ELLISVILLE – Former Bobcat S.S. "Buck" Anderson, Jr., 91, died Saturday, July 25, 2026, in his hometown of Fitzgerald, Georgia.

Mr. Buck grew up in Jones County where he attended Petal High School and earned a football scholarship to then-Jones County Junior College.

He was immensely proud to have been a member of the 1955 state champion Bobcats who went undefeated in the regular season and went on to play Compton College (California) in the Junior Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. It was the first time an all-white athletic team from Mississippi played an integrated team.

That event was recognized in 2018 with a historical marker located on the Jones campus in a rose garden by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Mr. Buck shared much of his leadership and benevolence with Jones, contributing lead gifts to the Foundation's Reaching New Heights campaign in 1999, joined others in initiating and helping to fund Radionian yearbook staff workshops, campus beautification and landscaping projects and numerous scholarship endowments. He donated the oaks in front of Jones Hall, with the naming of each tree providing historical information for the College, donated the swing project by the walking trail by the lake and Anderson Hall bears his name.

On a Waffle House napkin he wrote the first pledge to the Jones Foundation. On a napkin which cost less than five cents it helped the Foundation award over 582 scholarships.

Mr. Buck was a dedicated Bobcat Club member, Jones Honor Alum, Foundation Board member and 2024 selection in the JC Athletics Hall of Fame.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m., Thursday, July 30, 2026, at Central Wesleyan Church in Fitzgerald, Georgia, with the Rev. Mike Tullis, the Rev. Don Thompson, Jr., the Rev. B.J. Funk, the Rev. Dr. Buddy Cooper and Dr. Jesse Smith officiating. Interment will follow in the Evergreen Cemetery. The family will receive friends Wednesday evening, from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m., in the chapel of the Paulk Funeral Home.