Rick Cleveland, Mississippi’s Greatest Athletes

Rick Cleveland has been executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum for three years, after 33 years with The Clarion-Ledger and more than 40 years as a full-time sports writer.A native of Hattiesburg, Rick is the most decorated sports journalist in Mississippi history. In more than 40 years as a sports editor and columnist, he won scores of state, regional and national awards for his writing and reporting. In 2011 he became the first sports writer ever to be honored with the prestigious Richard Wright Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Excellence. Previous winners include such authors as Eudora Welty, Richard Ford and Willie Morris. Cleveland, the author of four books, also received the Distinguished Mississippian Award from the Mississippi Press Association’s Education Foundation in 2000. His newest book, Mississippi’s Greatest Athletes (Nautilus 2014), published last November, is in its second printing.

Dan Conaway, I’m a Memphian

A lifelong Memphian, Dan Conaway is a communication strategist and freelance writer. He has owned everything from ad agencies to creative boutiques, promoted everything from ducks in The Peabody to Grizzlies in the NBA to pandas in the zoo, and won recognition for his creativity at every level. Along the way, he has never lost his fascination or his frustration with his storied hometown, and he shares his passion for both equally in his columns and posts. As Nora, his wife of 42 years, and his grown children, Hallie and Gaines, say, “He is often wrong, but never in doubt.” His column, Memphasis, is posted weekly at www.wakesomebodyup.com, and published weekly in The Memphis Daily News and in The Memphis News.

John Grantham, The World’s Hardest Music Trivia

John’s colorful career path includes professional piano mover, ditch digger, personal trainer, Universal Studios Tour Guide, actor, Hollywood stuntman, script writer and cruise director. Through them all runs one common thread; a love and respect of popular music and the way it both reflects and influences society and culture. From One-hit Wonders to enduring classics The World’s Hardest Music Trivia: Rock ‘n’ Roll History, Fun Facts, and Behind the Scenes Stories About the Groups and Songs You Thought You Knew tests your knowledge of the music that provides the soundtrack of your life.

Bill Hancock, Riding with the Blue Moth

Bill Hancock has achieved a unique trifecta in college athletics: he was the first director of the NCAA Final Four, first director of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and the first director of the College Football Playoff. His five-decade career began in 1971 when he became assistant sports information director at the University of Oklahoma. He then spent 16 years with the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, 13 years as its director. In 2005, he was appointed administrator of the BCS. He became executive director in 2009 and was named to the same role for the playoff when it was created in 2012. Hancock has served on the United States Olympic Committee staff at 11 Olympic Games and two Pan American Games. He has been inducted into the halls of fame of the College Sports Information Directors and the All College Basketball Classic.

 Robert Khayat, The Education of a Lifetime

Robert Khayat is a former college football All-Star, All-Pro kicker for the Washington Redskins, law professor, and president of the NCAA Foundation. He holds degrees from Ole Miss and Yale, and was an Academic All-American football and baseball player while at Ole Miss. He has received the NFL Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the National Football Foundation Distinguished American Award. Dr. Khayat served as the fifteenth chancellor of the University of Mississippi from 1995 until 2009. He and his wife Margaret live in Oxford. They have two children and three grandchildren.

Willie Moseley, Peavey Guitars: The Authorized American History

Willie G. Moseley is the Senior Writer for Vintage Guitar Magazine. having written for that publication since 1989. He also presently serves as News Editor, columnist, and photographer for The Tallassee Tribune. He came of age in Montgomery, Alabama during the original Civil Rights Movement (and has written extensively about those times). Moseley resides in rural Elmore County, Alabama, with his wife Gail, daughter Elizabeth, and their pet Schnauzhund, “Josie”. He says he has no hobbies because he’s too busy writing.

Al Povall, A Tapestry of Red and Blue: Ole Miss Sports 1945-1970 and A Time Remembered: Ole Miss 1945-1970

A native of Lexington, Mississippi, Al Povall graduated from Ole Miss in 1963 with a B.A. Subsequently, he served as a Naval Officer, including two combat tours in Vietnam, and then earned a J. D. from the Ole Miss Law School and a Master of Laws from the Yale Law School. Povall practiced law for 21 years, much of it representing BellSouth Corporation. Retired since 1998, he and his wife Janet live in Oxford, Mississippi. Povall is the author of The Time of Eddie Noel, which was a nominee for the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters best nonfiction award in 2011, and A Tapestry of Red and Blue and A Time Remembered, both of which are oral histories of the University of Mississippi.

