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 handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

for the Missouri Tigers football team representing the

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

. Temple played for the Tigers from 2004 to 2007. He entered the 2008 NFL Draft, 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. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

High school career

Temple attended

Rockhurst High School Rockhurst High School is a private, Roman Catholic, 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, Missouri, and participated in both

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

and football for the Hawklets. Temple was on two

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

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 (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

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 that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...

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

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

on New Year's Day 2008, breaking a mark that Dicky Maegle 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. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

run and then rode to the bench on the arms of teammates Chase Daniel and lineman Tyler Luellen because he had tweaked a hamstring injury. Temple's rushing mark and total touchdowns (4) remain

records. 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 student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

. Temple played in one game for 2004 as a

true freshman Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

, but due to an injury, 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. He has provided thousands of children and families with health and wellness education, mental health, and behavioral strategies through fun community events, short and long-term health programming, along with healthy eating experiences. 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, mental health journaling, positive self-talk, healthy eating, and family bonding through imaginary animal activities. Thousands of children have been gifted the Animal Movements Wellness Workbook through local community partnerships. The Temple Made Foundation was established in 2021 to expand and deepen the health and wellness efforts by Temple in areas that are underfunded, underresourced, and undervalued.

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