A basketball coach whose impact on the game was so great they named a gymnasium after him, has passed away.
Charlie T. Bibbs, who led his Olive Branch junior varsity teams to an almost unbeatable record, passed away Tuesday, Jan. 28 at the age of 85. Bibbs had been battling Alzheimer’s and passed away at Baptist Regional Hospice House in Collierville, Tennessee.
Charlie T. Bibbs (Credit: Sanders and Sanders Funeral Homes
According to a text from his son Carlos to Olive Branch alumni, Charlie Bibbs led the Olive Branch JV boys’ basketball team to a 104-3 record, including 77 straight wins. That team was not the only team he coached, as he was involved with seven different teams at Olive Branch High School.
The Winona native played football his freshman year at Jackson State but turned to basketball after a broken nose and series of knee injuries curtailed his football career, playing basketball at the Air Force Academy.
Bibbs first came to East Side High first as a substitute teacher after his marriage to his wife Alyce, who was a home economics teacher there. A year later Bibbs was hired full time and started to coach the boys’ junior varsity basketball team.
Bibbs continued in that position when East Side and Olive Branch integrated.
Bibbs also was an offensive assistant coach for the football team in 1972 and was also the school’s track coach, adding to his duties the post of head boys’ basketball coach in 1975 and head girls’ coach in 1977.
The gymnasium was named Charlie Bibbs Gymnasium in 2018 in his honor, with son Carlos saying, “His impact was honored with the renaming of the Olive Branch High School gym, a fitting tribute to a man who gave so much to our community.”
Funeral services for Charlie T. Bibbs have been set for Feb. 8 at 11 a.m. at Lizzie Sanders Memorial Chapel at Sanders and Sanders Funeral Home in Winona, Mississippi. Burial is in the North Mississippi Veterans Cemetery in Kilmichael.
