Rick Trimble in 1973 Baylor yearbook
Seeing the news about the investigation into the unfortunate Piper Cub J3 airplane crash in Dunlap on June 24 that claimed the life of Wendell Rick Trimble, 79, got me thinking about crossing paths with Mr. Trimble many years ago.
I was a seventh-grader, or then-first-year student at Baylor School, back in 1972-73, and he was a newer faculty member teaching physical education classes. But it wasn’t his teaching us to jump in the various sports that I remember the most but instead watching him jump in the air in a motorcycle.
That’s right, Rick Trimble, as we all knew him, was kind of like our answer to Evel Knievel, as on Friday nights he turned uniquely into a little bit of a daredevil by performing some seemingly challenging jumps on the field of Heywood Stadium at halftime of the varsity football games. And he did it on more than one occasion.
As just a young student then, I did not know any details about how that came about, but we male students when we were an all-boys school enjoyed watching it take place. He would usually just jump once or possibly twice, but Baylor did not have any band or dance group to perform at halftime, so this had to suffice. If memory serves me correctly, there might have been one time when his motorcycle was not running to his satisfaction on the field or something like that, and the jump was canceled that night.
This was, of course, at the height of Evel Knievel’s daredevil antics and when motorcycle riding was quite popular among both young and older teen males, at least off main roads and highways.
Baylor was also starting to enjoy a football resurgence under former Central High coach E.B. “Red” Etter, so we students thought we had a lot about which to feel pride on Friday nights.
Today, there might have been more concerns about legal issues of a teacher jumping on a motorcycle, not to mention concerns by a coach about a grass field being messed up, but apparently not in the fall of 1972.
I also remember that in P.E. class with him, he wasn’t afraid to have us do more manly exercises like box a little, although I think I talked my way out of having to do this combat-like exercise by pointing to my braces on my teeth, as one or two others did.
This was at a time when also-new Baylor headmaster Herb Barks Jr. was probably trying to figure out a non-competitive fitness program for students as Baylor was moving away from the military. Although, students did have to participate in a competitive sport at that time.
I went and looked in the 1973 Baylor yearbook I still have, and he was pictured as a man in about his mid-20s. The writeup also talks about his role and influence as a little bit of a Pied Piper, although those words were not used.
It says, “Rick Trimble joined the Baylor staff (a) little more than a year ago and has brought a lighter view to the development of the body. Although during school hours he taught physical education to Lower School students, his biggest contribution has been the cycling craze he instigated here at Baylor.
“It was he who helped bring a shed for dormitory students to keep motorcycles in, and it was he who sponsored trail-bike trips to Tellico and other places.”
The caption under his photo also says he was a graduate of Cleveland State College.
He was not at Baylor the next year, and I lost track of him.
But in about the mid- to late 1980s after I had been working as a staff writer at the Chattanooga News-Free Press for no more than a couple of years or so, I was asked to cover some kind of night-time meeting of a flying club maybe inside the Lovell Field terminal. I cannot remember what the meeting was about, but I do recall seeing Mr. Trimble there as one of the aviation enthusiasts.
That is when I first realized he was interested in flying, another adventurous avocation. When or if he ever gave up motorcycle riding, I do not know.
I think after that meeting I went up to him and told him I had remembered him when I was a Baylor student under him, and we spoke very briefly, although I don’t think he seemed to remember me. Maybe if I had gone ahead and boxed in the class, he would have!
Fast forward to hearing the sad news of his passing at his own airstrip in Dunlap while offering what investigators said was some instruction. Questions remain regarding his certification and other issues in what is an ongoing investigation.
But as soon as I heard him identified as Wendell Trimble a few days ago, I was almost certain he was the Rick Trimble I remembered from long ago. His obituary photo confirmed it, and I certainly offer my sympathies, condolences, prayers and concerns to his family and those involved in the unfortunate crash.
His obituary does not say a lot about his career and life, and I would love to have known his motivations for wanting to get on a motorcycle or in an airplane – even at an advanced age of 79.
But one fact that is certain and quite clear is that he was a man who seemingly loved adventure and enjoyed being in the air – whether above Baylor’s field or one in Dunlap.
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Jcshearer2@comcast.net
Rick Trimble in 1973 Baylor yearbook