Over the years Duke fans have become familiar with many Duke parents: Janet and Calvin Hill, Bob Hurley, Doug Collins, Jeff Capel, Jr. and the Laettners spring to mind.
Personally our favorite Duke parent might be Chris Carrawell’s mom. She was never around that much but we respected the hell out of that woman. And we really liked what she said when Chris graduated. This is from memory so probably not 100% accurate but you’ll get the drift: “some people thought my son was a dipstick. Well, he’s not a dipstick. Chris has proven he belongs at Duke.”
The gist of is right and we love that she whipped out dipstick.
Out of all the parents we’ve seen at Duke though we don’t think anyone’s personal story is any more gripping than that of Gary Trent, Sr. We can honestly say we had absolutely no idea.
Trent’s life before he went to college was incredibly difficult. Read this article and you’ll see what we mean. There are two quotes here we’d like to highlight.
#1: “So I was going through something at home with my aunt one night, she was getting high. She used to always take my probate check and food stamps, and smoke them up, and get high and stuff. So we were arguing one night and I was crying, and [Ohio University] coach [Larry] Hunter called me. I had never met him. Never talked to him. I get on the phone with coach, and I said, ‘Coach, are you Division I?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Do y’all play schools like Ohio State and Michigan?’ He said yes. I said, ‘Can y’all play in that tournament [NCAA]?’ I didn’t know what it was called. I said, ‘You know that tournament that everybody plays in at the end of the season?’ He said, ‘Gary, we can win a national title if we get the right players.’
“I said, ‘Y’all play on TV?’ He said, ‘If we get to the tournament.’ I said, ‘I’ll come to OU.’ Right there on the phone. Never even met the man. I didn’t know where the campus was or nothing.”
Man, that’s heartbreaking desperation but it worked out well for Trent, who went on to an NBA career.
#2: “I didn’t realize what I meant to society and to people at that time. I’m looking at hooping as hooping. I didn’t know if you beat somebody up, they would sue you. I didn’t know that existed. I thought you could only sue somebody if you got in a car wreck. I didn’t know if you beat me up, you could be sued and all that. I done been sued. I didn’t know that existed.
“So I was ignorant to a lot of things. And I took a few lumps. And that’s why I been telling my son, like, I’m your sacrificial lamb from God that I went through everything so you didn’t have to.”
This an absolutely riveting read. We knew the Shaq of the MAC stuff and that he was a solid player during his NBA career. But the rest? Not a clue.
Whatever else you do today, make sure you read this. He’s been through an awful lot and through his own will and vision has made himself into an extraordinary man.
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