How Shall the Young? A Father’s Day Story

1. The Education of Ted Lloyd
     A self-described “Kansas farm boy,” Ted Lloyd grew up in two “pretty traditional” country churches and was baptized at 16. However, he characterizes his spiritual condition during his teens as abysmal. He cared much more about sports than religion, so he went to Kansas State in hopes of playing major college basketball.
     Looking back on his situation then, Ted says, “There was very little in church pointed to young people. We were just kind of there and grew on our own. When I was at K-State, the local church had no outreach to college students. I might have done better if they had.”
     He left Manhattan after his sports dream died, his future uncertain. Finally, just to get the local preacher off his back, he agreed to visit Harding.
     He rode to Searcy with four HU students, and after an hour in the car with them, something drastic happened: “I don’t know what Harding’s going to look like,” he recalls thinking, “but I’m going there—because these kids have what I’ve been looking for.”
     Anyone who knows the history of this community knows the rest of the story. Once enrolled at Harding, Ted essentially never left Searcy, meeting his first wife Marcie in college and building a life and career at the academy, then the university. He became a Harding legend as a coach and beloved as a teacher. The star athlete whose faith was stunted as a teenager grew into a spiritual giant, a gentle paternal presence on campus for decades, touching the lives of athletes, other students and colleagues alike.
Continued online