The Clarksdale-Coahoma County Sports Hall of Fame inducted 10 new members at its seventh annual banquet in the Pinnacle at Coahoma Community College on Saturday night.
The Clarksdale Exchange Club oversees the hall of fame.
Inductee Mary Evelyn Hudson played doubles tennis at Lee Academy from 1991-95 where she won state and overall championships as a junior and was team MVP was a senior. She continued her career as a Division II athlete at Delta State from 1995-99 where she won most improved player her freshman year.
Hudson’s father Ron spoke on her behalf at the banquet.
“We are honored,” Ron said. “She did have a wonderful tennis career and we appreciate the recognition.”
Inductee James Kelly played football for Clarksdale High School and ran for 18 touchdowns as a senior and two two-point conversions. He was selected to the All-Big 8 first team and continued his career at Ole Miss where he intercepted three passes against Arkansas in one game. He coached at Copiah-Lincoln Junior College one year after graduating from Ole Miss before joining the United States Air Force.
Kelly’s wife, Becky, spoke on his behalf.
“He was a Christian man,” she said. “He knew that God’s plan for him would be best.”
As a result, Kelly served in the Air Force for 28 years flying the B-47 and C-130 aircraft, while serving a tour of duty in Vietnam.
Inductee the late Melville Tillis lived in Coahoma County all of his life. He played football for Alcorn State and served as a teacher in the Coahoma County School District for 35 years as a teacher, coach and administrator. He coached little league softball and officiated high school and college basketball games.
His daughter, Melvita Tillis-Presley, represented him at the banquet.
“He would be greatly honored to receive this award,” she said. “He loved sports. He loved Clarksdale. He loved his family, blues and many other things as well.”
Inductee Tommy Minor was a guard for the Clarksdale Wildcats football team from 1957 to 1960 where he earned several awards including an All-Big Eight “Harris Award.” He played baseball for coach Gene Barbour and then for Dave “Boo” Ferriss at Delta State for two seasons before sustaining a career-ending injury.
“I want to thank the committee for the honor. I want to thank you all for being here,” Minor said.
Clarksdale High School graduate Seneca Walton played basketball for 116 games at Delta State as a forward and center. She had a career field goal percentage of 49.2 for the Lady Statesmen, scored 1,296 points to rank 24th on the team’s scoring list, collected 830 rebounds to rank 13th in DSU history and blocked 121 shots ranking seventh in school history.
Wright Thompson began his career writing as a student at the University of Missouri and is now a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. His 2010 article “Ghosts of Mississippi” inspired the 2012 ESPN 30 for 30 documentary film “The Ghosts of Ole Miss,” which he narrated about the team’s perfect 1962 season and current violence and rioting of the integration of the segregated university by James Meredith. He also narrated the ERSPN 30 for 30 film “Roll Tide/War Eagle.”
Thompson talked about his gratitude for being inducted with many of the inductees and how his late father helped him get where he is today.
“It’s just a great honor to be mentioned with all these athletes,” he said.
Destry Wright is a Clarksdale High School graduate and went on to play football for Jackson State University. He was a first-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference performer his junior and senior seasons and JSU and finished his collegiate career as the all-time leading rusher in SWAC history. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers and current serves as head coach for Shelby County Schools in Memphis.
Wright acknowledged his family members who were present.
“I just want to thank everybody for recognizing me,” he said. “I’ll do my best to earn this award.”
Rickie Branch spent 43 years officiating basketball. He spent 26 years with the Mississippi Private Schools Associations, called 20 district tournaments, 17 state tournaments and five overall tournaments. He called 15 playoff games and 10 state tournaments in 19 years with the Mississippi Junior College Association. He also officiated in the American Basketball Association for 17 years where he called more games than any official of the original ABA and new ABA combined.
“This is an honor tonight,” he said. “I appreciate all the board members, what they’ve done for us and the people that are already in this.”
Clarksdale High School graduate Charles Mitchell played college football at Mississippi State where he finished with 283 career tackles, 7½ tackles for a loss, one sack, one touchdown and two forced fumbles. The Atlanta Falcons drafted him and he moved on to the Denver Broncos. He was hired in March to coach safeties and nickelbacks at Jackson State University.
“It’s been a long journey,” he said. “It’s only been 10 years since I’ve been out of high school. I’ve been through a lot of stuff. I’ve played a lot of football. Like I said, it’s just an honor to be recognized by the Exchange Club in the Clarksdale-Coahoma County Sports Hall of Fame. I want to congratulate all the inductees.”
The late Willie Gregory, who died in January, played basketball at Aggie High School and Coahoma Junior College. He coached in Dublin and officiated basketball games for many years.
Gregory’s son, Romalas, spoke on his behalf.
“He was a humble man,” Romalas said. “He loved his family.”
Liddell discusses media experience
Clarksdale Press Register senior writer Larry Liddell, who is in the hall of fame himself, talked about his experiences in the sports media.
Liddell is a 1964 Delta State University graduate. When he was about to graduate college and did not have a job, he was offered the sports information director position at Copiah-Lincoln Junior College.
Then the Press Register’s managing editor offered him the sports editor position, which was the position he preferred.
After talking with the DSU president, he called the Co-Lin president with his dilemma.
“He taught me a very valuable lesson, one that I have lived by,” Liddell said. “He said, ‘Larry, if you don’t want to be here, we don’t want you’ and I’ve lived by that.”
Liddell was the Press Register’s sports editor for three years.
Thanks to a headline he had written, fans had “Super Tuesday” signs when Clarksdale played Coahoma County in basketball at a gym in Greenville.
“Everybody thought the Clarksdale Press Register was a small newspaper,” Liddell said. “We found out that night it was pretty big.”
Clarksdale won on a last-second shot.
Then Liddell had an opportunity to be the Ole Miss assistant sports information director. After confiding in Barbour, who also taught him algebra in high school, Liddell decided to be a small frog in a big pond and take the job at Ole Miss.
Liddell took the position when Archie Manning was in his sophomore year at quarterback. Rebels coach John Vaught told the sports information department he was looking for them to write stories that would increase Manning’s confidence.
Manning opened his sophomore season with a touchdown pass against Memphis.
“The first play, Archie threw a touchdown pass,” Liddell said. “I don’t what did more for Archie’s confidence, our articles or that touchdown pass that he threw.”
Liddell had a chance to be the assistant public relations director with the Saints when Manning was the quarterback. He said Manning is the same man today as he was in high school.
Some memories Liddell was not as fond of were with former Saints coach the late Hank Stram, who he said talked down to everyone.
Liddell spent 30 years in New Orleans before coming back to Clarksdale as the Press Register’s managing editor. He has stayed on with the organization in some capacity ever since and is now the senior writer.
