On Thursday evening, the Mid-American Conference honored former student-athletes and coaches by enshrining them in among the league’s all-time greats.
Seven members were inducted to the MAC Hall of Fame in Cleveland, including former Ohio basketball stand out Gary Trent.
His dominance was well documented in the MAC from 1992-1995, as Trent is the only player in the conference’s 67-year history to be named the league’s player of the year three times.
Trent also left his mark on Ohio’s record books, as he’s the school’s all-time leader in points per game leader, second all-time rebounder and third all-time leading scorer, despite only spending three years with the program.
The 6-foot 8-inch “Shaq of the MAC,” as he was called in his playing days, was nominated for the enshrinement by Athletic Director Jim Schaus, who lauded Trent’s athletic success.
“We would like to congratulate Gary Trent on being inducted into the Mid-American Conference Hall of Fame,” Schaus said. “Gary is one of the greatest athletes to ever play in this league and we are so proud to call him one of our own here at Ohio University.”
But Trent said that this was hardly an individual effort.
“(The enshrinement) means that you had a lot of people that worked very hard with you and believed in you,” Trent said. “You don’t receive MVP awards or hall of fame awards without a team or some coaching.”
“It’s not an individual award. There may be one name that gets put in there, but there are a lot of people that helped support that person.”
He credited everyone in his life, from the high school staff that prepared him to play at the collegiate level to the Ohio University administration that was extremely supportive of him during his time in Athens.
During the past year and a half, Trent finally has been recognized for his dominance of the MAC. Along with his MAC Hall of Fame induction Thursday, his No. 20 jersey was retired by Ohio during a ceremony at halftime of a January game against Miami in 2012.
To Trent, it’s hard to compare the two events.
“They’re all different feelings,” Trent said. “The level of excitement with 13,000 people in the stadium and the game atmosphere and the rivalry - it was a lot… They’re all going to be special, monumental moments in my life because I worked very hard for those.”
After piling up the records and accolades in his three seasons with Ohio, Trent elected to forego his senior season to pursue a career in the NBA. Trent was drafted 11th overall by Milwaukee Bucks in the 1995 NBA Draft.
He spent nine seasons in the league, with playing stints in Portland, Toronto, Dallas and Minnesota.
But he’s thankful these achievements have come after his playing career, giving him the ability to truly appreciate what he’s accomplished.
“I’m older now and more mature in life,” Trent said. “Had I got these awards a long time ago, I may not have been able to appreciate them because so much of life had been a blur as a youngster playing the NBA and travelling the world.”
“It’s great because now I have a family this with me as well.”
Also inducted into the MAC Hall of Fame were former Central Michigan baseball player and coach Dave Keilitz, former Toledo women’s basketball player Kim Knuth, former Miami and Northern Illinois football coach Bill Mallory, former Ball State punter Brad Maynard, former Western Michigan linebacker Bill Offerdahl and former Akron track star Christi Smith.
ch203310@ohiou.edu
