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The New Face of Steeplechase

Yow spearheads renewed development of upscale subdivision West of town.

Not so long ago, in a land not so far away, there lived a man with a dream. His dream was to create the premier local community, where folks would flock to build magnificently beautiful homes, perch them atop a vast selection of rolling hilltops, and enjoy a luxurious, peaceful existence, while nestled securely amongst a shroud of trees.

With an “if you build it, they will come” philosophy he launched the Steeplechase subdivision, about halfway between Oxford and Batesville. By constructing a great wall (fence) that spanned the width of the entire community, he not only fortified the upcoming estate homes with an otherworldly level of security, but he also visually attracted potential buyers, folks who might otherwise have never even heard of the development.

Unfortunately for Tommy White of White Development Corporation, an experienced developer from Olive Branch, the housing market would soon take a plunge. With so much uncertainty surrounding new government regulations, combined with the unraveling of both government and private sector lending institutions, potential buyers were no longer as motivated to build or purchase new homes.The economic recession completely halted progress within the Steeplechase subdivision. With only eight homes built in an 88-lot community, the esidents were left to wonder what would come of their largest investment. Little did they know, the solution would come from within. One of the newest residents, Nathan Yow, attorney and owner of Mississippi Auto Arms Inc., would soon embark upon a journey to revitalize the stagnant community.

Yow and his family moved to Steeplechase in September of 2012. Soon after, he saw an opportunity to fulfill Tommy White’s dream of making Steeplechase the premier property in Oxford and the region. Yow purchased 70 lots and already has five houses under construction, with another 16 lots under contract.

“Our goal is to fulfill Tommy White’s dream of making Steeplechase the premier community, not only in Oxford, but throughout the region,” Yow says. “Kelly & Associates has two houses under contract—$130 to $180 per square foot. The builder has 18 plans currently available. For those clients who want to design their estate home, Kelly & Associates has an architect on staff, so they can work to create exactly what they want.”

— Robert Tidwell, robert.tidwell@icloud.com

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Harvard University Historian Examines Challenges of the 1850s

Photo courtesy of Ole Miss Communications

Walter Johnson to deliver lecture September 18

Slavery, capitalism and imperialism are the focus of this year’s Gilder-Jordan Lecture in Southern History at the University of Mississippi.

Walter Johnson, the Winthrop Professor of History and professor of African-American studies at Harvard University, speaks at 7 p.m. Sept. 18 in Nutt Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Johnson’s lecture, “The ‘Negro Fever,’ the South, and the Ignominious Effort to Re-Open the Atlantic Slave Trade,” focuses on the challenges facing Mississippi Valley slaveholders in the late 1850s and the way many hoped to solve them through a global projection of slaveholding power, which was through pro-slavery imperialism.

Ted Ownby, director of the UM Center for the Study of Southern Culture, said Johnson is one of the most influential scholars writing on the history of American slavery.

“In his new book, ‘River of Dark Dreams,‘ and his first book, ‘Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market,’ he shows the ability to ask big, ambitious questions and answer them on a human scale with individual people making, or trying to make, individual choices,” Ownby said.

Johnson has been to Oxford before, for a conference organized by Winthrop Jordan, former UM professor of history and African-American studies for more than 20 years.

“I am looking forward to seeing some of the people I met then, and to seeing Oxford, which I very much like,” Johnson said. “I like being in Mississippi generally; I find the presence of the specific history about which I have been thinking for so long challenging, provocative and inspiring.”

He received his B.A. from Amherst College and his doctorate from Princeton University. Before teaching at Harvard, he taught history and American studies at New York University.

“I’m excited that Walter Johnson is this year’s Gilder-Jordan lecturer,” said Deirdre Cooper Owens, assistant professor of history. “His work on agency and the seven sites of racial reification have influenced my scholarship in profound ways, especially his discussion of medical journals as one of those sites.”

One of the important elements of the Gilder-Jordan lecture series is the opportunity for Southern studies and history graduate students to meet with leading scholars.

Johnson said he always learns things from talking to students, so he is looking forward to seeing what they are thinking about and what they care about.

