It is difficult enough to reach the professional level in one sport, but Larry Varnell decided to go for two! The Adamsville, Tennessee, native attended Milligan College from 1935 to 1939. In basketball, he was the only player in Smoky Mountain Conference history to be named All-Conference all four years and lead his team in scoring every year. Oh yeah, and he was also All-Conference in baseball! After graduation, Varnell signed with the St. Louis Cardinals and was assigned to their Johnson City team and later to their Springfield, Massachusetts, ball club before he entered military service. He spent five years in the U.S. Navy, the last two as an athletic officer at Pearl Harbor. Varnell came to Denver in 1946 to play pro basketball with the Denver Nuggets and later was head coach and assistant English professor at Regis College from 1946 to 1950, where his 1949 basketball team won the National Catholic Tournament. Among Varnell’s many honors and awards in the Denver community, in 1968 he was named Man of the Year by the Denver Area Board of Realtors. He also has served on the board of directors for the Mile-High Stadium Club, is a member of the Denver Athletic Club and the Denver Baseball Commission, and is the president of the Colorado Hall of Fame. It is obvious that athletics and community spirit have always been central to the life of Tennessee’s native son and gifted athlete, Larry Varnell.
