Ole Miss Football: Rememberings..No. 38 Honored and Respected
Today, where would we be without Chucky Mullins? As an Ole Miss football fan, I know how I’ve been impacted by the No.38. Since that fall day, No.38 has been my favorite number. Thankfully, each year Ole Miss football remembers No.38. However, everyday, we remember the young man we knew simply as Chucky.
I remember the late October Saturday afternoon like it was yesterday. There’s not a Ole Miss football fan who has forgotten that day and who hasn’t felt how it would impact Ole Miss history forever. A linebacker named Roy Lee Mullins made a hit on Vanderbilt receiver Brad Gaines and forever became known simply as Chucky.
The Rebels won that homecoming game against Vanderbilt 24-16. Ole Miss would finish that season with an 8-4 record and Chucky would spend out the rest of his life as a part of the Ole Miss landscape. Forever an inspiration to and for the Rebels and for the thousands who he touched.
May 06, 1991
Ole Miss Rebels Football
It’s hard to explain how it felt the first time Chucky wasn’t there. Ole Miss fans had become so accustomed to seeing him there.
Of course, in the short time after his return to Ole Miss, he had become a mainstay on the Ole Miss campus and the Ole Miss football program. And then he was gone.
His time on this Earth in a physical sense was short. However, he continues to touch Ole MIss players and fans each and everyday. The number 38 is revered among Ole Miss football faithful and is important. Of course, It is as big a part of Ole Miss as The Grove or The Lyceum.
Of course, the Chucky Mullins Courage Award Banquet is held in his honor and a defensive player who exemplifies ‘Chucky’ is selected to represent Ole Miss wearing the No.38.
It’s the most obvious way to honor and respect the man we knew as Chucky and what he meant to each of us.
"I may give out, but I’ll never give up! ~Chucky Mullins"
In Closing…Thank You
From the very first Chucky Mullins Courage Award winner Patrick Willis to the current winner Marquis Haynes, the number has been proudly worn by a Ole Miss football player. Every game played I always watch No.38. Of course, the No.38 never fails to honor and respect his number and his legacy.
This fall, as Ole Miss players pour onto the field for their first game, Chucky will be there. Not just the number, not just the spirit, but the courage and determination which he bore until the day he passed away.
Thank you Chucky!