EMCC’s Nick Clark joins Mississippi Community and Junior College Sports Hall of Fame

PEARL – Former East Mississippi two-sport standout and retired EMCC administrative staff member Nick Clark was inducted into the Mississippi Community and Junior College Sports Hall of Fame during Tuesday night's 18^th annual induction banquet held at the Clyde Muse Center on Hinds Community College's Rankin Campus.

Clark has had a long-running association with East Mississippi Community College that spans more than five decades. Along with serving as a two-year starting lineman for legendary Hall of Fame football coach Bob "Bull" Sullivan and making back-to-back state championship baseball appearances for the Lions, Clark later became involved in the EMCC Development Foundation through the Bull Sullivan Memorial Division in 1992. A recipient of East Mississippi's Alumnus of the Year Award in 1998, Clark later served as EMCC's Director of Development before retiring in 2017 as the college's Vice President for Institutional Advancement. The 2006 EMCC Sports Hall of Fame inductee was also honored with EMCC's Distinguished Service Award in 2017.

A product of Macon's Noxubee County High School, Clark continued his successful football and baseball careers at what was then East Mississippi Junior College in Scooba. As a collegiate sophomore under Coach Sullivan's guidance, Clark earned first-team, all-state honors and was named the Lions' most valuable player for the 1965 football season. Clark also served as the president of the college's first chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Clark turned down an opportunity to receive a football scholarship at Delta State University in order to focus full time on his academic studies. Upon graduation from the Cleveland-based school with an undergraduate degree in physical education and a master's degree in school administration, Clark produced an impressive 12-year coaching career that resulted in his teams winning better than 75 percent of their games collectively and him earning two coach of the year honors while also being selected to coach in a pair of all-star games.

In 1985, Clark and his beloved late wife, Dinni, and their two sons, Jay and Conner, moved to Columbus as he furthered his career in real estate and insurance. Through the years, Clark has served as president of the 5-County Life Underwriters Association, the Columbus Kiwanis Club, and the Lowndes County Cattlemen Association.

Clark, who is also an accomplished auctioneer, remarried in 2012 and together he and his wife, Jane, have four sons and nine grandchildren. They currently reside on their farm near Macon.

This year marks the 18th class of the Mississippi Community and Junior College Sports Hall of Fame. Clark joins previously elected East Mississippi Community College inductees: Betty Carol Spears Boyette (2023); Max Johnson (2022); Antowain Smith (2021); Malcolm "Mack" Robinson (2020); Richard Mathis (2019); Jack Mason Carlisle (2018); Langston Rogers (2017); Dr. Tommy Davis (2016); Tom Goode (2015); Dr. Randall Bradberry (2014); Retha Hand Henderson (2013); Johnny Fisher (2012); Joe Rowell (2011); Tom Scarborough (2010); Elbert "Lum" Wright (2009); Ken Waddell Sr. (2008); Don Edwards (2008); Clyde "Baby Doll" Pierce (2007); Bill Buckner (2007); and Bob "Bull" Sullivan (2007).

Other newly elected members honored during Tuesday's Mississippi Community and Junior College Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremonies included: Dr. Shirley Hall Taylor (Coahoma CC); Victor Green (Copiah-Lincoln CC); Sandy Puckett Keenan (East Central CC); Zachary Crockett (Hinds CC); Bobby Joe Grantham; (Holmes CC); Pernell McPhee (Itawamba CC); Wendy Clark Hogue (Jones College); Miguel Pate (Meridian CC); Greg Griffith (Mississippi Delta CC); Kenneth Long (Mississippi Gulf Coast CC); Timothy Cole (Northeast Mississippi CC); Henry Williams (Northwest Mississippi CC); James Singleton (Pearl River CC); and Samuel L. Moore (Southwest Mississippi CC).