia, but, Bernie says Slew told him, he
appealed to their patriotic side and the project was completed in record
time.

Oh, and the U.S. Tennis Association, of which Slew was president, named the
main stadium for Queens resident Louis Armstrong. The great Sachmo.

How cool is that....

We're more than a museum

The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is much more than just a showcase of the Magnolia State's amazing sports heritage.

The museum's Trustmark Conference Center offers an ideal setting for seminars, training sessions, trade shows, banquets, family reunions and wedding receptions.

The conference room features 2,325 square feet of space with free use of advanced audiovisual equipment that has PowerPoint capability. Conference room rental includes the use of an adjoining kitchen, secure front door parking and free wireless internet.

The conference center, which can accommodate a crowd of up to 200, rents for $550 on weekdays and $800 on on Fridays and Saturdays.

For smaller crowds, the Hall of Fame also offers the Mezzanine level of the museum for $200 an hour (two-hour minimum).

For really special occasions the entire museum also is available for rental. For more information, call 601 982-8264.

“Revenue from the rental of the Trustmark Conference Center as well as the other museum spaces is a large part of our operating budget,” Rick Cleveland, the museum's executive director, said. “The museum has operated for 16-plus years without any tax money from any level of government. Rental of our excellent facilities is a huge part of how we do that.”

For rental rates click here.

Boo Ferriss remembers Pesky as 'one of the greatest Red Sox'

By Rick Cleveland
Executive Director

Beloved Boston Red Sox infielder Johnny Pesky's death Monday leaves Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer Boo Ferriss and baseball Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr as the only living players off the 1946 Boston Red Sox.

Those '46 Red Sox ran away from the New York York Yankees to win the American League pennant and then lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

Pesky, who was 92 at the time of his death, was the team's shortstop and hit .335, leading the league with 208 hits and scoring 115 runs. He hit second in the lineup, just ahead of the great Ted Williams.

“Johnny was a line-drive hitter who sprayed the ball all over the field,” Ferriss said. “He was a solid shortstop and a great teammate. He was a great encourager to me. He would always give me a lift when I needed it.”

C Spire provides direct line to coaches

Ridgeland-based C Spire Wireless, the only wireless provider in the U.S. that offers consumers and businesses a suite of personalized wireless services, is kicking off its first-ever CIRCLE Blitz College Football Question and Answer series on August 13, directly connecting fans with their favorite coaches.

This unique online forum and Q&A series is taking place on CIRCLE, C Spire’s online community forum. By posting questions on CIRCLE, coaches from the top football programs in the region will be able to respond directly to their fans. Additionally, just by posting a question to CIRCLE, participants will receive giveaways and will be entered into a drawing for prizes ranging from autographed school and team paraphernalia to game tickets.

“What football fan wouldn’t love the opportunity to have an intimate chat with their favorite coach about how they plan to have a winning season and beat their rivals this year,” said Jim Richmond, director of Corporate Communications for C Spire Wireless. “At C Spire, we understand our customers’ passion for football and the teams they support, which is why we’re providing them the opportunity to get personal with their teams’ coaches using our personalized community forum, CIRCLE. The CIRCLE Blitz College Football Q&A Series is just another way we’re personalizing the wireless experience in new and exciting ways for our customers.”

Webb, who died Thursday at the age of 72, was an accomplished teacher, a fine player in his own right and, most importantly, a second father to scores of golfers who proudly called themselves "Robbie's boys."

Webb was a huge, broad-shouldered, balding man with Popeye forearms, a fierce stare that demanded discipline without any vocal support, and a smile as soft as a teddy bear.

Long-time PGA Tour rules official Ben Nelson was one of the first of "Robbie's boys."

"I think we all thought Robbie was teaching us how to play golf," Nelson said. "What we were really getting from him were life lessons. We were learning how to act.

"Most of us improved our golf games because of Robbie. All of us became better people."

Former tour professional Randy Watkins Thursday called Webb "the godfather of Mississippi golf."

Maholm happy to be a Brave

Talk about sudden life change: Ex-Mississippi State baseball standout and Hattiesburg resident Paul Maholm's world has turned up-side down in the last couple days.

