The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2025, announced Tuesday, includes: Mo Williams, Kevin Webb (representing his deceased father Robbie Webb), Steve Rives, Dexter McCluster, Steve Freeman, Mike Justice, Scott Berry. (Photo by Hays Collins)
The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Tuesday announced its 2025 induction class, and it is star-studded with championship coaches and athletes from football, baseball, basketball and golf.
In alphabetical order, the 2025 inductees are:
Scott Berry, baseball coach, at first Meridian Community College and more famously at Southern Miss, where his teams won 10 conference championships. Combined record as a head coach: 500 victories. At Southern Miss his teams won 528 games, lost 276 and tied one. They won 10 conference championships and he was five times a conference coach of the year.
Steve Freeman, Mississippi State and NFL football star and longtime NFL official, who is among the career pass interception leaders at both State and for the Buffalo Bills. He was one of the key cogs of State’s 1974 Sun Bowl team that won nine games and was one of the leaders of a Bills’ defense that was the NFL’s best in 1980.
Mike Justice, high school football coach. His teams won 297 games and lost only 98 over 35 seasons. He won championships at virtually every level of high school football. His 1999 Madison Central team is generally considered one of the best — if not the best — in Mississippi history.
Dexter McCluster, Ole Miss and NFL running back/kick returner who made All-SEC and All American for the Rebels and then played eight seasons in the NFL.
Derrick Nix, Southern Miss running back. Nix, who also coached collegiately at Southern Miss and Ole Miss and is currently the offensive coordinator at Auburn, was one of the all-time greats at Southern Miss, despite playing much of his career with a life-threatening kidney disease.
Steve Rives, high school and Delta State basketball coach, whose teams won more than 700 games. At Jackson Prep, his teams won 260 games while losing only 23. At Delta State, Rives’ coaching record was 388-188.
Robbie Webb, golfer and golf teacher, who will be inducted posthumously. After at outstanding college career at Southern Miss, Webb became the longtime pro at Canton and Deerfield country clubs. Webb taught and coached many future college golfers and amateur and professional champions.
Mo Williams, basketball standout in high school, college and NBA, now the head basketball coach at Jackson State. Williams was a McDonald’s All-American at Murrah before playing two years at Alabama and then 13 years in the NBA. Williams averaged 13 points and five assists a game for his 13-year pro career.
Clearly, it’s an outstanding class, which includes several sports heroes. I have had the good fortune to cover all as a journalist and have fond memories of each. What follow are some stories you may not know:
Dexter McCluster, who now lives in Brentwood, Tenn., is interviewed at Tuesday’s press conference. (Photo by Hays Collins)
As a junior golfer growing up in Gulfport, Webb played often with Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer Mary Mills, who would go on to win nine LPGA golf championships, including three majors. Later on, Mills played No. 1 on the Millsaps men’s golf team when Webb was playing No. 1 at Southern Miss. In a dual match once at the old Millsaps golf course, Mills led Webb one-up at the nine-hole turn. Southern Miss coach B.O. Van Hook chided Webb: “Hell, Webb, you gonna let a girl beat you.” Webb promptly took his golf bag off his shoulders and handed his clubs to his coach, saying, “Here, Hook, you try her…”
JSU basketball coach Mo Williams played 13 seasons in the NBA.
Mo Williams will be remembered as one of Mississippi’s most accomplished basketball players in history, but probably could have played professionally in baseball or football as well. Says John Richardson, the former Ole Miss football player who coached Williams at Chasten Middle School and now works as a jack-of-all-trades at the MSHOF museum, “Mo could have been a great quarterback in the SEC or probably a Major League shortstop. He was just so gifted and worked so hard at anything he tried. He was my quarterback at Chastain and we were undefeated. He could throw it or run it and nobody could stop him. I was a little disappointed when he chose to concentrate on basketball, but I’d say it worked out OK for him.”
I covered state championship victories for Justice both at Louisville and Madison Central. In a quick interview after his undefeated 1999 Madison Central team ransacked Provine in a state championship game, I asked, already knowing the answer: “Mike, do you know how many passes y’all threw tonight?” He thought for a couple seconds and then answered: “Well, I know if we threw one it was a damned audible.” They threw none.
Mike Justice once won a state championship without throwing a pass.
