After playing guard for most of his collegiate career, former LSU men’s basketball player Collis Temple III has settled in nicely to a new position, one equipped with fewer injuries and more designer shirts and ties. Temple is a regional vice president for Primerica Financial Services, a subsidiary of Citigroup Inc., one of the largest financial firms in the world. The 27-year-old Temple has had the unique luxury of finding remarkable success both on and off the basketball court. The Baton Rouge native played for the Tigers from 1999-2003, averaging 10.2 points and knocking down 171 3-point field goals in his 117-game career. By the time his tenure at LSU ended, Temple had amassed more than 1,000 points. He currently sits No. 7 on LSU’s list of career 3-point field goals made. The Southeastern Conference also honored Temple throughout his career, naming him to its Good Works team and Academic Honor Roll three times each. Temple’s childhood NBA dreams became a reality when he joined the Detroit Pistons’ summer league team in 2003, but those dreams abruptly came to an end before Temple had the chance to play in an NBA regular season game. “[The summer league experience] actually went extremely well,” Temple said. “I was named one of the top-three shooters in the league by the general managers of the teams involved in that summer league, but I ended up getting hurt right before training camp got started.” Temple said the ankle injury he sustained spearheaded his decision to retire from professional basketball. He turned down several offers to play overseas and decided to put his degrees – a bachelor’s in general business and a master’s in sports management – to good use. Rejecting a basketball career across the pond has ironically led to a financially and personally rewarding career for Temple. Although only in his mid-20s, Temple quickly climbed Primerica’s internal ladder of success. He started with the company in November 2003, and since September 2004 he has held the title of regional vice president. He said he made about $60,000 in his first year with the company, but that salary more than quadrupled after merely one year on the job. The corporate prosperity that comes with Temple’s position has allowed him to spread knowledge of academics and community awareness to young children. Temple said he appears at area middle schools and high schools as much as possible, discussing the importance of education and community involvement with kids. “I’m in a position where people have wanted to hear me speak because of what I had done in school or what I had done in athletics,” Temple said. “I think as an athlete and as a person in a position like that, it’s an obligation of mine.” He said he tries to emphasize to young people that dreams of athletic stardom are great, but success off the court is equally, if not more, important. “You can do just as well, financially and otherwise, if you don’t end up holding or shooting a ball,” he said. “The same things it takes to be successful in those sports are the same things in takes to be successful in life in general.” LSU coach John Brady said Temple’s success in the boardroom could have easily been predicted, judging from Temple’s character and work ethic while he was an LSU student athlete. “There was no better example of what a student athlete should be than Collis Temple III,” Brady said. Brady added that what makes Temple’s achievements more impressive is that he was a vital member of the Tigers’ teams of the early 2000s. Temple averaged 10.8 points per game in his senior season and helped lead the Tigers to a 21-11 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2003. “[He] wasn’t a guy that sat on the bench all the time,” Brady said. “This guy started for almost three years and was on an SEC championship team [in 2000]. He has everything it takes to be successful.” Temple’s personality traits have trickled down the Temple bloodline to his younger brother Garrett, who is the starting point guard on this season’s LSU men’s basketball team. The younger Temple said his brother’s accomplishments inspire him to follow in his footsteps and one day become as revered in the Baton Rouge area as his big brother. He also said he admires his brother’s ability to keep his personal and public lives in balance. “Not only [is he] just a good guy in the community, but he’s just a great big brother,” he said. “To know so many people admire him and respect him in the community – if I can have people respect me half that much, I’ll be OK.” No matter how much admiration and accolades the elder Temple son has attained and will attain in the future, he said the foundation of his beliefs and values can be traced back to lessons his parents taught. “My dad and my mom, all of it comes from them – the understanding of giving back to their community and making sure that you just don’t get yours and be gone,” he said. “Whatever has been given [to you], you need to give that and then some. That’s the mind-set I had when I thought I was going to the NBA, and when that didn’t work out, that mind-set increased even more. The more you give, it just ends up coming back to you.”
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