When Tennessee Temple Academy recently announced it was closing its doors for good, it brought a sad end to one of the biggest little programs in local history.
The combination of its location, the economic downturn and several newer church-based schools opening led Temple's board of directors to vote to cease operations for the K-12 academy. It was an inevitable move that most people in the community knew was coming for about two years as enrollment dropped dramatically.
The sadly ironic part was that the announcement came during the week of the boys' state basketball tournament, a time of year that often had kept the school in the headlines for much more positive reasons. During a 10-year span from 1998 to 2007, Temple overcame its grades 9-12 enrollment that hovered just above 100 to aptly play the role of David to the rest of the state's Goliath programs. In fact, after four different coaches guided the Crusaders to the state tournament and three to titles during that time, that biblical analogy had become played-out.
My own experience with Temple's athletic program allowed me to develop lasting friendships with godly men such as Kevin Templeton, Dan Wadley and Pastor David Snow as I covered Crusaders basketball games in the early 1990s.
Some of the best prep basketball in the area took place during the District 4-A tournaments. That district, which used to include 8-10 of the area's small schools, often played its tournament at Temple's crackerjack-box Vance Gym, which was filled past capacity on a nightly basis.
"My son Josh said the program went soft after we installed air conditioning in that old gym," joked Templeton, who coached the boys' program for 10 years before moving on to coach at Tennessee Temple University and later to Soddy-Daisy High. "It was tough to see them close the doors. When I think of Temple, it wasn't about the classrooms or buildings, it was the people who made it special.
"We had a lot more in common with Lookout Valley, Whitwell and Copper Basin folks than the typical private schools. I know time marches on, but for me and my family that's a special place and time in our lives, so there's a time for grieving and right now it's depressing to think it won't be there anymore."
The first eight years of this millennium were golden for the school - literally, as the Crusaders claimed numerous league and state championships in basketball and then its fledgling football program's pass-happy offense rewrote local and state records, claimed a region championship and advanced to the state quarterfinals in 2006, only its second year of varsity competition.
During that time the name Skogen became synonymous with Temple athletics. Never before or since has a single family meant so much to one school's athletic success as the Skogens. Kevin Skogen was an assistant basketball coach on the Crusaders' first two state championships and the head coach for its final title. He also was the football coach during its most successful seasons, and his sons Jacob, Caleb and Seth also played huge roles in Temple's rise to statewide notoriety.
No set of brothers had ever been state Mr. Basketball finalists, much less having all three become finalists. Jacob won the award and twice was named state tournament MVP, while Seth also became a Mr. Football finalist and the state basketball tournament MVP as well. Seth also set state records for catches, receiving yards and touchdowns for a career.
But shortly after Kevin Skogen stepped down, the new coaching staff brought about the school's worst public relations black eye when the TSSAA found Temple guilty of several rules violations and slapped the school with a fine of more than $4,300, banned the football program from the postseason and placed the entire athletic department on probation.
Shortly after that, the football program was dropped completely. Three years later the school itself will no longer exist.
The area's coaching community is filled with men such as Templeton, Wadley, Arts & Sciences' Mark Dragoo and Grace Academy's Leslie Compton and Jon Mattheiss who either played at Temple High or coached there before moving on to other programs.
"When you mentioned basketball in the early 2000s, Temple was a force and we were very proud of that," said Wadley, who served as Temple's athletic director and coached the Crusaders to two state titles as well as coaching the girls' program for 16 years. He now is McCallie's coach and has taken that program to back-to-back state tournament appearances.
"I think there are a lot of us who were hurt by seeing the school struggle for so long and now close completely," Wadley said. "But the distinctive Christian attitude portrayed by everyone at the school and of course basketball are what I'll always remember about Temple."