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.

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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."