The University of Mississippi Athletics
Eddie Crawford Among MSHOF 2012 Induction Class
9/26/2011 | Athletics
Sept. 26, 2011
JACKSON, Miss. -- Ole Miss' Eddie Crawford joins the youngest inductee in MSHOF history and a twenty-year Major League veteran among the six-member Induction Class of 2012 that will be honored July 27-28, 2012 at the 50th Annual BancorpSouth Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Induction Weekend in Jackson, Miss. The class was announced Monday at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.
The six-member induction class includes the youngest ever inductee, Courtney Blade Rogers, former National Softball Player of the Year at Southern Mississippi; Sam Hall, Hattiesburg, Miss., native and former player and golf coach at USM; Jeff Malone, all-time basketball scoring leader in Mississippi State University history with 2,142 points; Ennis Proctor former Executive Director of the Mississippi High School Activities Association and 20-year major leaguer Rafael Palmeiro, the only three-time baseball All-American in MSU history.
Crawford, a native of Jackson, Tenn., is in his 47th year of service to the University of Mississippi, currently holding the title of Senior Associate Athletics Director Emeritus. His administrative tenure at Ole Miss included a stint as interim athletics director from April to June 1998 and eight years as director of the Loyalty Foundation, now the UMAA Foundation.
Crawford joined the athletics department in 1962 as head basketball coach, freshman football assistant coach and varsity scout. He was head basketball coach from 1963-68, posting a 46-97 record. He coached the offensive backfield and receivers before taking on full-time recruiting responsibilities in 1977. Following the 1979 season, Crawford joined the Loyalty Foundation staff.
Crawford was a star performer for the Rebels in football, basketball and baseball from 1954 to 1956. He was an All-Southeastern Conference centerfielder in 1956.
After a successful stint with the New York Giants of the National Football League, he entered the coaching ranks as an assistant at Greenville (Miss.) High in 1958. He was named head coach at Greenville in 1959 before returning to Jackson (Tenn.) High as coach and athletic director in 1960, a position he held until joining the Rebels in 1962.
A member of the Ole Miss Sports Hall of Fame and the Jackson-Madison County Hall of Fame, Crawford was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in February, 1996. He and his wife, Shirley, have two children, Kim and Kip, both Ole Miss graduates, and two grandsons, Slater and Logan.