Mississippi College Names Baseball Dressing Room for Congressman Nunnelee

MC Law graduate Reed Nunnelee and his father, the late Congressman Alan Nunnelee, pictured during commencement day in downtown Jackson.

An effective public servant in the Mississippi Senate and in Congress, the late U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee lost his eight-month battle with brain cancer in February 2015.

A Tupelo native, Nunnelee was 56 years old when he died during his third term in Washington. Political colleagues remembered Nunnelee as a strong advocate of family values, a passionate defender of the lives of unborn babies, and as an active promoter of job growth.

Mississippi College leaders on April 23 will remember the Alan Nunnelee legacy by naming the MC Choctaws baseball dressing room after the late North Mississippi Congressman.

Besides being a big fan of American politics, Nunnelee loved the game of baseball. And that was especially true when his son, Reed Nunnelee pitched for the MC Choctaws team during the 2002 season on the Clinton campus. Reed wasn’t just a good baseball player wearing a Blue & Gold Choctaws uniform. He was a bright student, who earned his bachelor’s degree from Mississippi College in 2006 and became a graduate of the MC School of Law in 2012.

Reed Nunnelee will be among the featured speakers at Saturday morning’s ceremonies to name the baseball dressing room after his father. “We are thrilled that Mississippi College is honoring Alan at the ballfield – that’s one of the places he loved most.”

The baseball dressing room at Frierson Field houses 45 locker rooms. MC Athletic Director Mike Jones will be among the speakers during ceremonies at the Baptist-affiliated university.

“We are extremely grateful for the generous contributions of the Nunnelee family,” Jones said. “Congressman Nunnelee was a great ambassador for the State of Mississippi. We are thankful for their support of MC athletics.”

Other leaders making remarks include President Lee Royce and MC head baseball coach Jeremy Haworth. MC sports information director David Nichols, one of Reed Nunnelee’s friends, is also scheduled to speak. Ceremonies begin at 10:30 a.m. Later that Saturday afternoon the MC Choctaws face Lee University of Tennessee in a Gulf South Conference baseball doubleheader. The first pitch is set for 2 p.m.

Although born in Tupelo, Nunnelee was pretty familiar with Clinton neighborhoods and the MC campus. Alan was a 1976 Clinton High School graduate. His wife, Tori Bedells Nunnelee, grew up in Clinton. The couple was always proud of their three children, Reed, Emily and Nathan.

After graduating from Mississippi State University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 1980, Alan Nunnelee began his career selling insurance. Fifteen years later, Nunnelee was elected to the Mississippi Senate. During his tenure at the state Capitol in Jackson, he chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee from 2008 to 2011. The Republican unseated Democratic U.S. Rep. Travis Childers in 2010 to serve the rural North Mississippi House district on Capitol Hill in Washington.

The fiscal conservative was well-respected by members of both political parties. The busy Mississippian never let politics stand in the way of his family or Christian faith. Nunnelee served as a Sunday School teacher and deacon at Calvary Baptist Church in Tupelo. At the Mississippi Capitol, he enjoyed telling newspaper reporters stories about his son, Reed, and his pitching prowess on the baseball diamond.

Elected to Congress as part of the historic 2010 Republican Party election that gave the GOP control of the U.S. House, Nunnelee bravely battled health issues in recent years.

He underwent brain surgery in June 2014 and was in and out of hospitals and rehabilitation centers. Nunnelee was hospitalized in late December 2014 in Mississippi and couldn’t be sworn in for the 114^th Congress with his colleagues in early January 2015. U.S. District Judge Michael Mills swore in Nunnelee at the North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo a week later.

Following the congressman’s death, then-U.S. House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio described Nunnelee as “the rare calming influence in the cauldron of politics. He never let cancer get the best of him.”

Democratic Sen. Hob Bryan of Amory was deeply touched by his friend’s sense of fairness as he worked with officials across party lines. “He cared very much about the process, about making sure everyone was treated with respect and dignity.”