Bio

Billy Dave Salter

Perkinston Agricultural High School & Junior College (1954-1956) / Basketball
D'Iberville, Mississippi

Billy Dave Salter said the 1950s were the best time to grow up. For him, most of that growing up happened at Perkinston Junior College.

"Perk was the greatest place to be during that time," he says. "We were like a family. I think it was partially a product of the times and partially the place, The faculty was living on campus with us, and they cared for us both as students and as family. Dr. (J.J.) Hayden, the president of the college, knew me by name. It was an incredible feeling being there."

Salter, a D'Iberville/Woolmarket native, played basketball in both the 1954-55 and 1955-56 seasons, He made the Mississippi Association of Junior Colleges All-State basketball team and the All-MAJC Tournament team his sophomore year. His career scoring average was 20 points per game, with 47 points against Pearl River, which was still a school record in 2009. He also played baseball while at Perk.

After graduating from junior college, he attended McNeese State University and William Carey College, receiving basketball scholarships to both schools, "The foundation that I received in junior college prepared me well for what I faced in the rest of my college career — both on and off the basketball court,"

Salter's dad was the principal at "Little Perk," the elementary school east of the campus, where Salter attended sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. "I loved having a father who worked there. It allowed me unique access. Since I had a job delivering 'Grit' newspapers, I was able to deliver papers to the girls' dorm outside visiting hours. I was the only male allowed in the dorm during any time other than visiting hours. Of course, I was 11 years old at the time!"

Not ready to leave basketball behind, Salter coached basketball for 10 years after college at D'Iberville High School and at K.J. Clark Middle School and Vigor High School, both in Mobile. Later, he became a school principal at Vigor, and then deputy superintendent, and eventually superintendent of the Mobile County Public School System. He retired in 1992.

"I look back now, and those times at Perk were definitely the best," he says. "I made great friends while there and learned invaluable lessons."

In 2009, Salter lived in Satsuma, Alabama, with his wife, Elaine, whom he met at William Carey.