Larry McGraw recently retired after 44 years as a professor of Bible at Hardin-Simmons University. He also served as the associate dean of HSU’s Cynthia Ann Parker College of Liberal Arts.
On the occasion of his retirement, one of his former students requested an interview. McGraw, sensing a fishing expedition, left that student unnamed.
What question did Logsdon students ask you most often?
The classic questions which were shared by each generation of my 44 years of teaching the Bible were: “Do we have to know this?” “Is this going to be on the test?”
My favorite, however, was the query asked often by students who had been absent from class. Such a student would ask: “Sorry I was not here. Did I miss anything?”
My response was always: “No, no, no. When we realized you were not here, we simply played cards and dominos while we ate pizza.”
What was the craziest idea one of your students had?
One semester when I was teaching an afternoon Old Testament Survey class, one of my students came to me before class to tell me, “I will need to leave after we take our weekly quiz.”
I responded: “OK. You’re in charge of your life, but is there a reason to leave?”
Looking at me, he said, “I have to pick up all the t-shirts that’ve been printed for our social club.”
Carrying the conversation, I then asked, “Couldn’t one of the other guys in the club go get the shirts?”
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With strong conviction, he responded, “No, because they have a class at this time!”
I don’t know if his odd logic ever registered with him when I said, “Don’t you?”
I trust the t-shirts looked good.
What was the most outrageous thing a student said in one of your classes?
Outrageous, not really; but earthshaking, certainly.
A couple of decades earlier, I was teaching a New Testament Survey class at night. In a night class, there are fewer traditional students and more “non-trads” of various backgrounds and ages. For example, this full section contained a number of nurses from the adjacent hospital.
During the evening when we were discussing Paul’s great letter of 1 Corinthians, the leader of the nurses loudly interjected, “Paul was a male chauvinist pig!”
As one could imagine, such a pronouncement woke up the class and had the traditional students looking around at each other with wide eyes.
After celebrating the classroom freedom we enjoyed, we dove into background issues related to Corinth, and everyone had their questions answered as we moved on.
Throughout the following years, said nurse and I would laugh about the interchange each time we bumped into each other.
Why did you like the soft serve ice cream from The Caf so much that you brought a cone to class after lunch every day?
As students of church history know, there are many recollections of those who have come before which are considered to be “apocryphal”—meaning they may be inflated stories. Such may be this case.
I do not remember ever doing such a thing. There is the possibility it may have happened once, but not in my recall. In the old days, I did enjoy such frozen delights, but not so much anymore.
How did you end up in the announcer’s booth?
It began with men’s basketball as HSU moved its games back to the campus about 40 years ago. The powers in charge noticed I was always there as a fan and that I was a speaker—[being] a professor and a preacher—so they decided to see if it might work.
Women’s basketball was restarted, and HSU built Shelton Stadium on campus, which provided two more opportunities.
When my older son Matthew was a student, he was the public address announcer for volleyball. Upon his graduation, they had me take over that responsibility, also.
My great joy is that even upon my retirement, I will be able to continue as the announcer for HSU basketball, football, and volleyball.
What about your students makes you proud?
It is nice to know in my retirement that three of the faculty members in the Logsdon School of Theology—Jacob West, Kelvin Kelley, and Randy Rogers—are my former students.
It is also humbling to see many of my students serving on faculties of other universities and as staff members of churches.
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