Coach Gerald Caveness was a remarkable championship basketball coach at Corinth, Laurel, New Site, Booneville, and Alcorn Central. Coach Caveness was born in Marietta and was a star basketball player who was a member of the Marietta High 1950 BB-B State Championship team. He attended Northeast Community College from 1950 to 1951 and helped lead the Tigers to two appearances in the NJCAA National Tournament. The 1951 Tiger team finished 50-9-1 with a national runner-up finish. Gerald then played basketball at Mississippi State from 1952 to 1954 where he lettered from 1953 to 1954 and was selected to the AP second team All-SEC squad. He served as team captain in his senior season for the 1953-54 Bulldog team. From 1954 to 1957, Coach Caveness served in the U. S. Marines Corps rooming with Georgia Hall of Fame football coach Vince Dooley before starting his 29-year coaching career. Gerald started at Corinth where he coached for two seasons before going to Laurel in 1959. He arrived at New Site in 1960 and built a basketball dynasty. From 1960 to 1969, Coach Caveness paced the Royals boys’ basketball team to five consecutive Class B State Championships in 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969. His 1969 squad stunned the Mississippi high school world when they defeated a powerful Jackson Winfield team 72 to 70 to claim the Grand Slam championship becoming the first small school to ever win the title. His New Site teams won 92% of their games and had a 45-game winning streak spanning district, north half, and state playoff games. Coach Caveness left coaching for two years after the 1969 season but emerged as head coach at Booneville High from 1971 to 1978. He completed his coaching career at Alcorn Central from 1979 to 1988. Overall, Gerald’s basketball teams had a record of 657 wins and 181 losses with an 80% winning mark. Coach Caveness received numerous coaching awards through the years including the 1977 Coach of the Year, the 1977 Region 5 Coach of the Year, and the 1987 Region Coach of the Year. He was an All-Star coach in the 1965 Mississippi High School All-Star basketball game. Along with membership in the MAC Coaches Hall of Fame, Coach Caveness was inducted into the Northeast Mississippi Community College Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. He was the subject of two books entitled They Called Him Coach and The Measure of a Man. Coach Caveness passed away in 1990.