Larry Hand visited Appalachian State by chance in 1960, accompanying a buddy who had been invited for a football tryout.
Hand, whose No. 71 will be retired by ASU during homecoming on Saturday, had no idea he was destined for college-football stardom much less a 13-year career in the NFL. In fact, as a teenager growing up in New Jersey in the '50s, he barely played football.
"As a freshman in high school I was 5-6 and weighed about 135 pounds," Hand said.
He wanted to play. He went out for the team at Butler High School as a freshman, enduring a five-mile walk home after practice on most days. By his sophomore season, a somewhat discouraged Hand gave it up.
"I remember the field we played on was more or less coke or coal, or whatever they used in the chimneys up there," Hand said. "That stuff was scattered out all over the field. It didn't feel so good when you landed, and I was probably uncoordinated as heck, so I more or less quit."
Hand, obviously a late bloomer, had grown to 6-0, 170 by the time he was a senior. He decided to give it another try.
"My coach said that I had some potential but that when it came down to working with me or working with a sophomore who had two more years after me ..." Hand said. "Basically my high-school football career was somewhere in the fourth quarter when they unloaded the bench."
After high school, Hand worked two years as a bricklayer. And he continued to grow.
"In 1960, a friend of mine was going to Appalachian for a tryout," Hand said. "By then, I was 6-4 and weighed 210 pounds."
Hand tagged along and wound up on the football team. I think Appalachian at the time just needed some bodies," Hand said.
Hand did more than just take up space. By the time he had finished at ASU, playing for Coach Jim Duncan, he had received NAIA All-America honors and was drafted by the NFL's Detroit Lions and AFL's New York Jets. A 10th-round choice by the Lions, Hand accepted the offer.
Hand led the Lions in sacks at least two seasons (records weren't kept for sacks until 1973). He returned three of his five interceptions for touchdowns, one for 62 yards.
He played 13 seasons for the Lions, through 1977, mostly as a defensive end. Only three players in franchise history stayed longer. His longevity is notable because he survived knee injuries in 1968 at Dallas and in 1974 in New Orleans. He still ices a wrist that was broken in a Thanksgiving Day game.
"I think I have a little bit of arthritis in it," Hand said. "It affects my golf game more than anything. That's my excuse, anyway."
Hand also outlasted seven head coaches during his time with the Lions.
"Every couple of years you had to learn a new defense," Hand said. "One year the Lions made a guy who was a scout the head coach. It was just, well, you know, nothing has really changed much in Detroit."
Hand has lived in Winston-Salem - the hometown of his wife, Darlene - since 1978 and is a first vice president for Wachovia Securities. He said that he has fond memories of his days at ASU.
"It was like a close family," Hand said. "All the athletes were in Newland Hall. I remember it getting so cold in there, because we didn't have any storm windows, that we'd pour water around the window to freeze up and stop the wind from blowing through."
And there were no athletic training tables in those days, he said.
"We were always nice to the girls so hopefully at the end of the semester they'd sell us one of their meal books for half price so we'd get extra food," Hand said. "Those were good days. I'd love to go back to Newland Hall and have all the guys get together and talk about some of the old times and where their paths have gone through life."
?€˘ Tommy Bowman can be reached at 727-7320 or at tbowman@wsjournal.com.
