Dale Peay
Under Peay’s guidance, the Lions have achieved more success on and off the links as a team than in any other time in school history with three regional berths in the past four years. During the past two years, EMCC has claimed back-to-back, runner-up team honors at the MACJC State Golf Championships for the best state finishes in school history. In addition to touting six all-state/all-region selections, including three NJCAA Championship participants, over the past four years, the Lions have also collected NJCAA All-Academic Team honors each of the past two years for having composite team grade point averages of 3.0 or higher.
The Lions accomplished another program first two years ago by having two golfers – Wes-ton Wallace and Zack Bailey – qualify for the NJCAA Division II Golf Championship during the same year. Wallace, a two-time all-state collegian, also made school history by becoming the first EMCC golfer to claim the coveted Hubert Tucker Award for compiling the best scoring average among Mississippi’s junior college golfers during the 2011 regular season. Previously for EMCC, Michael Lauseng finished as runner-up in the 2010 Hubert Tucker Award standings.
During the 2009 golf season, the Lions recorded a pair of runner-up team showings, highlighted by a second-place finish in the EMCC-hosted 2009 NJCAA Region 23 Championship played at the Mississippi State University Golf Course.
Since 2005 when he moved to the links after 20 years in Scooba as head coach of the Lady Lions’ basketball team, Peay has implemented a weight-training and conditioning regimen for the EMCC golf program. In addition, he has been instrumental in increasing the number of in-state golf courses and facilities available to the Lions for practice.
Before taking over EMCC’s golf program, Peay was the school’s head women’s basketball coach for two decades. During that span, three of his teams qualified for the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament, including the 1992-93 Lady Lions squad that went undefeated in conference play. Peay also served as an assistant women’s basketball coach at Mississippi State University before coming to East Mississippi.
Prior to entering the collegiate ranks, Peay spent nearly seven years coaching basketball, football and track and field at Starkville Academy, where he helped guide the undefeated 1977 Volunteer football team to the state championship as an assistant coach and took three boys’ basketball squads to the state tournament. In addition, the SA varsity track and field program claimed six district titles and earned two runner-up state finishes.
Peay competed in the 880-yard run and two-mile relay events during the outdoor track season and the 600-yard run during the indoor campaign at Mississippi State, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physical education/administration in 1976 and 1979, respectively. He has also completed some graduate-level work at the University of Alabama.
A native of Double Springs, Miss., Peay has been actively involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for more than 30 years at EMCC and MSU. He is married to the former Karen Pickle of Kosciusko, Miss., who works as a cardiac nurse in Columbus.