SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College alumnus Malcolm “Mack” Robinson, a longtime successful boys’ and girls’ basketball coach within the Mississippi prep ranks, has become the College’s most recent inductee into the Mississippi Community College Sports Hall of Fame.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, April’s scheduled Hall of Fame induction banquet, previously set to be held at the Clyde Muse Center on Hinds Community College’s Rankin Campus, was cancelled. Earlier this summer, all 15 members of the Mississippi Community College Sports Hall of Fame’s 2020 induction class were officially honored by having their respective Hall of Fame awards and medallions sent to them.
A native of Newton County, Robinson was a standout basketball player for Hall of Fame coach Frank Hodges at Hickory High School before taking his talents to East Mississippi Junior College and ultimately going on to enjoy a long-standing, successful career as a boys’ and girls’ basketball coach within the Mississippi high school ranks.
After averaging 15 points per game as the team’s No. 2 scorer during his freshman season on the Scooba campus, Robinson averaged a team-best 19.6 points as an All-State sophomore to help lead the 26-6 EMJC Lions to a state runner-up finish in 1951-52.
From East Mississippi, Robinson went on to serve his country during a two-year military stint as a gunner in the United States Army before being discharged in 1955 and then returning to Mississippi College to complete his bachelor’s degree in 1957.
Upon graduation from MC, Robinson began and then 34 years later returned to complete his Hall of Fame coaching career in the Leake County public school system at Edinburg High School. In between, he coached boys’ and girls’ basketball at four other high schools – St. Martin (1960-63), Union (1964-65), Magee (1966-70) and Forest (1971-78). With an impressive combined overall winning percentage of 68 percent, Robinson’s all-time prep coaching record of 1,033 wins and 487 losses included a 34-year coaching mark of 564-296 (.656) in the boys’ ranks and a 23-year girls’ record of 469-191 (.711).
Prior to retiring from the prep coaching ranks in 1990, Robinson coached a total of 17 teams that participated in either the North or South Mississippi tournament, while five of his teams advanced to the state tournament. He guided the St. Martin boys’ team to the 1961-62 South Mississippi tournament championship and earned the honor of coaching in the Mississippi High School All-Star boys’ game in Jackson that same season. His St. Martin boys’ and girls’ teams finished fourth in their respective state tournaments during consecutive seasons in 1960-61 and 1961-62. Also on the girls’ side, Robinson coached Magee High School to the 1966-67 state championship.
While coaching his various boys’ and girls’ teams to a collective total of 18 conference and division championships through the years, Robinson’s teams earned a league title and he individually collected a Coach of the Year honor within every conference in which his teams competed.
As a member of East Mississippi Community College’s inaugural Sports Hall of Fame induction class in 2001, Robinson was also a 1997 selection into the Mississippi Association of Coaches Hall of Fame.
Robinson and his wife of 60 years, the former Betty Pigg of Edinburg, currently reside within the Edinburg community in Leake County. They have two children along with two granddaughters and three great grandchildren.
This year marks the 14th class of the Mississippi Community College Sports Hall of Fame.
Other recently elected members honored this year by the Mississippi Community College Sports Hall of Fame included: Timothy Pollard (Coahoma CC); Jim Carmody (Copiah-Lincoln CC); Freddie Bagley (East Central CC); Doug Fowler (Hinds CC); Randy Baldwin; (Holmes CC); Jimmy McDonald (Itawamba CC); Jay Ladner (Jones College); Fredna Cross (Meridian CC); Steve Burgess (Mississippi Delta CC); Vick Ballard (Mississippi Gulf Coast CC); Sherry Holland (Northeast Mississippi CC); Johnny Ray (Northwest Mississippi CC); Elaine Powell (Pearl River CC); and Cassels Wilson (Southwest Mississippi CC).
