SPORTS EDITOR BLOG — Former Lafayette High head football coach Jimmy Arrington has died at the age of 68. Arrington passed away Friday morning at approximately 11 at Baptist Memorial Hospital North Mississippi here in Oxford.A visitation for Arrington will be held Saturday at Waller Funeral Home in Oxford from 4 to 7 p.m. His funeral will be Sunday in the chapel at Waller with Rev. Alan Cochet and Randy Hope officiating.
Jimmy Murphrey was one of the assistants who helped Arrington during his tenure at LHS. Murphree said that even though Arrington had been retired for several years from the school district, he never lost interest in all the sports teams and how they were faring each season.
“If the games weren’t on the radio, he was calling me to get the scores and see how the softball team was doing and who they were playing in the playoffs,” Murphree said. “It wasn’t just about the football team, he wanted to know about the athletics teams at Lafayette. He wanted to know it all.”
Murphree said that everyone loved Coach Arrington and his personality and that everyone called him ‘Chief.’
Arrington is survived by his wife Gale, two sons, Perry and Alan and two grandchildren. (May 28, 2010)
