Dr. Willie Larkin Inducted into the Magnolia High Hall of Fame: The Ingredients for a Life-Time of Success
Dr. Willie Larkin with his Hall of Fame certificates from his alma mater, Magnolia High School in Thomasville, Georgia
by Jonathan Gramling
Dr. Willie Larkin, a retired educator, spent 48 years in higher education at the University of Georgia, The Ohio State University, Auburn University, UW-Extension, Morgan State, Grambling State University — where he served as president — and Edgewood College. One would hardly guess that he came from very humble roots in rural Georgia to achieve to the best of his abilities. But he had the right ingredients in his life at every stage that facilitated his achievements.
Larkin came from a sharecropper’s family in which the family leaded the land and rarely had anything left after harvest season. But his father was proud to be a farmer and was close to land.
“My dad loved the soil,” Larkin said. “He used to put it in his hand and he would rub it between his fingers and he would smell it. He would get indication that it was productive soil.”
Larkin attended Magnolia High School during the end of the 1960s when the South was dragging its feet in meeting the desegregation requirements of 1954’s Brown vs. Board of Education. Magnolia High School, an all Black high school, was established in 1958 and was closed in 1070 as the schools were integrated by closing the Black schools, a common way for southern school districts to comply with Brown v. Board.
Magnolia was a small school. Larkin’s 1969 graduating class had 69 students. But it was big in prikde and a ‘can do’ attitude.
“There is a great deal of pride in that school,” Larkin said. “It’s torn down now with the exception of two buildings, the gymnasium and then there was an administration building that was assumed by Thomas College, which is a white university in Thomasville. As a symbol of the racial divide, when Magnolia was torn down, they threw away all of the trophies and certificates that the Magnolia sports teams had received. It was a big sign of disrespect.
And yet, despite all of the slights, the students excelled in life. Those around them believed in them and so did they.
It all started with Larkin’s family.
“I think that country upbringing and hard work, parents who were tough and demanding contributed to me becoming the person that I became and am today,” Larkin said. “My dad was a slave driver. But he loved the farm.”
While his dad loved the farm, Larkin didn’t and he did everything he could to escape the grinding chores. Sports was his outlet.
“We had the farm and then we had athletics in the school,” Larkin said. “And the reason that I think I excelled in athletics is because I was dodging the work on the farm. If I played sports, I could practice and that meant I was freed from that hard, laborious work.”
Larkin escaped, but his brother didn’t.
“I’m surprised that he let me play ball and miss all that work on the farm,” Larkin recalled. “My brother who was 18-months younger than me said, ‘You’ve got to stop playing ball. He’s going to work me to death taking up the slack for you.’”
Larkin excelled in four sports: basket ball, he was a point guard, baseball, he was a shortstop, track, he ran the 4 X 100 and the 100 yard dash and football for which he was a second halfback. Tghe four sports basically kept Larking off the farm all year round.
Larkin especially excelled in football.
“I could outrun everybody and I was scared,” Larkin said with a chuckle. “My coach said, ‘The reason you were so good is because you ran scared. When you came up through the line, your first instinct was to get to the sideline and if someone was over there, to get to the other sideline. I could see fear all over you, but I loved it.’ We had a bread and butter play called the 22 Trap. It was when the center and the guard would cross block and then the guard ended up getting that middle linebacker. And that hole would be so wide open and I would get the ball and I jumped through the hole almost before they did the blocking. And when they did the blocking, I was gone.”
On the academic side, although the teachers were predominantly white and the student body was Black, the teachers believed in the students, had high standards for them and held them accountable.
“Our teachers were very demanding,” Larkin said. “They weren’t just running a school. They were transforming a generation. And they held us accountable and they challenged us. My high school football coach was Charlie Ward Sr. And his son, Charlie Jr., won the Heisman trophy at Florida State. So the person who let me borrow his car my junior year to go to the prom was Coach Ward. And I remember distinctly the instructions he gave me about how to take care of his car and who not to have in the car and what not to do in the car. It was really something. We had a basketball coach who averaged almost 50 points a game at Albion State, Coach Robert Pritchard. He was almost like Steph Curry. He was a pure shooter. We absorbed the personalities of our teachers. We didn’t want to disappoint them. And then they gave us challenging kinds of visions about what we could do and what we could be and where we could go. It was amazing. In that induction ceremony, there were about 200 people. But about 130 got awards. We had doctors, lawyers, Ph.D.s, and engineers.”
