Pillow Academy will soon honor two former athletes who went on to have spectacular college careers.
On Sept. 4, the school will honor Jonathan Nichols during halftime of the football game against Washington School in a ceremony to name the varsity football locker room in honor of the former standout Ole Miss kicker.
Pillow will also honor him by each year awarding a varsity football player with the "Jonathan Nichols Consistency Award."
On Oct. 23, Pillow will honor former standout pitcher Louis Coleman during a halftime ceremony, naming the baseball field after the former LSU all-star. The school will also give an award each year to a varsity baseball player called "The Louis Coleman Determination Award."
Pep rallies and alumni receptions will be held at Tol Thomas Library in conjunction with each event.
"We are very excited to be honoring two of Pillow Academy's most accomplished athletes," Pillow headmaster Termie Land said. "Both of these young men have distinguished themselves by their collegiate performance and were not only outstanding athletes at our school but they were and continue to be outstanding individuals who are leaders and great role models. They are men of character and have worked very hard to achieve this level of success."
Nichols was the quarterback of PA's 1999 football team that whipped Jackson Prep 24-13 in the state AAAA championship game. He is also the school's all-time points leader with 209 and holds most all of the Mustangs' kicking records.
Nichols, a 2000 Pillow graduate, set 15 place-kicking records during his time at Ole Miss and won the Lou Groza Award for the nation's best collegiate kicker after a banner 2003 season, when he connected on 25-of-29 field goal attempts on his way to setting a single-season record with 124 points.
Coleman, a 2005 Pillow graduate, was arguably the most dominating pitcher the school has ever seen during his senior season - compiling a 10-1 record with a 0.51 ERA. In 68 innings, Coleman struck out 109, walked 12 batters and recorded four complete-game shutouts and one no-hitter.
Coleman helped pitch LSU to a national championship this past season, posting a 14-2 record with a 2.93 ERA. He struck out 142 and walked just 23 in 129 innings en route to earning SEC Pitcher of the Year and first-team All-American honors.
He was also a member of the SEC Community Service Team and received the LSU Skip Bertman Award and the Louisiana Sportswriters' Pitcher of the Year award.
He was drafted in the fifth round of the MLB draft in June by the Kansas City Royals. He is currently playing for the club's Advanced-A affiliate, the Wilmington (Del.) Blue Rocks.
Through generous donations by Dr. Brett and Ann Person, Land said, Pillow has one of the finest high school baseball fields in the Mississippi Private School Association.
To acknowledge and thank the Persons, the school has allowed them to name the field.
They have requested that the field be named in honor of Coleman; therefore, the field will be known as the Louis Coleman Field at Utroska Park.
