Robert Khayat-A Job Well Done

Besides dating two Ole Miss coeds who became Miss America,Robert Khayat was an excellent football player, a gifted student, an attorney and an extraordinary Chancellor at the University of Mississippi.
Robert and his lovely sister were blonde like their wonderful Mother. Robert's older brother Eddie was dark like his great Father. Years later young Eddie was speaking at a banquet and mentioned that his sister looked like a Greek Godess and his younger brother, Robert,looked like a Greek God. Eddie added that he looked like a gol-darned Greek.
While Robert had a scholarship at Ole Miss, Eddie hitch-hiked from the Mississippi Gulf Coast and his home town of Moss Point to Starkville for a tryout at Mississippi State and was turned down. He later hitch-hiked to Oxford and got turned down by Ole Miss.
Eddie enrolled at Millsaps, his Dad's alma mater and was a Golden Glove boxing champion besides playing football for the Methodist Majors. He then transferred to a Junior College, graduated and then went to Tulane where he was a member of the Green Wave which beat both Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
Eddie went on to played for the Washington Redskins,Philadelphia Eagles and Boston. Once cut by the Eagles, Eddie returned to Tulane where he planned to be a graduate assistant when the phone rang. Eddie was told the Eagles' center had been injured and asked if he ever played center. He said he played center in high school. He was sent a plane ticket to come back to the City of Brotherly love. That afternoon he went out for practice and asked the Tulane center how did he snap the football.
Eddie stayed with the Eagles and wound up being the head coach. He later was a top gun for Arena football.
Robert was one of Ray Poole's placement specialists as well as an offensive lineman. He later kicked for the Redskins after playing in the College All Star game in Chicago against the defending NFL Champions from Baltimore. A Notre Dame lineman was supposed to start and Robert was supposed to just handle placement duties. The Irish star got hurt and Robert had to play.
Across the line of scrimmage from the blonde boyish Ole Miss player was Big Daddy Lipscomb who looked down at Khayat and said: "Boy, does your Momma know where you are?"
Robert Khayat should have been Dean of the Law School but Chancellor Gerald R. Turner selected someone else. When Turner left Ole Miss to go to SMU, Robert Khayat was named the new Chancellor. He is retiring after 14 seasons and will go down as the best Chancellor Ole Miss ever had. His sister, Edna, the former Mississippi Miss Hospitality and Eddie Jr were always proud of their little brother. So are the two Miss Ameicas, Mary Ann Mobley Collins and Lynda Lee Meade Shea.
So are his running mates in college including Kent Jr. Lovelace and Warren (Beaux) Ball. At a M Club gathering a few years ago the legendary John Vaught was asked who his favorite player was. He patted Kent Jr. on the shoulder and said " Well, Kent dated Miss America." Beax , who married Kent's sister, said he dated Lynda Lee in high school. Vaught then added that Bo was the best dancing football player he ever had.
Bo is also the same fellow when he was a senior and riding with Ed Wilburn Hooker they passed a beautiful brick building asked: That is a pretty building, what is it?" Ed Wilburn, who majored in card playing at Ole Miss, told Bo that was the Library.
Robert Khayat goes out as Chancellor after the Rebels Cotton Bowl victory. He is proud of the job Pete Boone has does as Athletic Director, particularly the hiring of Houstron Nutt as head coach. He credits Ed Orgeron for doing a fine job as recruiting some of the players who made possible the great season which included not only the Cotton Bowl victory but also handed national champion Florida its only loss.
Orgeron, a master recruiter, also landed Quarterback Jevan Snead, who will be a Heisman and Maxwell Trophy candidate as a junior and as a senior Khayat praised Coach O for his exceptional recruiting and is proud of the job Houston Nutt is doing now.
While Khayat was kicking those extra points and field goals the man who took the snap and held the ball was Billy (Dog) Brewer, who won more games as an Ole Miss football coach other than John Howard Vaught.
Bob Khayat will join his pals in the Grove at future tail gate parties.

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