At the second annual “Meet the Trojans” banquet, every baseball player from the freshman level all the way up to the varsity level were introduced.

But along with those introductions, a message was being sent out to all the players about how to live their lives the right way

And that message was coming from a man who has spent decades with both the game of baseball and with teenagers.

For 42 years, Ron Polk, the banquet’s guest speakers, was a colligate baseball coach, 29 of those years were spent with the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

During that time, Polk became the winningest coach in the school and in SEC history in all sports thanks to his 1,139 wins at MSU.

He has helped advanced his team to the NCAA tournament 21 times, and is one of three coaches to take three different teams to the College World Series. He has also coached the gold medal team for the Olympics in Seoul, South Korea in 1988.

One of the main topics Polk hit on was the distractions that high schoolers face on a daily basis.

“There are distraction everyone,” Polk told the crowd in the Parks and Recreation gym Tuesday night. “And the decisions you make now will define who you are the rest of your life. “Don’t le the “good timers” fool you,” he added. “They are only going to leave you in the end.”

As Polk moved on, he mentioned the importance of family support for each of the players.

“Make sure you love your children, nurture them and discipline them.

“But let them enjoy the game. Everyone has to win and lose. The score does not dictate how successful a player is,” Polk said.

The former Bulldog head coach ended his speech with four simple things that he said “would make life sweet.” “Have faith, never have a down day, work hard and make a difference in someone else’s life. “When I leave here, I hope something said will spark you all to be better people,” Polk concluded.