Two-person scramble
to be held July 6-7
Union Country Club will host a two-person scramble on July 6 and 7.
Tee times will be at 8:30 a.m. and at 1 p.m. both days.
Entry fee is $45 per player and includes lunch Saturday and mulligans.
To enter or for more information, contact Jody Blount at 601-575-2626.
Four-Ball tournament
to be held July 13-14
The Creeper Nelson Memorial 28th Annual 4 Ball will be held at Newton Country Club on July 13 and 14.
Tee times will be at 8:30 a.m. and at 1 p.m. on Saturday and 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. Early paid entries have the choice of tee times on Saturday.
Entry fee is $60 per player and includes dinner Saturday night. Participants must be at least 16 years old to play.
For this tournament, players ages 16 to 59 will use the regular tees. Ages 60 to 74 will use the senior tees, and ages 75 and above will use the super senior tees.
To enter or for more information, contact Joel Nelson at 601-635-5878, 601-683-3101 or 601-527-8794.
Newton Country Club sets
1-person scramble
Newton Country Club will host a 1-Person scramble Thursday, July 4.
Entry fee is $20 per person. Tee time will be at 1 p.m. Morning tee times to be used if needed.
To enter, contact Joel Nelson at 601-635-5878 or 601-683-3101 or 601-527-8794.
Lake youth football, cheer registration nears
The Lake Youth Football association is seeking youth football players and cheerleaders for the upcoming 2019 season.
The association is joining Areawide Youth Football Elite this year, which will reduce travel time as well as implementing 8-man tinymite teams. Anyone interested in playing for Lake Youth Football or if you know of anyone age 5-12 (no seventh graders) that would like to be a part of Lake Youth Football, please contact Robert Savell at 601.919.7924. If there’s no answer, leave a message or send a text, and he will get back to you as soon as possible.
Boatner to be inducted in NFHSA Hall of Fame
Jerry Boatner, one of the most successful high school baseball coaches in history during his 44-year career at West Lauderdale High School in Collinsville, is among 12 individuals who will be inducted in the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHA) National High School Hall of Fame June 30 at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis, Indiana. The 37th Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place on the third day of the 100th annual NFHS Summer Meeting.
Boatner retired last year as the winningest coach in Mississippi history and fifth nationally with 1,202 victories against only 359 losses.
Success, however, did not come easily and without a lot of hard work and personal investment on Boatner’s part. After four years as baseball coach at Clarkdale (Mississippi) High School to begin his career, Boatner arrived at West Lauderdale in 1974 only to discover that baseball was played on the old football practice field with chicken wire serving as the backstop.
When appeals to the administration for a new baseball field failed, Boatner used his own money and, with the help of friends, constructed a new field for the school. Soon, West Lauderdale’s field was equal to any baseball field in the state, including those at Mississippi State University and the University of Mississippi. By the end of his career, the field appropriately had been renamed Jerry Boatner Field.
Boatner, who helped his Delta State College team to a runner-up finish in the 1968 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship, helped to elevate high school baseball to new levels across the state, similar to college programs at Mississippi State and Ole Miss – thanks to his enthusiasm for the sport and his tremendous devotion to growing the program at West Lauderdale. With a population of only about 1,000 in Collinsville in Boatner’s early years, crowds of more than 800 would turn out at the new field for West Lauderdale playoff games.
Four years after arriving in Collinsville, Boatner led West Lauderdale to its first state title – the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class A championship in 1978. He went on win 14 MHSAA state championships – nine as a Class 3A school and four as a Class 4A school. In addition to the 14 state titles, his teams finished second on five other occasions. In his 44 years at West Lauderdale, his baseball teams won 34 district titles.
Boatner, who was selected National High School Coach of the Year by USA Today in 2007, was a three-time choice as Mississippi Coach of the Year and 13-time selection as U.S. Baseball Federation Conference Coach of the Year. More than 100 of his players obtained NCAA Division I or Division II scholarships, and 10 players reached various levels of professional baseball. In addition, 17 of Boatner’s former players are now coaching.
Boatner’s coaching prowess wasn’t limited to baseball. In 1990, he assumed the head coaching duties for the school’s slow-pitch team and led his teams to eight MHSAA state titles, including five in a row from 2000 to 2004. Boatner coached the girls slow-pitch team through the 2009 season.
Boatner is a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and is past chairman of the United States Baseball Federation. He is a retired scout of the Kansas City Royals, and he founded the West Lauderdale Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter in 1984.
The National High School Hall of Fame was started in 1982 by the NFHS to honor high school athletes, coaches, contest officials, administrators, fine arts coaches/directors and others for their extraordinary achievements and accomplishments in high school sports and activity programs. This year’s class increases the number in the Hall of Fame to 482.
The 12 individuals were chosen after a two-level selection process involving a screening committee composed of active high school state association administrators, coaches and officials, and a final selection committee composed of coaches, former athletes, state association officials, media representatives and education leaders. Nominations were made through NFHS member associations.
Other inductees in the 2019 class:
ATHLETES: Derrick Brooks, football, Pensacola (Florida) Washington High School; Dusty Baker, football, basketball, baseball, and track and field, Sacramento (California) Del Campo High School; Damon Bailey, basketball, Bedford (Indiana) North Lawrence High School; Seimone Augustus, basketball, Baton Rouge (Louisiana) Capitol High School; Tracey Fuchs, field hockey, Centereach (New York) High School.
COACHES: D.W. Rutledge, football, Converse (Texas) Judson High School; and Joe Gilbert, multi-sport coach, Barnsdall (Oklahoma) High School.
ADMINISTRATORS: Bob Gardner, executive director, National Federation of State High School Associations, Indianapolis, Indiana; and Charles W. Whitten (D), chief executive officer, National Federation of State High School Associations, Chicago, Illinois.
OFFICIAL: Ralph Stout (D), football, basketball, Mountain City, Tennessee.
CONTRIBUTOR: Ginny Honomichl, state and national coaching leader, Baldwin City (Kansas) High School, Baldwin City, Kansas.
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