VWSD Athletic Hall of Fame to induct five more sport standouts Aug. 30
Published 8:58 pm Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Two coaching legends and three Vicksburg High athletic stars are part of the Vicksburg Warren School District Athletic Hall of Fame’s Class of 2018.
Football coach Houston Markham, Jr., and Lucy Young, who led Warren Central’s soccer and softball teams for nearly 30 years, will join former VHS football standouts Michael Dottorey and Sylvester Stamps and track star Monique Varnado in the Hall of Fame when they are inducted Aug. 30.
The induction banquet will be held at the Vicksburg Convention Center at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20, and are available in advance at the Vicksburg Warren School District’s athletic office on Mission 66.
Markham coached football at Temple High School, North Vicksburg and Vicksburg High from 1965-75 before embarking on a successful college career. He won three Black Big 8 championships at Temple before it closed in 1971, guided North Vicksburg for two seasons during the brief integration period, and then led the combined Vicksburg High School to the Big 8 championship in 1973 in its first year of existence.
Before the Mississippi High School Activities Association adopted its playoff system in 1981, the Big 8 championship was the equivalent of winning the current Class 5A or 6A title.
Markham had a 63-16-3 record during his decade with Vicksburg’s high school teams. He later spent 12 years as an assistant coach at Jackson State and another decade as Alabama State’s head coach.
Young was the first coach of Warren Central’s boys’ soccer and girls’ softball teams and led those programs for about 20 and 30 years, respectively. She was an early advocate of women’s sports in Mississippi and guided WC’s fast-pitch softball teams for the first seven years of its existence.
Young also has been involved with Area 10 Special Olympics for more than 30 years. She helped start both a special education physical education class and the Special Prom — a prom for special education students — when she was a teacher.
Among the athletes, Dottorey and Stamps were two of Vicksburg High’s biggest football stars in the 1970s.
Dottorey played linebacker for North Vicksburg and Vicksburg High from 1971-74. He earned All-Big 8 honors and led Vicksburg High to the state championship in his senior season in 1973, and also played basketball and was a member of the track and field team.
After high school, Dottorey went on to play football for Bear Bryant at Alabama. He transferred to Jackson State after his junior season and finished his career there.
Stamps played late in the decade, from 1977-79, and went down in history as one of Warren County’s all-time greats. He still holds VHS’ career rushing record with 2,946 yards, and also scored 30 touchdowns.
Stamps went on to play at Jackson State, and then for six seasons in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons. He was a three-time All-Southwestern Athletic Conference selected with Jackson State and was inducted to its hall of fame in 2005.
Varnado helped Vicksburg’s girls’ track team win the Class 4A championship in 1986 and ’87, and the Class 5A title in 1988. She set the Class 5A record in the 100 meter hurdles during her senior season, and won the 110-meter hurdles state title in 1987 and the 100 hurdles title in 1988.