One Mississippi community college community is mourning after its police chief died after being rushed to the hospital following a medical emergency at a school basketball game.

Officials with Northeast Mississippi Community College issued a statement about the death of Police Chief Anthony Anderson.

Anderson collapsed at the Northeast basketball game Saturday night and was rushed to Baptist Memorial Hospital, where he died. He was 61 years old.

Here is the school statement:

Northeast Mississippi Community College is mourning the passing of its police chief William Anthony Anderson.

Anderson attended the Northeast Lady Tigers basketball team’s first-round game in the National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) first-round Region 23 Tournament on Saturday, March 9 at the Bonner Arnold Coliseum before suffering a medical emergency.

Anderson was 61 years old.

“Chief Anthony Anderson’s untimely departure reminds us that even the strongest among us are not immune to life’s fragility,” said Northeast president Dr. Ricky G. Ford. “His dedication to safety, service, and community will be deeply missed but forever cherished in the hearts of those he protected and inspired.”

Counselors have been provided for Northeast students who have been affected by Anderson’s passing.

In 2021, Northeast turned to one of its own to lead the college’s police department.

Anderson, a former Tiger basketball standout, assumed command of the Northeast Mississippi Community College Campus Police Department on July 1 after the retirement of longtime chief of police Randy Baxter.

Anderson, who served as assistant chief under Baxter, led the campus’ police department that provides security and safety for all college facilities along with assistance to college employees, students, visitors and community members 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Anderson was instrumental in updating the campus safety plan, providing professional development on campus safety and instrumenting new policies that helped the college’s police department function more efficiently.

Anderson and his staff made sure that Northeast’s employees, students and community members were safe and even provided vehicle safety checks for students before they left for Spring Break earlier in the week.

Anderson was in his twenty-fourth year in law enforcement after graduating from the North Mississippi Law Enforcement Academy in 2000.

His previous stops include the Union County Sheriff’s Department for 12 years and a three-year stint as the chief of police for the city of Verona before joining the Northeast Mississippi Community College police department full time in 2014.

During his time with the Union County Sheriff’s Department, Anderson worked as a field deputy and an investigator, who focused on sex crimes and crimes against vulnerable adults and children. He was a member of the Union County Urban Search and Rescue squad as well as a member of the Union County SWAT team.

As the chief of police for Verona (February 2012-November 2014), Anderson was instrumental in hiring over 20 reserve officers for the growing police department and helping to reduce the crime rate in the city.

Anderson was a 1981 graduate of East Union Attendance Center and received an associate degree from Northeast Mississippi Junior College before attending Middle Tennessee State University.

On the hardwood for the Tigers, Anderson expressed his basketball prowess and led Northeast to over 40 wins in his two years in Booneville. During his first year at Northeast, the Tigers rallied to win the state championship against Hinds Community College in Utica 86-78.

In his sophomore season, Anderson helped Northeast land the inaugural National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XXIII Tournament where he scored a game-best 45 points including a 20-for-22 showing from the charity stripe against Delgado (La.) Community College in the opening round of the regional tournament.

Anderson scored a career-high 46 points versus the now-defunct Mary Holmes College on January 15, 1983. Those performances are still two of the top 10 scoring games for any Northeast athlete over the last 40 years.

Anderson finished the season as the leading scorer in the NJCAA Region XXIII with 793 points and was also ranked amongst the top 10 rebounders in the conference as a sophomore.

Anderson was named the Babe McCarthy Junior College Player of the Year, which is awarded to the top athlete at the two-year level in Mississippi, an NJCAA All-American and was voted by his teammates and coach Richard Mathis as Northeast’s Most Valuable Player following his sophomore season.

Anderson accumulated 1,098 total points in a black-and-gold uniform despite not benefitting from a three-point line. He used free throws to his advantage instead with 155 makes during the 1982-83 campaign alone.

In 2023, Anderson was inducted into the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) Hall of Fame.

Anderson was the son of the late W.M. and Ilene Anderson and married to the former Connie Smith. Together, the pair have three children, Anna, Ebony and William, who is also in law enforcement, and two grandchildren, Kydwn and Fallyn.

Anderson and his wife are previous members of Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church and current members of Ecru Second Baptist Church, where Anderson served as a deacon.

Anderson was also a member of the Masonic Lodge 171 in New Albany.