Hub Waters (1994) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Hub Waters

Induction:
1994

For Hub Waters joining the University of Southern Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame is a family tradition. Hub joins his brothers Fred and Bucky as members of this illustrious group.
You see Hub comes from a large family. A family that included 10 boys and two girls. Their father died when Hub was just five and their mother eight or nine years later. And it was the older brothers and sisters, that took care of Hub and help raise him, especially his brother Jack.
    And Hub without a doubt had talent that certainly was hereditary. Brother David signed with the New York Yankees out of high school and if not for an injury would have probably made it to the big leagues, brother Jack was a pitcher for Mississippi Southern as was brother Fred, while brother Bucky played football for the school.
    Hub came to the USM campus in 1951 from Benton, Miss. and quickly developed into one of the finest pass receivers the school had ever had. He was one of just a few true freshman to gain considerable playing time during the 1951 campaign. The team posted a 6-5 record that year with Hub catching four passes and scoring his first career touchdown, coming just
at a day before his 18th birthday in a 41-0 rout of Southwestern Louisiana.
    The 1952 team raced to a 10-2 record that included a 10-game winning streak and finished with a berth in the Sun Bowl against the College of the Pacific. Hub continued to play a key role on that team as a reserve on both offense and defense and a valued member of the special teams.
    1953 was Hub’s junior year and he moved into the starting lineup on a regular basis for the first time. He caught 21 of the team’s 53 pass receptions on the season for 350 yards and three touchdowns and a 16.7 yard average. No one else on that team caught more than five passes. His 350 yards receiving that year was nearly 40-percent of the team’s total.    The ’53 team was 9-2 with wins over Alabama and Georgia and earned a second straight bowl bid, this time against Texas-El Paso in the Sun Bowl.
   Hub’s senior season was another good one as he caught 13 passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns. He tied for the team lead in receptions and was first in receiving yards. The team finished 6-4 but defeated Alabama for the second straight time.
    Hub was also a regular on the baseball team and over his 44-game career he had 36 hits in 139 at-bats for a .259 average, seven doubles, three triples, a home run and 17 RBIs. The team was 32-12 over that four year span including a 19-3 mark in 1953 and 1954. He was one of the team’s leading hitters in 1952 and 1953, with batting averages of .324 and .321, respectively. Hub played first base and the outfield.