Mississippi baseball legend Bobby Halford has added yet another accomplishment to a long list compiled over nearly 50 years with William Carey. The longtime Crusader skipper will become the first ever NAIA Hall of Famer from William Carey later this year, as announced on Monday.
The Meridian native first stepped on the Hattiesburg campus in 1972 as a dual sport athlete – competing in both baseball and basketball for Carey legends John O’Keefe and John Stephenson. He has worn the black and red ever since, joining the baseball coaching staff as an assistant in 1976 and simultaneously becoming the college’s first women’s basketball head coach.
On the hardwood, Halford led the Lady Crusaders to 152 wins and a Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) title over 10 years as the bench boss. He set a precedent of success on the diamond early, helping the program notch a trio of GCAC championships and an NAIA World Series berth in 1978. His early achievements as a coach earned him the position of athletic director at the school, a role he served in until 1987 after taking the reins as the head baseball coach.
The rest, as they say, is history. 18 total conference championships, 15 NAIA national tournament appearances, 13 conference and regional coach of the year awards, 45 professional players produced, a national coach of the year award in 2021, and four World Series appearances later, Halford has chiseled his name among the best to ever do it in Mississippi and at the NAIA level.
“I’m very humbled to be inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame,” Halford said. “It’s an organization made up of mostly Christian-based schools and we’ve always tried to place our faith and beliefs at the forefront of what we were doing. I’m grateful for everyone along the way who has made this possible.”
In a state rich with tradition, the veteran skipper is the second all-time winningest college baseball coach in Mississippi history – just 36 wins behind Ron Polk’s all-time mark of 1,373. But even after the mountain of victories, titles, and awards, Halford is still going. Back-to-back NAIA World Series appearances in 2023 and 2024 point to continuing momentum for the proud William Carey program under the decorated head coach. The 2025 season, which will be Halford’s 38th as the head man at Carey, offers yet another opportunity to etch another notch on his diamond-encrusted career.
