By Staff
From Combined Reports
Nov. 20, 2001
Meridian Community College women's basketball coach Hilary Allen has been coaching for a long time, but what he saw during his team's road game with Shelton State on Thursday was a first.
With his team trailing 86-83 with 44 seconds to play the game was halted as paramedics began working on a fan in the stands near courtside.
The fan, who had apparently collapsed just seconds before play was stopped, was an aunt of one of the Shelton State players. She was pronounced dead at the hospital later that night.
The game was suspended and the two teams will play the last 44 seconds when Shelton State visits MCC for a regularly scheduled game on Jan. 12.
The men's game was also postponed. No makeup date has been set.
Austin Bishop
ECCC names stadium after Jamie Clark
DECATUR East Central Community College in Decatur has named its baseball stadium in memory of former head coach Jamie Clark who died in July after losing a six-month battle to cancer.
A ceremony to officially dedicate "Jamie Clark Stadium" will be held at the first home game of the 2002 season, according to ECCC President Dr. Phil A. Sutphin. Also at the time, Clark's jersey number "41" will be retired.
The Diamond Warriors' home opener is scheduled at 1 p.m. Monday, Feb. 18 against East Mississippi Community College.
Clark, who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor prior to the 2001 season, led the Diamond Warriors to their only state championship in 1998. He guided East Central to a 365-301-1 overall mark during his 14-year tenure.
Efforts to name the baseball stadium in Clark's honor were led by Ricky Harrison, Warrior Club president; Jake Yarborough, Diamond Warrior head coach and former Clark assistant; and Larry Blackburn, former ECCC staff member.
The Warrior baseball field is named in memory of former team member Chris Gay IV of Meridian. Gay and classmate Mandy Chamblee of Philadelphia were killed in an automobile accident during the 1987 fall semester.
School Reports
No bowls for Mississippi football teams
When Mississippi's junior college presidents lopped a game off the regular season in football this fall, it was to save money first and give Mississippi's champion and possibly runner-up a chance to play in a national bowl second.
Jones defeated Mississippi Delta 22-6 for the state championship Saturday, but there was no bowl invitation for the Bobcats who were ranked No. 9 in last week's NJCAA poll.
The nine NJCAA bowls have been filled, including the Sea Island Company Golden Isles Bowl Classic at Brunswick, Ga., that a Mississippi team usually participates in. East Central, Jones, and Hinds are 3-0 in that bowl and with Georgia Military in the hunt for a national championship, maybe wanted a little lesser competition.
In the Dec. 1 matchup, Georgia Military, 10-0, will play Butler County (Kan.), 10-1.
The Juco bowl season began Sunday with a doubleheader in the Pepsi Cola/Sigler Printing Bowl at Cedar Falls, Iowa. Fergus Falls (Minn.), 7-4, took on Ellsworth (Iowa), 4-5 in the first game with Joliet (Ill.), 9-1, playing North Iowa Area, 9-1, in the second game.
On Nov. 30, Lackawanna (Pa.), 9-0, squares off with Ricks (Idaho), 9-1, in the Real Dairy Bowl on the campus of Idaho State.
Five other bowls are slated for Dec. 1. In the Cannon Empire State Bowl at Garden City, N.Y., Nassau (N.Y.), 7-2, will face William Rainey Harper College of Illinois. Harper is 7-2.
At Bedford, Texas, Kilgore (Texas), 11-0, will play Tyler (Texas), 8-3, in the Red River Bowl for the Texas state championship.
Also in Texas, Navarro (Texas), 6-5, meets Coffeyville (Kan.), 6-4, in the Heart of Texas Bowl at Copperas Cove.
In the Valley of the Sun Bowl at Scottsdale, Ariz., Scottsdale, 6-4, will challenge Garden City (Kan.), 8-2.
In the Dixie Rotary Bowl at St. George, Utah, Dixie (Utah), 10-1, squares off with Rochester (Minn.), 10-1.
Marty Stamper
Meridian men get off to good hardwood start
After a tough year last year, third-year Meridian Community College head men's basketball coach George Brooks has his team off to a good start this season.
The Eagles are 5-1, following a tight 79-75 win over the homestanding Tigers of Coahoma Community College on Saturday.
Sophomore Sammie Cole knocked down seven three-pointers in the game for MCC on the way to a 37-point night.
MCC's other wins have come against Coahoma (100-83), East Mississippi (66-64), Lawson State (71-49), and Wallace-Selma (91-90). The loss came against Southern Union by the score of 101-89.
MCC returns to action tonight when it travels to Jasper, Ala. to take on Bevill State at 7.
Austin Bishop
Getting it started the right way
The Erie Community College Kats began their football program this fall and promptly won six of their first eight games.
The Kats play in the shadow of Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills.
Marty Stamper