MC Leaders Announce Doc Quick Staff Award

Shelly and Van "Doc" Quick

Van “Doc” Quick was practically speechless when he walked to the podium at Mississippi College’s fall convocation Friday.

A retired MC administrator who’s devoted five decades of faithful service to his alma mater, Quick had little to say other than noting he was “surprised” when leaders at the Christian university announced the naming of a top award in his honor.

Next spring, the first annual Van “Doc” Quick Staff Award will go to an outstanding MC staff member. Previously, there was no name attached to the honor. The university’s President’s Council recently approved the award’s new name, but kept it a secret from Quick.

“I was surprised,” Quick said after faculty and staff members congratulated him at Swor Auditorium. “It really is a great honor.”

MC’s vice president for alumni and student affairs emeritus, Quick is a longtime mentor to generations of students and colleagues on the Clinton campus.

A beloved friend to many inside the MC family, Doc Quick is also a loyal fan at the university’s athletic events, Homecoming programs, alumni meetings, Mississippi Baptist Convention gatherings and anywhere else he can sing the praises of Mississippi College. He’s really a walking encyclopedia when it comes to knowing MC people and the history of the 184-year-old school.

Members of the Mississippi College family say Quick was clearly a great choice for the honor.

“No person has meant more to Mississippi College than Doc Quick,” said Nancy Davis of Clinton, who first enrolled at the Clinton college in the Fall of 1957. “He’s the best ambassador for Mississippi College,” added Davis, a past president of the university’s Alumni Association. “He’s at every sporting event. He knows the students.”

Graduate School Dean Debbie Norris recalled he was the MC administrator who first recruited her to enroll at the Baptist-affiliated school in 1973. At the time, Norris was a Raymond High student attending a cheerleader camp on the Clinton campus.

Years later when Norris was an MC business professor, Quick traveled 200 miles to Coldwater Baptist Church. On a self-appointed goodwill mission, Quick made the journey to the church to congratulate her grandmother because a road was named for her in the tiny town south of Memphis. Time after time, Quick “found away to make you feel good” about yourself, Norris said.

After President Lee Royce and Vice President for Academic Affairs Ron Howard finished their convocation remarks, the buzz about the Doc Quick Staff Award spilled over to Anderson Hall. MC employees feasted on a lunch of chicken, fresh vegetables and chocolate cake, enjoyed the time for fellowship and dished out more praises for Doc Quick.

“Nothing is more fitting and deserving than honoring a man who has given his entire life to Mississippi College,” said education professor Gerald Hasselman. His friendship with the Clintonian goes back 40 years when Quick served as MC’s dean of men. “Doc Quick is not somebody you know. He’s a friend.”

Retired art department chairman Sam Gore, who’s worked at his alma mater for 59 years, says he remembers Quick back in the day when he was manager of the MC Choctaws football team. “Doc is a great guy.”

Other honors for Quick, a 1955 MC alumnus, include installation in the MC Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. MC blue and gold runs in the family. His wife, Shelly, is a 1965 MC graduate. Their twin daughters, Karon and Sharon, are both MC graduates in the early 1980s.

“I’m so proud for him,” Shelly Quick said on the steps of Nelson Hall Friday. “He loves Mississippi College.”