Photo By Michael Williams | Capt. Willie Mays serves in the surveyor and design team with Mississippi Army...... read more read more
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When the name Willie Mays enters a conversation, there’s an immediate connection with Major League Baseball. But for one Mississippi Delta resident, having that same name doesn’t mean living up to the hype of playing baseball, it means living a simple life and serving your country.
Capt. Willie Mays Jr. is a Mississippi Army National Guardsman who is assigned to the 168th Engineer Brigade, headquartered in Vicksburg.
The Calhoun City native can be found coaching youth league baseball with his son Myles, who is a third-baseman. Not only is the engineer a youth baseball coach, but he is also a Physical Education teacher and basketball coach at Bruce High School.
Having the same name as the former San Francisco Giants great, Mays said he thinks it’s exciting his name is associated with the former Major League Baseball standout.
“My dad was named after the baseball player; not me,” said Mays. “Growing up with that name was pretty cool. If you think about it, it’s associated with someone who arguably is one of the greatest baseball players of all time.”
Willie Howard Mays Jr., the baseball player, was a center fielder who spent 22 seasons in MLB. Nicknamed “The Say Hey Kid,” Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, during his first year of eligibility. He is one of five National League players to have eight consecutive 100-RBI seasons with 50 home runs between 1955 and 1965.
“Most of the time, when I tell people my name, I know what the next question will be - are you related?” he said.
Mays is almost an 18-year veteran of the Mississippi Army National Guard (MSARNG). He joined the Guard in 1998 after his junior year at Calhoun City High School. His military interest grew after observing several engineering missions being executed throughout the area he grew up in.
“I saw a lot of things they were doing in the community and in the parks,” said Mays, who holds degrees from Mississippi State University and Arkansas State University. “A lot of people in my community were in the Guard and the armory was about two miles away,” said Mays. “I wanted to learn how to drive those pieces of engineer equipment.”
Mays enlisted in the MSARNG as an engineering specialist in 1998. Ten years later, he received his commission in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at Mississippi State University as a second lieutenant. Currently, Mays serves as an engineer officer. For the past five months, he has been performing duties with the brigade’s Survey and Design team after transferring from the 223rd Engineer Battalion, headquartered in West Point.
“We build plans and blueprints,” said Mays. “For instance, we would build and provide plans for a horizontal company that wants to construct a road. We would go out and survey the road, set the outer limits and test the soil.”
Engineers build anything and everything the Guard needs. From surveying and bulldozing to framing and wiring, these service members are responsible for completing construction and demolition projects of any size from beginning to end. These missions can range from paving roads to setting up fortifications for hundreds of military personnel.
As for Mays, he feels you can’t strike out as an engineer in the Guard.
“This is a great field to be in, especially in Mississippi,” said Mays, “because there are a lot of engineer units in the state. If you dive into it and learn it, it’s a (military occupational specialty) that’s transferrable into the civilian world. Once a Soldier gets ready to get out of the military, they can take that experience into the civilian sector. You can go to any construction company or you can work for the Corps of Engineers.”
Mays said he has no regrets with his decision to join the MSARNG and encourages everyone to step up to the plate.
“I think the military is a good career,” said Mays. “In September, I will have 18 years of service. It (the military) has helped me get through college. The military is a part of me. It has afforded me to do a lot of things, such as going to college and getting bachelors and masters degrees and buying a home. I would tell anybody that thought about joining the Guard to just do it.”
There are connections between military service and playing a team sport. When asked what Mays thinks are some ties between a successful military career and baseball, he spoke about three things.
“The structure, hard work and discipline are very important traits that carry over from military experience into the sporting world to help children be successful,” said Mays.
| Date Taken: | 08.24.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 08.24.2016 17:01 |
| Story ID: | 208065 |
| Location: | JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Web Views: | 67 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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