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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Soccer Rebels Carry On the Family Name
9/27/2007 | Soccer
By Elizabeth Zaremba
Athletics Media Relations Student Assistant
Ole Miss Football has long had a family tradition. Sons, grandsons, nephews and cousins have followed in the footsteps of their elders - from the Kinard family to the Sanfords, from the Hapes boys to the Wicker boys, to the Pooles, the Heards, the Jerrys, the Johnsons all the way down to the first family of football, the Mannings.
What many may not know is that there are two Lady Rebels continuing their family legacies playing football.
The other football, that is.
Sophomores Perryn Tyler and Hannah Weatherly were raised in homes where there was only one team to cheer for. Both are children of Ole Miss alums, and both are quite successful on the soccer field.
Jimmy Weatherly started at quarterback for the Rebels from 1962-64. During his time at Ole Miss, Hannah's uncle was selected to the All-SEC team and was a Second Team All-America selection by the Associated Press in 1964.
Hannah said it was just understood where she would go to college.
"We take pride in coming to Ole Miss," she said. "He (Jimmy) was happy that I followed in his footsteps."
Tyler also has significant connections to Ole Miss. Her grandfather, Bob Tyler, served as an assistant coach under John Vaught in the late '60s before taking over as the head coach at Mississippi State in 1973. Perryn's father, Breck, lettered at wide receiver in 1980 and 1981, leading the Rebels in catches his junior year.
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"My dad loves Ole Miss," Perryn said. "He likes that I came to the same school he came to and that I am playing a division one sport."
Tyler added that there is a responsibility for them to continue what their families started decades ago.
"I feel like I owe it to them because they worked so hard, and then they still live it through us, probably."
Rebel fans will agree that the Mississippi natives are living up to their predecessors, as both contributed to the Rebels' success last season as freshmen. Tyler played in all 20 games and had 22 shots for the season. After Weatherly made noise by scoring her first career goal in the match vs. No. 3 Notre Dame, she finished the year tied for second on the team with six goals, while notching a team-high three game-winning scores.
Weatherly scored her first goal of the 2007 season on Sept. 7 against Southern Miss.
Tyler and Weatherly still have a few years left at Ole Miss, and Weatherly best describes what it is like for them to play at their families' alma mater.
"It's a blessing. We're living a dream."
