Marvin E. Breazeale (1986) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Marvin E. Breazeale

Induction:
1986

Marvin Breazeale is regarded as one of the best tackles to have ever played for Southern Miss and was a part of two Golden Eagle teams that won 17 of 20 games during the 1961 and 1962 seasons.
   Breazeale was an easy going type of player off of the field but on the field he played fiercely and with a lot of fire that made him not only one of the leaders on the offensive front, but on the offense and on the team as well.
   Players that played among side of Breazeale will tell you that he was not the type of player you wanted to face when he was in a bad mood on the football field. In fact one fellow lineman said of him, “just get him stirred up and you would find out how strong he could be.”
   It was Breazeale strength and agility at the tackle position that made him such an outstanding player. His feats of strength are legendary and there is little doubt he was the strongest player of those Southern Miss teams of 1961 and 1962.
   Breazeale arrived at Southern Miss from Purvis, Mississippi, and after spending a season on the freshman team and another year of very little playing time in 1960 was ready to begin making a contribution in 1961. He had already impressed his coaching with his abilities but because of depth at position in 1960 found it difficult to crack the lineup.
   His chance finally arrived in 1961 and he was a key reserve of the 1961 team that posted an 8-2 record. With the blocking of Breazeale and other up front the Southern Miss offense that year was a pretty potent club averaging 320.3 yards per game, including 222.6 yards a game on the ground. The offensive line that included Breazeale also did a superb job of protecting quarterback Don Fuell. Very few times that season was he sacked or dropped for a loss, allowing him to complete over 50-percent of his passes.
   It was during that 1961 season that Breazeale first started to gain the attention of the news media. In helping lead the Golden Eagles to a 12-0 win over Florida State in Tallahassee in their Homecoming game, the Florida sportswriters covering the game selected him as the game’s most outstanding player.
   Breazeale would move in as a full-time regular during the 1962 season, which saw Southern Miss posted a 9-1 record and win the UPI small college national championship. The team roared out of the starting blocks that year winning its first four games by outscoring its opponents 117 to 28. Then after losing a heartbreaking 8-6 decision to Memphis State, they won their final five games that season in dominating fashion to win the national title. With Breazeale leading the way the Southern offense averaged 343.5 yards a game, including 220.9 yards on the ground and averaged 26.5 points a game.
   Following graduation Breazeale went on to distinguish himself in a law enforcement career that included being a Federal Marshall for the southern regions of Mississippi.