By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
July 11, 2003
Along with former Noxubee County girls' basketball coach Narvel Colemon, four other coaches will be inducted into the Mississippi Association of Coaches Hall of Fame tonight in Jackson.
The induction banquet will be at the Hilton Hotel off County Line Road and 1-55 North at 7 p.m.
One of the four is former Meridian head football coach Bob Tyler.
Tyler's two Wildcat teams never lost a game under his direction during the 1966 and 1967 seasons. The 1966 Wildcats went 10-0, winning the Big Eight conference championship. Meridian outscored its opponents 316-50.
The 66 Cats beat Laurel (26-0), Tuscaloosa, Ala. (27-7), Tupelo (32-2), Greenville (28-14), Vicksburg (21-20), Columbus (14-7), Corinth (47-0), Clarksdale (38-0), Jackson Callaway (49-0), and Jackson Provine (34-0).
In 1967, Meridian went 9-0-1 and repeated as Big Eight Conference champion.
The 67 Cats beat Laurel (39-0), Tupelo (35-0), Callaway (38-0), Tuscaloosa (19-7), and Greenville (38-7), tied Columbus (14-14), and defeated Corinth (49-0), Provine (47-0), and Jackson Murrah (37-7).
Tyler also coached at Okolona and Senatobia with his high school teams going 94-19-6.
Tyler left Meridian to become an assistant at Ole Miss. He was head coach at Mississippi State from 1973-78 before serving one year at North Texas State and two years at Millsaps.
Also to be inducted are Roy Garcia and Henry Woods, both of Natchez, and Theron Long of Hernando.
Garcia is a longtime coach, athletic director, teacher and administrator at Natchez Cathedral where he recently completed his 35th year.
Woods is a nationally renowned track and field coach with 40 years in the sport. He has led track teams at Sadie Thompson, North Natchez, and Natchez to 643 meet victories and 19 state championships. Ninety-four of his athletes received track scholarships.
Long coached in 1,119 high school basketball games with his girls compiling a 445-124 record and his boys racking up a 402-148 mark. His 1969 girls' team won a state championship.