Mississippi Today (https://mississippitoday.org/author/rickcleveland/)
Rick Cleveland, a native of Hattiesburg and resident of Jackson, has been Mississippi Today’s sports columnist since 2016. A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor’s in journalism, Rick has worked for the Monroe (La.) News Star World, Jackson Daily News and Clarion Ledger. He was sports editor of Hattiesburg American, executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. His work as a syndicated columnist and celebrated sports writer has appeared in numerous magazines, periodicals and newspapers. Rick has been recognized 12 times as Mississippi Sports Writer of the Year, and is recipient of multiple awards and honors for his reporting and writing.
The pandemic is making the economic challenges of college athletics a much higher mountain to climb. Southern Miss, as well as other Conference USA and Sun Belt members, could benefit from a new league, more regional in nature.
Mangum, who has added 15 pounds of mostly muscle: ““When they call and say it’s time to play, I am going to be ready.”
Barbara Biggs could never have guessed the controversy the yearbook photo of her and Ben Williams would cause. Not long after the yearbook published, the letters began arriving.
Ten years after James Meredith entered Ole Miss amid a riot, Ben Williams broke the color line in Rebel football and immediately commanded the respect of teammates and fellow students
There was the time Fourcade, then the toast of New Orleans, took the stage with President Reagan
ESPN’s ‘The Last Dance’ has reminded us that baseball can be the most humbling of sports, even for the greatest athlete in the world
Mississippi restauranteurs face an uncertain future due to the pandemic. All are facing a struggle and some likely will close.
The New Orleans Saints swapped a higher draft choice next year for the right to to get Tommy Stevens, who started nine games in five years of college football, this year. As usual, there is a method to Sean Payton’s madness
Alcorn State’s Marino Casem would have won anywhere, given the opportunity. He was a force of nature, possessor of a magnetic personality, high intellect and a work ethic that never stopped.
The Ole Miss basketball manager doesn’t remember the automobile accident. He doesn’t remember not being able to walk or talk. But he remembers April 22, the day he walked out of Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson
There are no games going on these days, but columnist Rick Cleveland remembers a night when two hoops legends, Pistol Pete Maravich and Wondrous Wendell Ladner, put on a show
With movie star looks, an abbreviated golf swing, a competitive edge and a keen wit, Doug Sanders won over Hattiesburg in the old Magnolia Classic 50 years ago.
Basketball Hall of Famer Van Chancellor, the former Ole Miss coach, believes his alma mater has hired a winner
Bear Bryant once said that when Mama calls, you come running. Mama, as in Texas, called Vic Shaefer
Tom Dempsey, who died Saturday 10 days after contracting the Coronavirus, was born without toes on his right foot or fingers on his right hand. That did not stop him from performing one of the great athletic feats of the 20th century.