Higginbotham, MGCCC football historian, dies at 74

PERKINSTON — Gary Higginbotham, whose tireless research resulted in a complete game-by-game history of results for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College football team, died Jan. 3 at the age of 74.

Higginbotham graduated in the 1965 class at Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College. He went on to the University of Southern Mississippi and worked at Ingalls Shipbuilding where he retired as a marine design engineer.

The first version of the Higginbotham Report was printed in the MGCCC Athletic Review in August 1998. It contains the scores of all the school's football games from the start of the program in 1926. He revised it in 1999 and 2000, and the most up-to-date version can be found on the school's athletic website at http://mgcccbulldogs.com/higginbotham.

The school honored him with the Spirit of Gulf Coast Award in 2006. The award was established in 2001 to recognize and honor individuals who have made significant personal and/or financial contributions in support of Bulldog Athletics.

Higginbotham, who lived in D'Iberville, also served as historian for the Biloxi Shuckers.

He was preceded in death by his parents, James J. and Thelma Marie (Blanchard) Higginbotham. Survivors include his siblings, Carroll (Mary Katherine) Higginbotham, John W. Higginbotham, Eugene P. (Ila Ann) Higginbotham, and Mary Grace (John) Watts; nieces and nephews, Kathy Dorsey, Kevin Higginbotham, Angel Klobe, Justin Klobe, and Ila Marie Stuart, and a host of great-nieces and great-nephews.

He was buried at Biloxi City Cemetery after services at Christ the King Catholic Church in Latimer.

For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.