The 2009 sports year was an exciting one for Greenwood-area fans.
Schlater's Louis Coleman, a former Pillow Academy standout, provided the top story of the year as he helped pitch LSU to a national championship.
Here are the Greenwood Commonwealth's Top 5 Local Sports Stories of the Year.
1. Coleman's dream season: 2009 was a magnificent ride from start to finish for the LSU all-star, who made the first pitch of the season for the Tigers in the new Alex Box Stadium and fittingly threw the last pitch of the season in an 11-4 win over Texas in Game 3 of the College World Series. He struck out the side in the ninth inning against Texas, then threw his glove high in the air - setting off a massive Tiger celebration.
Coleman was named the SEC Pitcher of the Year at the end of the regular season, when he led the SEC with 10 victories and his 2.99 ERA was the second-lowest among starters.
He finished with a 14-2 record and 2.93 ERA. He recorded 142 strikeouts with just 23 walks while limiting opponents to a .224 batting average.
He was taken in the fifth round of the MLB Draft in June.
Coleman's alma mater, Pillow Academy, recently named its baseball field in his honor.
2. Totten gone: After eight seasons at the helm of his alma mater, football coach Willie Totten stepped down from what he called his "dream job" to take another position at Mississippi Valley State.
Valley had a 3-8 record this year and was 1-6 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. It was the sixth losing season in Totten's eight-year tenure as head coach. He finished with an overall record of 31-58.
3. GHS coach fired: Jeff Gibson was totally caught off guard on Dec. 15 when he was fired after three seasons as the head football coach at Greenwood High School.
"It was shocking and painful. From what I gathered from the conversation (with Superintendent Margie Pulley), I hadn't won enough games," said Gibson, who was 9-21 during his three-year tenure with the Bulldogs.
Gibson was just as surprised to learn athletic director Clinton Gatewood was named the Bulldogs' interim head coach.
After struggling through an unusually high number of injuries in 2009, Gibson's Bulldogs finished with a disappointing 3-8 mark. GHS went 2-7 the previous year and 4-6 in his first season.
4. Viking classic washed out: The Viking Classic, Mississippi's lone PGA Tour event, was canceled on Oct. 30 without a ball being struck after the waterlogged Annandale Golf Club in Madison was deemed unplayable.
More than 26 inches of rain had saturated the course in a month's time.
The event, sponsored by Greenwood's Viking Range Corp., wasn't rescheduled - marking the first time a Tour event was canceled and not rescheduled since the 1996 Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
The disappointment was exacerbated by the fact that the 2009 event had a stand-alone date for the first time in its 42-year history. In recent years the Viking Classic has been played opposite the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup.
5. PA plays for state title: The Mustangs of Pillow Academy made it to the State AAA Division II championship game after an 8-2 regular-season mark and a 27-14 playoff win over East Rankin - putting the Mustangs in the title game for the first time since 2000.
The win over East Rankin snapped a five-game losing skid in the postseason for the Mustangs, who unfortunately lost 34-7 to Washington School in the championship game.