McCluster originally committed to play football at South Florida before a late recruiting visit from then-Ole Miss coach Ed Oregon. Said McCluster: “I’ll never forget it. We were playing football, using a couch pillow for the ball, in my living room. Coach O would fake a handoff to me and throw a pass across the room to my mother. He sold me, sold my whole family. He told me I could be Reggie Bush at Ole Miss. That man could recruit.” And Dexter McCluster surely could run.
Before Tuesday’s press conference, I knew Steve Rives won a whole bunch of basketball games both in high schools and at Delta State. I knew coaches around the state considered him a master strategist and motivator. What I did not know is this: At Delta State, Rives was 8-0 vs. Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer Davey Whitney, one of my favorite all-time coaches and people. I guarantee you this: Nobody else, anywhere, can say that.
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Nix was recruited by virtually every football power in the country but chose Southern Miss because his brother Tyrone played and coached there and because Jeff Bower promised him he could play running back, whereas Alabama, Auburn, Florida and others were recruiting him primarily as a linebacker. He became surely one of the greatest backs in USM history and surely would have made millions in the NFL if not for the kidney disease that almost killed him. “Derrick Nix had it all,” Pittsburgh Steelers scout Dan Rooney once told Sports Illustrated. “He reminded me of Deuce McAllister. He had a gliding style, so strong and fast. He was a can’t-miss prospect, the kind any NFL team would love to have.”
Steve Freeman has retired as an NFL official, but his son, Brad, the former Mississippi State baseball star, still officiates in the league. Asked if he misses it, Steve replied, “Nah, man, I am too old for all that travel. At 67, I looked around and noticed most of the guys were 25 to 30 years old. I knew it was time for me to go to the house.” Both the Freemans have officiated Super Bowls.
Over the years, Scott Berry has reminded me of Mississippi baseball legend Boo Ferriss in so many ways, most of them involving character and integrity and how much he cared about his players. One other similarity was how the two men manicured their baseball fields, at least until Southern Miss switched to artificial turf. Like Ferriss, Berry tended to the baseball field, making sure every blade of grass and every speck of dirt was just so. Once, when his daughter Kathryn Grace went to work with him, and watched him tend the field so painstakingly, the little girl asked him, “Daddy, is this your garden?” It really was, and on it Berry grew winners. He retired in 2023 after his seventh straight 40-victory season at a time when no other Division I program in the country had more five.
The Class of 2025 will be inducted in ceremonies next August.
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A new and improved Mega Millions lottery is on the way and the cost of a ticket to the multi-state lotto going up from $2 to $5 starting in April 2025.
Cheddar
Want a really happy new year? The Mega Millions jackpot for Friday, Dec. 27, is an estimated $1.1 billion.
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The winning numbers will be drawn just after 10 p.m. Central, and the cash option is $516.1 million.
A $1.1 billion-winning ticket was sold in New Jersey earlier this year, and that prize was just claimed this week, nine months after the drawing. In Mississippi, drawing winners must claim their prize within 180 days, and if you win, you can claim it anonymously.
Here’s what you need to know about top jackpots and how to play Mega Millions in Mississippi, including where you can buy tickets and how to claim the prize if you win.
Where can you buy lottery tickets?
More: Did anyone win the Powerball jackpot last night? See winning numbers for Dec. 25 lottery drawing
Tickets can be purchased in person at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. Some airport terminals may also sell lottery tickets.
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How to play the Mega Millions
In order to buy a ticket, you’ll have to visit your local convenience store, gas station or grocery store. In a handful of states, you can purchase tickets online, but Mississippi isn’t one of them.
To play, you will need to pick six numbers. Five numbers will be white balls ranging from 1 to 70. The gold Mega Ball is one number between 1 and 25.
If you believe the odds are against you, ask for a ”Quick Pick” or an ”Easy Pick,” the computer will randomly generate the numbers for you.
Players can add the ”Megaplier” for $1, which can increase non-grand prize winnings by two, three, four or five times. The Megaplier is drawn before the Mega Millions numbers on Tuesday and Friday.
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There are 15 Megapiler balls in all:
2X, five balls.
3X, six balls.
4X, three balls.
5X, one ball.
Christmas isn’t over yet! See live Mannheim Steamroller concert in Jackson this weekend
What are the top Mega Millions jackpots?
