Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1965
Henry (Hindu) Reynolds, who played end for Southern Miss in 1947 and 1948, was once described by his coach and fellow Hall of Famer Reed Green, as "one of the best athletes who ever attended this institution". Nearly a half a century later, few people would dispute that opinion, because Reynolds did set himself a part from some of the other great ends the school has ever had.
Some of the best teams and the best players that Southern Miss had came to the school in the years following World War II. Maybe they were a little bit more mature, maybe they were just a little bit older, but there was something about those guys that made them special.
Reynolds would join the team for the 1947 season and it didn't take him long to move into the starting lineup. On a team that relied more on the running game, rather than the pass, Reynolds quickly became a potent weapon for quarterback Vernon (Zipper) Wells. During the 1947 season Reynolds was on the receiving end of 12 passes for a whopping 230 yards (19.2 yard average) and a touchdown. As the season went a long he started to be the player Coach Green would go to in a crucial situation and as a blocker he was superb at springing Bubba Phillips for big gains.
Reynolds was also a great defensive player and ranked among the team leaders in tackles and quarterback sacks during the 1947 campaign.
That 1947 team finished the year with a 7-3 record, which included a win over Auburn in Montgomery, Alabama, by a score of 19-13. The team finished the season strong by winning four of its last five games, shutting out three of the opponents.
Reynolds would be one of the key weapons in the Southern Miss attack in 1948 as well, although with the addition of speedy Cliff Coggin, he had inherited someone to take some of the pressure off of him. While Coggin was leading the team in receiving that year with 19 catches, Reynolds caught 11 that season for 300 yards, an incredible 27.3 yards per catch, and four touchdowns. Reynolds and Coggin combined for 30 of the team's 43 catches that year and 755 of the 928 yards receiving, easily making them one of the best receiving duos in school history.
The 1948 team would finish the year with a 7-3 record and finished strong by winning six of its last seven games and outscored its opponents 94-8 over the final three games.
Reynolds would end his career with 23 pass receptions for 530 yards for 23.0 yards per catch and five touchdowns. His yard per catch average is one of the highest in school history.
Reynolds also played baseball (1947-48) and basketball 1949-50 at Southern Miss.