Maholm, you should know, has landed sunny-side up.

Two days ago, Maholm was a red-hot pitcher for one of the worst teams in the Major Leagues, the Chicago Cubs. Saturday, he will start for the Atlanta Braves, who are in the middle of a pennant race.

"It's exciting," Maholm said by cell phone. "It's like being called up to the Big Leagues for the first time again. I loved playing in Chicago, but if I could pick another team to play for it would have been the Braves. They were my team growing up.

"They've got a really good team and I'll be throwing to two great catchers, Brian McCann and David Ross, in baseball. Hopefully, I can go out there every fifth day and give the Braves a chance to win."

Rubenstein family makes largest private donation

Nearly 500 banquet attendees stood Friday night and applauded as Ted Rubenstein handed Boo Ferriss the first ever "The Rube," an award named in honor of Ted's brother, the late Michael Rubenstein.

Moments later, the same 500 attendees stood and applauded again when it was announced that the Rubenstein family has given a $150,000 gift to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. The donation, $25,000 per year over six years, is the largest private donation in the museum's 16-year history.

"Nobody knew better than Michael how much that money means to this museum," Rick Cleveland, the museum's new executive director said. "On behalf of the board of directors, Ted, I will personally guarantee this money will be used in a way that Michael would approve and in a way that will make our museum, and Mississippi, a better place, just as Michael has."

When asked about the gift, Ted Rubenstein said simply, "It is what Michael would have wanted. This was his baby. He loved this place."

USM Great McElroy Passes

Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer Bucky McElroy, one of Southern Miss's all-time football greats, died Wednesday in his hometown of Monroe, La., after a long battle with cancer. He was 83.

McElroy, inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1981, was a standout running back at both Hinds Community College and USM. He was inducted into both of those schools' halls of fame.

"When Bucky had the ball in his hands, he was pure dynamite," said Hamp Cook, a USM teammate and also a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. "Bucky was a huge back for his time, but he had tremendous outside speed. He would just as soon run over you as around you."

Ferriss Chosen for First Rube Award

Boo Ferriss, one of Mississippi's most beloved citizens, will receive the first The Rube award at the BancorpSouth Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremonies July 27 at the Downtown Marriott in Jackson.

The Rube is named for the late Michael Rubenstein, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum's first and only executive director until his death Dec. 1, 2011. The award will go annually to a person whose love and passion for — and contributions to — Mississippi sports have made a meaningful difference.

Ferriss fits the bill. A Shaw native, the former Mississippi State and Boston Red Sox baseball star built a powerhouse baseball program at Delta State.. There, Ferriss developed many of the high school, junior college and college coaches who have won state and national championships and greatly improved the quality of Mississippi baseball.

"When I heard the criteria for the Rube Award described, I immediately thought of Boo Ferriss," said former Ole Miss and NFL football great Archie Manning. "Growing up in the Delta he was one of my first sports heroes and he has been an unbelievable ambassador both for baseball and for the state of Mississippi. He is the ultimate gentleman. Everybody loves Boo. How could you not?"

Michael's older brother, Ted Rubenstein of Atlanta, knows his sibling would approve.

Record Field for Farm Bureau Insurance Watermelon Classic

Josh Heird, 32, of Louisville, Ky., and Meggan Franks, 28, of Starkville were the overall winners of the five-kilometer Farm Bureau Insurance Watermelon Classic Wednesday morning.

A record 1,772 participants celebrated Independence Day in the 30th annual event held in sunny, warm and humid weather.

Heird finished the 3.1 mile run in 16 minutes, 31 seconds, three seconds ahead of second place William Kazery of Jackson. Curt Knight of Jackson finished third with a time of 16:40.

Among females, Franks finished a minute and three seconds ahead of second place Mia Martinson of Ridgeland. Jemu Zarzar of Germantown, Md., was third with a time of 20:47.

The event is a fund-raiser for the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame which has conducted the race since 1997. For the time being find your finishing times at http://www.besttimescct.com/RaceResults.asp