We say goodbye to Doug Trent

We have lost Jeff Carlton, Bob Doss, Johnny Weaver, Vic Sapp, and Tony McKee and now Doug Trent has checked out on us. Doug died Friday from cancer at the age of 61. The cancer got Bob and Jeff also and continues to be the biggest threat to our existence.

Doug Trent was part of the crew from the old “Sports Page” newspaper that came out on a weekly basis back in the mid-1980’s. The writing staff included Charlie Harville, Gene Overby, Al Thomy, Add Penfield, Bob Licht, Ogi Overman, Kevin Reid, and Andy Durham. We had quite a team over at the Sports Page.

Doug’s brother Glen got the paper up and going and Doug was in charge of circulation. Every Tuesday was two-fer-Tuesday. That was the day the paper came out after the print release from the presses at the High Point Enterprise and Doug would load up a van and then he and Ogi Overman would hit the road with a load of papers and two cases of beer headed toward Burlington. That’s why I called it two-fer-Tuesday. Two cases of beer on Tuesday-delivery day, and those men were ready.

Doug’s obit in today’s N&R tells about the time he made a bet with an insurance agent in Chicago for $606.00. Doug took off and rode a bicycle from Chicago to Greensboro, all 606 miles and claimed the $606.00. The man thought Doug was crazy and he was. Doug was a free spirit and he was a nutt, in a good way. For most of the time I knew him he had a beard that went all the way down to his waist. He looked like a member of ZZ Top. He was crazy, but in a good way.

If you never met Doug Trent then you really missed out and you don’t know crazy. You had to meet him and know him to believe him. He was crazy and you haven’t seen cazy unless you met Doug Trent.

One time on the Fourth of July I was running the 10K holiday road race through town and I was calling in radio reports LIVE on WKEW AM1400. I would duck into a local business along the race route and make a phone call to the station and then get back out on the road. I passed Doug 5 or 6 times during the race and he was going crazy. Andy, where do you keep coming from? “Am I going crazy, said Doug Trent”. You are already crazy I told Doug as I ran past him for the sixth time that morning.

When I was at the Sports Page in the early days I came in with a new sponsor, a paid in full advertiser. Doug was asking, “what in the **** is that? An advertiser? We’ve never seen one of those around here before”. The Sports Page did not have many advertisers back in the early days of operation.

Doug Trent had a full beard that went down toward his waist, a bald head, and big round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly. Doug was kind of like a modern day Santa Claus, but still just a bit like Billy Bob Thornton at times.

Cancer had claimed another victim. This time it is Doug Trent age 61, our old buddy from the Sports Page. We’ll miss you Doug and if any of you see Ogi Overman, be sure to ask him for a Doug Trent story.

Goodbye Doug.