[1] As a youth, he rejected a chance at playing Major League Baseball so he could serve an LDS Church mission in the southern United States[2] and because he didn't want to play on Sunday,[3] the day Latter-day Saints observe as the Sabbath.

Stapley was notified of his new calling by church president George Albert Smith in the elevator bank of the Hotel Utah.

[5] A letter sent by Stapley illustrates his views on black people before they were more widely assimilated into the LDS Church.

Dated January 23, 1964 and specifically stating he was not speaking for the church or in his position as an apostle, the letter urged Michigan Governor George W. Romney to back away from certain positions for civil rights, and he called the bill that became the Civil Rights Act of 1964 "vicious legislation.

"[6] Romney is reported to have accelerated his engagement for civil rights shortly after he received the letter.