PREVIEW: CHIPOLA SET TO HOST RONNIE MYERS CLASSIC

MARIANNA, Florida – The Chipola men's and women's basketball teams will host the Ronnie Myers Classic this weekend at the Milton H. Johnson Center. Teams from North Carolina and Georgia along with Panhandle Conference rival, Gulf Coast State College, will participate in the Classic, named for a man who has meant so much to Chipola Basketball over seven different decades.

How to watch

Admission to the games each day is $10/adults and $5/students (K-12). Chipola College students are admitted free. Games are also available on Chipola's Hudl Network. You can access the network by going to ChipolaAthletics.com and clicking on Watch Live then selecting Hudl. The links for each game are also listed below.

Ronnie Myers Classic Tournament Schedule

Friday – November 15, 2024

5 PM     Georgia Highlands College (3-1) vs. Gulf Coast State College (4-0) LIVESTREAM

7 PM     #17 Chipola Indians (3-1) vs. Wake Tech CC (3-2) LIVESTREAM

Saturday – November 16, 2024

1 PM     Gulf Coast State College vs. Wake Tech CC LIVESTREAM

3 PM     #17 Chipola Indians vs. Georgia Highlands College LIVESTREAM

5 PM      #17 Chipola Lady Indians (3-0) vs. Central Georgia Tech (0-2) LIVESTREAM

Last time out

The #17 Indians (3-1) are coming off a 2-0 weekend at the Richard Sanders Classic at Gulf Coast State College. Chipola came back to defeat East Central Community College, 66-59, in overtime, and Copiah-Lincoln Community College, 98-71.

Coach Donnie Tyndall's squad is led on the court by sophomores Markel Freeman (18.0 ppg) and Antonio Baker Jr (15.5 ppg). Freeman had a career-high 27 points against Copiah Lincoln on Saturday after scoring 18, all in the second half, against East Central on Friday. Baker also had a career-high this weekend, scoring 24 against East Central before adding 18 versus Co-Lin.

The Lady Indians (3-0) jumped into the NJCAA Rankings this week at #17 after also winning their two games at the Richard Sanders Classic. Chipola picked up a FCSAA/Region VIII victory on Friday when they took down Daytona State, 97-66, before easily handling Andrew College, 90-44, on Saturday.

Sophomore transfer Kanija Daniel leads Coach Mitch Rolls' team with 18.0 ppg. Another sophomore transfer, Jailynn Brill, averages 11.3 ppg, and freshman Serena Heeren is adding 10.0 ppg. Brill also leads the Lady Indians with 6.7 rebounds per game.

Both teams were schedule to play this past week at Reid State but the games were postponed. The Lady Indians will now host Reid State on Monday afternoon, November 18, at 4:30 PM. There will be no admission charged for Monday's game. The Chipola men will travel to the Lions on January 2.

Ronnie Myers

Ronnie was born December 5, 1941 in Graceville, Florida. He graduated from Campbellton High School in 1960, having led the basketball team to four State Championships. After playing basketball at Chipola College, he was awarded a full basketball scholarship to LaGrange College in Georgia where he graduated with a Bachelor's degree.

Excerpts from an article appearing in the Dothan Eagle on August 18, 2015 by Chipola alum, Tom Bennett ('63):

Ronnie was Chipola Coach Milton Johnson's savvy, cunning 5-foot 11-inch sophomore captain. Myers pressed rivals' point guards for the length of the court, giving each possession of theirs bad starts. On offense, Myers pulled the trigger on Johnson's fast-break offense. Myers was junior college basketball's model of unselfishness. He cared only about his coach's and the team's success and not about any glory for himself.

It was the year before, during Myers' freshman year at Chipola (and my senior year at Graceville High) that Myers' coaches Jim Pavy and William Alheim, with his complete approval, went far beyond the athletic health care standards of the National Junior College Athletic Association. Star guard Myers was in a cast with a sprained ankle. The Indians were losing. At halftime, the coaches cut and ripped that cast off Myers' ankle. He limped to the court feigning he was fine, but tried to go and couldn't. The team lost.

His was a Chipola basketball era without the assist stat, steals stat, shot clock, three-point line, required exchange of game films to aid scouting, and shamefully and not the fault of the players, no African-Americans. As for the awful segregation era then winding down, I know Myers was a once-in-a-generation talent who could have thrived in any setting. He was a point guard for all time at Chipola.

Ronnie married Kitty Ruth Neel of Chipley, Florida in 1966 and the couple moved to Quincy, Florida where Ronnie coached basketball at Shanks High School during the first two years of integration. In 1973, Ronnie moved to Marianna with Kitty and their young daughters, Melissa and Amie, to own and operate Beall Tire Company. In Marianna he became a successful business owner, a well-loved community leader, and the President of both the Chipola Appreciation Club and the Rotary Club.

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Ronnie served on the Chipola Appreciation Club for many decades and served several terms over the years as the Club's President. He has been an instrumental part of the success of the Appreciation Club and he has helped raise millions of dollars to support Chipola Athletics. At halftime of the 2015 Homecoming Game, the Club's gathering spot in the Milton H. Johnson Center, was renamed "The Ronnie Myers Appreciation Club Room."

Ronnie was influential in bringing the basketball state tournament to Marianna and was the Tournament Director every year during its time at Chipola College (1996-2013).

• "It's giving back something to the community, and providing a venue for these kids who worked so hard to get here, giving them a place to play. It's totally for the community and the kids," Myers said to the Floridan in 2009.
• "Ronnie's ability to relate to the state coaches, athletes, athletics directors and administrators has been phenomenal," Former FCCAA Director Charles Smith said in 2011. "He is responsible for getting the communities to participate and make the tournament the 'best' tournament in the nation."
• Upon Ronnie's induction into the FCCAA Basketball Hall of Fame, former Chipola President Dr. Gene Prough said, "As tournament administrator, Ronnie is the first to welcome coaches, officials and recruiters who visit the Milton H. Johnson Health Center for the tournament. He understands the special camaraderie of coaches and athletes, and works hard to ensure that the tournament at Chipola is among the best in the nation." 

On March 4, 2011, fifty years after he played in the state tournament, Ronnie was inducted into the FCCAA (now FSCAA) Men's Basketball Hall of Fame. He was inducted as a player, having starred on the 1961 State Championship team at Chipola, and a contributor, for his years as State Tournament Director.

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Ronnie passed away on September 29, 2024. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Dr. Kitty Neal Myers, his daughters, Melissa Elizabeth Myers and Amie Neel Myers, all of Marianna, and his sister, Patricia Ann Myers of Bascom. Ronnie was blessed with three grandchildren, Taylor Myers Munroe, Madeline Beall Munroe, and Wallace Fletcher Munroe, all of Marianna.

Ronnie is loved and missed by his family and friends and his Chipola family.