COLUMBUS – A soggy, foggy morning was lit up with smiles, hugs and handshakes at the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau where the Lowndes County Sports Hall of Fame announced its nine inductees for the Class of 2026.
Six of the selected are living, three are deceased, and LCSHOF president Glenn Lautzenhiser said each one of them have more than proved their merit on the local fields of play but also in stadiums and arenas with much brighter lights.
“Everyone of these inductees have created memories for us to enjoy but they have also achieved great success, which goes beyond the confines of Lowndes County, the national level and in some cases even beyond,” Lautzenhiser said.
Joining the hallowed hall this year are the following:
Billy Ray Adams, a 1958 Stephen D. Lee High School graduate who went on to play fullback at Ole Miss from 1959-1961 under then-head coach Johnny Vaught. He rushed for 1,009 yards on 174 carries for 11 touchdowns. Throughout his entire career, Adams was only credited with a loss of yardage once – he jumped on a teammate’s fumble and his record was hit with a loss of one yard. While the loss technically stands in the official records, his son David Adams jokingly said his father “didn’t acknowledge it.”
Billy Ray Adams went on to be drafted by both the San Francisco 49ers in 1962 but an automobile accident before his rookie season prevented him from touching the field as a pro. Adams is also in the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and in the Ole Miss M Club Hall of Fame.
David Adams said it was “very cool” to see his father get inducted into his hometown hall of fame.
“Columbus was a very special place for him,” David Adams said. “He grew up in a very underprivileged area and he had a lot of people that lifted him up throughout the years to get him to where he had the opportunities that he had. He was always very, very fond of the city of Columbus.”
Samye Johnson, a former volleyball player and head coach at Mississippi University for Women. Johnson, a Mendenhall native, played at MUW from 1967-1971 and returned to coach the sport from 1977-1994 and finished with a 431-185 record that includes the 1994 Gulf South Conference Championship. Johnson is also a Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame inductee.
Thomas Edison Lott Jr., a 1954 Stephen D. Lee High School graduate who captured two golf state championships there along with the Mississippi Golf Association Boys Junior Amateur Championship in 1953. At age 19, Lott won the 1955 Mississippi Open and eventually more than 30 tournaments throughout the Southeast. He went on to play golf at Mississippi State, where he graduated in 1958 as the first scholarship golfer in school history.
Oliver Mallory Miller, a 1973 Robert S. Caldwell High School graduate who went on to be named the World Kickboxing Champion by the World Kickboxing Association two times, once in 1989 and once 1993. He finished his career at 55-5-1 with 15 knockouts. Miller also earned his eighth degree black belt in 2009 and was inducted into the Mississippi Black Belt Hall of Fame in 2008. He founded Miller Taekwondo in 1977 where he taught mixed martial arts and boxing.
“It’s a great pleasure to be (inducted) and I really enjoy this moment,” Miller said. “I really do. It makes it all worth it in the long run.”
Aubrey Nichols, a 1960 graduate of New Hope High School who played basketball at Mississippi State. Nichols was a part of the 1963 basketball team that played in the “Game of Change.” Aubrey, a guard who averaged 9.3 points and 3.7 rebounds as a senior, played at State from 1961-1964 and helped the team win back-to-back SEC Championships. He also played baseball for the Bulldogs and set the then-school record for stolen bases with 13.
Nichols said the honor of being recognized by his hometown is hard to put into words.
“I think that’s something that you can’t really express to somebody but it’s a situation where you find so many friends and so many people that you lived around and helped you on the path of athletic activities, and Columbus has always had that,” Aubrey said. “We had so many good guys come though and people that would help you and I had that same situation. … Columbus is really, really good to its people.”
Derek Lee Sherrod, a 2007 graduate of Caledonia High School. Standing at 6-foot-5 and weighing over 300 pounds, Sherrod earned the title of the Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year in football as an offensive lineman and went on to play at Mississippi State from 2007-2010. He was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the first round of the 2011 NFL draft and played for the team until 2014.
Robert E. Smith Jr., a 1971 Stephen D. Lee High School graduate who went on to play football at Mississippi Valley State and later served as the mayor of Columbus from 2006-2021. At MVSU, he played linebacker and was named a member of the SWAC First-Team All-Defense in 1972 and 1973 and joined the Mississippi Valley State Athletics Hall of Fame in the Class of 1980.
James “T” Thomas, a 1958 graduate of R.E. Hunt School who went on to have a successful football career in the Canadian Football League. Thomas played running back for the Edmonton Eskimos from 1963-1971 and racked up 6,161 yards and earned CFL All-Star nods in 1966 and in 1967. He went into coaching and took the reins of MVSU in 1978 and was named the SWAC Coach of the Year that season after leading the Delta Devils to a 6-3-1 record. He also coached tight ends at Ole Miss from 1983-1991.
Dan Douglas Moulds, a longtime sports broadcaster of local games, was selected as the class’ Henry G. Matuszak Founder’s Award winner, which is presented yearly to a nonathlete who “contributes behind the scenes rather than scoring touchdowns.” Moulds covered local games for WCBI and became the first broadcaster for MUW athletics when he started calling its games in 1982. He also covered games for Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Memphis State, Arkansas State and East Mississippi Community College.
The induction banquet for the 2026 class will be held at 6 p.m. April 17 at the Trotter Convention Center. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased at https://lowndescountysportshalloffame.com.
Peter Imes is publisher of The Dispatch. You can email him at [email protected].
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