2024 Jimmy Bellipanni Distinguished Alumni Award Honor Goes to Joyce Jones "JJ" Walker

April 13, 2024

By Mark H. Stowers

Moorhead Native Joyce Jones "JJ" Walker To Be Honored as Jimmy Bellipanni Distinguished Trojan Award

Some folks know the 2024 Mississippi Delta Community College's Jimmy Bellipanni Distinguished Trojan Award winner Joyce Jones "JJ" Walker as the lady who keeps the basketball book during Lady Trojan basketball games. Others may know her for her work for the City of Moorhead as the City Clerk for more than 14 years. And some may know her from seeing her in Indianola at her job in the chancery clerk's office. But most folks know JJ as the superstar athlete from Gentry High School who stayed home and took her softball and basketball talents to Mississippi Delta Community College's JT Hall Coliseum and the Carl and Brenda Grubb Softball Complex from 1980 to 1982. Walker was highly recruited by Coahoma Junior College, Mississippi Valley State University and Tougaloo College before deciding to "stay home."

For her service to the school and athletic program, Joyce Jones "JJ" Walker will be honored with the 2024 Jimmy Bellipanni Distinguished Trojan Award at the MDCC Hall of Fame Banquet on Saturday, April 20. The event will be held in J.T. Hall Coliseum and begins at 4:30 p.m. Tickets for this year's event are $25 per person and can be purchased at: https://msdelta.formstack.com/forms/sportshalloffame.

The dual-sport Lady Trojan was a member of the inaugural MDCC Lady Trojan Softball and Lady Trojan basketball team from 1980 to 1982.

"I felt like, 'it this really real?'" Walker said of the honor she learned about through an official letter. "I've been doing the gameday basketball book for the past 25-plus years and they didn't let me know. I'm really honored to be one of the Hall of Fame inductees."

The Moorhead native was an award-winning athlete at Gentry High School and brought her skills to campus under the direction of Head Coach Buddy Walden who coached both basketball and softball.

"She was on our first softball team in 1981 and played third base. Our second year as a softball team, Joyce Walker helped us win a state championship," Coach Walden recalled. "She was a right-handed hitter and could hit the ball to the opposite field."

Walker enjoyed her time with Coach Walden going from sport to sport.

"He was a great coach and I appreciated him giving me the opportunity to come over and play for Mississippi Delta," Walker said. "It was a lot of fun with basketball and just to see his reaction on his face when we got to softball. He'd say, 'ok, we're changing the court and now we're outside. We had a lot of fun. We were the first team to go to state."

On the basketball court, Walker was honored as Best Offensive Player her freshman year and was Most Valuable Player her sophomore year in basketball.

"The first year, I was the sixth man. Coach Walden told me I played better coming off the bench but the second year I was a starter," Walker said.

"Joyce was an outstanding player and tall and slim and actually thought she was a point guard but she really wasn't a point guard," Coach Walden said with a laugh. "But if we had the three-point shot back then she would have averaged a lot of points. She had a great shooting range. I told her you stick to playing the wing and shooting those long shots. And she's been keeping the books ever since she left."

Walker was voted All-Conference in both sports. She noted her basketball career started as the "sixth man" as Coach Walden told her she played better coming off the bench. She then started her sophomore year and continued to lead the team.

"She's one of the better players we had over there," Coach Walden said.

Team Manager Rosalind Mann Rosenburg knew that JJ was something special early on.

"She was awesome and so deserving of the honor. I remember going to Gentry High School with Coach Walden to scout her my Freshman year at MDJC where I was manager of the women's basketball team that had just been resurrected after a decades-long hiatus," Mann said. "Joyce (whom we called JJ back then) was so impressive - a great ball handler with quick inside moves, a good shooter and a smart player overall. Phenomenal all-around player and wonderful young lady both then and now."

Walker enjoyed MDJC teachers Sandra Moore and Ralph Warnock and many others as "they cheered us on. I had some good fans."

After MDJC, Walker went to work for the City of Moorhead, City of Sunflower and now the City of Ruleville and works in the Sunflower County Chancery Clerk's office 

"I didn't pursue a four-year college degree. I decided to put my clerical skills to work at City Hall at the City of Moorhead," Walker said. "I worked as a water clerk, court clerk and then worked toward certification to become a Certified Municipal Clerk."

She also has served as a councilwoman for Moorhead and has her eye on running for mayor of her hometown one day. While working for Moorhead, Walker and others helped establish the Moorhead City League for the youth of the community providing summer activities such as arts and crafts, t-ball, baseball, softball and basketball.

Married for nearly 40 years to Larry Walker, they have two biological children – Kimberly and Brandon and one adopted child – Delexionne Hunt. The devoted "grandmother of many" is a member of the Macedonia Church of God in Moorhead and enjoys traveling with her family showing support for her grandchildren and the sports they participate in.

The 2024 MDCC Sports Hall of Fame's Jimmy Bellipanni Distinguished Trojan Award winner, Joyce Jones "JJ" Walker.