STARKVILLE — Part of Larry Templeton probably wouldn’t mind retreating to the lush fairways at nearby Old Waverly Golf Club and settling into retirement. At 61 and with a sum due from the state retirement system, it’d be enviable.
That part of him isn’t winning.
Though two decades as Mississippi State’s athletic director will end Monday with the expiration of his contract, Templeton says he’s far, far from slowing down.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I’m going to be right here. I’m still going to do the things that this university asks me to do to help.”
For Templeton, that’s been the story of his whole life – literally. The son of the school’s former maintenance director, Templeton grew up in a house on campus with Scott Field and the school’s old baseball field in full view from the front porch.
He sold Cokes and peanuts at MSU football games. He worked in sports information as a high school student, served as the golf coach in 1974, moved into the AD’s office in October 1987 – and he hasn’t missed a Bulldogs football game since the 1963 Liberty Bowl.
clarionledger.com
6/29/08
