Warrior Magazine December 2019

Irons joins ECCC Athletic Hall of Fame

Barry Irons of Philadelphia, East Central Com munity College alumnus and former Warrior foot ball standout, joined an esteemed group of former athletes as a member of the college’s Athletic Hall of Fame during Homecoming activities held Oct. 17. When notified of his selection, Irons said, “I was shocked and humbled when Dr. (Billy) Stewart called me. I am just so honored to be selected a member of the ECCC Athletic Hall of Fame. I will always cherish my memories of my time at East Central and all the experiences I have had with the college since.” Irons was a standout player and team captain at Philadelphia High School before signing on to play for Coach Ken Pouncey’s East Central squad in 1967. “The older I get, the more I ap

preciate my EC years. Not only do I cherish my football career and those memories, but my fellow classmates as well, and just the total experience of meeting all my fellow students and getting to know them. I still run into them and talk about the memories of our time at East Central.” Irons said playing junior college football was an experience he’ll never forget. He said it was tough, just like he had always heard it would be. “It was an experience just show ing up that first season. I had always heard it was tough and I wondered if I could do it. Coach Pouncey and Coach (Billy) Baucum were in their first sea

practice and had to leave and go see Dr. (Aus tin) Boggan to drain fluid from my knee. Coach Pouncey had locked the gates because he was a little upset from our last game. When it came time for me to leave, the manager told Coach the gates were still locked and he told us to climb over the gates to get out. And we did it without hesitation! I recovered and was able to play in the next game,” he said. He was an Honorable Mention All-State selec tion following the 1968 season and played in the Mississippi Junior College All-Star game under legendary East Mississippi coach “Bull” Sullivan. When asked about playing for Coach Sullivan, Irons said, “We had a secret full scrimmage one morning about 4 a.m. with a heavy frost on the ground. My how times have changed! You couldn’t get away with that these days. I was the long snapper on offense and played defensive end and defensive tackle. I remember walking out onto the field before the game and my legs felt like they weighed 200 pounds each. We were all so excited. But after the game got started, we all settled down and had a great time.” Irons was not only a leader on the football field, but also served as president of his freshman class at East Central and as Student Body Association President during his sophomore year. He was a freshman class favorite, received the Citizenship Award and also was a member of the Engi neering Club. “I appreciate my teachers, coaches, and the administra tion I had the pleasure of working with on several occa sions,” Irons said. “Mr. Ovid Vickers encouraged me to run for SBA president. Coach Pouncey and Coach Baucum worked with me to be a better football player. Frank Rives, Frank Cross, Tommy Thrash, Pace Guthrie, George Mason, George Abraham, Alfred Deaton and many others chal

son at East Central and they were young and tough. We had a good first year. We got beat by Perk (now Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College) pretty bad that first game, but we ended strong with a 7-3 record overall.” Irons was the starting center as an ECCC freshman and during his sophomore season played both center and nose guard. “During my sophomore year, Coach Pouncey put three freshman players in my room. I was Student Body President at the time and was having to go to meetings between prac tices so I wasn’t really able to get to know them well. After about three or four days of two and three a day practices, I came back to our room to find that all three of them had packed up and left!” He said they started with about 70 players during sum mer practice and ended up with 29 during the regular season. “You had to really want to play junior college football!” he added. Irons also remembers the time during football practice when he had to jump a seven-foot gate to get to a doctor’s appointment. “I had a knee injury and was not dressed out, but I was at

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