Joe Dean Jr., who has led the Dixie Basketball Camp during the summer at Southwest Mississippi Community College for several years, was the guest speaker at the banquet Thursday night to honor the Bears’ Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges State Championship this past season.
SMCC head coach Thomas Gray said the banquet raised enough money to pay for 24 state championship rings for players, coaches and administrators.
Dean, a three-year letterman for the Mississippi State basketball team, was the Birmingham Southern athletic director for 17 years. He was recently promoted to vice president for advancement and announces SEC basketball games.
When the Bears defeated Jones County Junior College in the state championship 94-83 in overtime at Itawamba Community College, Dean announced it on the air.
“This is a wonderful place, Pike County, Mississippi,” he said. “I talk about it all the time. When you all won the championship, I was broadcasting a Mississippi State game in Starkville.”
Johnny Zuppardo went into the game for the Bulldogs after the Bears won the championship. Zuppardo was on a championship team his sophomore year at Jones.
Dean said after talking about Zuppardo, he was able to transition and mention the Bears’ title. Dean’s producer was not sure what he was talking about.
“He said, ‘Who’s that?’ I said, ‘Shut up. Don’t worry about it,’ ” Dean said.
The Dixie Basketball Camp, started by Dean’s father, the late Joe Dean Sr. and Brad Brian at LSU, moved to SMCC when Dale Brown became the Tigers’ head coach.
“You guys savor this because you’re going to remember this experience for the rest of your life,” Dean said to the players. “Ten years from now, you’re going to have a reunion. Twenty years from now, you’re going to have another reunion.”
“You’ll all tell of the same lies about each other and all of the coaches that you’re probably telling today,” Dean jokingly continued.
Gray praised his athletes and the community.
“I’m just extremely pleased with support that we had from our community,” he said. “These guys deserve our support, just being honest. This is a special group of guys, not only in terms of the athletic arena, but the academic arena as well. They’re champions on and off the court. That’s what being a student-athlete is all about. It makes me happy as a coach to be able to coach a group of guys like this, but also that our community realizes how special they are.”
According to Gray, SMCC had the highest team grade point average of all junior colleges in Mississippi last summer at 3.13. He said it had the second-highest GPA in the country behind Eastern Arizona Community College.
Gray also said his assistant coaches, Andy Farrell and Mike DuBose, did a lot of unnoticed work behind the scenes. DuBose recently resigned to take an assistant coach position at Chipola Junior College in Marianna, Fla., closer to his home in Jacksonville, Fla.
Gray said he is currently looking for DuBose’s replacement.
The Bears’ head coach told a story about the semifinal game.
In a 61-59 win against East Mississippi Community College, freshman guard Rodrick Sikes fouled out.
“The young man he was guarding legitimately tripped over himself, fell on the ground and a foul was called on Rodrick Sikes, fouling him out,” Gray said. “Well, Rodrick reacted just like anybody would if they were nowhere near somebody when a foul was called. Rodrick just ran down the court to me because he knew he had fouled out. The referee who made the call kind of knew it was a bad call, but, at the same time was a little embarrassed and so he kind of stared at Rodrick as he ran to the bench looking to give him a technical.”
Gray said behind his shoulder, he heard SMCC President Dr. Steve Bishop saying “What are you looking at? What are you looking at?” after the play.
“I was like, it is possible for the president to get thrown out of a game?” Gray joked.
Bishop had great praise for the Bears, who won their first championship in 53 seasons.
“We’ve come close many times,” he said. “We have. We’ve been a few plays away, a break or two here or there, a call here or there. We’ve been close several times, but this was the year of the Southwest Bears. I sensed a lot of community support. I sensed a lot of support even within our faculty, our staff and, believe it or not, I sensed a lot of support from around the state of Mississippi.”
