FACES & PLACES
In recognition of his outstanding achievements as a triathlete,
Hunter Temple, 83, of Santa Fe, was inducted into the Pomfret Athletic Hall of Fame last month.
As a high school student at Pomfret, a boarding school in Connecticut, Temple played football, basketball, baseball and crew; he earned letters in both football and basketball. He obtained his undergraduate degree at Colgate University and later his Ph.D. from Stanford. He served as headmaster of Western Reserve Academy from 1976-82 and headmaster of the Brentwood School in Los Angeles from 1982 until his retirement in 2001.
Temple is a six-time Ironman competitor. He began running in his early 40s and shows no sign of slowing down. He has qualified for Kona (officially the Ford Ironman World Championship) four times since 1985. During his third Ironman World Championship, he crashed 90 miles into the 112-mile bike ride and suffered a fractured hip. He underwent hip-replacement surgery and was told he wouldn’t run again.
In 2012, he defied the odds and completed the Ironman Arizona, earning the opportunity to compete in the Kona Ironman again in 2013.
In 2014, he competed in the Ironman World Championship triathlon in Mont Tremblant, Canada, placing second in the 80-plus division. In November 2015, he competed in the Rocketman Triathlon at the Kennedy Space Center. At 81, he was the oldest competitor in the race’s history.
“If you have a passion, aging doesn’t matter,” Temple says.