Long-time professor and East Central Community College historian Ovid Vickers said in the 50 years he has been on campus, he has never seen a player go to an Ivy League school.

Shubuta native Thurston McCarty is about to change all of that.

McCarty, a 6-foot-7 guard out of Quitman High School, recently committed to attend Cornell University, an Ivy League school in Ithaca, N.Y.

McCarty averaged 13 points and five rebounds a game as a guard for the Warriors this past season while graduating with a 3.8 GPA. He will major in accounting at Cornell. 

Overshadowed 

McCarty came to East Central as a wiry freshman who had played the post in high school. East Central coach Robert Thompson thought all along that McCarty was a guard and played McCarty in the No. 3 position for the Warriors. Thompson said McCarty has been the ultimate student-athlete for the Warriors.

“We were really blessed to get him at East Central,” Thompson said. “He didn’t have any Division I offers and the only junior college offers he had were from us, Meridian and Co-Lin. He was skeptical about going to a junior college. He always wanted to go to a four-year school that stressed academics.”

Thompson said the first time he saw him play was in the state tournament, and McCarty was somewhat overshadowed by 6-foot-7 power forward Darius Hicks, who now plays at North Carolina State.

“The first time I saw him was his junior year in high school in the state tournament,” Thompson said. “He was a younger kid playing with the Hicks kid and was a little overshadowed. But I saw a tall kid with a long wing span who had a nice stroke and a lot of potential. So I tapped him on the shoulder after the game and introduced myself. I don’t think he was really interested in me or any junior college. But we just kept pursuing him until we signed him.” 

What sets him apart

Once McCarty was on campus, Thompson said he showed his best qualities.

“What we saw was a kid that wanted to be the best, that had a hunger to learn and a hunger for guidance,” Thompson said. “I knew he was special, but I didn’t really know how special until we got him in practice. And it’s those kind of kids that can go on and do anything -those people that want to learn and want to grow.”

Thompson said McCarty’s recruitment by Cornell began last summer at a showcase camp in Dallas. An assistant coach saw him there and started the recruiting process, something that Thompson said was a learning process for him as well.

“I’ve never had a kid recruited to an Ivy League school,” Thompson said. “They really did a thorough background check on him. They talked with high school coaches and counselors. They investigated what kind of classes he was taking here at East Central. So him signing with an Ivy League school is not only a credit to him, it’s a credit to his high school and a credit to East Central Community College.

“I know it’s been a program changer for us. It has raised the level of our program. He has changed the landscape of the kind of kid we want to recruit here to our basketball program. He’s been our best recruiter.”

One of a kind 

Vickers and former East Central president Dr. Phil Sutphin both agreed that they had no knowledge of anyone from ECCC going to an Ivy League school.

“I know we have had players go to a lot of four-year colleges but never to an Ivy League school,” Sutphin said. “We have had players go to Ole Miss and Mississippi State and even Ohio State. But never an Ivy League school. There may have been somebody, but not to my knowledge. Academically, we have always been able to take students and help them succeed elsewhere. That fact that he chose to come here says something about East Central as well.”

Vickers, who will be 88 in a few days, is the college’s unofficial historian and agrees with Sutphin.

“I can’t think of anybody,” Vickers said. “We have had some who could have played and the two that come to my mind are Denver Brackeen and Howard Sessums. Denver played at Ole Miss and Howard played at Mississippi College. And we’ve had some very interesting alumni here, but I don’t know of anybody who has played at an Ivy League school.”

Humble beginnings 

McCarty comes from a typical Mississippi family. McCarty was a standout for the Panthers, helping them to the state tournament two straight years. McCarty made a 26 on the ACT and finished third in his class at Quitman.

His mother, Lita McCarty, works at the Sunbeam blanket factory in Waynesboro and his father, Lester McCarty, is a retired postal worker.

“They were really excited,” McCarty said. “When I first told my mom, she had never heard of Cornell. When I told her it was in the Ivy League, she got very excited.

“They have always been on me about academics and instilled in me that it’s school first. I have always made good grades and been a good student and that’s something that I have wanted for myself. My mom and dad have always said that at some point, the ball stops bouncing, and you have to have something you can live off of besides basketball. You can’t play basketball forever.”

The Cornell campus is 1,180 miles from Shubuta and more than 18 hours by car. McCarty said there are a few things he will miss.

“The toughest part of this will be being away from home,” McCarty said. “I’m going to miss home-cooked meals and coming home to my own bed. I’m going to miss my mom’s fried chicken and some home-cut french fries.”

A different world 

As McCarty makes the transition, he will be moving to a whole different world, both on and off the court.

Cornell was founded in 1865 and has an enrollment of 13,700. 

Perhaps the biggest adjustment will be in the classroom.

“I feel like East Central has prepared me in many ways, in school work and academics,” McCarty said. “I went for a visit and was amazed at the campus and the opportunities they were providing. I couldn’t let the opportunity pass.

“It will be a big difference, but I am looking forward to seeing how other people live. The coaches told me the toughest part will be the academics, but they have a lot of tutors to make sure we are staying on track. It will be a challenge, but I think I can handle it.”

On the court, The Big Red is coached by Brian Earl, a former assistant at Princeton.

“They told me that if they had had me this past year, they would have probably beaten Harvard and made the NCAA tournament,” McCarty said. “They feel like I can come in and make a big impact next year. They needed to get longer on defense, and he thought I could have been a factor on defense.”

Being a former Princeton assistant, Earl runs the “Princeton” style offense, which includes a lot of motion and back cuts.

“They ran a lot of the Princeton-style offense with a lot of back cutting, but I feel like I can be successful in that,” McCarty said. “It’s a lot different from what I am used to. We did a lot of free-lancing at East Central. Coach Thompson taught us how to play basketball and let us go play.”

McCarty said he is currently working through the admissions process and has some essays to write. McCarty said he didn’t know when he would report to campus but thought it would be later this summer, closer to the beginning of classes.