LARRY SELINGER

July 2, 1948 – Aug. 20, 2016

Larry Selinger was born and grew up in his beloved north end of Springfield, on a street that he affectionately referred to simply as “22.” It was on 22 nd Street that his love and fierce loyalty to family and friends would grow along with his love for the value and power of athletics. It was in the games played and lessons learned on 22 nd Street where it would all begin.

He attended St. Aloysius Grade School, only a block away from his beloved 22 nd Street, where he first formally pursued his athletic desires and would go on to star in basketball and football at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School and in football at Bradley University. Playing athletics had a profound effect on Larry at a young age. The intangibles of hard work, perseverance, teamwork and loyalty were taught to him by various men who he would grow to greatly admire. And it was Larry’s competitive spirit and athletic ability that they would come to admire. Coaches by the name of Belz, Teeter and Stone would leave their mark on Larry as much as he would wow them with his athletic exploits.

When the final whistle blew on Larry’s athletic career at Bradley University, it was then that his true calling came. He would become a teacher and a coach and pass on the virtues and values his athletic career had taught him. Larry would become a teacher and coach at Palmer Grade School and his beloved Sacred Heart-Griffin High School. But those two institutions were not the only places in life that Larry would teach and coach. He taught and coached all he came in contact with throughout his life, whether it was family, friends or simply a stranger he felt he could help or make a difference with. Always extolling the virtues and intangibles, he learned through athletics to help others succeed at the all-important “game of life.”

–Scott Selinger, son