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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Special Player, Special Honor
10/24/2002 | Football
Oct. 24, 2002
By Chris Purser, Sports Information Student Assistant
College football is loaded with various awards. There is the Doak Walker given to the nation's best running back, the Lombardi for the best lineman and the Biletnikoff for the top wide receiver, to name a few.
Those awards are open to players from across the nation to receive, but there is one honor - the Chucky Mullins Courage Award - that is special to only a select few.
One of those few is senior linebacker Lanier Goethie. Last spring, the Baxley, Ga., native received the honor at the Chucky Mullins Courage Award banquet, which is held every year before the spring game. A three-year letterwinner for the Rebels, Goethie knows how special the award is.
"It's a great honor to receive this award," Goethie said. "Only one person gets to wear No. 38 every year, and I feel so much pride wearing that jersey.
"You have to look at Chucky's story as inspirational and play every play with all that you have."
That's exactly what Roy Lee "Chucky" Mullins did. After redshirting his first year at Ole Miss, the Russellville, Ala., native was making a name for himself as a "nickel" defensive back in 1989 when he tragically suffered a career-ending injury against Vanderbilt. The injury left Chucky paralyzed.
Despite his physical disability, Chucky showed a spirit that would not give up, and after rehabilitation, announced that he would return to Ole Miss to pursue a degree. He did return to the classroom in January of 1991, but on May 1 of that same year, he stopped breathing and died five days later from complications resulting from a blood clot.
To honor Chucky and what he meant to Ole Miss, the Chucky Mullins Courage Award was established. The award is given each year to an Ole Miss senior defensive player who will then have the honor of wearing No. 38, Chucky's number, the following year. It's a honor that pushes the recipients to do their best for the Ole Miss program.
"You look at what all Chucky went through, and that makes you want to give it your all," said former Rebel standout Kevin Thomas, who wore Mullins' No. 38 during the 2001 season. "Seeing what Lanier has done, Chucky would be proud to have him wear his number."
Goethie is the kind of player that best exemplifies Chucky Mullins. Since his arrival at Ole Miss in 1999, Goethie has gone out of his way to make an impact both on and off the field. It is his motivation that the Rebel coaches believe make Goethie a special player.
His impact and leadership on the field earned him the respect of his teammates who selected him as one of the team's permanent captains for 2002. In fact, Goethie has proven to both his teammates and coaches that they can count on him. Since his true freshman year in 1999, Goethie has only missed one game, that contest being the first of the 1999 season. Head coach David Cutcliffe sees the kind of leadership that Chucky Mullins displayed in Goethie.
"His whole career has been filled with big plays, great energy, and great emotion," said Cutcliffe. "If there ever was a guy that, in his senior year at Ole Miss, deserved to wear No. 38, it would be Lanier Goethie. I pinpointed Lanier as a candidate for the award when he was just a freshman."
Ole Miss defensive coordinator Chuck Driesbach was the secondary coach for the Rebels when Chucky was injured. Having the honor of coaching Mullins, Driesbach knows what kind of person Chucky was, and he sees the same qualities in Goethie.
"I was fortunate enough to be around Chucky and know how he worked and what kind of courage he had," Driesbach said. "So, to me, (the award) is very, very special. And to see a guy like Lanier receive that honor, I think that he upholds everything that Chucky was about and what this award is about."
While he has been singled out for this honor and his individual play, Goethie's main priority is to be a team player - someone who his teammates can count on.
"I feel that I will always be a team player because those (teammates) are my guys," Goethie said. "They are my family away from home."
Driesbach also acknowledges Goethie's "team-first" attitude.
"He is a fabulous person off the field, a great citizen, a great leader for us," Driesbach said. "He does everything he is supposed to do and more. He is a very well-rounded young man."
While only one Rebel defensive player each year receives the honor, the Ole Miss coaches are passing along to the entire squad of who Chucky was and what he meant to the University.
"The last couple of years, we have re-emphasized Chucky's story," Cutcliffe said. "I think that the team recognizes and understands how special the award really is."
And, with Goethie wearing No. 38, his teammates now realize just how special he is, too.
