From little league through high school ball, Aaron Trumbull was a class act. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Aaron Trumbull was a rock.
When you look back on his athletic career, the word which pops up most often is “consistent.”
He crossed paths with big-time stars like Ben Etzell, Josh Bayne, Aaron Curtin, and Nick Streubel, to name a few, but he not only held his own, his stats can stand with anyone from his time period.
And he did it all in a quiet, classy manner that can’t, and shouldn’t, be overlooked.
Trumbull delivered big hits, threw big pitches, and sank big buckets, but he approached every game in the same manner – as a solid pro.
He was a key player on a little league team which won a state title, finished higher on the CHS boys basketball career scoring chart than you probably think, but also shone brightly in small moments.
That he’s not already in the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame is a surprise and a shame.
I whiffed on this one somehow, but better late than never.
Today we throw open the doors to our lil’ digital wonderland, and welcome Mr. Trumbull to a club which couldn’t be complete without him.
After this, every time you look at the top of the blog, then peek under the Legends tab, you’ll find him strolling by, confident in his own abilities, but never one to scream and holler about how great he was.
Like older sister Alexis, who is also in the Hall o’ Fame, Aaron just went about his day, and let his actions speak for themselves.
He was a star as a young player, part of the 2010 Central Whidbey Little League Juniors baseball team which, under the guidance of coach Chris Tumblin, rumbled to an unexpected state title.
In the championship game, Trumbull came through twice with the pressure on, helping Coupeville upend West Valley 10-9 in 10 innings.
Down three runs entering the seventh, and final, regular inning, Trumbull, Wade Schaef, and Morgan Payne all delivered base-knocks as Central Whidbey rallied to force extra innings.
Then, in the 10th, it was Trumbull who rapped a single to plate Jake Tumblin with the game, and title-winning, run.
Once he hit high school, Trumbull continued to soar, both as a baseball player and basketball star.
His time on the hardwood came at a time when Coupeville’s fortunes were at an all-time low, as losses piled up and the team adapted to a new system after Randy King’s retirement.
Through it all, Trumbull was, as I said before, a rock.
He fought like a devil on the boards, crashed for loose balls, and did what he could to put points in the book for a Wolf team which struggled to generate much offense.
In fact, Trumbull finished with 330 career points, which leaves him sitting as the #77 scorer across 102 years of CHS boys basketball.
On the baseball diamond, whether he was flinging heat from the mound, or holding down first base, he was as steady as they come.
The hardball team had more success during his years at CHS than the basketball team did, and Trumbull was always a big part of that.
But, his impact went beyond wins and losses, or stats.
One of the defining moments of Coupeville athletics is one 99% of people never saw happen, or never heard about.
Late in his career, the Wolves had a number of JV players, but not enough to field a full nine-man lineup.
That meant a different varsity player or two had to fill in each game, to give their teammates a chance to see the field.
It went pretty well, until one Wolf decided they were above it all, and threw a hissy fit at the suggestion they could, for one day, “play down.”
As the JV players milled around, and the other team tried to avoid eye contact with CHS coach Willie Smith as he edged towards going into full-on stroke mode, Trumbull stood up and left the bench.
He had already pulled JV duty in a previous game, and was a much-bigger varsity star than the player throwing the hissy fit, and yet it mattered not to him.
Instead, Trumbull strode over, snatched the ball from his red-faced teammate, turned to the JV players, said “let’s do this,” and led them on the field.
That moment, above all others, above his state title-winning base-knock, or the buckets he hit while being double and triple-teamed, goes to the very core of who Aaron was, is, and will always be.
He didn’t leave teammates behind, didn’t leave them hanging, didn’t embarrass them.
Aaron Trumbull is among the classiest players to ever pull on a Wolf uniform, and he earned his spot in our Hall of Fame every single day he played.
