Junie Hovious

{{Short description|American football player (1919–1998)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}

{{Infobox NFL biography

| name = Junie Hovious

| number = 43

| position = Halfback

| birth_date = {{birth date|1919|10|14}}

| birth_place = Vicksburg, Mississippi, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1998|5|7|1919|10|14}}

| death_place = Oxford, Mississippi, U.S.

| height_ft = 5

| height_in = 8

| weight_lb = 180

| high_school = Carl Central

| college = Ole Miss

| draftyear = 1942

| draftround = 18

| draftpick = 168

| pastteams =

• New York Giants ({{NFL Year|1945}})

| highlights =

• NCAA punt return leader (1940)

| statlabel1 = Passing yards

| statvalue1 = 373

| statlabel2 = TD-INT

| statvalue2 = 4-5

| statlabel3 = Passer rating

| statvalue3 = 65.1

| pfr = HoviJu20

}}

John Alexander "Junie" Hovious, Jr.{{cite news|title=John Alexander Hovious Jr.|publisher=hovious.com|accessdate=November 6, 2015|url=http://www.hovious.com/junie1.htm}} (October 4, 1919 – May 7, 1998) was an American football player. He played college football for the Ole Miss Rebels football team from 1939 to 1941 and professional football for the New York Giants in 1945.

Hovious was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1919. He played college football for the Ole Miss Rebels football team from 1939 to 1941. He also lettered in baseball and basketball for Ole Miss. During his three years playing for Ole Miss, he totaled 1,017 rushing yards, scored seven touchdowns, and returned 84 career punts for 1,142 yards and two touchdowns, including a 96-yard punt return against Georgia in 1940.{{cite web|title=Ole Miss Legend Junie Hovious Passes Away: Hovious was an outstanding runner and kick returner|date=May 7, 1998|publisher=University of Mississippi|url=http://www.olemisssports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/050898aaa.html}}{{Dead link|date=January 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} In 1940, he led all NCAA major college players with 498 punt return yards.{{cite web|title=Football Bowl Subdivision Records|publisher=NCAA|page=72|year=2015|url=http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2015/fbs.pdf}} He was selected as a second-team All-SEC player in 1939 and 1941, and a first-team player in 1940.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2594338/kingsport_times/|work=Kingsport Times|date=December 6, 1939|page=12|title=Star-Studded Vol Aggregation Places Five Men On All-Southeastern Eleven|accessdate=June 11, 2015|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2496226/arizona_independent_republic|page=41|date=November 29, 1940|title=Three Tennessee Gridders Top Southeastern All-Stars|accessdate=May 27, 2015|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2562612/the_odessa_american/|work=The Odessa American|title=All-Southeastern Team Is Selected|date=December 1, 1941|page=8|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=June 6, 2015}} {{Open access}}

He later played professional football in the National Football League, appearing in six games for the New York Giants during the 1945 NFL season. During his time with the Giants, he completed 22 of 46 passes for 373 yards and four touchdowns.{{cite web|title=Junie Hovious|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|work=Pro-Football-Reference.com|accessdate=November 6, 2015|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HoviJu20.htm}}

After retiring as a player, Hovious served as an assistant football coach at Ole Miss from 1946 to 1974.{{cite news|title=John A. "Junie" Hovious|publisher=Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame|accessdate=November 6, 2015|url=http://msfame.com/hall-of-fame/inductees/john-a-junie-hovious/}} He was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1967 and the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987. He died in 1998 in Oxford, Mississippi.