Inducted on September 13, 2022
In the spring of 1973, Hinds reinstated the baseball team for the first time since 1958. Danny Neely was the coach. Powell Taylor drove the bus and coached first base. The players who begged and pleaded for a baseball team had to construct a make-shift baseball field (located in the same position as today’s Joe G. Moss Field). There were no dugouts or outfield fence. No turf. Not even very much grass. They were going to add lights in the future. They did it 28 years later. We used wooden bats. And the field looked pretty rough, but they all did back in 1973. We played only 11 games and finished 7-4. There was no team picture. There was no roster. The photos we had were black and white. We had no uniforms for most of that season and wore football jerseys and football pants.
Who would do that in the 21st century?
Nobody! But we did it.
And we did it for the love of the game.
This is when the great Hinds baseball tradition got its start, thanks to the “Originals.”
The Boys of ’73.
MEMBERS:
The Players: 13
Bobby Barrett*, Doug Branning (deceased), LeRoy Brown (deceased), Ray Burroughs, Rick Clarke*, Doug Cockrell, Don Flowers, Roy Higdon, Leonard Knowles (deceased), Stirling Madden, Butch Newman, Eddie Ramsey, Bill Sanders (deceased).
The Bus Driver (and first base coach): 1
Powell Taylor (deceased)
The Coach: 1
Danny Neely* – Neely was the head baseball coach at Hinds from 1973 through 1982.
*- indicates members of the Hinds Community College Sports Hall of Fame.
Check out post #47 from Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach – The Boys of 1973 – Where the Great Hinds Baseball Tradition Got Its Start.
Rick Clarke's Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach 