Coach Leland Young was a famed football coach at Rosedale and Bayou Academy in Cleveland who guided gridiron squads to 4 conference titles, 9 district championships, and state crowns in 1981, 1985, & 1986. Coach Young was born in Ripley. Leland was an All Conference football player at Friars Point High and received his college degrees at Delta State in 1968 & 1972. He started his 31-year coaching career in 1986 at Rosedale High, where he spent 4 years as an assistant, 24 years as a head football coach, and 28 years as athletic director. Leland guided Rosedale football teams to 4 Delta Valley Conference crowns, 9 district titles, 1 North State title, and 3 state championships. He served as assistant coach and athletic director at Bayou Academy in Cleveland from 1998-2000. He also coached track from 1969 through 1984 and led the Rosedale track team to a state title in 1983. Coach Young served as assistant coach in the 1979 Bernard Blackwell All-Star Classic and was head coach of the North in the 1983 contest. He was named Coach of the Year by the Bolivar Commercial on numerous occasions, Region 5 National Coach of the Year in 1988, MAC Football Coach of the Year in 1985, MAC Track Coach of the Year in 1983, 9-time Delta Valley Conference Coach of the Year, MS Sportswriters Coach of the Year in 1986, and the Bolivar Commercial Coach of the Quarter Century in 200. He served as President of the Delta Valley Conference for 2 years and was chosen for the Who’s Who in Mississippi in 1990. He served as Director of the Rosedale Park Commission and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Rosedale Methodist Church and the Walter Sillers Country Club. Coach Young was inducted into the Delta State Alumni Hall of Fame in 1999.