Clyde Muse contributed much, including to the sport of T-ball
Many readers surely have seen the news that Clyde Muse, an educator for 67 years and for 42 years the president of Hinds Community College, died last week at the age of 96. Muse has often been referred to as the “Godfather” of Mississippi’s community college system.
Little kids probably would better appreciate Muse as one of the people credited with inventing T-ball, a sport that has become a rite of spring for thousands upon thousands of youngsters too small to throw strikes or hit thrown baseballs. If you’ve never seen a game, you owe it to yourself.
A thorough internet investigation has found T-ball was “invented” in different parts of the country by different people. It was first played in Mississippi, in Starkville, during the summer of 1961 when Muse was directing the town’s park programs. The game is now played – often with hilarious results – virtually everywhere.
In 2015, the Mississippi Senate honored Muse with a proclamation for his gift to tiny Mississippians and the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who have watched them play.
“I’ve had one original idea in my life,” Muse told senators, laughing, according to a press release from the college at the time. “The first game we played I knew it was going to be a tremendous success. I saw how much fun the little children have.”
Added Muse, “My great grandchildren have benefitted from T-Ball. I have enjoyed watching them play.”
Muse told senators the game was never patented. “I didn’t have enough sense to do that,” he laughed.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
