Emeritus NFF Board Member Larry Striplin, Jr. Passes Away

Emeritus NFF Board Member Larry Striplin, Jr., who has served on board of the National Football Foundation since 1997, passed away January 23 in Birmingham, Ala. He was 82.

Striplin, who became one of state’s most successful businessmen, attended Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, and later graduated from Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama, where he received his bachelor’s degree in education.  He went on to earn his master’s degree in education at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee (formerly George Peabody College).

Upon his graduation from Vanderbilt, Mr. Striplin became the athletic director as well as the basketball and baseball coach for Belmont College in Nashville.  In 1956, he became manager of operations and instructor of the management school at Pittsburgh Plate Glass Headquarters in Birmingham.  From 1960-63, he was general manager for Alabama at Pittsburgh Plate Glass Headquarters in Birmingham.  In 1963, Mr. Striplin purchased Nelson-Brantley Glass and became president and chief executive officer.  In 1971, he purchased Decatur Iron and Steel, Inc. and renamed the company DISCO Aluminum Products.  He formed the holding company, Circle ‘S’ Industries, Inc. in 1972, and sold Circle ‘S’ Industries in 1995 while purchasing all assets of Nelson-Brantley Glass Contractors, Inc., and Clearview Properties, Inc.

Striplin received multiple honors during his lifetime, including an honorary Doctor of Law degree from Birmingham-Southern College and Livingston University.  In May 1997, he was elected to the Alabama Academy of Honor, an organization honoring outstanding living Alabamians.  He was a member of the Belmont University Sports Hall of Fame; the Spring Hill College Sports Hall of Fame; the Birmingham-Southern College Sports Hall of Fame; and the AHSAA High School Sports Hall of Fame.  In 2001 the March of Dimes named him as Citizen of the Year.  He was also honored by having various facilities named for him, including the Striplin Physical Fitness and Recreation Center and the Striplin Baseball Complex at Birmingham-Southern College; the Striplin Gymnasium at Belmont University; and the Larry D. Striplin, Jr. Performing Arts Center in Selma, Alabama.

Striplin helped found the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, serving as its chairman for 13 years and accepting the organization’s Distinguished American Sportsman Award in 1998. He founded the Bryant-Jordan Scholar-Athlete Foundation, which has distributed $10 million to 2,200 individuals since its inception in 1987, and he served as chairman of the Birmingham Park and Recreation Board. He also served on numerous boards, including Superior Bank, Kulicke & Soffa Industries (which was purchased by American Fine Wire), Robins & Morton Group, the Birmingham Business Leadership Council, the Alabama Sports Foundation and the American Sports Medicine Institute. He was a trustee at University of South Alabama and at Birmingham-Southern College.

He was born in Selma, Ala., on Nov. 11, 1929, and he attended A.G. Parrish High School. He is survived by his wife Rhonda. Striplin had four children (three surviving) and nine grandchildren (eight surviving).