Arthur J. "Red" Mangum (1996) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Arthur J. "Red" Mangum

Induction:
1996

Arthur J. (Red) Mangum is considered to be one of the premiere lineman of the post-war era of Southern football.
   After a successful career at Mendenhall High School, just prior to the war, Red moved on to even greater success at Copiah-Lincoln Junior College and then a stint in the U.S. Navy.
   After the war and a brief tryout at Mississippi State, he found his way to the Southern campus where he would quickly draw the attention of Head Coach Reed Green and line coach Thad (Pie) Vann.
   Red’s first year at Southern goes a long way towards giving you a better picture of the type of person and player he was and why he was and has been so successful. After playing as a reserve offensive and defensive guard behind Hall of Famer Dick Thames for the first four games, Red broke his leg in the fifth game of that season against Oklahoma City and his season was finished. Now for many that might have been the end of a career, but not Red, who would come back better and stronger the following season. Good enough to move into the starting lineup at guard, a spot he wouldn’t relinquish for the next two years.
   That 1947 team with Mangum anchoring the offensive line finished 7-3 and defeated Auburn 19-13 in the Crampton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama. He was one of the key reasons that Hall of Fame halfback Bubba Phillips rushed for 659 yards that season. And while on defensive Red helped the Southerners post three shutouts and eight of their opponents were held to fourteen points or less.
   The 1948 squad also finished 7-3, including a 27-0 win over Southeastern Louisiana that locked up a Gulf States Conference Championship. Mangum was co-captain of that team along with Lavern (Cooter) Lewis. That team still has the fifth best scoring average in school history, 27.8 points per game. Again on defense, the team recorded two shutouts and five of their 10 opponents were held to eight or less points. Mangum was an honorable mention all-conference selection.
   Ask the players who played under Coaches Green and Vann what made those teams so special and without hesitating say it was attitude. The belief that no matter what obstacles they were up against, no matter who they were playing, that they had a chance to win. It was the philosophy of Southern football then and Southern football now. And whether or not that was a part of Red’s philosophy when he reached Southern, we don’t know, but we do know it was when he graduated.
   With a degree in hand in health, physical education and recreation, Red Mangum took to teaching other young men, to pass on what he had learned about being successful. Thirty five years he devoted to serving as a football coach and athletic director.