JENKS FOOTBALL COACH DIAGNOSED WITH ALS
[This post is reprinted from my sports column in the Tulsa Beacon newspaper, July 14, 2016]
Jenks High School head football coach Allan Trimble made
public last week that he has been diagnosed with ALS – amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis – also commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. With his announcement
has come an outpouring of support, not only from those within the Jenks Trojans
football family, but throughout the entire region.
We may know now why a month ago
Trimble announced his retirement from coaching, only to rescind his resignation
three days later. He said at the time that he was battling some health
challenges and though it might be best to spend more time with his family, but
through the encouragement of his immediate family, he returned to coaching
because that’s where his passion is and ultimately would make dealing with his
health issues easier.
If indeed he did want to retire,
who could blame him? Trimble, 52, has achieved more than any other high school
football coach has ever done in this state. His team has won 13 state championships
in his 20 seasons at Jenks, compiling a record of 224-35, and he has already
been inducted in the Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Trimble has
said in media reports that he has experienced some form of symptoms of ALS for
about two years. ALS is a disease that attacks nerve cells that control
voluntary movement. The life expectancy of someone diagnosed with ALS is
generally three to five years, although there have been many exceptions,
including a couple I know of personally, I’ll mention later.
Coach
Trimble and I became friends many years ago, when I was hired to do the
play-by-play for the Jenks football games on local television, and co-host his
weekly coach’s show. I was impressed with him as a football coach long before I
met him; just based on the amazing record he was compiling at Jenks, but became
even more impressed once I got to meet him.
When I
began working with Trimble, I immediately came to love and respect the man that
was more than a high school football coach.
The first
time we had lunch together, he asked if he could pray over the meal and asked
if he could pray about anything going on in my life. He exemplified to me
someone who not only set a good example with his words, but spoke it with his
actions.
I watched the way he handled his
football team in practices and in games. I noted that he didn’t use the same
salty language other coaches used. He proved that as much as he loved football,
he loved his family even more. Trimble has always been the consummate Christian
coach that not only wore his religion on his shirt sleeve, but lived it each
and every day.
That’s what makes it so difficult
to believe that someone still in the prime of his life and career, someone who
is a mighty leader of young men, who has a huge, positive impact on the lives
of his players and many around him; will now have to face the battle of and for
his life.
But, we live in an imperfect world,
and disease has no care as to who you are, what you do or what you believe.
My cousin
Susan Rogers battled ALS for seven years. Susan was a very bright and
intelligent young woman, who loved education. She became a teacher, but never
stopped learning; earning both a Master’s Degree and eventually a Doctorate.
She was
loved and respected by many, but ultimately as the disease progressed she was
cared for by her mother, three brothers and home nursing aids. Susan was never
married.
When I was
a member of the television team that hosted the local cut-ins during the MDA
Telethons, I became acquainted with a local man named Vic Poole. When I first
met Vic he seemed pretty healthy and able bodied, but over the five years I was
a part of the telethon, Vic would come back each year to be on the program, and
each time I saw him ALS had taken yet another bit of his ability away.
Amazingly, Vic lived nine years with ALS.
Trimble,
his family, and his church family are praying for a miracle. I’ll be praying
right along with them. But, through it all, I know he will battle this with the
same steadfastness in his faith that has carried him this far in his life, and
he will continue to be a great example to everyone with whom he comes in
contact. That’s the Allan Trimble I know.
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