Polk Ring of Honor ceremony a cool part of MSU season
This is one of coolest parts of the Mississippi State baseball season. In the last few seasons since the new Dudy Noble Field/ Polk-dement Stadium was constructed, the program has recognized some of the greats in Diamond Dog history with an induction ceremony into the Ron Polk Ring of Honor. The event usually takes place on a Saturday of a very important Southeastern Conference baseball series for MSU and the latest takes place this afternoon at 2 p.m. on the Adkerson Plaza at the stadium.
The Ring of Honor is named after head coach Ron Polk, who had a tenure with the Bulldogs from 1976-97 and 2002-08. Polk was the first SEC head coach to reach 1,000 wins and finished his career with 1,139 at MSU and 1,373 overall at State, Georgia and Georgia Southern.
Polk has been involved with the Ring of Honor process since the Bulldogs brought him back to campus to serve as a special assistant in the athletic department.
This year will showcase another great class of inductees for the Polk Ring of Honor with Jim Ellis, Bobby Reed and C.S. “Buddy” Myer.
It was like poetry in motion watching Reed perform his craft on the mound for MSU from 1988-90. In an outstanding 1988 season, he led the NCAA in earned run average of 1.09.
Reed was a freshman Allamerican, made the ALL-SEC second team, ABCA Allregion second team, SEC All-tournament Team and NCAA Regional All-tournament Team.
One of my favorite moments of Reed working his magic came on a Sunday night in 1988 when he helped the Bulldogs shut out LSU 1-0 on ESPN.
Ellis was on the radio call for that game and described many important moments of MSU baseball history with energy and professionalism since 1979.
As “The Voice of the Diamond Dawgs," Ellis has been at the broadcast mike for 32 NCAA Regional appearances, seven SEC Tournament titles, five SEC championships, 11 trips to the College World Series and the 2021 national championship.
Whether it was “a grand slam for Masters” or “All Bulldogs everywhere are celebrating a national championship,” Ellis has a unique way of bringing MSU baseball to the fans.
It has always been a comfort to know that even though we may not be able to be at Dudy Noble Field for some kind of terrible reason, all it takes is a flip of a knob on a radio and the familiar tones of Ellis are there to keep us up to date on what the Bulldogs are doing on the field.
The tables will be turned a bit on Ellis today. Usually, the emcee for the Polk Ring of Honor ceremony, Ellis will be one of the honorees himself. It will be interesting to see how they handle that.
Also being recognized today is the memory of Myer, who played in an era of Mississippi A&M Maroons baseball from 1922-24.
Myer was a versatile performer for the Maroons with his infield ability at second base, third base and shortstop. He hit what was believed to be the first grand slam in program history to give Mississippi
A&M one of the early wins over the rival Ole Miss Rebels 6-4.
With their contributions to the growth and development of MSU baseball, Reed, Ellis and Myer are three deserving additions to the Polk Ring of Honor.
Due to a situation with our printing schedule, The Starkville Daily News will not be able to provide coverage of the Polk Ring of Honor ceremony in the Sunday edition. There will be plenty more reaction on Reed, Ellis and Myer in upcoming editions.