C.L. "Dipsey" Dews (1965) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

C.L. "Dipsey" Dews

Induction:
1965

      He was one of the most colorful players in the history of Southern Miss football and also one of the smallest. But although C.L. (Dipsey) Dews was only about 5-8 and weighed about 140 pounds, few players had the impact on the team or the school's athletic program than this diminutive running back.
      We all have heard the stories about how tough a game football was in the "old days", and how difficult it was for a little man to succeed. Although that was probably true about football back in the era before and after World War II, unless you measured the size of a man's heart, you never had a true picture of how successful he could be.
      If they had measured the heart of Dews, they would have found him to have one of the biggest hearts of the 1940 through 1942 teams.
      As a running back and defensive back Dews was incredible. Like his nickname would suggest when he carried the football, he was almost impossible to bring down. He had the kind of moves carrying the football that few people had seen before. He had the ability to fake a move to the inside and leave a defender standing still, while he raced around the end for a long gainer or a touchdown.
      On defense he used those same skills to rob the other team of any chance that they might have to get something going. More times than not during this career he would make a key tackle, intercept a pass or bat a pass away to stop a drive.
      The 1940 season saw Dews as one the teams top running backs and although there were several upperclassmen on that team, he quickly earned their respect and more importantly, playing time. He helped lead Coach Reed Green's 1940 team to a 7-4 record, that twice saw the team score 38 points or more and shutout three opponents on defense.
      That 1940 was just a preview of what was to come for Southern Miss as Green continued to build a solid program.
      With Dews and several other future Hall of Famers on the team in 1941, Southern would record a nearly perfect season. They opened the year with a 70-0 win over Georgia State, then won the next six games to open 7-0, before tying Southwestern Louisiana 0-0. They then won the final two games of the year to finish the season 9-0-1. It was the type of season the school would not duplicate for many years to come.
      With the attack on Pearl Harbor on December, 1941, many of the best athletes at Southern Miss enlisted in the service, but Dews and a few others elected to stay and play one more season.
      That 1942 team would play only four games that year against service teams, but win all four of them, Dews naturally was one of the leaders that season. He would also play basketball at Southern Miss from 1939 to 1941.
            Later in life Dews made enormous contributions to the University in many different ways to earn a spot in the hearts of Golden Eagle fans, but also in the Southern Miss Sports Hall of Fame.