Coolidge Ball Explained

Coolidge Ball
Career Position:Forward
Height Ft:6
Height In:5
Birth Date:6 November 1951
Birth Place:Indianola, Mississippi, U.S.
Death Place:Oxford, Mississippi, U.S.
High School:Gentry (Indianola, Mississippi)
College:Ole Miss (1971–1974)
Draft Year:1974
Career Start:1974
Career End:1975
Years1:1974–1975
Team1:Hamilton Generals
Coach Start:1975
Coach End:1979
Cyears1:1975–1979
Cteam1:Northwest Mississippi CC (assistant)
Highlights:
  • 2× Second-team All-SEC (1972, 1973)

Coolidge Ball (November 6, 1951 – August 29, 2023) was an American businessman and basketball player who was the first African American athlete to play any sport at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) in Oxford, Mississippi. He played forward for the Ole Miss Rebels. Because freshmen were not allowed to play with the varsity team back then due to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules, Ball played just three seasons.[1] He enrolled in 1970 and received an athletic scholarship.

College career

Ball signed scholarship papers to New Mexico State before he signed the national letter of intent to Ole Miss. He was recruited by New Mexico State assistants Rob Evans and Ed Murphy, both future Ole Miss head coaches. Ball also was recruited by then-Jackson State University head coach Paul Covington.

After college

From 1979, Ball owned and operated Ball Sign Company, a business he started upon his return to Oxford after a four-year stint coaching basketball at Northwest Mississippi Community College.

Death

Coolidge Ball died in Oxford, Mississippi, on August 29, 2023, at the age of 71.[2]

Honors

In 2005, Ball was part of the SEC Basketball Legends 2005 class honored at the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. In August 2008, Ball was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.[3] Ball is also in the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame.

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: David . Brandt . Talented Ball broke barriers at Ole Miss . . July 28, 2008 . August 1, 2008 .
  2. News: Johnson . David . Ole Miss men's basketball legend Coolidge Ball has passed away . 30 August 2023 . 247 Sports . 29 August 2023.
  3. http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080802/COL0504/808020346 The Clarion-Ledger: Inductees carry good stories