Friday Features: Basketball court at Delta State named for a 'Legend'
By Maurice Patton
Lloyd Clark was watching a baseball game last spring between his two grandsons when he learned that
Delta State would be naming the basketball court at Walter Sillers Coliseum in his honor.
Don’t ask him what the final score was.
“To be honest with you, I can’t even remember who won,” said the former coach of the Lady Statesmen, who was recognized during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Jan. 10. “I was so honored, I couldn’t even concentrate on the game.”
Clark concluded his 19-year reign as Delta State’s winningest coach, leading the program to 10 Gulf South Conference championships, three NCAA Division II titles and a 494-98 record – a gaudy winning percentage of .835. He stepped down following the 2001-02 season, as the Lady Statesmen finished 24-6 for his 17
th campaign with 20-plus wins.
His success at his collegiate alma mater was an extension of what he’d done at the Mississippi high school level. At Vicksburg’s Warren Central, Clark went 245-42 (.854) in eight years, making him the ideal candidate in 1983 when Delta was coming off a rare 13-16 losing campaign.
Clark quickly re-established the program, which had been a national power during the days of the AIAW (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women), winning 39 games in his first two years while competing at the NCAA Division I level.
“We were the only sport at Delta in Division I,” he recalled. “It was very difficult for us to get into any kind of NCAA tournament. We weren’t in a conference (for women’s basketball), so we couldn’t win any kind of conference championship to qualify for the NCAA tournament. That first year, we won 20 ballgames and didn’t even get invited to the Women’s National Invitational."
“I think (then-president) Kent Wyatt decided we probably needed to go to Division II so we could qualify for the NCAAs, play in the conference tournament and all that. We’d have an opportunity to play conference games, play for conference championships and go from there to (D-II) regionals and from there to the Final Four. It was a lot better suited for us.”
Once they got to Division II and the Gulf South, the move paid off immediately for Clark and the Lady Statesmen – winning 148 games and five league crowns in as many years along with a pair of national titles.
“That was one of the reasons we went Division II,” Clark said. “It gave our kids something to play for. It’s always better when you can do that.”
Delta added a national championship in 1992 to go with its ’89 and ’90 titles, finished as national runner-up in 1993 and made a total of seven Final Four appearances during Clark’s tenure.
He’s one of three Lady Statesmen representatives in the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, joining championship coach Margaret Wade and former standout Lusia Harris-Stewart.
At the same time the court was named for him, Clark was named one of four Legends of Delta State – along with Wade, Wyatt and H.L. Nowell -- in recognition of lifetime achievements, service, excellence and success.
“I’m in pretty good company,” he said. “It’s a great tribute to the years I had there."
“I’m honored to have my name on the court, I guess, forever.”
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Past Friday Features
11/07/2014 - NCAA Leader Chloe Richards Finds a Home at UNA.
11/14/2014 - Revival of a Rivalry.
11/21/2014 - VSU's Margaret Stauffer Finds Strength in Team, Family.
11/28/2014 - Union Off and Running.
12/05/2014 - UWA Coach Ray Stanfield Pushes Cross Country Teams to Top.
12/12/2014 - CBU Men's Basketball Making Noise.
12/19/2014 - Dickey Says UWG Football 'Right on Schedule'.
12/26/2014 - Youngsters Lead UWF Women.
1/02/2015 - UAH's Owens Rebounds From Car Crash With New Appreciation for Life, Basketball.
1/09/2015 - Freshmen Building Base for Lee Women's Success.
1/16/2015 - UWA's Chad Toocheck Overcame Addiction Lows to Reach Highs on Field.