The last of three kids and the product of two athletes, Indianola Academy’s Todd Sandroni dominated each sport he took on. Even before high school, the four-sport Colonel legend was getting called up from junior high to play on varsity and even start.
This past weekend, Sandroni’s name was called by the MAISCA Hall of Fame. There may have been better individual athletes but the multi-sport letterman donned each uniform, took his coach’s input and thrived and won and excelled across football, basketball, baseball and track. His talents would be fought for by colleges and universities across the South but he took them all to Oxford to be an Ole Miss Rebel, where he was an All SEC safety – starting for three seasons.
But it was at Indianola Academy where Sandroni made his mark. In junior high and high school, you could find him on whatever sports field was in season. And he was always excelling – baseball, football, basketball and track – a four-sport letterman every year since the eighth grade – 16 total.
That prowess led him to his latest accolade, being inducted into the 2025 MAISCA Hall of Fame class. Sandroni first learned about the HOF last year when his former teammate, Robbie Weeks, was inducted. Sandroni was invited but a wedding commitment kept him from attending. But he had a feeling he’d be there one day soon.
“When Robbie got it, Coach (Termie) Land called me. My mom had passed away and he’d heard about my mom. He said, ‘Did you talk to Robbie?’ I said, ‘Yeah, it's good news.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, you'll be next. It won't be long.’”
Sure enough, Sandroni got the call and was in the 2025 class. Playing so many sports, the one he gravitated to most was the one his late mother, Nell, loved – basketball.
“I grew up with a big athletic presence on my mom's side of the family. Her brother was Norris Ashley, the longtime coach at Ingomar near Tupelo. And he was awesome. He was the all-time winning coach with 1,023 wins before Richard Duease broke his record. I grew up around basketball, and I loved it. My mom coached it at Shaw High School. Basketball was my favorite sport.”
The four-sport star had colleges and universities calling for each one. Delta State had offered him places in football, basketball and baseball.
“I actually got a scholarship just for baseball from Coach Ferris, and he's the one who kept after me during my redshirt year. Ole Miss told me I had to go to spring football my redshirt year, and then after that, I could play baseball. And Coach Ferris used to write me and say, ‘Hey, you need to play baseball. You can play baseball for them.’ But I was getting into pharmacy school, and I just thought, 'Man, I can't do it all,’ and I decided not to play.”
His decision to not take up the Statesmen’s offers soon became clear as each coach that recruited him either left for Ole Miss or retired.
“Delta State offered me in football, basketball, and baseball and the funny thing is, the head football coach was Red Parker, and he ended up coming to be the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss. I remember in his press conference someone asked if he knew anything about Ole Miss, he said, ‘I knew one player, I recruited one player, and that was Todd.’ And then, Coach (Ed) Murphy offered me in basketball and he too turned out to be the basketball coach at Ole Miss. Then Coach Ferris retired. If I’d have gone to Delta State, I'd have lost every one of my coaches.”
His favorite coach while at Indianola was basketball and track coach Termie Land, also an MAISCA Hall of Famer.
“Coach Land asked me to move up in basketball, and after my junior high season, and I came up and played. And I ended up starting the last few games with the high school team,” Sandroni said.
One of his favorite memories at IA was beating archrival Jackson Prep in both basketball and football.
“In football, my sophomore year, we beat Jackson Prep, 14-7, and I threw two touchdowns to Weeks, and that was a big win. In basketball, they had beaten us twice by at least 40 points at their place and at a tournament in Grenada, but when we got them on our floor, we won.”
He couldn’t recall any other big games as the memories have faded over the decades but what he did recall was more important to him.
“I remember my teammates and my coaches, the locker room, the laughing and the crying. And I remember Coach Land and what he did. He was fiery. And I remember Robert Weeks and when the receivers were all out, they kept telling me they were open all the time. And I threw a pass one time, and it got picked off. And Weeks came back to me and said, ‘I wasn't open then, Todd.’ And I said, ‘Gee, thanks.’”
Sandroni noted his career and memories have aged and mellowed and he looks back with more fondness of it all.
“I remember my coaches. I told them at the ceremony, as I've gotten older, your parents get smarter, and my coaches got better. I was very fortunate. As I look back on it, I realize I had some very good coaches. I know I was blessed, but I had some very good coaches and very good teammates. And I said at the beginning, I had some very good parents. My parents, they were supportive, but more importantly, they were present. I recall striking out once in the ninth grade, and it was a bad call on the last strike. And dad said, ‘You struck out that last time.’ I said, ‘yeah, but that was a bad call on third strike.’ And he said, ‘yes, it was, but you missed two, he missed one.’”
Surrounded by great teammates and coaches, Todd Sandroni sharpened his skills and found his way to becoming a Rebel and a pharmacist and an MAISCA Hall of Famer.