“The thing I guess that I hope students take away from anything I do is a sense of history as palpable – what people in the past worried about, felt, and why they cared about what they cared about,” Johnson said. “Failing that, I’m usually good for a few citations of useful but obscure historical monographs.”

Organized through the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, African-American Studies Program, Center for Civil War Research and Department of History, the Gilder-Jordan Speaker Series is made possible through the generosity of the Gilder Foundation Inc. The series honors Richard Gilder of New York and his family, as well as his friends, Dan and Lou Jordan of Virginia.

Previous Gilder-Jordan Lecturers have been Barbara J. Fields of Columbia University, David Blight of Yale University and Grace Elizabeth Hale of the University of Virginia.

– Rebecca Lauck Cleary, Ole Miss News Desk

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Interviews with Tim Brando and Archie Manning

Last Friday night, The Gertrude Ford Center on campus at Ole Miss hosted a screening of the new ESPN documentary, The Book of Manning. Before the screening, Archie Manning spoke with the media and Tim Brando spoke with HottyToddy.com reporters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apV2X4rQLIU

– Justin Taylor, Associate Editor, HottyToddy.com

– Adam Brown, Sports Editor, HottyToddy.com

– Email Justin Taylor at justin.taylor@hottytoddy.com

– Email Adam Brown at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

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Front Yard Football Field and the Ole Miss Rebelletts

Photo Courtesy of Jim Roberts / HottyToddy.com

Kick Off Jake Lockhart’s 12th Birthday Party Sunday

When Jack Lockhart plays flag football with his brother, Will, he can make a 30 yard run across across yard markers to the end zone or even kick a field goal through the uprights.

And Sunday, the Ole Miss Rebelettes will be on the miniature field to help celebrate Jack’s 12th birthday, all in his front yard at 3002 Highland Circle in Oxford.

Jack has a scaled down league looking football field constructed in his front yard by family friend, Rich Joyce.

“I won a drawing at the St. John’s Catholic Church for a fund raising event for the Clayton Stevens Fund., The prize was a visit by the Ole Miss Rebelletts, “ said Jack’s mom, Isabel Lockhart.

“I invited the Rebelettes to come to Jack’s birthday party from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday and then our friend Rich Joyce added a football field for the kids to enjoy and make the event complete,” she said.

The Carl “Buddy Lockhart, Isabel, Jack, and younger brother Will, moved to Oxford about a year ago after a four year assignment in Canada. “This year will be the first time the kids can play tag football and they are so excited, “Isabel said. Buddy Lockhart joined the FNC staff and travels all over the world but he will be home for the birthday kick-off Sunday.

John McCurdy, developer of the Highlands Community, said neighbors were a bit startled by the large white field goal, made of PVC pipe, when it went up in the Lockhart’s yard. “People were asking what was going on.” McCurdy said.

Joyce, the “contractor” for the temporary football field, had experience making miniature fields for his children and neighborhood kids. He constructed miniature football fields at his home in Kansas City before the family moved to Oxford and the Highlands year ago. “The football field became something of a Thanksgiving tradition which the children who really enjoyed it,” Joyce said.

The Lockhart field slopes down on one side, following the contours of the front yard, and only indicates a field of 30 yards but otherwise it simulates real with yard markers, goal posts and REBELS painted in the end zone.

“We are all excited to have the Rebelettes attend the party, they are going to perform a little and autograph calendars for all the children,” she said.

As the Rebels take on Texas Saturday, the Lockhart boys will be warming up for a Sunday afternoon kick off on their front yard football field, complete with cake, presents and the Ole Miss Rebelettes on the sideline.

Jim Roberts, staff writer, HottyToddy.com

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Newly Ranked Rebs Prepare for Texas

Photo by Seph Anderson

The Ole Miss Rebels travel to Austin, Texas this weekend for a rematch with the Texas Longhorns.

Ranked for the first time since 2009 (currently at No. 25 in both the AP and USA Today Polls), Ole Miss has an opportunity to truly show the nation they’ve arrived on the national scene with a road win Saturday night at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking: “Texas isn’t even that good.”

After a crushing loss to BYU this past weekend which cost Longhorn defensive coordinator Manny Diaz his job, suggesting that these ‘Horns still aren’t the ‘Horns of old is a fair assumption. They’re not.

