Hoyt LaRue Staggs

Hoyt LaRue Staggs, 76, of Florence, passed away on April 01, 2017 at Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital. He was a member of Florence Baptist Church and he retired from TVA as a facilitator.  

He was a gifted athlete and received multiple awards during his time at Coffee High School and Florence State College. At Coffee, where he played football, he was named Associate Press Back of the Week and Lineman of the Week.  In basketball, he was named to the All State team, and was chosen to play in the East-West All Star Game, where he was voted most valuable player of the game.  He was awarded basketball scholarships to the University of Alabama and Florence State College, where he ultimately played.  There, he was named to the All Tennessee Valley Conference team and was selected to play in the North-South All Star Game, where he was selected as most valuable player of the game, and set a record for scoring. To this day, he holds the record for the longest field goal in the history of UNA basketball.  He later served for five years as a high school basketball referee, and was the announcer for Coffee football games for 11 years.

Visitation will be at Greenview Funeral Home on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 from 6-8:00 p.m. The funeral service will be Wednesday, April 5, 2017 in Greenview Memorial Chapel at 11:00 a.m. with Pastor Phillip Skipworth officiating.  Burial will follow in Greenview Memorial Park.

He was preceded in death by his father, Eb Staggs; mother, Ethel Sanderson; brothers, Jesse, Edward, and Carey Staggs, and Paul Thompson; sister, Stella Roberts; and niece, Beverly Galloway.

Survivors include his wife, Kay Rickard Staggs; sons, Clay Staggs (Kimberly) and Joshua Staggs; daughter, Tara Staggs Gristina (Matt); and grandchildren, Olivia and Nathan Staggs, and Scarlett Gristina.

Serving as pallbearers will be Steven Skipworth, Matt Hood, Patrick Weir, David Stanfield, Eddy Stanfield, and Vernon Ingram.

 Service Information