Floyd O. Temple

Memorial services for Floyd O. Temple, 86, Lawrence, KS will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, July 3, 2012 at the Plymouth Congregational Church in Lawrence. Private inurnment will be in Pioneer Cemetery in Lawrence. He died on Friday, June 29, 2012 at Pioneer Ridge in Lawrence.
He was born on February 3, 1926 in Coffeyville, KS, the son of John Daniel and Emma Head Temple.
Floyd served his country in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. He was awarded the Purple Heart.
He began his career with KU as a football player in 1948. He lettered two years each in baseball and football and was the third baseman for the 1949 baseball team that earned the Big Seven conference title - the Jayhawks last baseball Conference title prior to the 2006 Big 12 Championship. He graduated from the University of Kansas.
He went on to play minor league baseball in 1950 for the Gladewater Bears of the East Texas League. In 1951-52, he played for the Iola Indians of the Kansas-Oklahoma- Missouri League and managed the team for parts of those seasons. In all, Temple played 110 minor league games and posted a .278 batting average.
Floyd was the coach of the Kansas Jayhawks baseball team from1954-1981. He achieved the majority of his accomplishments despite the fact that he only had four baseball scholarships to award until 1975. During that time, many other schools in the conference has as many as 24 scholarships. In his last six seasons as a coach, when the number of scholarships were increased to 13, KU went a combined 171-101-3 for a winning percentage of .629. He coached four All-Americans and seven future Major League players.
During his 28 seasons as the KU baseball coach, he served as an assistant coach for the KU football team on the staffs of head coaches Jack Mitchell, Pepper Rodgers, and Don Fambrough. He also served as an Assistant Athletic Director at KU from 1981-1992.
His No. 13 was retired in 1982 and remains the only jersey number displayed on the outfield wall of KU’s home stadium, Hoglund Ballpark.
He was married to Beverly Brooks on August 15, 1948 in Coffeyville, KS. She survives.
Other survivors include a son, George “Biff” (wife, Leslie)Temple of Granbury, TX, a daughter, Ann (husband, Bobby) Clark of Arlington, TX; five grandchildren, Stephanie Temple, Kelly Ballard, Taylor Stapleton, Kaci Green, Brett Temple and six great grandchildren.
The family suggests memorials in his name to Wounded Warrior Project, the American Cancer Society, or to the Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Foundation and may be sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence.
Online condolences may be sent to www.warrenmcelwain.com

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