According to the lottery, the following jackpots are the Top 10 jackpots that have been won as of Oct. 4:
$1.602 billion, Aug. 8, 2023; a Florida player
$1.537 billion, Oct. 23, 2018; a South Carolina player
$1.348 billion, Jan.13, 2023; a Maine player
$1.337 billion, July 29, 2022; an Illinois player
$1.128 billion, March 26, 2024; a New Jersey payer
$1.050 billion, Jan. 22, 2021; a Michigan player
$810 million, Sept. 10, 2024; a Texas player
$656 million, March 30, 2012; a player from Illinois, Kansas and Maryland
$648 million, Dec. 17,2013; a player from California and Georgia
$552 million, June 4, 2024; an Illinois player
I won the lottery in Mississippi! What next?
The Mississippi Lottery advises people to sign the back of their winning ticket immediately.
If your prize is less than $600, you can claim that at any place that sells Mississippi Lottery tickets.
If you win $600-$99,999, you can claim by mail or by going to the Mississippi Lottery Headquarters in Flowood.
All prizes more than $100,000 must be claimed at the Mississippi Lottery Headquarters.
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Check out Possum Ridge, an annual exhibit put on by Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson.
Possum Ridge is a fictional town in Mississippi featuring model trains that you and your family can come check out during the holiday season.
Drew Gardner is the museum’s programming manager.
He said, “Yeah, so this is Possum Ridge. We have been doing Possum Ridge, the train town here at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, for over 50 years. It is actually our 50th anniversary. The first time we did it was in 1974. We’re so proud. We have it out every December.”
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There are many museum staff members that help make this possible for visitors each year.
Gardner went on and said, “Yeah, so this is really a program from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History that we host. But we’ve got a group, some of our staff as well as others, that have really been dedicated over the years to making sure not only that we have this space but also that we continue to update it. So it’s kind of a unique combination of a community of folks that absolutely love and care for these trains.”
Plenty of visitors have already come through to check out Possum Ridge. We caught up with one family that was visiting the exhibit for the first time.
Mindy and Charles Freeman brought their grandson to the exhibit.
“I think it’s really cool. He went over with us. All of these buildings and stuff are a place in Mississippi. My little grandson here, his name is Sam, and he loves trains. So we just bought him out today to see the train exhibit,” Mindy Freeman said.
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The Mississippi Rail lines are nothing short of historic.
These tracks helped countless Black Mississippians travel out of Mississippi during southern segregation to cities like Chicago and Detroit.
“The Illinois Central, as we talked about the Great Migration story. Black Mississippians made their way out of places like Mississippi to Chicago and other places further north. So in Mississippi, these rail lines were a heart for so many,” Gardner said.
There is no charge to view the exhibit. You and your family can check out Possum Ridge until December 31.
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A convicted murderer who escaped from a Mississippi state prison on Christmas Eve was captured Wednesday, according to a Mississippi Department of Corrections post on Facebook.
Drew Johnson was captured in an area near the prison, the post said.
Sentenced to life in prison on Valentine’s Day in 2022, Johnson managed to escape from Mississippi’s newest state prison in Greene County nearly three years later on Christmas Eve, according to the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
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Authorities in Mississippi had described Johnson as “desperate” and “very very dangerous.”
“Call your family and alert them. Send messages to them and get responses,” the George County Sheriff’s Department warned about the prison escape in a Facebook post. “People tend to be more generous during Christmas and let their guard down. Be vigilant and be careful.”
The 33-year-old has a violent criminal history spanning multiple states. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to a series of unrelated violent crimes, according to a news release from Tennessee’s Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. In 2016, Johnson fatally stabbed an acquaintance more than two dozen times, later abandoning the victim’s body in a field in southwest Memphis.
His violent behavior persisted behind bars. While incarcerated in Tennessee in 2021, Johnson attacked another prisoner, repeatedly striking him in the head with a brick, according to the district attorney’s office. Johnson also pleaded guilty to setting multiple fires while in jail in 2019.
Johnson received a life sentence without the possibility of parole for murder, along with 15-year sentences for each of his other crimes, all of which are to be served concurrently, according to Shelby County District Attorney’s Office.
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He also has a pending murder case in Rankin County, Mississippi.
The convicted murderer broke out of South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville on Tuesday around 3:30 p.m., according to an alert from the Greene County Emergency Management office, shared by police in neighboring George County.
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