Ten thoughts after attending a Saturday memorial service for former Oral Roberts basketball coach Ken Trickey:
1, Talking a great game.
When I covered the Oklahoma State basketball beat and Trickey worked as an observer of officials for the Big 12, he carpooled with me to Stillwater for games. I was glad to have the company. I was more glad to be on the receiving end of stories he told during the drives. He told some stories more than once without realizing it, but they were just as good the second (or third) time around so I didn’t interrupt. Some of his observations backed up his reputation as a coach who marched to the beat of his own drum. He said if student-athletes should be drug-tested, then so should professors and administrators. He said coaches shouldn’t make bigger salaries than professors. When he was coaching at Iowa State, he got a warning not to fraternize with someone the administration viewed as beneath him. He took it as a dare. Also, he thought every team should get invited to the NCAA Tournament.
2, I never heard this story.
I’m fascinated by people who officiate at funerals. They have to nutshell someone’s entire life in a span of a few minutes. How is that possible? Rev. Marlin Lavanhar and Bishop Carlton Pearson deserve an A-plus for Trickey’s service, summarizing his life while simultaneously pushing the right emotional buttons. During the service, I heard a story Trickey never told during those treks to Stillwater. I knew he didn’t really have a relationship with his father, who bailed out on the family. But Lavanhar said Trickey’s dad was a musician in a funk and soul band and, just maybe, that’s where Trickey got his funk and soul. Trickey’s coaches became his father figures.
3, Big tipper
Trickey’s mother was a waitress. When he was a kid and asked her for a quarter, she always took one from her apron and gave it to him. Friends say he tipped waitresses more than he should the rest of his life.
4, Trickey was a charmer.
Trickey often greeted his daughter by singing “Here she comes, Miss America.....” It’s a tradition he continued with his granddaughters. If you think that made them feel special, then you’re right.
5, Trickey was a rascal.
At the service, this story was told: Sometimes, when Trickey was in a crowded elevator with his wife, he would blurt out things to her for everyone to hear, just to get a reaction. For instance? “If you don’t wrestle any better tonight, you are off the tour!”
5, Trickey broke color barriers.
Athletics became integrated while Trickey was coaching in his hometown of Cairo, Ill., and while he was coaching at Middle Tennessee State. After getting the MTSU job, he asked bosses if he would be able to recruit anyone he wanted, regardless of skin color. Down fell the color barrier. He got nasty phone calls because he didn’t stock his team with white dudes. When hotels would not allow black recruits to stay there, Trickey refused to ever use those hotels again. His son, Ken, Jr., was the only white Boy Scout in his troop because Trickey would not allow his child to be in a segregated troop.
6, Trickey was just a guy.
That’s a compliment. Trickey was, at heart and probably because of his roots, a champion of the “normal” guy, preferring a hamburger joint to a ritzy dinner. He was the same way when it came to the coaching profession, occasionally taking jabs at perceived bluebloods in the business. “Most coaches don’t like to see teams play like us because they want everyone to think they’re some kind of great tactician or strategist,” he once told Basketball Times. “They like to think they’re Patton.”
7, Among Trickey’s discoveries was John Starks.
Trickey had resurrected his career at a local junior college when he and his staff chanced upon a Central High School kid who would go on to a lengthy NBA career. “Just wilder than hell,” Trickey once said. “I don’t think he had a clue of what he was doing, but he just started running and jumping and shooting. He was a fun kid to watch.”
8, The Kennedys
I once visited Trickey’s home and noticed his walls were adorned not only with sports-related objects, but John F. Kennedy memorabilia. Trickey was 30 when JFK was assassinated. On the inside cover of Trickey’s funeral pamphlet was this quote from Robert F. Kennedy: “Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, they send forth a tiny ripple of hope.” I don’t think Trickey liked to lose good people. I don’t either.
9, A presentation of the flag was part of the service.
Trickey spent time in the military and he apparently figured out the best way to cope. “I saluted everything that walked,” he said during a 2008 interview.
10, The ending was perfect.
When the service concluded, the song “Sweet Georgia Brown” played as Trickey’s family, friends and former players walked down the aisle.
