Mississippi College Sports Hall of Fame Welcomes Newest Members in 2015
Tim Yancy enrolled at Mississippi College because “a bunch of my friends were here” in the early 1970s.
Fast forward to 2015, and the longtime MC athletics equipment manager discovers he’s got many more friends in the Choctaws family.
On and off the field, Tim’s done an extraordinary job working with Choctaws sports teams for three decades. The Clinton resident is getting recognized for his outstanding administrative accomplishments. Yancy is among eight people to be inducted into the MC Sports Hall of Fame on April 18.
“I thought he’s been long deserving for the nomination for his many contributions on campus,” says Brandon Creel, a 1992 Mississippi College graduate.
“Tim’s done a little of everything, and he’s a good man,” adds Creel, a former offensive tackle on the Choctaws football team. “He stays active with alumni.”
Words like “positive” and “enthusiastic” describe this son of a preacher, says Creel, a Covington, Louisiana insurance agent.
After attending Itawamba Community College, Yancy transferred to Mississippi College in 1971. But the Birmingham, Alabama native didn’t stay long. After his dad died in his late 40s in 1972, Tim dropped out of school. He returned years later to the Baptist-affiliated college and graduated in 1983.
While Yancy never played sports at MC, he pitched in to help its teams. Initially, he served as student equipment manager for the baseball team. When coach John Williams needed help, Tim worked in a similar capacity for the football team.
The mainstay of Mississippi College athletics for 32 years, Yancy rarely slows down. With MC spring football practice starting April 1, Tim and student workers made sure all the Choctaws uniforms were clean and ready to go. He drove his MC golf cart around Robinson-Hale Stadium as head football coach John Bland stopped by to chat. Then, it was off to another assignment.
No matter what the sport, Tim always gives his best for the Blue & Gold. He’s pumped that Mississippi College is transitioning to NCAA Division II and the Gulf South Conference. “That’s where we need to be.”
His longevity with his alma mater in Clinton has been a blessing. “It’s been really great,” Yancy said. Getting chosen for the MC Sports Hall of Fame, he said, is a wonderful honor. The full-time athletic equipment manager since 1983, Tim’s served as manager of the A.E. Wood Coliseum the past 23 years.
Other awards have come his way. In 2006, Tim received the Outstanding Equipment Manager Award from the All-American Football Foundation.
The MC Sports Hall of Fame will showcase seven other stellar nominees.
The list includes Tony Huffman, a Flowood-based Certified Public Accountant, who was a standout on Choctaws cross country and track teams decades ago.
“Never when I set foot on the MC campus 31 years ago did I imagine that running would bring me all that it has brought to me,” Huffman said. “I ran because I loved it.”
His selection to the university’s Sports Hall of Fame is quite an honor, Huffman said. “Mississippi College was there for me when I needed direction in my life. To know that I will have a permanent place in the history of this great school, and its athletic Hall of Fame, is more than I can ever give back to MC.”
Others nominated: Mississippi education leader Mike Walters, who played tight end for the football team in 1967-68. He’s a former superintendent of public schools in his hometown of Petal and in Tupelo.
Hilton Harrell, a former basketball standout for the MC Choctaws in late 1970s, made the list. An all-Gulf South Conference player, the 1980 graduate scored over 1,600 points in two seasons. Harrell serves as senior pastor at Pleasant Grove East McComb Baptist Church.
Basketball standout Francisco Wilson of Mississippi College's Class of 1999 is joining the MC Sports Hall of Fame on April 18. He played for MC in the Gulf South Conference in Division II and American Southwest Conference in Division III.
Also selected: Dick Foster, a 1962 MC graduate and star sprinter on the track team from 1956-59. Rounding out the list: Jessica Avery Coleman, a 1994 MC graduate and standout on Lady Choctaws basketball and softball teams, and Dennis Cato, a former Choctaws football star from 1977-80.
For more information, contact Lori Bobo of the Alumni Affairs Office at 601-925-3252 or lbobo@mc.edu.
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