Guided Schenley’s football team as its proud coach
When Jim Trent retired as a teacher and coach at Schenley High School more than a decade ago, he spoke at a luncheon honoring him and other retirees at the old school in Oakland.
Mark Lazur, who coached football with Mr. Trent, was in the audience and Mr. Lazur still vividly remembers one part of Mr. Trent’s speech.
“It might have been 10 minutes long,” Mr. Lazur said. “But the biggest thing I took from it was he said that all he ever wanted in life was to be called, ‘coach.’ I always remember that.”
Mr. Trent loved being known as a “coach” at Schenley. And the feeling was mutual.
Mr. Trent was one of the Pittsburgh City League’s longest- tenured football head coaches in the past 50 years.
He guided the Spartans for 25 years before retiring after the 2007 season and won one of only eight City League football titles in almost 100 years of Schenley football.
Mr. Trent died Friday of cancer at his home in Monroeville. He was 70.
“We all have our goals in life,” said Mr. Lazur, who was Mr. Trent’s defensive coordinator for 14 years. “That statement he made at that luncheon stuck with me and said a lot about Jim. Coaching and working with those kids was all Jim really wanted.”
Mr. Trent was more than a football coach at Schenley, which is now closed. He was an assistant basketball coach for 25 years under Fred Skrocki and an assistant track and field coach under Mr. Lazur. He also was a health and physical education teacher at Schenley for 35 years.
In basketball, Mr. Trent was part of some terrific
Schenley teams, including the 2007 squad that featured DeJuan Blair, D.J. Kennedy, Deandre Kane and Jamaal “Onion” Bryant. That team is considered one of Western Pennsylvania’s greatest teams ever.
Mr. Trent retired from coaching and teaching in 2008. Mr. Skrocki was highly successful as Schenley’s coach, winning 449 games in 24 years, all with Mr. Trent by his side.
“I always said, I may have won 400 and some games, but I never would’ve had all of those if it wasn’t for Jimmy with me,” Mr. Skrocki said.
Although Mr. Trent was a coach for all seasons, football was his love. He played football at old South Hills High School in the City League and then lettered one year (1971) playing at Penn State.
“It was funny,” Mr. Skrocki said. “We’d be on a trip with the basketball team and I’d look over at Jimmy and he’d be drawing up football plays. I would say, ‘How come you’re not doing basketball plays?’ He loved football. He always wanted to watch football.”
Mr. Trent got into football coaching while still in his 20s. During his head coaching career, some of Mr. Trent’s players went on to play college football — and beyond. One of the best was Darnell Dinkins, a quarterback at Schenley who played defensive back at Pitt and then won a Super Bowl as a tight end with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints.
Mr. Lazur described Mr. Trent as a coach who was great working with kids but was old school in his coaching style and personal values.
“If somebody asked me to talk about Jim I would say he was the ultimate gentleman. He knew how to talk to kids, parents and co-workers,” Mr. Lazur said. “I coached at Churchill before I came to Schenley and I remember the first practice with Jimmy. I walked away from it and I said to myself, ‘I didn’t hear a coach or a kid cuss the entire practice.’ I was with Jim for 14 years and I never, ever heard him cuss on the field. It was him modeling for the kids.”
Mr. Skrocki said Mr. Trent had great relationships with kids, but was also stern.
“I remember a basketball trip we had a team meal at a restaurant,” Mr. Skrocki said. “One of the kids loosened the cap on something (like sugar) and another kid poured it all over his food. Jim found out and said to the kid who did it, ‘Go ahead, you’re on the bus.’
“I said to Jim, ‘ What about him eating?’ Jim said, ‘He doesn’t have to eat after what he did. We’ll give him some potato chips.’ That was Jim. He was good with kids, but he was tough, too, and the kids knew that.”
Mr. Trent had some rough seasons early in his football coaching career. But Schenley made the City League playoffs 13 times in Mr. Trent’s final 17 seasons. In 1999, Mr. Trent guided Schenley to its first City League championship since 1950. Schenley trailed by 20 points late in the second quarter, but came back and beat Oliver, 41-27. Running back Tayon Mitchell was one of Schenley’s standouts and ran for 137 yards in that game. Schenley also had receiverdefensive back Patrick Body, who went to play at Toledo and then briefly in the NFL.
Mr. Trent was in tears after the game on the field. Mr. Lazur’s son, Nathan, was a linebacker on that team.
“If you were talking to Jim right now,” Mr. Lazur said, “and asked him what his biggest memories were at Schenley High School, I think he would say that would be No. 1.”
Along with just being a “coach.”
Mr. Trent is survived by his wife, Helen, daughters Jenna of Monroeville, and Raqa Selednik of Murrysville; and stepsons Joshua Smith of Monroeville and Jared Palmer of Laurel, Md.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, visitation and funeral service will be private, but family and friends are invited to view the funeral service virtually on Wednesday at 11: 30 a. m. at https://www.facebook.com/jared.palmer.9461/