Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

- Induction:
- 1965
Nollie C. Felts, Sr. is still regarded as one of the best all-around football players to have ever played at the University of Southern Mississippi and his success on the football field is created in part in helping make the sport so popular at the school.
   As primary and end on offensive and defensive, but also as a quarterback, Felts spent four years playing for Southern Miss from 1923 to 1926 and played a large part in some big victories over his career.
   It has been said that some players are like coaches on the field and that is surely the case with Felts. First for Coach O.V. Austin and then for Coach Herschel Bobo, Felts was the man that the coaches counted on in a pinch to help make the right call and come up with the big play.
   Making the big play was somewhat of a specialty for Felts. When the team was running the football, Felts could be a devastating blocker out front, who was known to take out more than one defender on several occasions. When the team would go to the air, Felts was more than capable of making the tough catch and had the strength and speed to break away and get it into the end zone.
   On defense Felts was the type of tackler that made hits that fans in the stands could almost feel and time and time again would make the key tackle for losses. Although stats weren’t kept back in those days, there is no doubt that Felts would have been one of the team’s leading tacklers and rank high in tackles for losses and quarterback sacks.
   Felts would do something in his career that very few players have done in the rich history of Southern Miss football, he was a regular throughout his four-year career.
   Although the teams that he played on, won’t ever be recognized as some of the school’s best, Felts would be one of the bright spots each season, and the player that would attract the most attention where ever the team would play.
   Felts would go on to accomplish something else that few if any other college football players have ever done. After his incredible career at Southern Miss, he wound up at Tulane University where he lettered in 1930, 1931 and 1932 and captained that 1932 squad. While at Tulane Felts earned All-American honors during the 1931 season.
   That makes seven seasons that he played college football. Little doubt that Felts is not only a member of the Southern Miss Hall of Fame, but the Tulane Hall of Fame as well.
   When you talk to those that watched Felts play or that played with or against him, they will tell you what a tremendous competitor he was. He hated to lose and loved to win just as much. He was the type of player that couldn’t and wouldn’t accept defeat.
   As a charter member of the Southern Miss Hall of Fame, there can be little doubt what Felts’ peers though of him and his contribution to football at the school.
   As one of only 21 charter members of the Hall of Fame, Felts deserves and has earned a cherished spot among the school’s all-time greats.
           Felts played basketball at Southern Miss from 1923 to 1927 and starred for the baseball team during the 1923, 1925, 1927 and 1929 seasons.