BOONEVILLE, Miss. - Northeast Mississippi Community College is saddened by the recent losses of two great men that were synonymous with its tradition-rich basketball program.
Harvey Childers, who coached for 39 total years across the famed "Hill Country" region of northeast Mississippi with seven of those seasons coming with the Tigers, passed away on July 23rd.
Adrian "Odie" Smith, who won a national championship at the University of Kentucky and an Olympic gold medal after first earning All-American honors at Northeast, died on April 28th.
Coach Harvey Childers
Childers' success as head coach of the Tigers can be topped by only the founder of the program itself, Bonner Arnold. He accumulated 192 wins at Northeast with an appearance in the national championship game in 1989.
That team went 30-5 overall and featured a pair of National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-Americans in Anthony Gamble and Clay Johnson. It was the first of two 30-win seasons with the Tigers for Childers.
Northeast secured its spot in the national tournament by defeating Copiah-Lincoln Community College for the NJCAA Region 23 title. It put the finishing touches on a perfect 16-0 mark for the Tigers that year inside Bonner Arnold Coliseum.
Childers and the Tigers raced past the Community College of Rhode Island, Hagerstown (Md.) Community College and San Jacinto (Texas) College before falling to Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in the championship matchup.
It was the third national runner-up finish in school history and the first since 1951. Childers made two additional trips to Hutchinson, Kan., for the NJCAA Tournament in both 1987 and 1992.
The 1991-92 edition of the Tigers rose to as high as third in the national rankings in what was Childers' final season. He won five division, one conference and three region championships during his tenure at Northeast.
Childers arrived in Booneville as a well-established coach after leading W.P. Daniel High School in New Albany to state championships in 1977 and 1985. He also led prep programs at Marshall Academy, Myrtle, Ripley, Thaxton and Wheeler.
Four of his former student-athletes have been inducted into the Northeast Sports Hall of Fame in Tim McDonald, Johnny Payton, Fred Stafford and Gamble.
Childers himself was a member of the second induction class of the Northeast Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. He is also enshrined in the Mississippi Association of Coaches (MAC) and the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) halls of fame.
His cumulative record as a head coach between Northeast and the high school level was 1,013-305. Northeast has honored Childers each of the last three years with the creation of the Harvey Childers Classic tournament and will do so once again this December.
Adrian "Odie" Smith
Smith is the only former member of either Northeast basketball program to receive a spot in the prestigious Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. He was inducted as part of the 1960 Olympic team that brought home gold in Rome, Italy.
He averaged approximately 22 points per game and secured National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-American honors during his pair of seasons at Northeast under head coach Bonner Arnold.
Smith returned to his native Kentucky in the fall of 1956 to play for another legendary figure in Adolph Rupp. He became a beloved part of the Wildcats' 'Fiddlin' Five' that won the 1958 national championship.
He posted nearly 14 points per contest during the University of Kentucky's run to its fourth NCAA title. Smith had a tournament-best 18 points against Miami (Ohio) University in the Sweet 16 round.
Smith averaged 10.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in 51 career outings with the Wildcats. He became the first Northeast alumnus to be taken in the NBA Draft when the Cincinnati Royals selected him with the 85th overall pick in 1958.
He put his professional debut on hold and instead joined the Army. Smith was chosen to represent our country in the Pan American Games in Chicago while still serving in the military and earned a gold medal.
Smith was one of five players to average double figures on the 1960 Olympic team with 10.9 points over eight contests. He was teammates in Italy with future hall of famers such as Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West.
He eventually started an 11-year pro career with the Royals in 1961. Smith was the most valuable player (MVP) of the 1966 NBA All-Star Game in Cincinnati with 24 points and eight rebounds while competing alongside 16 future hall of famers.
Smith averaged double-digits for four consecutive seasons with a career-best 18.4 points per game during the 1965-66 campaign. He led the NBA one year later in free throw shooting with a 90.3 success rate.
He was a charter member of the Northeast Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. Smith was also inducted into the state of Kentucky, UK, NJCAA and Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) halls of fame.