Tony Temple (born September 13, 1985) is a former starting

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for the Missouri Tigers football team representing the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

. Temple played for the Tigers from 2004 to 2007. He entered the

2008 NFL draft The 2008 NFL draft was the 73rd NFL draft, annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York (state), New York ...

, but was not chosen and was signed after the draft as a free agent with the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

High school career

Temple attended

Rockhurst High School Rockhurst High School is a private, Jesuit, all-boys preparatory school founded in 1910 along with Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. It moved away from the College in 1962 to a campus on State Line Road in Kansas City. ...

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, and participated in both

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

for the Hawklets. Temple was on two

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

6A High School undefeated state championship football teams in 2000 and 2002. Temple finished his high school career in football with 6,295 rushing yards and 85 total touchdowns, good for a #8 ranking b
Rivals
and #2 by

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

as a running back prospect in the 2004 collegiate recruiting class.

Collegiate career

In his final collegiate game, Temple set a

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its Cotton Bowl (stadium), namesake ...

record with 281 yards rushing in Missouri's 38-7 win over

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

on New Year's Day 2008, breaking a mark that

Dicky Maegle Richard Lee Maegle (born Moegle; September 14, 1934 – July 4, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a halfback in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Dallas Cowboys. H ...

first set with a memorable performance in 1954.Tony Temple's record-setting performance conjures up Cotton Bowl memories
''Yahoo! Sports'', 1 January 2008. On his final carry of the game, Temple broke loose for a spinning, tackle-breaking 40-yard

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

run and then rode to the bench on the arms of teammates

Chase Daniel William Chase Daniel (born October 7, 1986) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Missouri Tigers, earning second-team All-American hono ...

and lineman Tyler Luellen because he had tweaked a hamstring injury. Temple's rushing mark (281 yards) and total touchdowns (4) remain

records; his rushing total was also the second most rushing yards in a bowl game in

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

history at the time, but is now the third most. After the 2007 season Temple applied to get the 2008 year of eligibility back by appeal to the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

. Temple played in one game for 2004 as a

true freshman The following terms are used in American football, both conventional and indoor. Some of these terms are also in use in Canadian football; for a list of terms unique to that code, see '' Glossary of Canadian football''. 0–9 ...

, but due to an

injury Injury is physiological damage to the living tissue of any organism, whether in humans, in other animals, or in plants. Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanically with penetration by sharp objects such as teeth or with ...

, he missed the remainder of the year.MU's overlooked Temple set for possible finale
''Jefferson City News Tribune'', 31 December 2007 The appeal was turned down initially by the Big 12, and before the NCAA could review it, Temple decided to withdraw the appeal and prepare for the NFL draft.Missouri's Temple ends appeal for extra year of eligibility, readies for NFL draft
''ESPN.com'', 31 January 2008

Post-college

Temple was signed with the

, and released after a short stint in the NFL which led to a dynamic career as a wellness provider. Temple established Temple Made Fitness in 2016, a wellness company that has evolved into a premiere sports performance training provider and community wellness advocate which provides holistic wellness to children through schools and community centers. In 2020 Temple co-authored a wellness workbook with his daughter Stori, Animal Movements Wellness Workbook. The Animal Movement Wellness Workbook has been a catalyst for introducing and deepening the understanding of movement, healthy eating, and family bonding through imaginary animal activities.

References

Tony Temple #22 Mizzou Tigers biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Temple, Tony 1985 births Living people Players of American football from Kansas City, Missouri American football running backs Missouri Tigers football players Cleveland Browns players