Doug M. Barber
A 1969 graduate of Biloxi High School, Barber is a Sports Writer at The Sun Herald in Biloxi. In his 32-year sports writing career, Barber has won numerous awards for his coverage of local, college and professional sports. He is best known as the Dean of Prep sportswriters in South Mississippi. He has covered hundreds of state championship games of Coast schools, including Biloxi. He has written countless numbers of features on local athletes, coaches and sports trends.
Howard “Dickey” Battle
A 1990 graduate of Mercy Cross High School, Battle was an all-around athlete for the Crusaders, excelling in basketball, football and baseball. He turned down a football scholarship to Tulane University to pursue his lifelong dream of being a Major League baseball player. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1990 draft by the Toronto Blue Jays. He played 14 years of pro baseball, including parts of three seasons with the Blue Jays, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves.
Peter Roy “Lee” Elder
Known as Peter Roy during his school days at Biloxi High and Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College at Perkinston, Elder has become one of the premier scouts in Major League baseball. A standout athlete prior to serving his country in Vietnam, Elder won three World Series rings with George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees and two from his current employer, the San Francisco Giants. He remains an enthusiastic ambassador for Biloxi as he travels around the country scouting Major League baseball.
Kenneth Lyons Sr.
The father of Hall of Fame members Kenny Lyons Jr. and Barry Lyons, the senior Lyons was an excellent athlete of his own accord. He was the Outstanding Defensive Player for Biloxi High School in 1947, and a stalwart for the well-known Biloxi semi-pro football team, the Galloping Gaels. He was also one of the premier players in the Fast Pitch adult softball leagues that were held at the Biloxi Veteran Administration Fields more than a half-century ago. A longtime volunteer coach in various city leagues, the elder Lyons also distinguished himself as a mentor to many of Biloxi’s top athletes of the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s.
Dr. Dennis Malpass
Malpass was the catcher for 2012 inductee Chris Taranto, who set a national high school record with nine no-hitters at Notre Dame in 1961. Malpass, whose picture was in Life Magazine that year, helped the Rebels win two State Championships as the team’s leading hitter. He played baseball at Perkinston and Tulane, where he was the team MVP and named to the Western Division All-SEC team. He was an outstanding football player too, and after high school, he actually played football for one year at Kansas, in the same backfield with Gayle Sayers. He earned a PhD in chemistry from the University of Tennessee in 1970 and was a leader in the petro-chemical industry for decades. Malpass is also the inventor/author of more than 80 U.S. patents and technical articles in scientific journals. He also published two books and is working on a third.
Henry “Spud” Wieniewitz
A 1970 graduate of Moss Point High School, Wieniewitz was a stellar baseball player for legendary coach Ken Farris at Perkinston, and later at Mississippi State University. He helped Farris win two State Championships in 1971-72, as one of the team’s leading hitters and best defensive players. He threw out 14 runners at home plate during his two years at Perk. He hit .388 as a junior at State, and finished his career with back-to-back triples against Alabama in his final two at-bats. Wieniewitz continued his athletic career as a coach in 1975, as an assistant to Ron Polk at Mississippi State. He moved to Biloxi in 1977 and began coaching American Legion baseball, earning state-wide Coach of the Year honors in 1978 and 1984. He enjoyed a 30-year career with Biloxi Public Schools as coach, teacher, administrator and Director of Athletics. He was also instrumental in establishing the Biloxi Sports Hall of Fame.
Richard Lew “Wimpy” Winther
A 1966 graduate of Biloxi High, Winther was co-captain of the football team, First Team All-Big Eight and First Team All-State. He signed a scholarship to the University of Mississippi, where he became an All-American center for Archie Manning. He was the starting center for the South in the Senior Bowl in 1971, and was drafted later that year by the New Orleans Saints in the fourth round. He also played for Green Bay in the NFL. In 1974, he was signed by the Detroit Wheels of the World Football League, where he later played for Birmingham.