Basketball was lifeline for hall of famer Trent
Surrounded by violence, drugs and an unstable home life, Gary Trent could have become another innercity statistic.
Recognizing that Trent’s prodigious basketball talents could rescue him from a life on the streets, a handful of teachers, coaches and administrators at Hamilton Township took him under their wing and offered him the guidance to succeed on and off the court.
“I owe everything to those people who saw some potential in me, put their arms around me and worked so hard to keep me from failing,” said Trent, 43, who will be among 16 legends enshrined in the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday at the Hyatt Regency Columbus.
Trent said he attended eight schools before landing at Hamilton Township. His family bounced around virtually every rough neighborhood in Columbus. One grandmother murdered her son. A grandfather drank himself to death. His father went to federal prison for drug trafficking. As a high school freshman, Trent dropped out of school briefly to dabble in crack dealing.
After a prolific career at Hamilton Township during which he set a national record for Former Ohio University star Gary Trent, shown at a 2012 ceremony to retire his jersey, will be among 16 inductees to enter the state’s Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday.
field-goal accuracy (81.4 percent) as a senior while scoring close to 30 points per game, Trent signed with Ohio, where he earned the moniker “Shaq of the MAC.” The 6-foot-8, 250pound power forward was a three-time MidAmerican Conference player of the year, finishing with 2,108 points and 1,050 rebounds, before leaving after his junior season to turn pro.
A first-round NBA draft choice, Trent played 10 years with Portland, Toronto, Dallas and Minnesota before spending three years overseas in Greece and Italy.
“As a cocky, confident kid, I always told people I would go pro, but that didn’t become a reality until my freshman year at OU,” Trent said, recalling the mentorship provided him by coach Larry Hunter.
“As I look back on my pro career, I have no regrets. I improved all of my stats every year until I became injury-plagued and had a hard time regaining my rhythm. I earned everything I got. Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll tell you how hard I worked. I never left any stone unturned. I ran and swam in the offseason, ate right and lived right.”
Nine years ago,
Trent relocated from Columbus to Minneapolis and took work as a behavior-intervention specialist, primarily at the elementaryand middle-school level. He also worked under late coach Flip Saunders in player development with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“I work all over Minneapolis dealing with kids having behavioral issues, almost in the role of a vice principal,” Trent said. “I work head-to-head with troubled kids in terms of their suspension and re-entry. A lot of times, I’ve got to be the person who calls home and tells Mom or Dad that their kid is in trouble. Through coaching youth basketball and football in Columbus and my work with kids in Minnesota, I’m proud of the fact that I’ve touched a lot of lives. I know firsthand how important it is to have a positive role model in your life.”
Trent is the father of four sons: Gary Jr. (19), Garyson (10), Grayson (6) and Graydon (5). All five share the middle name of Dajaun.
Gary Trent Jr. is well on the way to matching or even eclipsing his father’s accolades. A 6-5 shooting guard, Gary Jr. was a first-team high school All-American. After excelling as freshman starter at Duke, Gary Jr. applied for the NBA draft, where he is projected to be selected in the upper half of the first round. Bill Brown, Jason Collier, Jimmy Darrow, Jessica Davenport, Gene Ford, Jim Holstein, Mary Jo Huismann, John Joseph, Deb Elwer Lindeman, Jackie Motycka Mossing, John Powell, Sue Ramsey, Gary Trent, Walt Wesley, Terry Wymer Team inductees: Ashland University 2012-13 women’s national champions; University of Dayton men’s teams of 1964-65, 1965-66, 1966-67; St. Henry High School boys teams of 1989-90 and 1990-91
Although Gary Jr. is old enough to have watched his father play for the Timberwolves and in the Worthington Summer League, Gary’s three younger sons have little knowledge of their father’s feats.
“That’s why this Hall of Fame induction is extra special to me, because my children are going to get to see and experience it with me,” Trent said.
Trent fired a playful parting shot at some of his former rivals.
“There’s always a bunch of talk and arguing on Facebook who the top five all-time players in Columbus were,” Trent said. “Let me say this: If your name isn’t in the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame, don’t even talk to me about it.”