Jim Drewry
Jim Drewry
Years at Northeast: 1950-51
Sports: Football
Occupation: Student-Athlete

Jim Drewry led Northeast to its first two winning seasons as the Tiger quarterback on the 1950 and 1951 seasons.

In 1950, Drewry helped lead a Doug Hamley squad to a 6-2-2 mark and the Mississippi Conference Valley Championship with a 32-14 win over Sunflower Junior College.

During his time as the Tiger quarterback, Drewry guided Northeast to a 11-6-3 overall record that included back-to-back wins over Northwest Mississippi Community College (31-0 in 1950 and 34-7 in 1951) and Northeast’s 47 points against UT-College in 1951 still ranks as the sixth highest point total in school history and as the fourth highest winning margin for Northeast in its 52-year football history.

Following his time at Northeast, Drewry went on to play at Delta State University but it was his time on the sidelines at Kossuth, Booneville and Tishomingo high schools that Drewry made a name for himself.

However, it was his time at Delta State that Drewry got his first taste of being a coach and helped guide the 1954 Statesmen football team to an undefeated record and a national championship as part of E.B. Chadwick's coaching staff as a student assistant.

Drewry began his coaching career at Kossuth in 1958 and spent two seasons as the Aggies head man before moving to Brandon as an assistant coach in 1960.

Drewry returned home in 1965 and began his first stint as Booneville’s head coach leading the Blue Devils to three bowl games and a Tombigbee Conference co-championship in 1977 before leaving for his second stint at Kossuth from 1979-86.

After retiring to sell insurance in 1987-88, Drewry returned to the sidelines at now defunct Tishomingo High School in 1989 before returning to the Blue Devils in 1990 and guiding Booneville until his retirement in spring 2010.

During his second stint with Booneville, Drewry saw most of his success leading the Blue Devils to three state championships and four state runner-up finishes.

Drewry carried his work ethic into his final year as Booneville head coach where in his 50th season as a head coach, the former Northeast signal caller directed his team to a 13-1 record (starting out 13-0) and appearance in the Class 3A state semifinals.

In the spring 2010, Drewry finally hung up his coaching whistle at the age of 79 and with over 50 years in the football.

Drewry, who had retired one time before after the 1987 season, ended his coaching career as Mississippi’s all-time winningest football coach, passing Joe Bradshaw in the fall of 2009 with a 59-6 win over S.V. Marshall in the first round of the Class 3A state football playoffs.

Drewry finished his career with a 346-157-5 record in head coaching stops at Booneville, Kossuth and Tishomingo where his teams made the state playoffs 17 times and brought home the Class 2A state championship trophy in 1990, 1999 and 2000.

Drewry has been the recipient of many awards and honors and was named the 2009 Power of Influence Award recipient by the American Football Coaches Association.

In addition to the 2009 Power of Influence Award, Drewry has also been inducted into the National Federation of State High School Associations Hall of Fame and the Mississippi Association of Coaches Hall of Fame.

In 2000, he was inducted into the Delta State University Alumni Coaches Hall of Fame and was named the Tombigbee Coach of the Year in 1967, 1969, 1978 along with being the District 1 Coach of the Year in 1985.

Drewry has also been honored as the Division 1-3A Coach of the Year in 1986, the Daily Corinthian Coach of the Year in 1993, 1997 and 1999 along with the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal Coach of the Year in 1999 and the Class 2A Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2000. In 2003, Drewry was named All-American Football Foundation's Gerald R. Ford All-American High School Coach of the Year, and in 2005, he was the first Mississippi recipient of the NSSA-USA Football Champions Award. Drewry has also had the honor of having a street named after him in the city of Booneville.

Currently, Drewry sits on an advisory board for the the American Football Coaches Association and has been figured in a trio of books about football in the state of Mississippi — Gridiron Gold, Gridiron Glory (which featured the Northeast alumni on the cover) and Y'all vs. Us showcasing the rivalry between Booneville and Baldwyn.