Some people are born with musical talent. They can play anything with strings or keys by ear, and read music as easily as reading a menu.

Some people, however, have trouble playing anything more difficult than a radio.

Thinking back, Larry Lawing is glad to be in the second category.

“I went out for band, and I could not play one note, so I decided I’d go out for football. I played baseball and basketball, too, but I played football the best,” Lawing, 72, said from his home in Greensboro. He was talking about his induction into the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame, and how it wouldn’t have happened – how his whole athletic career might not have happened – if he’d had a talent for music:

“They tried me on three or four instruments, but none of them worked out. I could play a juke box, though, if I had a dime or a quarter. Let’s just say I was not musically inclined.”

What Lawing was inclined to do was run with a football.

His size – about 5-foot-11, 170 pounds – added to his agility and speed, and it brought him a collection of all-conference, all-district and honorable mention all-state awards. “Wherever they are, they’re stored. I don’t display them,” he said of his plaques and trophies. “But I have a scrapbook, with stories from the Greensboro paper, Winston-Salem Journal, the Gaston Gazette, the Mount Holly News. Back then, there were some write-ups.”

 Lawing’s “back then” started in about 1957, at Mount Holly High School. He played a little defense, but mostly offense at running back, and returning punts and kickoffs. In 1960, he was the football team’s co-captain and won the all-conference scoring title.

“They had this thing that, whoever scored the most touchdowns got recognition for that. I had 12, which is nothing these days. But back then, 12 was good,” he said. “I’m not complaining.”

Lawing dabbled in baseball, too, and played three years in high school and for the Mount Holly-Paw Creek American Legion team at left field, short stop and second base. “Pretty much wherever they needed. I was a good fielder,” he said, “but I didn’t have much of a batting average. I enjoyed it, and I had good friends that played, and that’s what made it special.”

He went up to Boone, to Appalachian State University, but didn’t initially try out for football. College players, it seemed, were a whole new breed from the kids who suited up around Gaston County.

“These guys were bigger, older … that was my opinion. Seems like you got bigger guys, more experienced guys,” he said. “I felt rather small.”

But at the end of his freshman year, Lawing went out for spring practice. He made the team. His sophomore year, he contracted mononucleosis, lost a lot of weight, and decided to give up the game.

“But then came the end of my sophomore year, and I went out for spring practice again, and that led to my junior year, and that’s when I started playing,” he said. “I played defensive corner(back). Back then, they gave you five years to get four years of playing in, so I was a five-year man at App, so to speak. But I was small. We had one back who was 225 (pounds), one at 230. I was 170 tops, but I was pretty quick. I’m not bragging, but that’s what I relied on pretty much was speed.”

He was awarded Most Athletic for his play in 1964 and honorable mention all-state.

He graduated in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, a minor in Physical Education and an appointment with the U.S. Army. From 1966 to 1968, he was a personnel specialist, stationed at Fort Jackson, S.C.

He moved to Greensboro, where he lives now with his wife Bobbi. His son Lane, 34, is in Greensboro and another son, Lyle, 44, lives in California.

Lawing worked for an insurance company in the late 1960s, then for a textile company and in personnel/ human resources for a while before getting into the car business – in sales and financing – from 1977 to 2009.

Looking back, he said, his greatest accomplishment as an athlete was, simply, “just getting to play. I mean, I loved, I enjoyed it… especially the comaraderie you had with your teammates.”

He said he doesn’t feel old, at 72. “I work part-time. I don’t sit around too much,” he said. “I got tired of just going to Wal-mart and Home Depot and Lowe’s all the time, so I said I was going to find me a job.”

He’s a driver for O’Reilly Auto Parts. He works about 28 hours a week.

It’s the perfect set-up.

Lawing can combine work with what he really enjoys – playing music.

But like before, it’s only on the radio.