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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Eric Oliver Named Chucky Mullins Courage Award Winner
4/16/2004 | Football
April 16, 2004
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss defensive back Eric Oliver of Jasper, Ala., has been selected as the 2004 recipient of the Chucky Mullins Courage Award.
The award, sponsored by Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, honors the late Chucky Mullins, who had his Ole Miss career come to an end during the 1989 Homecoming game against Vanderbilt when he was paralyzed after making a tackle. After returning to his studies at Ole Miss, Mullins passed away on May 6, 1991.
The Chucky Mullins Courage Award goes to a rising senior defensive player at Ole Miss. Each winner then wears Mullins' No. 38 during that senior season.
Oliver, who has worn No. 26 during his first three years, will be in No. 38 Saturday afternoon when Ole Miss conducts its annual Red-Blue spring football game, set for 1:00 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium/Hollingsworth Field.
The selection of Oliver was announced during Friday night's 15th annual Chucky Mullins Courage Award Banquet, which is sponsored each year by Phi Beta Sigma and Phi Kappa Psi fraternities.
"I think Eric Oliver exemplifies courage on the field and has all the characteristics Chucky Mullins possessed,"said Ole Miss head coach David Cutcliffe following the announcement. "He is a great representative of this prestigious award and an excellent choice to carry on the Chucky Mullins legacy at Ole Miss."
"I'm really overwhelmed," Oliver said. "It's such a great honor to be chosen to represent Chucky Mullins and all those other players who wore his number down through the years. It feels great to have been selected to help carry on his legacy. I'll do my best not to disappoint anybody and uphold Chucky's 'never quit' attitude."
During his career at Ole Miss, Oliver has earned three letters while seeing action in all 37 games, including 28 starts. Oliver, who has led the Rebels in tackles the last two years, has 258 career total tackles, including 168 solo hits. He has been credited with seven tackles for a minus 23 yards, and has one quarterback sack for a minus nine yards.
Oliver has also caused one fumble, recovered four fumbles, broken up nine passes, applied two QB pressures, and intercepted one pass. His top game, statistically, was a 14 tackle performance against Florida in 2002 when the Rebels defeated the 6th ranked Gators, 17-14, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Former Ole Miss All-America tight end Wesley Walls, currently a member of the Green Bay Packers and a 15-year NFL veteran, served as guest speaker of the event. Walls and Mullins were teammates at Ole Miss in 1988, Chucky's redshirt freshman season when Walls was a senior. A year later as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, Walls wore a Chucky 38 towel in his honor during Super Bowl XXIV when the 49ers defeated the Denver Broncos 55-10.
Oliver joins 14 other former Ole Miss Rebels to receive the Chucky Mullins Courage Award. They include Chris Mitchell, Jeff Carter, Trea Southerland, Johnny Dixon, Alundis Brice, Michael Lowery, Derek Jones, Nate Wayne, Gary Thigpen, Ronnie Heard, Anthony Magee, Kevin Thomas, Lanier Goethie, and Jamil Northcutt.
