Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame greats as guest speakers for outstanding college basketball, baseball awards program

C Spire and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame (MSHOF) have announced the guest speakers for the upcoming awards luncheons later this spring honoring the 2019 top college basketball and baseball players in the Magnolia State.

The C Spire Gillom and the C Spire Howell Trophy presentations will be on March 11, 2019 at the MSHOF museum in Jackson. Hattiesburg native and former collegiate and NBA coach Tim Floyd will be the featured speaker for the event, which honors the top male and female basketball players in the state.

Former Mississippi State University player and long-time MLB manager Buck Showalter will be the guest speaker at the C Spire Ferriss Trophy presentation, which honors the top college baseball player in Mississippi, on May 20 at the museum. Showalter, who guided the Baltimore Orioles and also managed the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Rangers, played his collegiate ball at MSU where he hit .459 in 1977. Showalter also has served two stints as a baseball analyst for ESPN.

Floyd is the son of the late Lee Floyd, a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame after coaching basketball during two different tenures at the University of Southern Mississippi. Tim graduated from Louisiana Tech where he played his college ball. After a stint as an assistant coach at the college level, he received his first chance as a head coach at the University of Idaho. From Idaho he coached at UNO and Iowa State before being hired to lead the NBA’s Chicago Bulls. He also was the head coach for the New Orleans Hornets before returning to the college game with Southern Cal and Texas-El Paso.

Both luncheon programs will begin at 11:30 a.m. and will end with the selection of the most outstanding players for men’s and women’s basketball and men’s baseball this year. The 2018 winners were MSU’s Victoria Vivians in women’s basketball, MSU’s Quinndary Weatherspoon in men’s basketball and University of Southern Mississippi’s Nick Sandlin in baseball. Tickets will go on sale soon.

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