Trentini winner a role model

Tony Trentini died 30 years ago, more than a decade before the birth of this year’s winner of the scholarship which bears his name.

But you can’t help believe Tony Trentini would have liked this kid.

Ryan Appleby, who spends his leisure time on mission trips and leading middle-school youth groups, is becoming just the kind of role model Trentini was.

Appleby was introduced to a sellout crowd at Saturday night’s Trentini Foundation banquet.

With an grin that split his face from ear to ear, the Wake Forest-Rolesville senior grasped a framed certificate that announced his award and calmly thanked a litany of people who have helped him along the way.

Appleby first cast praise upon the other five finalists, calling them his “closest friends.”

He also recognized his parents, Keith and Leigh Appleby, but he stopped short of looking at his mother.

“I can’t look at her right now because she’s over there crying,” Appleby said.

But he credited his parents with supporting him throughout his educational career and with boosting him when he thought his work wasn’t good enough.

Appleby reserved his greatest praise for his church family at Wake Forest Presbyterian.

“Without them, I wouldn’t be here. They’ve shaped me in every way,” Appleby said.

The four-year $30,000 scholarship will pave the way for Appleby’s college stay at the University of North Carolina, where he hopes to eventually study medicine before entering the missions field to practice overseas.

Appleby’s high school career includes a long list of extracurricular activities, including stints as captain of both the cross country and track teams. He is also a member of the Science Honor Society, the National Spanish Honor Society, Fellowship of Christian Atheletes and the Student Legislative Assembly.

On Monday, Appleby said the scholarship represents a community investment.

“The people who donated the money wanted to be part of a high school student’s plan. Being a Trentini scholar is being supported by so many people,” Appleby said.

Ultimately, Appleby’s work as a role model might have swayed members of the scholarship committee.

James Warren described Trentini as the kind of coach players would run through walls for.

“He never asked his players to do anything he wouldn’t do and he never did anything, like smoking or drinking, that he wouldn’t want his players to do,” Warren said.

Trentini’s place as a role model also struck Appleby’s mother, Leigh.

“I didn’t know the story behind Tony Trentini until the other night, but as I listened to what people said, I kept thinking we need more Tony Trentinis in this day and age,” she said.

Ryan Appleby said he didn’t set out to be anyone’s role model, but he understands that’s one of the hats he wears.

“I’m sort of the big brother in the youth group at church. It makes you self-conscious sometimes because you never know how much damage or how much good you are doing,” Appleby said.

Still, he says he knows there is a payoff.

“The reward is worth it if you’re able to help someone because you showed them how to act or how to behave in some situation,” Appleby said.

The scholarship was created in 1980 by a group of Trentini’s former Wake Forest High School football players who wanted to honor his memory.

Trentini, who went on to coach at Temple University before his untimely death at the age of 46, earned the lifelong respect of players and the community during a relatively short stay in Wake Forest.

After he graduated from Wake Forest College in 1955, Trentini took the reins of Wake Forest High School’s first football team just as the college was leaving for Winston-Salem.

Appleby won the 2006 Trentini Scholarship over five other finalists: Tim Adams, Nick Crabb, Sarah Gleason, Alyssa Moore and Jaclyn Rannells.

As finalists, each of them was awarded a $1,000 scholarship.

The Trentini Scholarship is awarded to a WF-R senior who demonstrates leadership in the classroom, on the athletic field and in extracurricular activities both in school and in the community.