Bio

Betty (Huggins) Byars

Perkinston Agricultural High School & Junior College (1952-1954) / Basketball, Tennis
Hattiesburg, Mississippi

If you know Betty Byars, you know she loves tennis. They are very few times when you cannot find her on the court. But before that, the 2008 Athletic Hall of Fame inductee says basketball was her first love. “I’ve always been into sports,” she says. “I played basketball, tennis and softball.”

Byars played basketball at Perk under head coach Harold White, and in 1953, that team won a South Division title and ended up winning the only Mississippi Junior College Association trophy awarded to a Perk basketball team from 1929 to 1962. “It was very exciting,” she says. “I remember the excitement of that win and celebrating with the team. Having a basketball scholarship and winning a game like that was most enjoyable. Basketball was a half-court game back then. We could bounce the ball more than once. The guard stayed on one end, and the forward stayed on the other.”

On the tennis court, Byars, a Hattiesburg native, was part of the 1953 and 1954 women's Mississippi Association of Junior Colleges championship teams. She was also a cheerleader and belonged to several college clubs and organizations, including the annual staff. “I was very active,” she says. “Perk with the most fun I’ve ever had. I enjoyed my years at Perk more than any other schooling. It was a totally different atmosphere. You could go into the college presidents office and talk to him if you needed to. … It was just great. You say ‘hi’ to everyone on campus. It was like a great big family.”

After getting married and moving around for a few years, Byars and her husband (who she met while attending Perk) settled in Moss Point. That’s where her passion for playing tennis took off. “At that point, I taught school some and played a lot of tennis. I got into it because at that point because there was no basketball left for me to play. There was a time in the 1960s where I played tennis every day for about seven years. In fact, on Sundays we’d play mixed doubles. The president of Ingalls would bring in executives from all over, and I had to play against them and sometimes let them win. Since then, tennis has been my game.”

Even today, tennis is still a major part of Byars’ life,. In 2006, she helped the Singing River Yacht Club receive a $40,000 hurricane relief donation from the United States Tennis Association. In 2007, the SRYC honored Byars with a tournament in her name. She still coordinates tennis tournaments all over the Coast.

“I play serious tennis all the time,” she says. “I became the local league coordinator 14 years ago. Prior to that, I played tennis tournaments all over. I played two league matches a week. I also play my club matches. Basically, I’m a full-time player.”

A player whose love for sports was forged on the Perkinston Campus. “I was shocked, surprised and, most of all, honored that they would even consider me for the Athletic Hall of Fame. When I found out I was chosen, it was really a high honor.”