Harvey Seligman—1952-54 Wildcat Football 

As a player and a coach at The River,Seligman exemplified what wildcat football was all about. When he arrived on the PRCC(then Pearl River Junior College) campus in 1952, he found himself transplanted into a rather strange environment for a 17-year-old Jewish kid from New York City who had never been south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Little did he know at the time, but it was the start of a long love affair with the college, which was highlighted Oct. 28 when he was inducted into PRCC's Sports Hall of Fame along with former Wildcat football greats Larry Whigham and Tommy Walters.

The road that led Seligman to The River is a long one. He prepped at Abraham Lincoln High in his hometown of Brighton Beach, N.Y., where he was a standout fullback and linebacker. But he had played out his high school eligibility in New York, though he lacked his graduation requirements. He and a few of his football friends decided to come south and wound up in legendary head coach Dobie Holden's office on the Pearl River campus.

Holden took a quick liking to Seligman. Back in those days, Poplarville High shared its campus with PRCC and Seligman wound up playing three years under Holden --- one as a high school senior and two as a college student.

As a two-way performer at fullback and linebacker, Seligman saw plenty of action his first season in 1952, then blossomed into a bona fide star the 1953 and 1954 seasons. He earned All-State first team accolades his sophomore year.

The 1952 Wildcat team finished 9-1, while the 1953 team finished 9-0-1 and shared the state title with Hinds. It was in 1953 that Seligman made the 10th-longest run from scrimmage in PRCC football history with a 77-yard touchdown run in the 'Cats' 26-0 shutout of Southwest. The '54 team finished 6-3. 

After finishing at Pearl River, Seligman headed for the University of Southern Mississippi (then Mississippi Southern College) and played there in 1955 and 1956. He earned his bachelor's degree in physical education in 1957 and joined the U.S. Army the following October.

He wound up playing ball in the Army in '57 and '58 and was a standout on the European championship team.

In March 1958 , Seligman married the former Peggy Holt, a former Wildcat cheerleader he met at Pearl River. After his honorable discharge from the Army, he headed back to Mississippi Southern to grad school where he earned his master's degree in 1960. That fall he took his coaching job at West Marion High School in Foxworth where he stayed for one season.

From there, Seligman saw three assistant coaching stints in Florida: DeFuniack High, Escambia High, and Winter Haven High, where he hooked up with former Holden player Calvin Tripplett for six seasons.

From there he returned to Mississippi as head coach at East Central High School in Hurley for two seasons, then moved on to Northside High in Lafayette, La., as an assistant.
 
In 1973 former PRCC head coach John Russell hired Selgman to replace long-time assistant and offensive guru J.C. Arban, who had left the team to become offensive coordinator at Southern Mississippi.

PRCCC lost 21-17 to Mississippi Delta for the state championship in 1973, then after a contract dispute a week prior to the start of the 1974 season, Russell resigned. Seligman was subsequently named interim head coach and he guided the Wildcats to a 4-4 mark in a shortened eight-game season because of a hurricane that ripped the area.

"It was quite an experience," he said. "We had our ups and we had our downs. We may have finished at .500, but we were still only one win away from making the playoffs."

Arban returned to The River the following season as head coach and guided the Wildcats to a state title in 1976. Seligman remained on the football coaching staff until 1983 when he was named director of student activities and headed up the school's intramural athletic program. He remained in the position until his 1998 retirement.

Pearl River Central head coach Curtis Thaxton hired Seligman prior to the 1999 season as a partime assistant coaching defensive backs.

Wife Peggy retired as PRCC's learning lab coordinator last June and the Seligmans subsequently moved to Memphis, Tenn., where all three of their children live. Seligman quickly snagged an assistant coaching job at Cordova High in Memphis.