All-Stars are everywhere.

The Mississippi Association of Coaches showcase their all-startennis, football and basketball extravaganzas this weekend at threelocations in the Jackson area. All-star tennis action is slatedFriday afternoon at Jackson’s Parham Bridges Tennis Center.

The 52nd Annual Bernard Blackwell Mississippi All-Star FootballClassic is scheduled for Friday night at Madison Central HighSchool. Kickoff is 7:30.

On Saturday, the Coca-Cola All-Star Basketball Games tip off atHolmes Community College in Goodman. The 37th annual girls gamestarts at 1 p.m., followed by the 47th annual boys game at 3p.m.

Brookhaven’s own Corey Bryant will play for theSouth boys basketball team. Bryant, a Copiah-Lincoln CommunityCollege signee, helped lead the Panthers to a 25-9 record. The6-foot-4 center averaged 15 points and 11 rebounds per game.

Bryant is accustomed to working in the paint. He’ll make theswitch to a power forward spot at Co-Lin.

Coaching the South boys Saturday are RickyStone of Harrison Central and SteveHampton of Quitman. North boys coaches are WilbertBeard of South Panola and Bob Frith of Murrah. The North posted an82-58 win over the South in last year’s game. The South still holdsa commanding 31-15 margin in the series.

LaToya Johnson of Hazlehurst will represent this area inthe girls basketball game. A 5-7 forward, Johnson led the LadyIndians to the state playoffs.

Directing the South girls are Diana Jones ofHattiesburg and Sam Smith of Stone County. Northgirls coaches are Beverly Taylor of MontgomeryCounty and Scott Tallant of Columbus. The Southwhipped the North 72-42 last year to even the series at 18-18.

Interest in the all-star basketball games has sagged somewhatsince the contests were moved to Goodman. They need to be played inthe Capital City, either at the Mississippi Coliseum or JacksonState University.

Due to the prohibitive cost of renting Mississippi VeteransMemorial Stadium. the all-star football game has found a new homeat Madison Central. The 15,000 seating capacity is more thanadequate.

Since the Alabama/Mississippi All-Star Football Classic wascreated 14 years ago, much of the glamour has diminished from theNorth-South showdown. Still, players are thrilled and honored to beselected for the North-South Game.

Lee Bramlett, McComb’s retired head football coach, willdirect the South squad Friday night. Danny Adams, formerly ofLawrence County, has returned from Sylvester, Ga., to help coachthe South team. Other South assistant coaches are Jerry Alexanderof Moss Point, Larry Kinslow of Magee, and new head coach TedMilton of McComb.

Alexander coached Moss Point to the Class 5A state championshiplast December while Bramlett led the Tigers to the Class 4A statecrown. In 1999, Adams coached Lawrence County to the Class 4Achampionship.

Kinslow coached Magee to another Class 3A state championshiplast season. He has finally found success on the gridiron afterstruggling for several years at Southwest Mississippi CommunityCollege in Summit.

Three Pike Countians are playing for the South tomorrow night.They are defensive back Charles Pittman and wide receiverCarlos Weathersby of McComb and offensive lineman Reginald Green ofSouth Pike.

Area football coaches are asked to check their mail boxes atschool for The Daily Leader’s football questionnaire. Theinformation will be compiled for the annual GridironPreview which will be published near the end of August.

The questionnaires were mailed two weeks ago and the coachesalready are responding. The first returned form was provided byMichael Fields of Raymond. That accomplishmentqualifies him for a week’s vacation in Bude.

Fields said he was in awe of the Region 6-4A list of opponentswhich includes Brookhaven, McComb, South Pike, Lawrence County,Terry and Port Gibson. He feels like his Rangers have joined theSEC.