POPLARVILLE, Miss. — Finding bigger Wildcat supporters than long-time instructors Bobby and Marjory Thrash is a tall task. Whether they are working with the athletics department or even on their off days, the couple rarely miss an event.
Embodying everything that it means to be a Wildcat, they will be presented with the Spirit of a Wildcat Award July 26 as part of the Pearl River Athletics Hall of Fame banquet at Hollywood Casino & Resort.
“It is a really cool honor,” Bobby said. “I have been going to all these games over the years. I never expected to get anything out of it. It’s really cool to get the recognition.”
“I thought it was great,” Marjory said. “Not many people from the academic side have gotten an athletic recognition. I was rather surprised by it.”
In addition to Marjory and Bobby Thrash being honored on July 26, the Wildcats are inducting baseball’s Nick Smith, soccer’s Jack Byrd, football and men’s basketball’s Emil Jones, men’s soccer’s Walt Thomas and tennis’ Pamela Munger into the Pearl River Community College Athletics Hall of Fame, presented by Keith’s Superstores. PRCC’s 2003 football, 2003 soccer, 2003-04 men’s basketball and 2004 baseball teams will be honored at the event for their championship seasons.
GETTING TO THE RIVER
Bobby and Marjory grew up in central Mississippi. The couple initially met each other when they attended East Central Junior College, but it wasn’t until they were attending the University of Southern Mississippi that they started to date.
After graduating from Southern Miss, the couple married in 1979. The path to becoming educators wasn’t immediate. Both originally had successful careers in the aerospace field. Marjory worked as a technical writer while Bobby was a software engineer. Working in aerospace often meant that the couple couldn’t get comfortable in one place, spending time living in Texas, Maryland and Florida. After several years, they decided that they needed a change of scenery.
“When you work in aerospace, you have to follow where the government contracts are,” Marjory said. “We had moved so often, and that was great when we didn’t have kids and when they were small.
“We worked lots and lots of overtime, and it just wasn’t a good way to live,” Bobby said. “We decided that we needed to do something different and get out of that industry, so we moved back to Mississippi.”
Upon returning to their home state, Bobby became an online professor at East Mississippi. Shortly after, Marjory earned her master’s degree and joined the collegiate education ranks at East Mississippi and East Central. The duo both wanted full-time jobs at the community college level, and a pair of openings came about at Pearl River in 2002. Bobby was hired as a Computer Science instructor, and Marjory accepted the position of English instructor.
SUPPORTING ATHLETICS
The duo immediately began impacting the classroom and became supporters of the Wildcat athletic programs soon after. For Bobby, he always had a lot of respect for community college athletics.
“I have always enjoyed watching collegiate-level sports,” he said. “This league is just an incredible level of competition for every sport that we had. I just enjoy watching the events live, and I try to go to every game that I can.”
Marjory recalls wanting to get involved because of those who were from different states or countries.
“I had students from out of state or from other countries, and none of their families could attend games,” she said. “Students often stopped me in the hallway to ask if I saw their play from the night before. Going to the games was a way to support my students even more as an instructor.”
Athletic practices and events also gave the couple an exciting background to grade papers.
“Years ago, back when we had physical papers,” Bobby said. “I’d go to the soccer practices and grade my papers. It was just something for me to do while I was grading.”
“Students would see me grading essays at the games,” Marjory said. “They would dig through the stack to find theirs and ask me to grade it next.”
The involvement soon changed from supporting fans to becoming members of the gameday staff. If you’ve been to a Pearl River basketball game, you’ve undoubtedly seen Bobby at courtside running the scoreboard for the Wildcats. It all started when then-head coach Richard Mathis decided that he needed Bobby’s attention for detail at the scorer’s table — a gig that has now spanned over 10 seasons.
“I sat in on a couple of sessions to learn how to run the board and then took it over,” he said. “It’s a very interesting thing to do. You have to stay very focused. I try to set us up so we don’t miss anything. We are doing our darndest over there so as not to make a mistake.”
Similarly to Bobby, anyone who attends a Pearl River athletics event has more than likely had a chance to speak with Marjory. She became an integral part of PRCC’s ticketing operations in 2021.
“I got into ticketing when Scotty Fletcher was the athletic director,” she said. “He needed help selling tickets at the basketball games. I figured it was a pretty easy job for me and got me out of the house, so I started to do it. It’s really been a pleasure for us both to get involved.”
When Bobby isn’t working a basketball game, you can almost always find him in his post near the field, supporting whichever team is in action. When Marjory finishes her ticketing duties, she’s always alongside Bobby, reading books or crocheting while supporting the Wildcats.
“I used to bring papers and grade papers,” Marjory said. “I don’t have that anymore, thankfully, so I crochet and read. I’ve been crocheting all of my life. I am probably a fourth or fifth-generation crocheter. I even have crochet hooks that were my great grandmothers. It’s just something I love to do.”
FAVORITE MEMORIES
Over the years, the couple has seen teams accomplish a lot of incredible feats. Bobby recalls a game in which the Wildcat softball team was down by eight runs heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, which turned into an incredible comeback victory. He also saw the legendary Jimmy Oliver compete for the Pearl River football team.
“You hear about those games where there is just no way you can fight back, but you do. That was one of them,” Bobby said. “I remember getting to watch Jimmy Oliver play quarterback. He was just a joy to watch — an incredible player.”
Marjory talked about watching teams compete in the playoffs.
“We have gone and watched the basketball team compete at Mississippi College in the region tournament. That’s always a fun event,” she said. “We watched the football team go to several of the big playoff games over the years. I always enjoy catching the livestreams of our cheerleaders when they are competing at nationals.”
PERSONAL
The couple have been married for 45 years. They have four children and five grandchildren. Bobby retired from Pearl River in 2021, while Marjory retired from the college in 2023.
HOW TO NOMINATE
Know a former Wildcat who you believe should be considered in the future? Nominate by visiting https://prccathletics.com/hof/Hall_of_Fame_nomination_form or visiting PRCCAthletics.com/HOF and clicking the nomination form link at the top of the page.
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