Sunshine, warm weather and camaraderie defined the seventh-annual Egg Bowl Run in Calhoun City on Monday.
The annual event is put on by the Army ROTC battalions at Ole Miss and Mississippi State each year on the Monday before Thanksgiving as cadets take turns running a ceremonial game ball from one school’s city to the host city of that 
year’s Egg Bowl. The two battalions meet on the square in Calhoun City for a ceremony and exchange of the ball.
This year, with the Egg Bowl being in Starkville, the cadets of the Ole Miss Army ROTC departed from Oxford around 4:30 Monday morning to make the trek to Calhoun City where they exchanged the ball with members of the Mississippi State ROTC, who, in turn, took it to Starkville.
Calhoun City Chamber of Commerce President Laura Edwards has been involved with the run since its inception seven years ago, and she stated the importance of the event not only for her town, but also for the towns along the path of the run.
“This is year seven, and every year it’s been something that involves the community as a whole,” Edwards said. “All the towns that are in between whichever way the runners are going, it brings them together because people want to come out and see the runners when they pass.”
Of course, the run has a positive impact on Calhoun City as well, bringing a little extra income to local businesses on the day of the event.
“As far as Calhoun City goes, it’s just a chance to showcase our little town,” Edwards said. “Our shops, our restaurants they all pick up some extra income from this day. We’ve had people from as far away as Texas who have come to be here. We have a lot of through traffic that will come and be here.”
While the technical halfway point between Oxford and Starkville is between Calhoun City and Slate Springs, the Calhoun City Square provides a central location for the two ROTC programs to meet and exchange the game ball. According to Edwards, the two universities reached out to Calhoun City before the run’s inception to see if the town would be interested in hosting the event due to its geographic location.
“The ROTC programs from each school contacted us and wanted to know if we wanted to be involved with it because they wanted to do something to kind of showcase the Egg Bowl,” Edwards said, “but also wanted to draw some attention to the military side of it. It’s a great way to be mindful of the fact that [military members] have families that aren’t together because their men and women are serving overseas and they’re not able to be home for Thanksgiving, so it just reminds us all to be a little more thankful for what we have.”
The individual cadets who participate in the run each year also find enjoyment in the experience. Ole Miss’ Jacob Vaughn participated in his second Egg Bowl Run this year and stressed the importance of the event along with the actual game played on Thanksgiving.
“It’s a great experience,” Vaughn said. “I think the Egg Bowl is a really fun event for the whole state regardless of who wins. Obviously, I want Ole Miss to win, but it’s a great thing to bring the state together, and this is a great way to have the Army ROTC programs be encompassed in that.”
Mississippi State’s Logan Locke participated in his third Egg Bowl Run on Monday and echoed Vaughn’s sentiment about the importance of the event for the ROTC programs and the community.
“It’s just a really good opportunity to get these two schools and two ROTC programs to be able to mingle,” Locke said, “and it’s good camaraderie between the two programs. We see each other like three or four times a year. It’s just a really fun event to get everyone excited about the game that’s happening on Thursday. It’s just a really fun time, and I enjoy it every single year.”
While each individual cadet doesn’t run the entirety of the route, Locke states that the ball is physically carried by a cadet the entire length of the trip, and the toll the run takes on your body depends on how much you’re actually willing to run.
“It really depends on how much you want to run and how fast you want to go when you’re doing it,” Locke said. “We’ll get about two or three guys out and we’ll run in between the vans for a little while, and if they want to run 10 miles, they can run 10 miles. If they want to run two miles, they can run two miles, and you’ll just keep switching it on and off the whole way back, but the ball literally gets run the entire way there by somebody.”
While the run can be taxing, Ole Miss’ Vaughn says the load is lessened thanks to the fact that the cadets are in good shape and prepare for this day throughout the year.
“It’s not a big toll because we prepare for this all year,” Vaughn said. “The whole battalion doesn’t run 41 miles straight. It’s not too bad. It’s just another day at the office.”
All in all, the run was enhanced by good weather on Monday, something that, according to Edwards, has been lacking in years past.
“Weather has been absolutely perfect today,” Edwards said. “The first year we did it, we had sleeting rain and hail. It was cold, and today, it’s balmy and 65 degrees, and it’s just good when God can shine on you and give you a pretty day.”