By Staff
Jan. 10, 2001
Rocky Higginbotham, a native east Mississippian and an experienced, award-winning sports writer at The Meridian Star, has been promoted to the position of sports editor, it was announced today.
Editor Buddy Bynum said Higginbotham, a full-time sports writer at The Star since 1998, would assume his new duties immediately.
Bynum said Higginbotham's promotion signals the newspaper's commitment to continual improvement in its entire editorial operations, including the daily sports sections.
Higginbotham, 28, got his start in the sports writing profession as 17-year-old part-timer for The Star during the summer of 1990.
He was later a sports writer and assistant sports editor at The Star, where he won numerous writing awards from 1991 to 1995.
Higginbotham has contributed to more than 25 newspapers in the South. He has served as sports editor for the Kemper County Messenger, a DeKalb-based weekly newspaper, for the past seven years, as well as a weekly contributor to The Macon Beacon for the past three years.
Born in Macon, Higginbotham graduated from Kemper County High School, later attending East Mississippi Community College, Meridian Community College and Mississippi State University.
Higginbotham is married to the former Julie Chaney of Little Rock. They have a 4-year-old daughter, Meagan, and are expecting their second child in April.