Neblett Arrow football legacy covers three generations

By Danny C. Davis

Many players that have played football at Clinton High School have had dads or uncles who also wore the red and white on the football field for the Arrows. But it is not often that three generations have had ties to the Clinton Arrow football program.

This story started with Robert (Bob) Edward Neblett, who served on the staff of the Arrow head football coach Roy Burkett in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Bob’s son Robert (Rob) Edward Neblett the second played linebacker for the Arrows from 1981 to 1983. Then came Robert (Robsen) Edward Neblett the

third, who just concluded a three-year start at linebacker for CHS.

Robert Neblett was born in 1933 in Morgan City, Mississippi, up in the Delta. Bob went to Ole Miss on a baseball scholarship and pitched for the Rebels. He played under the legendary Rebel baseball coach Tom Swayze.

 

After college, Bob served his country in the 8th Army Honor Guard in Korea.

Following his Army service, Bob began a distinguished career in coaching and administration at the high school level. His first job was as a football coach and teacher at Canton High School. Rob then became the head coach at Liberty High School in Liberty, Mississippi. He enjoyed immediate success at Liberty, leading the Bobcats to the Tangipahoa Conference football championship in 1960 and 1961. Neblett’s Bobcats finished 6-1-1 in 1960 and 8-1 in 1961. It was also at Liberty High where Bob met his wife of many years, Jimmie Faye Biedenharn, who was from Vicksburg. She was the head girls’ basketball coach at Liberty High.

Bob also coached at Pearl High School before joining the Roy Burkett staff at Clinton in 1969. He served as the Arrows’ head football coach for the 1971 season, after Burkett suffered a heart attack. He finished his career in administration at Clinton. Following retirement from CHS, he and his wife owned a successful picture frame business that started in Clinton. He passed away in 2020 at age 87.

The Nebletts had three sons, Jim, Rob and Pat.

Rob remembers following his dad on the sidelines at Roy Burkett Field when he was about three or four years old. From an early age, he had already developed the love for Arrow football that his dad had after he came to Clinton to teach and coach.

“Dad was always still involved with the coaches and players at Clinton, even after he was not coaching,” said Rob. “He loved being out there with the team at games and practices.”
Rob played for the Arrows from 1981 to 1983 and was a starter at linebacker. He played for then-Arrow head coach Jerry Lyons in 1981 and 1982, and for then-head coach Jerry Mahon in 1984.

“It was a transition time when I played,” said Rob. “Clinton had dominated the Little Dixie Conference in football throughout the 70s and won the overall Little Dixie title in 1980. Then, everything changed in 1981, with the switch to Districts and the football playoff system. We had to start playing football powerhouses like Callaway, Murrah and Vicksburg instead of Crystal Springs, Hazelhurst and Florence.”

 

“We just did not have players and talent to complete at that level at that time, and it was tough for Clinton football in the early- to mid -80s.Then we got Kyle Morris at quarterback as a freshman my senior year, and things started to get better. Coach James Sloan came back to Clinton to coach the year I graduated in 1985, and he turned the football program back around to what the program was like in the 70s.”

Rob graduated from Ole Miss like his father and later married Renee Walters, who also went to Ole Miss. Their oldest child, Robin, was a standout softball player at Clinton Christian Academy (CCA), where her softball team won back-to-back-to-back (three) state championships. Their son, Robsen, also had a

love for football from an early age and also played baseball. After playing junior high football at CCA, Robsen wanted to transfer to Clinton and play for the Arrows.

His first year at Clinton, Robsen was won the ninth-grade Sumner Hill Arrows Most Valuable Defensive Player award.

Robsen was dead set on playing Clinton varsity football, despite his size, and told his dad he was going to be a starter as a sophomore. But Rob told Robsen that CHS played at the highest Class 7 A level, and most players did not see playing time on the varsity until their junior or senior year.

 

“He was so determined that he was going to start as a sophomore at Clinton,” said Rob. “When Renee and I went to Warren Central for the first game of the

2023 Clinton football season, we were shocked that he got the start at linebacker as a sophomore.”

Robsen started at linebacker for all of the 2023 season and part of the 2024 season but was bothered by an off-the-field injury for part of the season, but still started on special teams. This past season, Robsen was back starting on the senior-laden Arrow defense that was the strong point of the team. He finished this past season as the Arrow defense’s third leading tackler with 44 tackles (32 solo tackles and 12 assists.

Current Arrow head football coach Hamer Morgan was Robsen’s defensive coordinator his sophomore and junior seasons, and his head coach this past season.

“Robsen was as tough as they come,” said Morgan. “He always played with a chip on his shoulder with relentless effort. He

prepared very well by watching extra film and practicing with intent. He was not the biggest player we had out there on the field, but he made it up for by playing with a lot of heart and giving it his best every play.”

For Rob and Renee, it was an emotional time on Robsen’s senior night – the final home game against Germantown – knowing that it would be Robsen’s final time to wear the red and black at Arrow Field.

I can surely relate to that feeling, as I still remember my son’s final game at Roy Burkett Field in November 2002 and the feeling that it was over.

 

For the Neblett family, it brought an end to 56 years of affiliation with Clinton High football that began with Bob as an Arrow assistant coach in 1969 and ended with third-generation Robsen’s last game as an Arrow. Great family memories were made.

Rob will not be far away.

“Once you are an Arrow at heart, you always are an Arrow, and I will still be behind Clinton Arrow football every year when the season comes around.”