This is the fourth in a series profiling the 2003 inductees into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in a banquet on April 4 in Vicksburg. Tuesday: Bob Stevens.

[3/31/03]Growing up in the Mississippi Delta, Mildrette Netter Graves never dreamed of becoming a track star.

It was basketball she liked most and it was basketball she had played since seventh grade.

But when her high school basketball coach wanted to start a track and field team in Rosedale, Graves said thanks but no thanks.

Then that same coach said if a player wanted to play basketball, she had to be on the track team as well.

The rest, as the popular saying goes, is history paved with gold.

Graves will add one more honor to her already impressive resum on Friday when she’ll join seven others as inductees into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in a banquet in Vicksburg.

“She’s Miss Alcorn,” said Vicksburg High football coach Alonzo Stevens, who coached the Lady Braves track team while an assistant football coach in Lorman.

Graves’ immediate impact on the high school track and field world was felt, but running beyond high school was in question. In Mississippi, women were not being offered track scholarships. The closest, she said, was Tennessee State.

Graves landed at Alcorn because, “I wanted to go to college and get out of Rosedale.” Alcorn, though, had a men’s team, but no women’s team.

That did not stop Graves, who traveled to out-of-state meets with the team to square off against runners from other schools’ women’s teams. She was the catalyst for starting the Alcorn women’s team.

Excelling in the 100-and 200-meter dash, Graves blazed to a spot on the United States Olympic team.

Her 4-by-100 relay team captured a gold medal, which she still shows off today.

“I had a little national experience and no international experience in 1968,” Graves said. “I guess I was just blessed.”

Hearing the national anthem and getting on the stand to receive her gold medal is a memory she keeps close to her heart.

“People sometimes ask me what is was like,” Graves said. “There was an overwhelming feeling of patriotism. It meant so much to me.”

Graves, nicknamed “Midge,” went on to win three all-SWAC performer honors and was named outstanding athlete in her AAU region team in 1969.

After graduating from Alcorn in 1972, she began a coaching career that spanned nearly 30 years.

She coached girls track at Leland High and earned five Delta Valley Conference Coach of the Year honors.

A short stint at Alcorn and eight years at two schools in Moss Point led Graves back to the Delta where she coached at Clarksdale High.

“I had some success as a coach,” she said with a chuckle.

A lack of today’s athletes dedication and 28 years in various schools was enough for Graves to call it quits. But she by no means is inactive.

The former gold medalist is athletic director at the Tutwiler Community Center south of Clarksdale.

Many of her students there ask about the Olympics and her medals.

“They usually say, wow, you did that,'” Graves said. “They didn’t think I could run that fast.”

Graves was elected to the Alcorn State Hall of Fame in 1992, and is also a member of the SWAC Hall of Fame, West Boliver High School Hall of Fame and the Bob Hayes Sports Hall of Fame.

Those, though, pale in comparison to the honor she will receive on April 4.

“I was surprised and excited,” said Graves upon hearing the news of her election to the MSHOF. “It’s one of the greatest honors I have received, especially when you get recognized in your home state. It is a very elite group of athletes.”