Bob Stevens (1987) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Bob Stevens

Induction:
1987

Bob Stevens was one of the outstanding two-way tackles for the Southern Miss football team during the late 1940s and his outstanding line play helped the team become an offense force during his tenure.
   What made Stevens such a special player was the way that he played the game. He certainly had the size and strength, the quickness and speed to be an outstanding lineman. But he played the game with a special kind of aggressiveness and excitement that you saw from very few players.
   Ask those who saw him play during the 1947 and 1948 football seasons at Southern Miss and they will tell you that he enjoyed every minute that he was on the football field. He loved the collisions that took place, he liked the pressure, and he liked the competition. When other players might shy away from it all, that's when Stevens was at his best.
   The 1947 team with Stevens playing both ways was a solid team under Coach Reed Green that posted a 7-3 record that included the school's first ever win over Auburn. The Golden Eagles defeated the Tigers 19-13 in Montgomery, Alabama. Stevens was one of the key blockers up front for backs like Bubba Phillips, Benny Ray Nobles and Buster Mullins, just to mention a few.
   Although the team was not as explosive offensively as they would be the following year, Stevens also played a key role on the defensive line where the team recorded three shutouts that season and held three other opponents to seven points or less.
   Stevens really blossomed during the 1948 season when he became a regular both on the offensive and defensive line, leading the team to a second straight 7-3 record.
   Two of the three losses that year were to Alabama and Auburn, but in the seven wins that year Southern Miss rolled to victory. They scored 55 points in one game, 47 in another and 38 in another victory, while the smallest margin of victory that year was 14 points.
   One reason for the explosive offensive that line was the play of Stevens and his teammates in the offensive line, that included future Hall of Famers like Red Mangum, Phil Musmeci and Reese Snell.
   The defense that year with Stevens anchoring the line could be dominating at times and Stevens had more than his share of tackles for losses and quarterback sacks that year.
   There have been many outstanding linemen at Southern Miss over the years, but few that featured the talent, skill and dedication of Stevens. It was the that dedication and that willingness to go the extra mile that makes people that watched Stevens play, still remember him today.
   He was a leader for the Southern Miss football team, both on and off the field, and a player that his teammates relied on when things got tough. The team's success in 1947 and 1948 can be greatly attributed to the play of Bob Stevens.