One of the eight courts at the new ECCC Tennis Complex was officially renamed on Tuesday afternoon to commemorate one of the school’s most influential coaches.
Court No. 3, was renamed as the Lucille Wood Court as ECCC President Billy Stewart and Wood’s nephew, Jim, unveiled the new sign and plaque.
Wood passed away May 18, 2004 at the age of 84.
A 1951 graduate of then East Central Junior College, Wood was a two-sport star athlete at East Central who also was a championship-winning coach at her alma mater.
Wood, a native of Louisville, served as men’s and women’s tennis coach at East Central from 1957-76, club volleyball coach from 1968-71, and led the women’s basketball team from 1958-85. Two of her women’s basketball teams won state club titles, and two won Mississippi Junior College Athletic Association state titles. Several other of her women’s basketball teams won division titles. She also captured a state title in club volleyball in 1970, and five of her tennis players won individual state championships.
She is considered a pioneer in women’s athletics and worked towards the implementation of the Title IX ruling for colleges in Mississippi.
Wood is a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association Women’s Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, Mississippi Community College Sports Hall of Fame, and ECCC Athletic Hall of Fame. The college’s Brackeen-Wood Gymnasium was named in honor of Wood and Denver Brackeen in 1988.
After the invocation by ECCC Dean of Personnel Services and Athletics Chris Harris, a welcome by Stewart and remarks from Board of Trustees Chair Jimmy Hollingsworth and Alumni Relations and ECCC Foundation Director David LeBlanc, Jim Wood spoke of his late aunt and what an honor the new court was to his family.
“Lucille loved teaching in the classroom,” Jim said. “She always wanted to provide, whether it was her basketball players or tennis players, the coach that she never had.”
The new ECCC Tennis Complex opened in February 2017 on the north side of campus between the softball and baseball complexes.
A fundraising effort is also underway to fund the construction of a building near the main entrance of the Complex to house men’s and women’s locker rooms, coach’s office, team meeting room, concessions area, and restrooms, as well as to name the remaining seven courts.
