RIDGELAND, Mississippi – No visit to Lafayette Stribling’s posh home in Overlook Pointe is complete without a tour of his closet. Yes, you read right: his closet, nearly as big as the humble tenant shacks in which he grew up. Stribling proudly will show you his more than 200 stylish suits and tuxedos, all with shoes and top hats to match. There’s a mink coat that cost more money than he used to make in three years as a high school basketball coach, more money than his daddy ever saw.At 84, Stribling has retired as one of Mississippi’s most accomplished basketball coaches ever. He won everywhere he coached and once put Mississippi Valley State in the national spotlight. All the while, he was also Mississippi’s best dressed coach. Fans loved to see what he would wear almost as much as they loved to watch his teams play, play fast and win.
And there’s a story behind Stribling and his elaborate wardrobe and the reason be bought his house near the Barnett Reservoir because the monster master closet. You see, 68 years ago, he graduated from tiny Harmony Vocational High School, out in the country a few miles from Carthage. He was the son of dirt-poor but proud sharecroppers. His daddy had no education, signed his name with an X.
Young Lafayette Stribling – “Strib” his friends call him – had no suit to wear to his graduation. He owned only one pair of shoes, the ones he wore to school and to play his high school basketball on an outdoor court. We should let Strib tell the rest.
CONTINUE READING
No comments:
Post a Comment