Dean of Mississippi Sportswriters Joins HottyToddy.com Team

HottyToddy.com is pleased to welcome the dean of Mississippi sportswriters, Rick Cleveland.
Cleveland has granted HottyToddy.com exclusive permission to repost his weekly column. You can look for his insightful and often humorous insights on sports right here every Wednesday morning.
Rick Cleveland is a Hattisburg, Miss. native who grew up in the backyard of the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles. His dad, Ace Cleveland, also a sportswriter, preceded Rick in the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. But Cleveland says the Mississippi writer who influenced him the most was Ole Miss’ own Willie Morris from Yazoo City, Mississippi.
Although an averge student in high school, Cleveland did well in history and English. He worked part time in the sports department at The Hattiesburg American newspaper throughout high school and college.
Cleveland graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi. At USM, he had a double major in journalism and history with a minor in English.
He has now been writing for over thirty-five years. His advice for future writers is to read a lot and read the great writers like Twain, Faulkner, Hemingway, Welty, and Styron. His advice for students is to “find something you love and do that.”  He has worked at other jobs and made more money but couldn’t find anything he liked more than writing.  Now, he looks forward to going to work, and says in many ways his work is a hobby. “How many people can say that?”
Cleveland has written two books:  It’s More Than a Game and Vaught: The Man and His Legacy. He continues to write daily for the Jackson Clarion Ledger sports page — and now HottyToddy.com
Material courtesy of Mississippi Writers and Musicians