Father and son inducted into PRCC Athletics Hall of Fame

PURVIS, Miss. (WDAM) - Eric Adkins and his dad Terry Wayne have spent plenty of time on the telephone shooting the breeze – but there’s one conversation they won’t soon forget.

“I told him first they nominated me to go into the Hall of Fame,” Terry Wayne said. “He said, ‘Dad that’s great, that is real great. I’m real proud for you.’ That ain’t all. You’re going too. So we had a moment there or two, neither one of us could say anything.”

Hollywood couldn’t script it better.

A father and son enshrined in the same Pearl River Community College Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2022.

“It was – there ain’t no was, it’s still surreal,” Eric said.

Terry Wayne was one of the best placekickers to play for the Wildcats, holding school records for field goals in a season (13 in 1973), field goals in a game (five in ‘73) and longest field goal (54 yards in ‘74).

His son Eric went a different route – a member of PRCC baseball’s first NJCAA World Series team in 2002.

“The thing I got from dad was I guess my competitiveness, my grittiness,” Eric said. “I played baseball like most people play football.”

Eric was a force. He finished with a career .357 batting average with 23 home runs and 90 runs-batted-in in two seasons.

But he took much more from his experience in Poplarville away from the field.

“There’s a lot of things coach [Jay] Artigues taught me then that I still use now. It was more about being a man, not just being a ball player. When I think back about some of the best times that I’ve had, it all goes back to ‘The River.’”

Eric’s dad echoes those thoughts.

Forty-nine years after his playing career ended, Terry Wayne wondered if he’d ever get that call to the hall.

It was worth the wait.

“If I had went in there 20 years ago this wouldn’t be happening today,” Terry Wayne said. “It’s all on God’s time. If you ask for something you need to wait on it, see what God’s going to do about it. This is what was meant to be.”

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