Fleet C. Burkett Papers

Fleet Cooper Burkett was born on March 23, 1891 in Bassfield, Mississippi to Norvell and Martha Burkett. He lived on a farm with his four brothers and four sisters. He attended the Mississippi Normal College in 1912. While there, he played on the baseball team, and played against Ty Cobb on the Detroit Lions team. He worked as a salesman at the Chevrolet Motor Company in Columbia, Mississippi. During World War II, he was the executive director of the War Rationing Board of Marion County. Along with this, he was the first president of the Columbia Lions Club in 1942. He also became the first president of the Marion County USM Alumni Association, while organizing the Columbia Chamber of Commerce. Burkett passed away on March 3, 1996 in Columbia, Mississippi. He was the oldest living alumni from the original class of the Mississippi Normal College.