Coach Gerone Kirkland led championship boys basketball teams at Central High in Coffeeville, Rosa Fort High in Tunica, and H. W. Byers in Holly Springs. A native of Carthage, he was an All-State basketball player for Harmony Vocational High and has the distinction of being selected to the state's first ever All-Star team in 1961. His coaching career spanned 40 years, from 1965 to 2006. He guided his teams in 1,258 games, with 818 wins and only 440 losses. His teams at Rosa Fort and Byers won nine district titles, two North Half crowns one semifinal appearance, two state runner-up finishes and two State Championships. His Rosa Fort Lions claimed state titles in 1985 and 1995. Coach Kirkland has been decorated by the MAC with four Coach of the Year awards, two State Championship awards and a service award, and he coached in the 1994 Mississipp/Alabama All-Star game. In 1995, he was named the Clarion Ledger Coach of the Year. The gymnasium at Rosa Fort was named in his honor in 2013.