If you ask Larry Shell about his career success, he will say he was “just at the right place at the right time.”

Jack Pritchard, Shell’s former Glencoe FFA adviser, has a different opinion. Pritchard said Shell always has been tenacious, talented and “as competitive as the dickens” but humble.

“He doesn’t take a lot of credit,” Pritchard said. “That’s pretty neat.”

Today, Shell serves as president of Oklahoma State University Alumni Association and helps his fellow alumni stay “Connected for Life.” His life, however, has been connected to FFA as well as to OSU.

“As a little bitty guy in elementary school, he wanted to know if he could be in FFA,” Pritchard said.

When Shell got his opportunity in ninth grade, he was ready.

 “On the first day of class, Larry stood up and recited the FFA Creed,” Pritchard said. “He didn’t miss a word.”

Shell’s public speaking blossomed from there, including multiple victories on the state level and in Oklahoma Farmers Union speech contests. Although he lived in town, Shell also raised Polled Hereford cattle “on every empty lot” in Glencoe.

 “That experience and becoming friends with Dr. Pritchard is why I wanted to become an ag teacher,” Shell said.

Shell pursued his dream at OSU, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education in 1970 and a master’s degree in 1982.

“If you have a good experience and good ag teacher, it can set your career path,” Shell said. “You see the hard work, devotion and love they have for what they do.”

After graduation, Shell taught for four years in Dora, N.M., and then four years at Fairview, Okla. He started as the Oklahoma FFA executive secretary in 1978, and in 1982, he became the first agricultural development officer for the OSU Foundation, raising funds to build the Noble Research Center on campus.

“The FFA prepares you for so much,” Shell said. “The relationships you make open the world to you. Just because you have a degree in agriculture doesn’t mean you have to work in agriculture.”

Shell joined the OSU Alumni Association in 1990 as an assistant to then-president Jerry Gill. Now, the time is right for him to lead the organization.

“The best thing about this job is I get to travel and meet OSU alumni who have the same love for OSU I do … and they pay me to do it,” Shell said, smiling. “You couldn’t ask for a better job.”