Perrin Purvis (1972) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Perrin Purvis

Induction:
1972

Perrin Purvis was a unique athlete in Southern Miss history and one that completed a unique two sport career, lettering in basketball and tennis from 1935 to 1938.
   The same skills that made him so exceptional on the basketball court, were the same ones that made him so skillful on the tennis courts, and vice versa.
   He had the speed the you needed on the basketball court to guard the best players on the other team, but at the same time take the ball and get open to be one of the offensive leaders for your own team. It was that speed and quickness and his willingness to get down and battle with the opponent that made Purvis so special.
   It was that same aggressive attitude that made him so difficult to defeat on the tennis courts as well. He was able to use that speed and quickness to move around the court and get to balls that other players had difficulty getting to, and his strength and power on serves and his ground strokes made him tough to beat.
   As a member of the 1935-36 basketball team, Purvis played for Coach Pooley Hubert and helped lead the team to a 7-4 record that included wins over Millsaps, Jones Junior College, Southwestern Louisiana, Tampa, Louisiana Tech and Mississippi College. Although Purvis was one of the underclassmen on that team that included future Hall of Famer J.D. Stonestreet his contributions had a great deal to do with the team's success that year.
   The following year Reed Green took over as basketball coach and the team posted a 9-5 record with wins over Delta State, Northwestern Louisiana, Millsaps, Union, Louisiana College and Jones Junior College. Purvis played an even more important role on the team that year and ranked among the team's top scorers and shooters.
   Purvis would help the team to a 5-3 record his final year and once again he ranked among the leading scorers on a team that included such future Hall of Famers as Arno Vincent, A.D. Morgan, Bracie Smith, Jake Scott, Willie Oubre, Andy Webb and George Westerfield. The 1937-38 squad recorded wins over Louisiana College, Memphis State, Spring Hill, and Louisiana College.
   Although the tennis program was not as advanced during the three seasons that Purvis played as it is today, he was without a doubt one of the top players of his day, both at Southern Miss and throughout the state. Purvis was the key to Southern Miss winning numerous dual matches during his three seasons, not to mention several high finishes in tournaments.
   But Purvis can be proud of the fact that he was one of the fore runners of the successful Southern Miss tennis program of today. The success that the school enjoys today through its competition in the Metro Conference and now Conference USA can be attributed to the groundwork laid by Purvis and others back in the early days of the program.
   Purvis later excelled and brought an additional spotlight on his alma mater by being elected and serving as a highly popular state senator in the Mississippi legislature.