Hall of Fame
Bay Springs native Hill Denson played baseball and basketball at JCJC from 1962-64.
He then attended Southern Mississippi from 1964-66 and received his master’s degree from Mississippi College in 1971.
He was the head baseball and head basketball coach at Chamberlain-Hunt Academy in Port Gibson from 1966-70 and assistant baseball and football coach at Manhattan High School in Jackson from 1970-71.
Denson became head baseball coach and offensive coordinator for football at Jackson Callaway High School from 1971-81. He was in private business from 1981-82 and became a volunteer assistant baseball coach at Vanderbilt University in 1982. He became Director of In-Game Promotions for the Nashville Sounds from 1982-83.
Denson then became head baseball coach at the University of Southern Mississippi in 1984 and led the Golden Eagles to unprecedented success on the diamond. He guided Southern Miss to a 468-386-2 record in 14 years as head coach, including the school’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearances in 1990-91. The baseball field at Southern Miss is named after him.
He was a fundraiser for the Southern Miss Athletic Department from 1997-2000 and was in private business from 1999-2000.
Denson was named head baseball coach at Belhaven University in Jackson in 2000 and also served as head coach of the Jackson Senators, an independent Class A professional team, in 2005.
He led Belhaven to the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) championship in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010. In 2010, the Blazers won their NAIA opening round title and advanced to the NAIA World Series.
Belhaven then became a member of the Southern States Athletic Conference (SCAC) in 2011, won the tournament championship and made it to the finals of the first round of the NAIA nationals. He was GCAC Coach of the Year in 2004, 2007, 2010; Region Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2010; and SSAC Coach of the Year in 2011.
As a college head coach, Denson owns a 900-673-2 record. Overall, he is 1115-741-2.
Denson, who currently resides in Madison, was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2008, the Belhaven University Sports Hall of Fame in 2010 and is also a member of the Mississippi Association of Coaches (MAC) Hall of Fame and the Southern Miss Sports Hall of Fame.
