Bio

Earl P. King Jr.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College (1963-1965) / Football and Track
Biloxi, Mississippi

A short road trip from Biloxi to Perkinston in the spring of 1963 set Earl P. King Jr. on his life’s path. He transferred to Biloxi High School from Terrebonne, La., the year before and wasn’t eligible to play football his senior year. King needed a good tryout to make Coach George Sekul’s football team.

“I gave everything I had that spring day. I finished the tryout and looked up at Coach Sekul and said, ‘How’d I do?’ He said, ‘Sign here, kid.’ I thank God every day that I drove up Highway 49 for that tryout. Looking back, it was just one of those defining moments every person’s life needs.”

King received a full football scholarship to Gulf Coast, allowing him to afford college. In his freshman year, King played both sides of the ball — starting as a halfback on offense and cornerback on defense. In the season opener against Holmes, Kind defined his style as “hard nose” running by “blasting up the middle” with a 4-yard touchdown to seal the victory.

“I just loved running over players. The coaches would always say, ‘It’s easier to run around someone,’ but I just loved running straight through someone,” King explains.

On defense, King showed earlier his ability to stay with the opposition. He helped secure a decisive victory over the East Mississippi Lions when he intercepted a pass and ran it back 40 yards for the touchdown. Along with lettering in football and track, King was named as honorable mention to the 1963 All-State team.

By sophomore season, King's use of power and quickness was obvious to all opposing coaches. He broke the 100-yard mark twice that season with 111 yards against Jones and 134 yards against East Central. The Daily Herald described him as an “animal” who was “hard to bring down on the run.”

King averaged 5.7 yards per carry and was selected first-team All-State as a “halfback” earning a full football scholarship to the University of Southern Mississippi. After a successful junior season as a starter at USM, King’s career path took a turn when an injury and ended his football dreams.

“It was then that I realize how important my college education a Perk was for my future. I knew I wasn’t going to be a pro athlete, but I was going to be a pro businessman.”

Following in the entrepreneurial footsteps of his father, King had the ambition to start his own business. He returned to Louisiana with $2,700 in seed money, a college degree in marketing and the idea for a trucking company. In 2004, King Trucking Inc. had a vehicle fleet crisscrossing the South every day and employing more than 50 people.

“Many of the lessons I learned at Perk have been built into this company. Teamwork is important everywhere, not just on the football field. Also, the discipline I learned in the classroom help me start and grow this business.“

King called Morgan City, La., home in 2004 and is grooming the second generation of Kings to run the family business. He had been appointed by Louisiana’s governor to the state's Wildlife and Fisheries Commission.

Forty-one years after trying out for Coach Sekul, King says he's still traveling the course set in front of him by that spring road trip.

“I try to show my appreciation of college by supporting two scholarship programs. Not everyone can play football to go to college. I just want students to get the same chance I received at Gulf Coast. It really was the genesis of the person I am now.“

In 2017, the academic-athletics building at A.L. Memorial Field was named the King Center in honor of his support of the college.