Stories
Whitney Named Sports Person of the Year
By Michael Rubenstein, Executive Director
Dec 26, 2002, 10:57am

Dave Whitney

Legendary Alcorn State University basketball coach Dave Whitney was named Mississippi's Sports Person of the Year for 2002 by the state's largest daily newspaper, The Clarion-Ledger.

With three more wins,the 72-year old Whitney will join Duke's Mike Krzyewski and Jim Boeheim of Syracuse as the only Division I coaches with 500 wins at their current school. Whitney is in his 27th season at Alcorn.

The Lexington, KY native who starred as an infielder with the Kansas City Monarchs of the old Negro Leagues,spent six seasons as head coach at SWAC rival Texas Southern before coming to Alcorn in 1969. His 1980 Alcorn team made college history by recording the first playoff victory ever by a historically black university in the NCAA playoffs with its win over South Alabama in the Midwest Regional.

Whitney was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.

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