Coach Ed “Wimp” Reed was a remarkable championship football coach at West Point, Rolling Fork, Lumberton, Provine, Picayune, South Natchez, and Tuscaloosa Central High in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Born in Booneville, Ed played football and baseball at Booneville High and was a four-year letterman in both sports at Delta State from 1949 to 1952. Coach Reed started his 40-year coaching career at West Point as an assistant coach from 1952 to 1954. He was named head coach at Rolling Fork and paced his teams in three seasons to a mark of 12-6 before moving to Lumberton. Coach Reed led Lumberton to a record of 45-21-2 in 7 seasons and arrived at Jackson Provine in 1965. He paced the Rams for two years to a record of 15-6. Ed’s next stop was a Picayune where he coached the Maroon Tide for two seasons and a record of 6-14. He then arrived at Natchez in 1969 where he would lead Natchez-Adams which became South Natchez High for the next 9 years. At South Natchez, his team won the 1980 Big Eight Conference and then won the first ever Class 5A state championship game defeating Starkville 21-6 at Newell Field in Jackson to cap off an undefeated 14-0 season in 1981. From 1974 to 1979, he was working as head football coach and principal of the school and serving as athletic director for the Natchez school system. Coach Reed also coached basketball, baseball, and track but had most of his success on the gridiron. He would guide South Natchez to a record of 66-30-2 during his coaching tenure. In 1982, Coach Reed accepted the head coaching position at Central High in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Over the next 10 seasons from 1982 to 1991, Ed’s Central football teams finished a combined 82-29-1. His 1991 squad reached the state championship game but finished as runner-up. Coach Reed’s coaching record in Mississippi was 194 wins, 58 losses, and 2 ties while his record in Alabama was 82 wins, 29 losses, and tie. Overall, Ed’s football teams in Mississippi and Alabama won 276 games with 87 losses and 3 ties. His teams won seven conference championships, two state titles including the Big Eight crown, and 10 straight 6A Regional titles in Alabama from 1982 to 1991. Ed was named conference coach of the year seven times and was the MAC football coach of the year in 1967, 1980, and 1981. Coach Reed was South head coach in the famed 1967 Bernard Blackwell All-Star classic featuring Archie Manning’s breakout game. Along with induction into the MAC Coaches Hall of Fame, Ed was inducted into the Delta State Coaches Hall of Fame in 2007. Coach Reed passed away on March 18, 2018.