And while Larking ran away from the farm and prayed nightly for his deliverance, it was farming that saw him through high school and beyond, opening up the broader world to him.
“I was in vocational ag in school,” Larkin recalled. “And I was so good in vocational ag, that I became president of the local Future Farmers of America. And then I became a state vice-president of the Georgia FFA. And that is when I met Jimmy Carter. I met him twice and I went to his church, so that is three times. I listened to him teach Sunday school and all of that. I met him my senior year. When he was running for President, I was a first-year Ph.D. student at Ohio State University. Later on, I got the chance to take my family to his church. My daughter was a little girl at that time. And she had the chance to hear him teach Sunday school and then talk to him and take pictures with him. The first time I flew on an airplane was when I was in FFA in high school. The first time I stayed in a hotel, I was in FFA. The first time I ate in a restaurant was when I was in FFA. I was in a lot of speech contests and parliamentary procedure contests. 4H and FFA were the two organizations that really built me.”
After high school, Larkin attended Tuskegee University and majored in vocational ag and was ahead of their collegiate FFA chapter.
“I ran away from something and ran back into it,” Larkin reflected. “Life unfolds the way it is supposed to. Ultimately whatever you become is what God wants you to do.”
On July 27, 2024. Larkin attended the Magnolia High School Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Although they torn down the buildings, they couldn’t destroy the school spirit.
“I think that even made our love for the school a lot stronger,” Larkin said when they destroyed the school and their trophies. “You can take those material things and destroy them. But the memories can never be erased. That’s what we are holding onto right now. “
The Hall of Fame Ceremony was the brainchild and the product of Billy Simmons, a graduate of Magnolia High.
“Billy Simmons put all of this together,” Larkin said. “He got a white lady to donate a large sum of money to foot the expenses. We only had to play $15 for the banquet we went to because he got it supplemented by her. It was 51 years ago, having performed at that level, but never having gotten the recognition. And then having gone on to do all of the things that I have done, to all of a sudden be invited back to be inducted into the Hall of Fame was really impressive. In that Hall of Fame — it isn’t super big — on one wall is the academic part and on another was athletics with plaques that have people’s names and their sports. I’m on both walls. They limited the recognition to two sports. That’s why it is only for football and track. Those were the sports I was most prominent in. And I think the football was the one that I stood out in.”
Larkin has been asked to join the alumni board for the school.
“I think they just picked me because I was a successful athlete,” Larkin said. “I don’t think my wisdom had anything to do with it. I do have pride in what we were able to accomplish.”
Receiving these recognitions from Magnolia High — he has received recognitions throughout his life — but the recognition from Magnolia High was especially meaningful to him.
“I think it’s like life,” Larkin said. “You never get over your first love. During the formative years of my life, I spent a lot of it in that school system there. And I think that what I have become in terms of my philosophy and my values basically were stimulated and formed in that environment. And you never forget those early things that you learn. Coach Ward, for example, he and I are fraternity brothers. His son is an Omega as well. My son is an Omega. My vocational ag teacher was an Omega.”
The humbleness and the influences of his upbringing in rural Georgia never left Larkin. He has lived by them and has worked hard to pass them on to the next generation.
“The last thing I want to say is that all of the stuff you do in school eventually spills over into the community when you become an adult,” Larkin said. “And when you get married and have a family, the way you raise your kids, the way you treat your spouse, all of that stuff is basically remnants of things that you learned and you experienced in school. Luckily I didn’t let the fame of being the great athlete interfere with my compassion for people and the community.”
The life of Dr. Willie Larkin should be an inspiration and a lesson the area teachers and students. No matter your background, every student is capable of great things in their lives. Just ask D. Willie Larkin.
