[4/2/04]In the mid-1980s, Willie Totten was the closest thing Mississippi Valley State had to a superhero.

By day, he was a hardworking, mild-mannered college student. By night, he was a rocket-armed quarterback who shattered records, dropped jaws, and turned a neglected football outpost into one of the hottest tickets in the country.

Totten set 56 NCAA and 36 Southwestern Athletic Conference records during his three seasons as a starter. He was the triggerman for a golden age of Valley football, but sometimes overshadowed by his best receiver, a future hall of famer named Jerry Rice.

Tonight, Totten will have the spotlight all to himself when he becomes the first athlete from Valley to be inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

“Hard work brought Willie Totten from where he was to where he is,” said former Valley coach Archie Cooley, who led the Delta Devils from 1980-86. “I don’t think he ever gets the credit he should’ve gotten. I don’t know anybody else that could have thrown the football the way he did.”

Totten came to Itta Bena from J.Z. George High School in North Carrollton, where he had played football, basketball and baseball. He had offers from a host of SWAC schools, but decided to stay close to home after a talk with his uncle.

“I really was skeptical about coming (to Valley). But my uncle told me I could go to Valley and make a difference. I never knew it would be that big a difference,” Totten said with a laugh.

Initially, Totten didn’t show any signs of being a great passing quarterback. He had run the wing-T offense at J.Z. George, and Cooley was running an option offense at Valley. Totten didn’t grasp it right away, and nearly quit the team.

Luckily, he kept working at it. And working. And when he had had enough, he worked some more.

Totten and a group of players would often arrive at practice 45 minutes early and stay an hour late. When it was over, there might be a short dinner break before they threw the ball around outside the dormitory.

“They had me in awe as a coach, and it made me check myself as a coach, to see what I could do to be better,” said current Alcorn State head coach Johnny Thomas, who served as Valley’s defensive coordinator during the Totten era. “Once those guys saw his overall approach to the game, their approach changed.”

Heading into the 1983 season, Cooley faced a choice. His offense could either continue to use the option, or he could utilize Totten’s arm and the receivers’ speed to come up with something completely new.

Cooley wisely chose the latter.