Steve Carmody (1995) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Steve Carmody

Induction:
1995

Steve Carmody wasn’t your typical starting center in college football. He stood about six foot four and I doubt that he ever weighed more than 230 or 235 pounds. But what he lacked in size and strength, he made up for that many times over in intelligence, quickness and heart.
   Early in his Golden Eagle career he made a name for himself as a member of the specialty teams but also saw time as a reserve at center. The first game of his brilliant career at Southern Miss came in 1980 in the season opener in the Louisiana Superdome against the Tulane Green Wave. The game was being televised by ABC-TV and as fate would have it the game would come down to a Winston Walker field goal attempt and Steve Carmody would line up to snap the ball. History records that Walker’s field goal was good and the Golden Eagles beat Tulane 17-14 that afternoon and went on to finished 9-3 with a berth in the Independence Bowl. But what it fails to record that day was that Steve’s snap with the game on the line was perfect.
   As the starting center on the 1982 team the Southern Miss offense was the fifth best in the country at running the football and the 25th best in the country in total offense. They posted a 7 and 4 record, winning six of their last seven games and upsetting Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, 38-29. It was the first loss for Alabama and Bear Bryant in Tuscaloosa since 1963 a stretch of 56 games. The 3,131 yards rushing by the team that year was the second best total in school history and the 4,396 yards of total offense is the second best in that category.
   The 1983 squad also finished with a 7-4 record while defeating Ole Miss and Mississippi State and again was one of the most explosive offensive teams in the nation.
   But while Steve’s achievements on the football field were certainly great, his success in the class room, made Golden Eagle fans even prouder. He carried a 3.7-plus grade point average in accounting and was selected by Omicron Delta Kappa as the top male freshman student on campus for the 1979-80 school year and among his many other academic honors were his selection into Beta Gamma Sigma (Business Honor Society) and Beta Alpha Psi (Accounting Honor Society). He was a candidate throughout his career for academic all-American teams and was named to several of them, bringing great distinction to the University.
   He was the kind of player that has made Southern Miss great. A player who took the abilities that he had and refined them the best that he could. And it was the drive for perfection and the heart of a giant that made Steve Carmody succeed when others couldn’t.
   Steve and his brother Keith are the only two players to ever play or their father as head coach at Southern Miss. Their father Jim was head coach from 1982 to 1987.