That being said, these are still the Texas Longhorns and they have a roster loaded with talent.

Everyone associated with the Ole Miss program remembers what happened when Texas visited Oxford last season as the first part of the special two-game series. On September 15, 2012, the Rebels found themselves on the wrong end of a 66-31 thrashing. It was bad, real bad.

The 66 points allowed, the most by a Rebel team since 1917, could have been even worse had Mack Brown not called off the dogs late in the contest. Nevertheless, it was still a humiliating defeat in front of the home crowd. It’s nothing Rebel fans wish to remember in any greater detail than they already do.

Despite what happened that night, only Hugh Freeze’s third game at the helm, Ole Miss rallied to finish the season with a trip to a bowl game. As for Texas, they struggled down the stretch to only a 5-4 record in their final nine regular season contests (eventually beating Oregon State in the Alamo Bowl).

Now, let’s fast forward to what’s happened in the young 2013 season.

At 2-0 (1-0 SEC), despite not playing a complete game from start to finish, No. 25 Ole Miss is a club headed in the right direction. On the other hand, Texas is reeling (to say the least) following a devastating loss to BYU last weekend in which the Burnt Orange defense yielded a school-record 550 yards rushing. Ouch.

Saturday night, the Longhorns will either bounce back with a vengeance or not take the Rebels very seriously after what happened last season. Regardless of the mindset and attitude of Texas come kickoff, it’s a showdown that looms large for Freeze and the Rebels (both this season and down the road).

First things first, returning Rebel players and coaches will undoubtedly have revenge on their minds.

Whether by one point or 35 points, Ole Miss desperately hopes to leave Austin victorious. It’s Big 12 versus SEC, and conference bragging rights are also on the line.

Having created a “Rebel Revival,” taking his new team from being a SEC cellar dweller to a Top 25 team in only 15 games, Freeze knows full well that picking up a “W” on the road at Texas would be a marquee win for the program he’s building in Oxford.

Photo by Seph Anderson

As great as the Rebels have recruited lately, pulling off an important road win in the heart of high school football country could have a significant impact on recruiting in the Lone Star State now and in the future. Imagine if the Rebels furthered their recruiting reach in Texas?

Not only would a win give Ole Miss its first 3-0 start since 1989, but it would also provide a monumental shot of confidence in the arm of a young club heading into a stiff road series over the next two games (at Alabama, at Auburn). Even if the Rebels were to lose in Tuscaloosa the following game, they’d sit at a solid 3-1 heading to the Plains ahead of the long home stand.

On the rankings front, a win at Texas would surely lead the way to a rise in the polls for the Rebels (depending on weekend results of those currently ranked ahead of them). Receiving a very favorable open week before traveling to Alabama, Ole Miss could also see a boost in the polls without even playing.

Could the Rebels be ranked around No. 15 heading into a trip with No. 1 Alabama on September 28?

It’s quite possible, as long as they find a way to come out on top this weekend.

There’s just no understating the significance of the Texas game to the Ole Miss Rebels. It’s big, folks.

If the Rebels hope to come out on top, they must play four full quarters of football this weekend. They gave up 21 unanswered points to Vandy in the opener (after leading 10-0) and allowed Southeast Missouri (SEMO) to outscore them 13-0 in the second half this past weekend. It can’t continue.

There can be no let up for even a moment in Austin. The ‘Horns have won 18 of their last 20 games decided by three points or less, so the Rebels must play 60 minutes of complete football if they hope to come out on top when the clock strikes zero.

The Mack Brown Longhorns are only 37-29 against Top 25 opponents, and the Rebel faithful hope their team adds a number to the right-hand column come Saturday evening.

Keep an eye out for a full game preview coming this week.

– Seph Anderson, Sportswriter to The South, covers timely Ole Miss, SEC, & national news from the sports world. @SephAnderson

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Freeze Press Conference on Texas

Freeze talked with the media on Monday about the upcoming game this weekend against the Texas Longhorns.

http://youtu.be/pZ-Xw6liqag

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Freeze talks with the media on Monday about the upcoming game...

Freeze talks with the media on Monday about the upcoming game this weekend against the Texas Longhorns.

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