On Saturday, July 20, Kosciusko football history was frozen in time for a few hours as players, coaches, family and friends gathered at Randy Holloway’s home to rekindle old relationships and reflect on days past.
More than 40 former Kosciusko greats from the mid-1970s packed into the affectionately dubbed “Holloway Bullpen” after Holloway, a four-sport Kosciusko star and college athlete organized the gathering.
“We all keep in touch — or try to,” said Holloway, who graduated from Kosciusko in 1974. “We just decided to have a get-together. We hadn’t been together in a long time, and you don’t realize what you accomplish until years later.”
Art Nester, the architect of Kosciusko’s most dominant runs in program history, was just one of many in attendance. Nester coached the Whippets in the 1970s and began his Kosciusko career by winning 18 straight before the Whippets suffered their first loss. He went undefeated in his first season after Kosciusko had gone 5-5 the previous year.
Nester left Kosciusko after three years for Louisville and remained in the coaching profession for 13 more seasons.
“I tell you what — Kosciusko was my favorite place,” Nester, 79, said. “I had a good coaching staff. I just enjoyed them. The people at Kosciusko, and the young men, I just enjoyed Kosciusko very much. The entire student body backed me. You should have seen some of the pep rallies that we had back then in that old gym.”
Jackson Prep head coach Ricky Black, who is set to be inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame this weekend, began his high school coaching career under Nester at Ackerman High School. The two were on staff at Ackerman for one season before heading to Kosciusko in 1972. Black was a Kosciusko assistant for three seasons before the school offered him his first head coaching opportunity. He led the Whippets for five seasons.
Black has since complied a 383-75 record and won 13 state championships since he left Kosciusko in 1980. Black also spent six years as an assistant at Mississippi State with former Bulldogs head coach Jackie Sherrill.
Holloway's gathering afforded Black the chance to reconnect with his old coaching friends.
“It was a great feeling because going back and looking, the Kosciusko years are very important to my coaching career and my family,” Black, 70, said. “Our daughter grew up there in elementary school, and my wife, Linda, was a big part of the community working with the chamber of commerce. It was a great time for us all eight years we spent at Kosciusko.”
Like many others, Black recognized his time at Kosciusko with Nester as being instrumental in his development as a head coach.
“Kosciusko was a great football community,” Black said. “When Coach Nester and I first came there, our players were really eager to learn and eager to win. Coach Nester put together a winning team and a winning tradition in just a short time. And when he left, I got to coach there for five years and coach some great players. There’s just a passion for football in Kosciusko that’s really guided me all through my coaching. I can always go back and say, ‘That’s an example of really how you want to play football — the way Kosciusko played.’”
One member responsible for bringing Kosciusko’s football program to unprecedented heights was notably absent from Holloway’s gathering, but Black said he would be remiss if he didn’t acknowledge the contributions of former Whippet head coach Lewis Slater.
“Coach Slater passed away several years ago, but he was a tremendous part of the Kosciusko football program,” Black said.
More than 15 former Kosciusko athletes attended Holloway’s gathering, and among them were members of the well-known Harmon quartet, including Clarence Harmon. Harmon was a member of those dominant Kosciusko teams in the 1970s. He attended Mississippi State on a football scholarship and played running back in the NFL. Harmon won a Super Bowl in 1983 with Washington. His brother, Mike, played for the New York Jets.
“We had two members of the ’73 and ’74 teams who went on to the pros — two running backs, and one of them went to the Super Bowl,” Holloway said. “We had several more who went on to play in college.”
Ted Milton served as an assistant at Kosciusko under Nester, and in 1974 he guided the Whippets baseball team to its only state championship in school history. Milton now resides in Gulfport, but when Holloway contacted and told him of the reunion, Milton didn’t think twice.
Milton said the Whippet coaching staff’s jobs back then were made a bit easier due to the number of gifted players who filled Kosciusko’s rosters.
“Kosciusko was very fortunate at that time to have a lot of good athletes,” Milton, 69, said. “A lot of great young men who just loved to play and loved to compete. It was not hard coaching them.”
Milton attributed Kosciusko’s success back then to the chemistry between Nester and his assistants.
“First of all, it was a great coaching staff,” Milton said. “We got along. It was never a whole lot of disagreements. Yes, we did disagree on some things, but we settled it. Like maybe what defense or offense we were going to run, but Coach Nester was a great leader. The greatest thing to me at the reunion was seeing how successful these young men we coached are today. And hopefully, the coaching staff had a little bit to do with it. When you see your former players successful, that really makes you feel very good.”
Joe Wood led Kosciusko’s junior varsity team for seven years before serving as a varsity assistant for four years during the 70s. The Whippets during his varsity tenure rattled off a 49-6 record. Wood was present at Holloway's gathering. Wood’s career arc took him to Philadelphia High School, where he coached Marcus Dupree.
“Working with Coach Nester and Coach Black, they’re two of the best coaches in the state of Mississippi,” Wood, 74, said. “We really had a good coaching staff at that time. We liked each other. We worked well together, we got along and we enjoyed each others company. We liked the kids, and it was a close-knit group we had there.”
Holloway, Milton, Nester and Wood each said they believed Kosciusko to be on the progressive side of racial issues during a time when many school districts throughout the state opposed integration. Nester point-blank said he sought to create a culture of equality that made African-American players comfortable.
Nearly 40 years later, those friendships between the coaching staff and players during that turbulent period remain just as strong, and the gathering at Holloway’s home further illuminated Nester’s statement.
“The thing that I liked about Kosciusko was that there was no racists to it — there wasn’t black-and-white stuff going on around here back in those days,” Nester said. “I was as crazy about the black athlete as I was the white athlete. I always believed in playing the best. That’s just the way the game was created.”
As age, distance and family obligations prevent members from Kosciusko’s Golden Era from gathering as much as they like, each former Whipped cherished the time they spent together. What started on a football field as young friendships have blossomed into a brotherhood. And that bond has proudly stood the test of time.
“It’s really special when you get everybody together and rekindle those old friendships,” Holloway said. “We remember those old stories just like they happened yesterday. We try to stay in touch through social media now, almost everybody’s got it. We stay in touch with each other, but it’s more special when you get together and see each other face to face.”
