Where Gov. Winter is my hero. He was my moral compass and my hero, as well as my dear friend. It happens all the time. How lucky am I? William Winter was one of the most treasured gifts I have ever received in my life. There were many common interests: sports, literature, history and most importantly, Mississippi. He was a master of the state’s social and political history. However, he knew more about its sports history than anyone. He was an encyclopedia of Mississippi sports, a talking, thinking, and walking encyclopedia. Archie Manning once said to me that William is a true encyclopedia. He amazes me every time I see him. He loves sports. His entire life has been spent in sports in some capacity. Governor, I treasure the time that I have with him. He is a great leader and man. Winter wanted to be a journalist as a child. This is the truth: Many consider Winter our greatest governor originally wanted to write about sports. He was raised in Grenada and grew up reading Walter Stewart’s columns on sports and The Commercial Appealof Memphis about Major League Baseball box scores. Winter stated, “I wanted to be Walter Stewart.” He was my model. He wrote beautifully and sometimes with slap your leg humor. Six years ago, a national news organization asked me for a historical essay on the Ole Miss Mississippi State football series. Both teams were undefeated at the time and ranked among the top five nationally in national polls. The Egg Bowl looked like it might have implications for the national championship. Naturally, Gov. It was a smart decision to call Gov. He could have written it himself from memory without the need to use record books or Google. I recall asking him about the 1941 Egg Bowl. It was the only one that had the SEC Championship in the balance. State would win the SEC Championship if it won. Ole Miss would win the SEC Championship if it won. Winter, a student journalist at Ole Miss who covered the game, remembered every detail: the weather, the score of 6-0 and all the important plays. This included State’s winning touchdown. Officials also called for a rematch after he ruled that the Rebel runner had stepped beyond bounds. It had been 72 year. (Gov. Winter was not so certain that the Ole Miss man stepped outside of bounds, but admitted to being prejudiced. I told Gov. I was amazed at Winter’s memory. He said, and I will never forget it: “Well… you have to remember that it was the most significant thing in my life at that time.” READ MORE. “One of the greatest Mississippians.” Governors, judges, judges, friends, ex-staffers, and congressmen all remember Gov. William Winter. He also told me of the first college football match he attended, Arkansas versus Mississippi State in Memphis, 1939. He was visiting relatives in Memphis and walked part of the route, rode a streetcar, and bought a ticket at the gate. He was 16. He was 16. He replied, “Oh, the Maroons won nineteen to zero.” Governor. Winter was the sports editor at The Mississippian and later editor of The Daily Mississippian. This newspaper is now owned by Ole Miss students. He didn’t have a car, as was common among college students. He would often ride his bike to the games. Gov. said, “I hitchhiked all across the South.” Winter said it to me. Winter told me. Winter recalls, “There was a bunch of us that got onto that truck on Highway 6.” “When we arrived in Memphis, we couldn’t get all of the cotton lint from our clothes.” Gov. Winter recalled the score, even if it was regretfully: Georgia, 38-13. Gov. Governor Winter was an enormous supporter of Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum both financially and in other ways. I was able to count on Winter for his generous support over my four-plus year tenure as director. He was a huge fan of Mississippi’s extraordinary sports history and all the people involved. Many old-timers will recall that he was often the emcee of the Hall of Fame’s annual Induction Banquet in the 1960s and 1970s. He was also the chairman of the selection committee for many years. He championed inclusion of African Americans in the Hall of Fame’s annual induction banquet, as well as being part of the committee that selects the inductees each year. 2016 Governor. Winter and I rode together from Winter to Cleveland to see Boo Ferriss present the C Spire Ferriss Trophy, his hero, to Jake Mangum, then a freshman at Mississippi State. I learned a lot about history. We spoke about the Mangum family. He thought of big John Mangum as Jake’s grandfather from his time at Southern Miss, when he was a great defensive tackle. He also remembered Jake’s uncle Kris and dad, little John, from their time at Ole Miss and Alabama, respectively. He also remembered Boo Ferriss fondly. Winter covered Boo Feriss’s final pitching performance at Mississippi State in 1942, which was a win over Ole Miss in Oxford. He recalled it seventy-four year later as if it had just happened that day. Winter stated, “I was in awe back then of Boo Ferriss; I was certain he would become a Major League star.” “I was an Ole Miss fan, but I was a Boo Feriss fan.” When I interviewed him, I believe I called him Mr. Ferriss.” Can you picture? He was 20 years old when Mr. Ferriss would win 46 games as a Big Leaguer, and pitch a shutout for the World Series. The future governor was 19. Oh, how I would love to record that interview. Gov. Winter and I both worked out at the same gym up until the pandemic. His time was spent on a stationary bicycle, which you can pedal with your legs and arms. He could keep the cycle going for up to 20-30 minutes sometimes, and sometimes even longer. He was a fit and healthy man in his mid-90s. His lovely wife Elise and he almost always went to the gym together. They often ended their workouts with leisurely laps on the indoor track, always hand-in-hand. You had to smile if you caught a glimpse of them, like I did. Their marriage lasted 70 years and they were still in love. Funny thing: Gov. In recent years, when Governor Winter and I visited, I tried to steer the conversation towards politics while he preferred to talk about sports. Our last conversation combined both. It was about Mississippi’s new flag, and how sports played a role in that. He was beaming about it. It is a miracle that he was alive to see it. However, Gov. But then, where Gov.