The Legacy

"I am honored and proud to have met him, learned from him, shed tears of joy with him, and most of all, to love him. Thanks to Coach Temple for everything. Coach Temple, you made me the person I am today, and I shall always take your message forward, because it is so important that the youth of America know that they can be what they would like to be, if they continue to work, trust, and believe."

~ Wilma Rudolph Eldrige (From the foreword to Only the Pure in Heart Survive)

The story of Coach Edward Stanley Temple is the story of triumph over adversity, of unwavering vision, and of a fierce determination. Throughout his career and his life, Coach Temple faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles along the road to victory.

Coach Temple operated the Tennessee State University track program on a budget of just $300 a year, and with few if any scholarships to attract competitive athletes. His Tigerbelles ran on an incomplete track that ended at a campus dumpster. They ran wherever and however they had to in order to train.

He faced social obstacles as well. As the Tigerbelles competed across the South, they were forced to drive long hours through the night because there were no safe or accessible places for them to eat, use restroom facilities, or stay the night in those days. Additionally, women’s athletics was not yet a player on the international sports scene, and consequently underappreciated. The naysayers were many. No one believed that women’s track and field would ever become a global phenomenon.

To Coach Temple, these obstacles were merely distractions that threatened to derail his focus. Undeterred, he pressed ahead to become the most accomplished Olympic coach of all time. His athletes earned more than 40 Olympic medals and catapulted women’s track and field onto the world stage with Olympic giants like Wilma Rudolph, Wyomia Tyus, and Chandra Cheeseborough.

Coach Temple’s greatest contribution did not end with the one he made to athletics. Not only did he develop champions on the track, but he developed champions off the track as well.

Coach Temple’s enduring legacy lives on in the hearts of the women he coached. His training philosophy developed character as well as athletic skills. After their athletic careers ended, the Tigerbelles went on to lead successful lives of contribution and leadership in all areas. Nearly all completed a college education, with 80 percent of those earning master’s degrees. Approximately half of those women earned a Ph.D. Most of them became educators, choosing to carry the torch of Coach Temple to the next generation. Perhaps most amazing of all, the Tigerbelles have less than a 5 percent divorce rate, which can surely be attributed to the example set by the life and fifty-seven-year marriage of Coach Temple to his wife, Charlie B.

Nashville businessman Christie Hauck sums it up best, “Coach Temple is the greatest man I’ve ever known. He defines the word ‘hero.’”