Polly Kirkland LeVert's 199 wins, two championships, five PRCC Athletics Hall of Fame inductees and eight NJCAA All-Americans catapulted Pearl River women's basketball to the national stage.
After setting the bar for excellence, LeVert is to be enshrined into the Pearl River Community College Athletics Hall of Fame July 25 at the Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis.am.
"I remember saying, 'I didn't think it would ever happen,'" LeVert said. "And of course, it brought tears, because it's something that I had hoped for, and I am proud of, it is an honor."
THE ROAD TO POPLARVILLE
As the daughter of a high school basketball coach, Mississippi Association of Coaches Hall of Famer Burney Kirkland, she switched schools as her father moved to new coaching positions.
"My father was a high school basketball coach, and he coached all over Mississippi," LeVert said. "I went to five different schools. He changed jobs during my senior year of high school, and I graduated and played at Horn Lake High School for one year. We had a great team, we were 30-1."
After graduating from Horn Lake, LeVert attended Delta State and was a member of the Lady Statesmen's 1975 AIAW National Championship.
LeVert transferred to Southern Miss following her freshman year and became a member of the Golden Eagles' first women's basketball team, placing LeVert closer to her parents, who moved to Scott County.
During LeVert's senior year, Southern Miss head coach Kay James offered her a graduate assistant role with the Golden Eagles. Upon completion of her master's, LeVert accepted a position at a small school in Union, located in central Mississippi. Looking back on her time as a graduate assistant working with college-age students, LeVert started to feel the pull to work at a higher level. Heeding the advice of a college coaching friend, LeVert took a job at a larger school, Hattiesburg High, to help garner more attention.
"I coached there one year," LeVert said. "But at the time, we may have had either Hattiesburg's first winning season or the first winning season in a long time. With that season, we got a lot of attention."
When the Wildcats' head coaching position opened, LeVert was on the radar of PRCC's Dr. Willis Lott.
"He already knew me from playing for my father in high school," LeVert said. "When the job opened at PRCC, I applied, and he knew we had improved at Hattiesburg. So that is how I got to Pearl River, getting to a bigger school at Hattiesburg."
LIFE AT THE RIVER
LeVert had to hit the ground running to build her first roster at The River. She learned very early that her responsibilities would not be limited to basketball.
In addition to building her first roster, LeVert learned after starting at PRCC that she would also lead the PRCC softball team.
"I didn't even know I would be a softball coach. They told me after I got the job, 'Oh, by the way, you're going to coach softball,'" LeVert mentioned.
PRCC's head men's coach, Pete Georgian, assisted with recruiting until LeVert was hired for the women's position.
"I wasn't hired until May. He (Georgian) already had a young lady from Picayune named Antrice McGill in the picture," LeVert said. "She was about 6-1; that is who we built our team around in the first year. I didn't have but maybe three, four returning players from the team before.
"But that first year (1987-88), we were 20-9, advanced to the region tournament. We built around a player named Antrice McGill, who was my first All-American. We had some good kids to go around the local kids. They bought in, they were anxious to win, and we did, we had a great year."
LeVert was able to capitalize on the success of year one and helped her land who became her second NJCAA All-American, Charzes Silas (Flowers). LeVert had coached Silas at Hattiesburg.
"She had an offer from Delta State, who, at the time, was still playing for national championships, but she chose to come play for me because I had coached her junior year," LeVert said.
BUILDING ON SUCCESS
Although LeVert had immense success on the court, the things she continuously looks back on were the players recruited and the relationships built.
"They might not have had all straight A's and a 25 ACT score, but they were quality people and wanted to win. They came there, built for success, and always bought in," LeVert said.
With the success built during her early years at The River, LeVert saw a jump in the Wildcats' play with the arrival of a generational talent in NJCAA Hall of Famer Elaine Powell. Powell was a two-time NJCAA First-Team All-American at The River who continued her athletic career at LSU before being drafted by the Orlando Miracle of the WNBA.
"Elaine was a once-in-a-lifetime player," LeVert reflected on Powell's impact on the Wildcats. "I have been around coaching since I was two years old, and I knew when I got her that we had something really special."
During Powell's recruitment at the Louisiana All-Star Game, LeVert received an unexpected windfall. LeVert met Powell's older sister Karen, and after speaking with Powell's high school coach, Karen was offered a scholarship sight unseen.
Powell's impact on recruiting for LeVert's Wildcats extended past her family ties. While at LSU, Powell's relationship with teammate Marie Ferdinand helped land future PRCC Athletics Hall of Famer Norma Noel, who prepped with Ferdinand in Miami, Fla. With Powell and Ferdinand's help, LeVert was able to sign Noel without a campus visit.
"Elaine told them how much she enjoyed playing at Pearl River and for me," LeVert Said. "And Marie told them, 'They really like their coach and it is a good place to go."
Another player was Datishella Byrd from Hickory, N.C. An AAU coach from New York City met Powell during a Thanksgiving tournament in Baton Rouge, La., and she told him how much she loved playing at The River. The coach knew Byrd was unhappy at her current school and was looking to play elsewhere.
"One day I'd get a call from this guy I did not know from New York City. He was trying to help somebody out that wasn't even his player, but one of his AAU friends," LeVert said.
"She did not get to play her freshman year. I had told her, 'You can come and play for us for one year, and if you want, you can move on.' She ended up staying a second year and wound up going to Clemson. I always tell people, I got a girl from North Carolina through New York City."
With Mississippi's talent level, coaching in the MACJC was a dream come true for LeVert. Levert spoke about the quality of conference opponents in the MACJC with two former national championship programs in Northwest and Northeast, along with Copiah-Lincoln. One team that stood out was East Central, which Pearl River had to face twice a year in South Division play.
"East Central was really good back then, and they were tough to beat," LeVert said. "We played East Central five times that year (1994). Back then, they had a South State, Conference, and Region Tournament. We played them in the finals of all those tournaments, plus our home and home. We got them every time but the last time, or we would've been in nationals in '94."
LeVert's Wildcats made up for it in 1995, delivering the program's first-ever Region Championship and simultaneously punching a ticket to the NJCAA Tournament. PRCC made some noise, making it to the "Sweet 16" before their elimination from the tournament.
By the time LeVert's time as the head coach had ended, she had accumulated 199 wins, coached eight All-America selections, won a pair of championships and tallied four 20-win seasons. Her 199 wins are still the most in program history and she's one of two coaches to have four 20-win seasons.
BUILDING FRIENDSHIPS
LeVert looks back on some of the friendships that were made during her time at The River. One in particular was the long-time PRCC Public Relations Officer and Sports Information Director, Larry Stanford.
"He was one of my best friends there. He gave the women our due. He gave us more attention than all the other people," LeVert said. "He was a dear, dear friend to me."
AFTER PEARL RIVER
Following her time at Pearl River, LeVert had teaching and coaching stops at South Pontotoc, Scott County, Enterprise, Choctaw Tribal schools before retiring from French Camp Academy in May.
In 2016, LeVert reconnected with former college sweetheart Greg LeVert, and in 2018, they married. They worked together at French Camp, and he is currently coaching tennis at Holmes Community College.
"We enjoy the same things, but we've known each other since 1974," LeVert said. "We went our separate ways for 30 years, and the Lord brought us back together."
And though they do not have children together, LeVert mentioned all of their children they helped form through years of coaching.
"We actually have lots and lots and lots of children," LeVert said. "All of our players, all of his, lots of them, they still stay in contact with him as do a lot of mine."