Clark Randolph "Dudy" Noble (May 6, 1893 – February 2, 1963) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player, track athlete, coach, and college athletics administrator.

College

Born in

Learned, Mississippi Learned is a town in Hinds County, Mississippi, United States. Population The population was 94 at the 2010 census, up from 50 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area. Name The community has the name of one ...

, Noble attended

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

(then known as Mississippi A&M College) in

Starkville, Mississippi Starkville is a city in and the county seat of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, Starkville's population is 24,360, making it the 16th-most populated city in Mississippi. Starkville is the largest ...

. During his college days he earned 14 varsity letters in four sports—football, basketball, baseball and track. He graduated in 1917.

Coaching and administrative career

After his college playing days were over, Noble went on to coach basketball, football, and most notably baseball at the college level for three different schools in his home state; Mississippi College, The University of Mississippi, and his alma mater Mississippi A&M.

Mississippi College

His first coaching job was as the head football coach at

Mississippi College Mississippi College (MC) is a private university affiliated with the Mississippi Baptist Convention and located in Clinton, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1826, MC is the second oldest Baptists, Baptist-affiliated college or university in ...

in 1916. While there he earned his second coaching victory when he led the Choctaws to a 13–6 upset over Mississippi A&M in a game played in

Aberdeen, Mississippi Aberdeen is the county seat of Monroe County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,961, down from 5,612 in 2010. Located on the banks of the Tombigbee River, Aberdeen was one of the busiest Mississippi ports ...

. The Choctaws finished the season with a record of 4–3.

Ole Miss

In 1917 Noble became the head football coach at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...

(Ole Miss), a position he held for two seasons. During his two years as the Rebels' head coach he compiled a record of 2–7–1 and went 0–3 against his alma mater, Mississippi A&M. He holds the distinction of having been the only head coach to lose two

Egg Bowl The Egg Bowl (traditionally named the “Battle for the Golden Egg”) is the name given to the Mississippi State–Ole Miss football rivalry. It is an American college football college rivalry, rivalry game played annually between Southeastern ...

s in one season (1918). For the 1918–19 season he served as the head basketball coach at Ole Miss going 0–3. He had his most success in Oxford as the baseball coach compiling an overall record of 10–4 in the 1918 and 1919 seasons.

Mississippi State

Starting in 1920 Noble took over as skipper of the Mississippi State baseball team, a position that he held for 26 seasons until 1947 (MSU had no baseball team in 1944 and 1945). As head baseball coach he compiled a record 267–201–9 and won three

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conferen ...

championships. During his time as head baseball coach he awarded Dave "Boo" Ferris the first full baseball scholarship in Mississippi history. Noble also served one season as the Bulldogs' head football coach going 3–4–2 in 1922, including a victory over his former squad from Ole Miss. From 1938 to 1959, Noble was also the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

at Mississippi State. During his tenure as athletic director he made several notable hires. Among those were football coaches

Murray Warmath Murray Warmath (December 26, 1912 – March 16, 2011) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi State University from 1952 to 1953 and at the University of Minnesota from 1954 to 1971, ...

Darrell Royal Darrell K Royal (July 6, 1924 – November 7, 2012) was an American college football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi State University from 1954 to 1955, the University of Washington ...

, and Allyn McKeen. McKeen left as MSU's all-time winningest head coach and is the only MSU coach elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. He hired basketball coach Babe McCarthy who won three SEC championships and defied state authorities to take MSU to its first NCAA basketball tournament in 1963. In 1953, he hired Jack Cristil who would go on to be the "Voice of the Bulldogs" for 58 years.

Death and honors

Noble died on February 2, 1963, at a hospital in

Vicksburg, Mississippi Vicksburg is a historic city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the county seat. The population was 21,573 at the 2020 census. Located on a high bluff on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from Louisiana, Vicksburg ...

; he was 69 years old. The Mississippi State baseball field was named

Dudy Noble Field Variants of the bock, a type of bagpipe, were played in Central Europe in what are the modern states of Austria, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. The tradition of playing the instrument endured into the 20th century, primarily in the Blata, ...

in his honor in 1949. He became a member of the Helms Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954, he was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1961 and the

American Baseball Coaches Association The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) is the world's largest Amateur baseball in the United States, amateur baseball Manager (baseball), coaching organization. It was founded in 1945 as the American Association of College Baseball Coach ...

Hall of Fame in 1967. Speaking on his time spent in Oxford Dudy Noble once told a Tennessee sports writer: “I already know what hell is like. I once coached at Ole Miss.” Noble once owned a bird dog, a lazy mutt that refused to hunt. Dudy Noble named him “Mr. Ole Miss.”

Head coaching record

Football

Basketball

Baseball

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noble, Dudy 1893 births 1963 deaths American men's basketball players Baseball players from Mississippi Basketball coaches from Mississippi Basketball players from Mississippi Mississippi State Bulldogs men's track and field athletes Mississippi College Choctaws football coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs athletic directors Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball players Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs football players Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball players Ole Miss Rebels baseball coaches Ole Miss Rebels football coaches Ole Miss Rebels men's basketball coaches People from Learned, Mississippi Players of American football from Mississippi 20th-century American sportsmen