EMCC’s Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2022 to be recognized Thursday

Published 11:00 am Tuesday, September 27, 2022

SCOOBA – Following three straight football games away from home, the eighth-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College will return to action on the Scooba campus to play host to No. 4 Northwest Mississippi on Thursday evening (Sept. 29). With kickoff set for 7 p.m. at Sullivan-Windham Field, Thursday’s key MACCC North Division matchup with possible NJCAA playoff implications will also feature the recognition of the five newest members of EMCC’s Sports Hall of Fame.

EMCC’s Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2022 is headed by current Tennessee Titans veteran NFL defensive lineman Denico Autry, who was a two-year starter (1992-93) for the Mississippi State Bulldogs after being selected NJCAA All-American First Team for the 2011 national champion EMCC Lions. Both with Meridian connections, retired EMCC and Lamar School baseball coach/administrator Bill Baldner as well as former three-sport Meridian High School standout and two-way EMCC football all-American Aaron Fox are also members of this year’s EMCC Sports Hall of Fame induction class. In addition, Illinois native Tom Hostetler, also a member of the Delta State University Athletics Hall of Fame as a standout pitcher, and former Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver Quincy Jackson round out East Mississippi Community College’s Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2022.

Along with being honored during halftime activities of Thursday’s football game against Northwest Mississippi, EMCC’s newest Sports Hall of Fame induction class will be the College’s special guests during a 4 p.m. pre-game reception to be held at the F.R. Young Student Union Center on the Scooba campus.

Thursday’s much-anticipated top-10 gridiron battle between the Lions and Rangers will mark EMCC’s first home football contest since opening the season with a 38-0 shutout victory over Copiah-Lincoln back on Sept. 1. After dropping a 42-28 decision at now-No. 5 Jones College on Sept. 8, head coach Buddy Stephens’ 3-1 EMCC squad has since knocked off Holmes, 45-9, at Ridgeland High School and most recently posted a thrilling 48-45 come-from-behind road victory last Thursday (Sept. 22) at Mississippi Gulf Coast.