University of Southern Mississippi Professor Emeritus James Crockett, now an adjunct professor of accountancy at the University of Mississippi, perhaps enjoyed a bit of serendipity in bringing his latest book to market in the same year that the entire nation witnessed a Mississippi team win a legitimate NCAA national championship at the 2021 College World Series in Omaha.
Crockett has penned three fine books (all for the University Press of Mississippi) in past years, books that one might expect a gifted accountant with meticulous research skills would author. His broad topics? Public corruption in Mississippi.
In 2003, Crockett wrote “Operation Pretense: The FBI’s Sting on County Corruption in Mississippi” which focused on public corruption in the state’s county government system – the federal probe unveiled bribes and kickbacks on county purchases of mundane items like culverts and motor grader blades. The “Pretense” scandal propelled then-State Auditor Ray Mabus to political prominence, positioning him to win a term as governor.
The scandal further changed the atmosphere for county officials in terms of purchasing accountability and transparency in county record keeping and brought about a far-flung debate over the merits of the country unit system versus the “beat” or district form of governance.
In 2007, Crockett focused his skills on a related topic in a book called “Hands in The Till: Embezzlement of Public Monies in Mississippi.” The book focused on 37 public corruption cases involving Mississippi chancery clerks, circuit clerks, justice court clerks, municipal clerks, sheriffs, tax collectors, school and college administrators, and organizations that receive Mississippi public dollars.
The book was a response to a publication called the Corporate Crime Reporter which claimed that Mississippi was “the most crooked state in America.” Crockett set out to test that hypothesis with rather depressing results. It was, like his first book, an important reference book on the public corruption front.
In 2013, Crockett wrote one of several books related to the judicial bribery scandal that rocked Mississippi and drew national headlines. Crockett made an accountant’s forensic examination of the efforts of a group of talented, successful state attorneys to influence several state judges to rule in their favor in key cases.
The book examined the downfall of attorneys Paul Minor, Richard Scruggs, Joey Langston – all whose personal and professional lives were impacted as in Greek tragedy – and driven in great measure by the work of a bank examiner and the courage of a rural judge who refused to be bribed. “Power, Greed, Hubris: Judicial Bribery in Mississippi” explained the complex tale with an accountant’s dispassion and candor.
Now, Crockett is back with another book published by University Press of Mississippi and there’s not a corrupt public official in sight.
“Rulers of the SEC: Ole Miss and Mississippi State 1959 – 1966” has been a labor of love for Crockett. The book focused on the author’s realization that for a brief, shining time in the late 1950s and early 1960s. State and Ole Miss dominated the Southeastern Conference championships won in baseball, basketball and football from 1959 through 1966.
It’s one thing to claim athletic dominance in college sports, but it’s another thing to document that prowess in the manner worthy of an accountant with undergraduate and graduate degrees from Ole Miss and a doctorate from MSU. Perhaps the story is best told by Crockett in the book’s introduction:
“Over an eight-year period the SEC’s big three sports – basketball, baseball, and football – produced a total of 24 champions. During the calendar years 1959 – 1966 Mississippi universities combined to win 12 of the available 24 championships, exactly half. That left 12 championships for the other 10 members of the conference to divide among themselves,” Crockett wrote.
Whether you’re a Bulldog, Rebel, or Golden Eagle – or follow one of the state’s other fine public and private institutions of higher learning – Crockett’s new book celebrates a time when Mississippi universities found a way to compete successfully for championships with scant resources. Crockett tells the story of the “X’s and O’s” and also of more poignant stories of the “Jimmies and Joes.”
This book would be a great addition to the personal library of Mississippi’s discerning college sports fans. Look in better bookstores or visit www.upress.state.ms.us.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.
21 comments:
Deep stuff there. Maybe next week Sid can write an article on how candles were the preferred way of lighting up rooms
Champions in black and white (TV)
Legitimate? NC State wasn't allowed to play.
BBA
Before Black Athletes
Then, in an instant, Ole Miss and it’s rebels / confederate flags / found themselves in the dark and generally non competitive to this very day.
Salter, a State guy, apparently forgot the first legitimate national championship won by a Mississippi school - the 2021 Ole Miss Rebels Women's Golf National Championship.
Bill, Sid didn’t say State’s CWS Champ was the first. He used a reference fitting with the context of the book’s subject matter, big 3 sports.
Sid Salter = The Peter Principle in its purest form.
Much of Mississippi has a convenient memory; they remember what they want to, when they want to. They can't remember county and municipal corruption BEFORE the current administrations, yet they remember the glory days of the past. The bullshit we see in today's politics is not a recent invention it's part of a deep tradition. The villains and victims look different though...
Bill Dees has that little brother mentality full strength this morning. A point to mention, at the same time he is discounting the illegitimate football natty most Ole Miss like to claim from a time before most of their years. The Bulldog CWS natty is legitimate and only Ole Miss fans and NC State baseball fans will disagree. What is the common denominator there, you decide. I guess I would be a little salty to that my rival schools has been to the CWS multiple times with various coaches, your school just extended the contract of the coach who has been once in 2 decades. I too would be mad at the complacency, not my rival school.
Meh, both State and Ole Miss have a VERY RECENT National Championship and have supplied Pro Sports of all kinds some if not THE most famous athletes to ever play. If I have to rattle them off then you aren't even a sports fan. Hail State and well wishes TO ALL Mississippi Schools.
What's most apparent is that if certain inevitable changes had not taken place mostly in the 70's and 80's Mississippi would still be a dominant force. But change has always been a problem for Mississippi. That's the common denominator and should be the lesson from ALL study of Mississippi history.
I remember when Southern used to whip them both.
8:38 - Get the hell over it Goober. You might as well complain that no SWAC team or HBCU suited up for the tournament. You wanted them to get a free spot, right? If you don't like organizational rules, start a campaign to change them or just keep hanging out at Krystal for breakfast and reading the sports section.
before there was football, there were dinosaurs
I'm glad State finally won the CWS, but their championship will always have an * by it.
NC State was probably the best team in Omaha. They were peaking. And they got screwed.
@ 6:39 The asterisk is only imagined by OM folks. Quit worrying so much about the Bulldog’s success and put your energy into your own school.
6:39 show us that asterisk. I want to see it. Please! Maybe they will have a parade like UCF and their natty in football. We don’t know what would have happened because the two best never played. MS State played the entire CWS without committing a single error. * that!
"We don't know what would have happened because the two best never played."
Which is precisely why State's title has that * feel to it.
Ah, the glory days of Archie. How may Ole Miss grads are needed to change a light bulb? 100. 1 to change it and 99 to reminisce about it.
I enjoy Mr Crockett’s writing. Sid’s not so much…
Been a SEC observer going back to the early '60s.
At no time do I recall OM and MSU "dominating" the SEC in the major sports.
OM with Vaught and MSU with Babe McCarthy had some excellent teams, but "dominate"?
Come on!
I woke up this morning to find MSU leading Ole Miss and LSU for only the second time in history. If LSU loses another and the Sharks get another bye (think Covid), imagine the possibilities.
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