Press Box
THERE'S NOTHING quieter than a locker room after being on the wrong end of a 56-0 debacle. Truby more than just
a success storyBlank faces. Heads down. Players who feel they let their coaches and parents down. Coaches who feel they let their players down. Tears. Shame.
It happened to me three times in one season.
No matter how hard we tried, no matter how inspired our play, we just couldn't compete with some teams. And it seemed they never missed a chance to rub it in.
Still, I have many fond memories from my first and only season in organized football, in 1995, as a Damien Monarch.
One of them was a video coaches showed us of Damien's second Oahu Prep Bowl appearance, which was in 1992.
No, Damien never played for Oahu's championship -- it was a consolation game.
But Damien was good enough to be second best in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu twice in school history, and we remembered it. Every year.
Sometimes even modest victories can mean a whole lot when you're not used to winning.
There are many more modest victories to speak of, but one of them hasn't been realized until just recently.
One day, our coach, Wally Aina, told us at a pre-practice meeting that one of Damien's finest was in our presence.
His name was Chris Truby.
TRUBY WAS playing minor league baseball at the time, and had come to Damien, as he usually does in the summer, to visit and work out.
He looked more like an accountant than a professional athlete. But everyone on the team could tell, based on the amount of respect our normally hard-nosed coach regarded him with, that he was something special.
Truby was a receiver on the '92 team, which beat Kailua, 21-0, for third place on Oahu.
Today, Truby is the starting third baseman for the Houston Astros. He's been on a home run rampage recently, blasting two homers yesterday and hitting a game-winner last week. He is among the National League leaders with six homers.
Herb Lloyd, the Damien athletic director of 16 years, says Truby's success is surprising, but not shocking.
"He was a hard-nosed kid, very determined," Lloyd said. "He worked hard at what he tried to accomplish."
Success like Truby's can mean a whole lot to a school that has never had a football team with a winning season. (Damien's two Prep Bowl consolation games came despite losing seasons because of strong ILH second-round performances.)
"It puts it in perspective," said Lloyd, who has been a part of Damien sports since 1970, when he set a school track record in the 800 meters that still stands. "We may be physically out-manned, but a Damien kid doesn't give up."
Some teams rattle through win after win at a machine-gun pace, to the point where anything less would be a letdown.
But you don't hear much about those teams they seem to always beat.
Once in awhile, though, something happens that gives a school like Damien hope -- and the reassurance that a school with a losing tradition can produce winners.
Ben Henry can be reached at bhenry@starbulletin.com