Dennis Lampley Has Passed Away

[TheDeuce]

Longtime Trinity coach Dennis Lampley passed away last night after a long battle with Alzheimer's. 

[TheDeuce]

 

[TheDeuce]

[SHAMROCK69]

What a great man. So very sad.  😔 RIP 

[Tigercat]

What a great man and Coach. My condolences to the Trinity Family.

[Tigerpride94]

Rip Coach Lampley!

[Tigerpride94]

 

[The Double Deuce]

12 minutes ago, Tigerpride94 said:

 

Thanks for sharing that!  The emotion in that young man's voice at the end had me in my feels as well, that is truly what it is all about.  The people you do it with matters more than what you did.  Such a great share, thanks!

[tcjkbt]

He was a great coach and athletic director, maintaining high standards which he enforced.  He helped many young boys become good young men.  RIP, Coach Lampley.

[Rock85]

RIP Coach. You will be missed. 

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

3 hours ago, The Double Deuce said:

Thanks for sharing that!  The emotion in that young man's voice at the end had me in my feels as well, that is truly what it is all about.  The people you do it with matters more than what you did.  Such a great share, thanks!

That was Leon Smith. That was footage of him running back that 99 yard kickoff return in the 2nd quarter...it was actually a re-kick after an inadvertent whistle on the first go-round. He was a killer return specialist. They had a game earlier in the season against Central where he had two punt returns for touchdowns. He ended up playing football at UK, and was later the director of basketball for the UK men's program.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Coach Lampley became the winningest head football coach in Trinity history near the beginning of the 1988 season, his sixth season at the helm of the the Shamrocks' football program. He had come to Trinity as defensive coordinator starting for the 1971 season and was named head coach in 1978. After two seasons as head coach he stepped down as football coach, staying on at Trinity, and eventually returning again as head coach for the 1985 season, winning his first state championship that year with a 28-7 Shamrock win over Lafayette. Lampley announced his retirement nine years later after Trinity's 1994 AAAA State Championship win over Boone County and he finished with a career head coaching record of 138-21 and a 5-0 record in state championship games in 12 seasons.

Lampley took over as Athletic Director at Trinity in 1998 and was the man responsible for hiring Bob Beatty. Beatty eventually surpassed Lampley's win record with the Shamrocks in 2010, and re-set the bar at 255-43 with a 15-2 record in state championship games in 21 seasons. Coach Lampley retired entirely from Trinity in 2014.

[RockPride]

Thought I’d share a snippet of my experience with Coach, and how he changed the trajectory of my life.  It wasn’t always fun, but it was most certainly worth it.  I cherish how close we became even after high school.  I loved him as my own father…

 

I shared the below on a post of one of my lifelong friends, yesterday.  We played ball together at Trinity.  I am sharing it here, not for any praise for myself, but just in case, for those going through some challenges right now, that it may just give them a nudge.  I am a firm believer that things happen for you, instead of to you, and it's how you react to those challenges that defines who you are. 

This could be a little lengthy….

But I’ll tell you the story... I got kicked out of Trinity at the end of our freshman year. I was just such a problem child.  Numerous JUGS (detention), bad grades, all the things.  I went to Ballard for my sophomore year.  I was on the football team.  At the end of the school year, Trinity reached out and said that I could come back to Trinity on probationary status if I wanted to. My dad told me, as I was getting ready to be 16, that he would pay for me to either go back to Trinity or he would buy me a car. Obviously at 16 years old, it was a tough decision. I chose to go back to Trinity but to be on the football team I had to meet with Coach Lampley.  If you know Coach, you know this was a meeting that I was not looking forward to.  Was actually quite scared.

I went to meet with him.  He sat me down, and told me that he didn’t like who I was. He didn’t like how I treated my parents. That he essentially didn’t respect me, and he preferred me to not be on the team. He said, “but since you’re a member of the school in good standing I have to let you on the team, but it’ll be under these conditions. First, we, meaning the varsity, are getting ready to go to Nashville for camp and you will not go. You will stay home, and practice with the Freshmen. When we get back you will be on scout team the entire season. You will not dress any games varsity, which obviously means you will not play any plays varsity. Is that OK with you?” So I agreed and got out of there as fast as possible.  I got in the car with my mom and we drove down Westport Road.  After about f5 or 10 minutes she asked how the meeting went. I told her it was horrible and then she said to me “what did you say?” I responded, “ I said OK.” She then said, “OK .” Then we just continued driving. I then said, “I’m not doing, I just won’t play.” She pulled the car over on the side of the road. She stopped the car and she looked at me and she said, “you can’t quit”. I responded, “I’m not doing that”. She said, “you agreed to it you committed to it, and you are doing it. You have to stand by your commitment. I will not let you quit. If you don’t wanna play as a senior that’s fine, but you’re playing this year”. so obviously, I threw a fit about it.  But if you knew my mom, you know that was a futile effort.

So, I went through with it.  I practiced with the incoming Freshmen, while my teammates were in Nashville.  I was on the scout team the entire year. I did end up dressing 3 games varsity, but I played 0 plays varsity as a junior. After we lost to Butler in the playoffs, we were turning in the gear the following Monday. Coach called me into the office. I had zero interest to speak to him.  However, he told me that he was surprised by what I had done, and that he was proud of the effort I put forth, even though there was no playing time to come.  I never really thought about it that way.  I just did it. He tole me that the next season...it’s fair game, anything can happen and obviously we know how our senior year went. ‘94 State Champs!!!! 😉 

I write this long diatribe, because I think of that being a crossroad in my life. That could’ve changed everything that I was or that I am now, and I am so thankful that it happened exactly the way that it did.  I will never, ever forget that.

#TrinityForever