Bio

Kenneth Callie "Curly" Farris

Perkinston Junior College/Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior/Community College (1962-1988) / Coach (Baseball, Football), Athletic Director
Corinth, Mississippi

Farris lettered in football and baseball at Hinds Junior College 1947-1949 and continued to participate in both those sports at Mississippi Southern College in Hattiesburg. Following graduation from Mississippi Southern in 1952, Farris spent the next decade coaching high school football and baseball at Lumberton, Corinth, Tupelo, and Greenville. In 1962, Farris signed on at MGCJC as line coach in football under then head coach, and fellow Corinthian, Harold Wesson. In spring 1963, Farris began the resurrection of baseball, which had been eliminated at Perk three years before. Through Farris's efforts, MGCJC not only re-instituted baseball, but its teams came to dominate the junior college game in the state of Mississippi. Farris's Bulldogs delivered 27 consecutive winning seasons, capturing 20 Mississippi Association of Junior Colleges South Division championships and 13 MAJC state championship trophies. Both his 1972 and 1975 teams finished as runner-up in the National Junior College Athletic Association Eastern District Tournament, and his 1979 team took the NJCAA Region VII Title. Though Curly made the name "Farris" a synonym for "Junior College Baseball" in Mississippi, his first love was football. He was line coach for four MGCJC state football championship teams and for the 1971 NJCAA football championship team. In the realm of awards, Farris received the 1976 NJCAA Athletic Director's Award Region VII. In 1978 the American Association of College Baseball Coaches gave him the "Award for Quarter Century of Leadership and Devotion to College Baseball." In 1983 he was selected to coach in the United States Olympic Committee's National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The MAJC named him Coach of the Year four times. The Mississippi Association of Coaches named him Coach of the Year three times and in 1986 inducted him into its Hall of Fame. Farris retired July 1, 1989, and was succeeded by his son, Cooper Farris. In 1990, he was named to the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame.