Key Member of '74 State Championship Team Passes Away

by Cerwin D Haynes
(with source contributions from Roosevelt Dory)

The East LA College community is saddened to learn of the recent passing of Kenneth "Kenny" Starling, a defensive back for the 1974 undefeated East LA College State Champion football team.

A product out of Jefferson High School, Starling manned the defensive backfield for the 1974-75 and 1975-76 teams under former head coach Al Padilla. Starling was twice named to the All-Metropolitan Conference Team, with his standout play having been cited in the ELAC Campus News at least twice as well as in the January 1975 campus yearbook. Upon his career highlights was a big play in the 1974 Potato Bowl for the state title: Starling recovered a fumble that set up the Huskies for their third touchdown of the game. East LA would win the game 33-14.

Starling received a scholarship to play at Oregon State University in the spring of 1976. He was slotted to be the #3 left corner, with the Beavers making note that Kenny had an opportunity to move up the depth chart thanks to running a 4.6 in the 40-yard dash - Starling had also been a member of the Huskies' track team. Unfortunately, Starling would not take the field for OSU: according to his cousin Roosevelt Dory, obligations on the home front cut short Kenny's collegiate and football aspirations.

Starling passed away on August 29 due to natural causes. According to Mr. Dory, Kenny had been battling an undisclosed illness for some time.

Retired ELAC wrestling coach and National Wrestling Hall of Famer Ralph Valle was also a member of the '74 state championship team. He noted that many members of that team over the years has passed, and he remembered Starling. "He was a low key guy, super talented," Valle reminisced.

To share the last line of Mr. Starling's resolution:

"Therefore, let it be known, that Kenny Starling is, and always will be, a Husky."