Dr. David Sansing, A Troubled History: The Governance of Higher Education in Mississippi and Mississippi Governors: Soldiers, Statesmen, Scholars, Scoundrels

Dr. David G. Sansing is an Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Mississippi who has written several books and textbooks on Mississippi history. Sansing received his M.A. in History from Mississippi College in 1959 and his Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1969.

Dr. Neil Spector, Gone in a Heartbeat

Dr. Neil Spector, one of the nation’s top oncologists, was educated at prestigious universities, trained at top medical centers, and had married the woman of his dreams. It seemed too perfect. And it was. In 1994, it all came crashing down. He and his wife lost two unborn children. And a mysterious illness brought him to the brink of death. In his compelling memoir, Gone in a Heartbeat, Dr. Spector describes in great detail how he was misdiagnosed and, despite being a medical insider, was often discounted by his fellow physicians. He tells of courageous patients who served as role models and he advocates for educated patients who can make informed decisions collaboratively and not simply follow instructions. In Dr. Spector’s words: “To recognize that we are in control of our own bodies and destinies can be a powerful step toward true healing.”

Marty Stuart, Choctaw Gardens

The five-time Grammy winning multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, photographer, and historian has built a rich legacy in country music. He has worked on 19 studio albums and has produced dozens of hit singles. His musical legacy is intertwined with Travis Tritt, Connie Smith, Johnny Cash, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, Clarence White, Leroy Troy and Bela Fleck. Stuart hosts and produces The Marty Stuart Show on RFD-TV.

Don Thompson, Stennis: Plowing a Straight Furrow

Don H. Thompson earned B.S., M.S. and Ph. D. degrees in forestry from Mississippi State University. He and his wife, Rita, live on a farm near Golden in Tishomingo County, Mississippi.

Billy Watkins, Bo: A Quarterback’s Journey Through an SEC Season

Billy Watkins has worked as a sports writer, features writer and columnist for more than three decades at The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi. His work has earned him more than 50 national and regional awards. He has written two books. His 2005 work, Apollo Moon Missions: The Unsung Heroes, was named by the BBC one of the Top 10 books ever written on Apollo.

Katrina, Mississippi: Voices from Ground Zero by NancyKay Wessman

NancyKay Sullivan Wessman writes, edits, reads, and tells stories. She’s a public health expert through work and education. She’s written everything from annual reports to websites, from newspaper articles to books. She’s also a public relations consultant and speaker. Sometimes she cooks, gardens, and entertains.

NancyKay gets stuff done.

D.K. White, 501 Trivia

D.K. White is a fifth generation Mississippian. He was raised in Gulfport, but he has also lived in Natchez and Hattiesburg and now resides outside of Jackson. Married for 29 years and the proud father of two daughters and a son, White enjoys reading, especially Civil War, Native American and 19th Century histories about the South.

Debbie Bell, Bell on Mississippi Family Law

Deborah H. Bell received her J.D. from the University of Mississippi in 1979. A member of the UM law faculty since 1981, she teaches Family Law and Poverty Law. She is the founder of the law school’s Civil Legal Clinic and pro bono program, the UM Pro Bono Initiative and served as the director of both programs. In May, 2013, Bell was appointed to serve as the law school’s first Associate Dean for Clinical Programs. Bell will begin serving as Interim Dean for the law school in July, 2015.

Joe Turner Cantú, In the Moment

An actor trainer, playwright, and director, Joe Turner Cantú is a professor of Theatre at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss.) For ten years, he was artistic director of Oxford Shakespeare Festival. His teaching expertise is in acting process and acting styles. Joe has also taught at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Northern Arizona University and at his alma mater, Southern Methodist University, where he earned his M.F.A. in Acting. He is the recipient of acting, playwriting, and teaching awards. He and his husband live in Oxford, Mississippi.

Ken Sufka, The A Game: Nine Steps to Better Grades

Dr. Kenneth Sufka joined the University of Mississippi faculty in 1992 after earning his Ph.D. in physiological psychology at Iowa State University. He is professor of psychology and pharmacology and research professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He also holds a visiting research fellow appointment at the Comparative Biology Centre at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. Dr. Sufka has also been recognized by American Psychological Association’s Presidential Citation in 2000 for his national-level efforts at undergraduate curricular reform and by Iowa State University Department of Psychology’s Alumni Achievement Award in 2010 for exceptional contributions to teaching and service to the profession and to the community.