Northeast Mississippi Community College Athletics

Just like his brother and fellow hall of famer Maurice, success has followed Fred Stafford wherever the sport of basketball has taken him throughout life.

That trend started in earnest as a student-athlete at Northeast Mississippi Community College where he was part of the special 1989 region champion and national runner-up team under coach Harvey Childers.

Stafford reached double figures during 27 of the Tigers' 35 games that season. He added eight 20-plus point efforts, including in back-to-back triumphs by Northeast over Coahoma Community College and Jackson State (Tenn.) Community College.

He saved his best performances for matchups with Copiah-Lincoln Community College, which eliminated the Tigers from two postseason events and ended a three-year winning streak inside legendary Bonner Arnold Coliseum during Stafford's freshman campaign.

Stafford dropped 24 points as part of Northeast's come-from-behind 104-96 win in the championship game of the Wolves' invitational tournament in November. He then scored a career-high 30 points in their next meeting midway through the season.

The Tigers concluded their revenge tour against Co-Lin with a back-and-forth 111-100 victory in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 23 finals. Stafford was the low scorer among Northeast's starters, but still chipped in a solid 19 points.

Northeast officially secured its fourth all-time trip to the national tournament with an 83-74 decision at Alabama conference winner Southern Union State Community College. Stafford had 17 points, including an 8 of 11 showing from the free throw line.

He averaged 9.3 points inside the historic Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kan., including three consecutive double-digit outings leading up to the title contest against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College.

Stafford and the Tigers were the north division champs one year prior in 1988. He had a season-best 29 points on 11 made field goals in a victory over East Mississippi Community College.

The Rienzi native totaled 822 points over 66 appearances in a black-and-gold uniform, which comes to 12.5 points per game. Northeast went a combined 59-7 during Stafford's tenure, including a perfect 24-0 regular season record during the 1987-88 campaign.

While Stafford missed out on capturing a national championship with the Tigers, he did not let a second opportunity go to waste two years later while at the University of North Alabama.

Stafford led a second half surge by the Lions, who finished off the University of Bridgeport (Conn.) by a score of 79-72 at the Springfield Civic Center to win the NCAA Division II title. He was the CBS Player of the Game with a team-best 24 points.

He also obtained all-tournament honors after helping North Alabama average 91 points during its five NCAA Tournament contests. Stafford posted 11.4 points during that memorable senior year.

Stafford has spent the last three decades in the coaching profession. He was part of three state championships at his alma mater of Biggersville High School in the 1990s with two coming as the headman for track and the other as assistant boys basketball instructor.

He collected division coach of the year awards in 2016 at Corinth High School and most recently last winter at H.W. Byers High School. Stafford was selected to coach in the 2023 Northeast Mississippi Basketball Coaches Association (NEMBCA) All-Star Games.