Kansas Baseball Hosts Inaugural Floyd Temple Alumni Game

Oct. 27, 2012

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Approximately 50 former Kansas baseball players spanning seven decades of the program’s history attended the inaugural Floyd Temple Alumni Game at Hoglund Ballpark Saturday afternoon.

Prior to the game, a special ceremony was held to recognize Floyd Temple, who passed away earlier this year. Temple led Kansas baseball for 28 seasons from 1954-81 and remains the program’s all-time winningest coach with 438 career victories.

“I’m tickled to death that they honored Floyd Temple today,” said Forrest Hoglund, who played for Temple from 1954-56 and addressed the crowd as part of the ceremony. “This is just a fantastic opportunity to recognize him. He was a great coach and loved KU. He got us on the right track in the athletic world.”

Temple, who served as the Assistant Athletic Director at KU for 12 years after his coaching career concluded in 1981, coached future major leaguers Bob Allison, Chuck Dobson and Steve Renko while leading the Jayhawks.

Saturday’s ceremony began with Kansas head coach Ritch Price welcoming the crowd. Five of Temple’s former players – Hoglund, Gary Padgett, John Trombold, Lee Ice and George “Biff” Temple – then took turns sharing memories and anecdotes about Temple, whose No. 13 is the only jersey number displayed on the wall at Hoglund Ballpark.

“It’s always great to come back and see the guys you played with,” said Floyd’s son Biff Temple. “With dad being the coach for so long, I’ve been hanging around here for a lot of years. Most of the alumni here I knew during their playing days, whether I was a bat boy or a player. This has just been a great time to come back and see the university and everybody.”

Following the ceremony, Kansas’ current varsity team defeated the KU alumni in an abbreviated game, 5-0.

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