PEARL – Former Jones College basketball and football coach Bonnie Lee "Country" Graham was inducted into the Mississippi Community College Sports Hall of Fame Tuesday night at the Muse Center on the Hinds-Rankin County campus.
Graham is the 22nd Bobcat to be enshrined into the state Hall of Fame.
Graham was the Jones men's basketball coach for seven seasons between 1939 and 1949. He missed three years because of serving in the military during World War II. He was a sergeant in the Army and taught recruits at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg.
He was also the school's first assistant football coach and was elevated to head football coach in 1947.
Graham led the Bobcats to state basketball championships in 1941, 1943 and 1946 and a state championship in football in 1947. Unofficially, he was 107-36 in seven seasons as men's basketball coach. In football, Jones was 9-0-1 in 1947, 8-2 in 1948 and 6-5 in 1949, giving Graham a 23-7-1 record as head coach.
Graham was born in Baldwyn, Miss., on Aug. 24, 1914, and would go to Ole Miss and play basketball from 1936-38.
He was All-SEC in 1938 and was the Rebels' first basketball All-American that year.
During his time with the Rebels, he averaged 16.6 points and established 36 SEC scoring records. He led the SEC in scoring for three straight seasons. The 6-foot-3 Graham pioneered the one-handed hook shot, which was known as "Country's Fade-Away."
He led the Rebels to a 53-27 record during his three seasons as a player, including the program's first 20-win season in 1936-37 (20-6). In 1937-38, he helped Ole Miss reach the finals of the SEC Tournament and led all scorers in the tournament with 71 points. He played end on the 1938 football team, which posted a 9-2 record.
After graduating from Ole Miss, Graham came to Jones to be the men's basketball coach and the school's first assistant football coach. He was named head football coach in 1947.
After leaving Jones, he returned to Ole Miss as head basketball coach from 1950-62. He also served as an assistant football coach from 1952-60. He retired from Ole Miss in 1974 as Assistant Professor of Physical Education.
He was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1963 and was a charter member of the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986. Graham was also named to the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel Star's All-Time Southeastern Conference third team in 1974 and in 1978 was listed in. Sports Illustrated as one of the seven outstanding players in America for the decade of the 1930s. He is a life member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
A poll of alumni, faculty and sportswriters selected him as the Most Outstanding Player in Basketball at Ole Miss from 1893-1950. In 1999, he was presented the Mike Campbell Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding performance as an assistant coach in football. In 2002, he was named to the Ole Miss basketball Team of the Century. He was the winningest coach in Ole Miss basketball history with 144 victories.
Graham was named the SEC Ole Miss Basketball Legend in 2015.
An historical marker in his honor was recently placed in his hometown of Baldwyn.
Graham passed away on Oct. 13, 2001.
Jones members in the MCC Hall of Fame:
Sim Cooley, Joe Flowers, A.B. Howard (2007)
Randall Boone, John Perkins (Class of 2008)
Gene Tullos (Class of 2009)
Gwen Magee (Class of 2010)
L.D. Ready (Class of 2011)
Parker Dykes (Class of 2012)
Mike McClellan (Class of 2013)
Jackie Parker (Class of 2014)
Elmer Higginbotham (Class of 2015)
Deion Branch (Class of 2016)
Joe-Michael Robertson (Class of 2017)
Sandra Sumrall (Class of 2018)
Hill Denson (Class of 2019)
Jay Ladner (Class of 2020)
Katie Herrington (Class of 2021)
Kevin Jackson (Class of 2022)
Pauline Love (Class of 2023)
Wendy Hogue (Class of 2024)
Bonnie Lee Graham (Class of 2025)
