David "Goose" Hanberry—1963-65 Wildcat Basketball

   David Hanberry, the top scorer and rebounder and all-state player for the 1965 PRC Wildcat's basketball team was a 19 year old freshman when he became a starting forward for the 1963-64 wildcats.  He graduated third in his class from Sumrall in 1962.  At Sumrall, David lettered four years in basketball and baseball.  He also made the All-Apache Conference team.

   In 1964 the Wildcats made it all the way to the final game for the state championship, but lost to Perkinston 60-50.  The Wildcats trailed only by four points until the last minute of play.

   The next year, the Wildcats kept winning.  In 1965 the PRC five took home the last state basketball championship that the school would win for thirty-two years.  (PRCC recently won the state championship in 1998.)

   After PRC Hanberry started working as a teller at the First Mississippi National Bank in Hattiesburg.  He became vice president before returning to Poplarville in 1976 to operate Hanberry Chevrolet Company.  Hanberry returned to the Hattiesburg area after three years.  He worked for Dossett Pontiac for a while before working for Exxon Oil Company.

   He had worked for Exxon for ten years before he died of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in 1991.  He left a wife, Doris, and three children.