Mooney Boswell loved all sports, and in his prep days at Messick High School in Memphis and Mountain Heights Academy in Blue Mountain, Mississippi, he played them all!
Through the depths of the Depression, Boswell kept on competing. He played football and baseball at Ole Miss and football, baseball, and basketball at West Tennessee State Teachers College (now University of Memphis).
Upon graduation, Mooney turned to officiating high school athletics and industrial league baseball in the Memphis area, and was an umpire in the Carolina League from 1935 to 1941.
In the 1940s, Boswell began officiating for the TSSAA in baseball, football, and basketball, an avocation he continued for four decades. In the 1950s, the SEC and the Metro League called on Mooney’s officiating expertise, and he umpired on the collegiate level for three decades, including duties in the College World Series. Active in his community as well, Boswell coached Little League and American Legion baseball and organized a girls’ softball league.
He also organized the Millington Recreation Program and was active as a commissioner, coach, and umpire. Boswell was for years an “unofficial” aide to Millington High School football coaches and was for decades the volunteer caretaker of the Millington football field, a position he held until his death in 1987. As tribute to his years of service and devotion the Shelby County School Board in 1989 voted unanimously to name his beloved facility “Mooney Boswell Field.”