Trib LaPrade '81: Heart, Nerve, and Sinew
This is a story about strength and power, about dedication, about passion, courage, and taking one for the team.
It’s a story, though – at least in part – that could never happen today.
In retrospect, it probably shouldn’t have happened way back in May 1980, but that was a different time, and it did, so here goes.
Trib LaPrade, then a junior at Collegiate, had already established himself as the most successful pole vaulter in school history and one of the best in the United States.
In middle school, well before he had grown to a well-toned 6-1, 180 pounds, he became a student of the event that requires a perfect blend of speed, agility, technical precision, and what the poet Rudyard Kipling called “heart and nerve and sinew.”
It’s a story, though – at least in part – that could never happen today.
In retrospect, it probably shouldn’t have happened way back in May 1980, but that was a different time, and it did, so here goes.
Trib LaPrade, then a junior at Collegiate, had already established himself as the most successful pole vaulter in school history and one of the best in the United States.
In middle school, well before he had grown to a well-toned 6-1, 180 pounds, he became a student of the event that requires a perfect blend of speed, agility, technical precision, and what the poet Rudyard Kipling called “heart and nerve and sinew.”
Never mind the long hours of practice. Never mind the slim margin for error. Never mind the inherent danger that comes with hurtling down a runway, planting a fiberglass pole into a metal hole 31.5 inches long, 6 inches wide and 9 inches deep, catapulting over a crossbar, and landing on a giant foam pillow.
“It looked like fun,” LaPrade explained. “My disposition and physical attributes were directed that way.
“I started fooling with it, and it got to be a challenge I could address and go with.”
During his high school career, LaPrade won multiple Prep League and state titles. He was the champion at the Penn Relays where he was selected outstanding field event performer his senior year. He won the Colonial Relays and the East Coast Invitational.
His personal best, 15-7¼ in the Rebel Relays, was the third highest mark in the nation in the spring of ’81 and remains our school record.
His accomplishments earned him the Outstanding Senior Athlete award that year and induction into his alma mater’s Athletic Hall of Fame this past fall.
“Trib had a great attitude and just loved pole vaulting,” said Jim Hickey, Collegiate’s head track coach for 37 years.
“You put talent and determination together, and you have a really nice combination.”
LaPrade was an accomplished sprinter as well.
As a junior, he teamed with Scott Brooks, David Murphy, and James Hatcher to win the league mile relay title. The next spring, he ran 22.4 in the 220 to claim the gold.
“Trib was willing to jump in and contribute points wherever we needed them,” Hickey continued.
“He was a great model for the rest of the team.”
Though LaPrade experienced great success, life wasn’t always smooth or easy, which brings us back to our story.
It was a Wednesday, just three days before the state meet his junior year, and Collegiate was hosting a middle school age-group competition.
As the afternoon was ending, LaPrade took to the runway, then located on the infield on the south side of the track, for several run-throughs without the bar.
As he began his ascent, a young boy playfully jumped onto the pit. Altering his descent to avoid falling on the lad, LaPrade landed near the edge, slipped awkwardly off the side, hit his head on the track (which was then asphalt), and came to rest in a sitting position with his head listing frighteningly to the left.
“The lights were out,” he said. “I don’t remember any sounds or anything visual.
“It was one of those concussions you read so much about these days.”
In short order, a crew from the Tuckahoe Volunteer Rescue Squad arrived and transported him to the Medical College of Virginia Hospital where he remained overnight for observation.
He recuperated at home on Thursday and Friday and on Saturday cleared 14 feet to win the state championship.
“To come back so quickly after such a devastating fall showed true grit,” said Lewis Lawson, an assistant track coach at the time.
“To soar those heights under those circumstances showed remarkable spirit.”
Since 2007, Collegiate’s athletes have undergone Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment & Cognitive Testing (ImPACT), which assesses neurocognitive function including memory, attention, brain processing speed, and reaction time.
When they suffer a concussion, there’s plenty of data available to determine when they can return safely to action.
Though LaPrade’s competitive juices were flowing, there’s little chance that he would have competed so soon under today’s guidelines.
“Back then,” he said, “I really didn’t think anything of it. I just got bumped in the head. I was cleared by the doctors. Everything was cool.
“It’s so unusual to get a concussion vaulting. It’s actually really hard to miss a pit.
“Looking at old movies of myself, I’ve seen myself slipping off the pole. That was a lot more frightening.”
LaPrade earned a B.S. in engineering from UCLA where he vaulted for two years before injuries took their toll.
He and his wife Carolyn live in Jacksonville, FL, where he’s an accomplished photographer. From 2001 – 2009, he coached vaulters at the Bolles School and also serves as a coach with the Anti Gravity Pole Vault Club. He still competes and two years ago cleared 12 feet.
In all that he does, LaPrade puts to use the lessons he learned going back to the days when he first discovered his athletic passion.
“Athletics is a microcosm of life in general,” he said. “You have to work hard to get good at what you do.
“There’re times when things are really boring, but you have to look at it as drills make you better.
“There’re times when there’s a lot of pressure, and you have to stay under control.
“There’re the bad times, and you have to get over it and get on with life.
“Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. That carries over to anything you do.
“It’s the quality of the quantity of the perfect practice that makes all the difference.”
-- Weldon Bradshaw
Back
“It looked like fun,” LaPrade explained. “My disposition and physical attributes were directed that way.
“I started fooling with it, and it got to be a challenge I could address and go with.”
During his high school career, LaPrade won multiple Prep League and state titles. He was the champion at the Penn Relays where he was selected outstanding field event performer his senior year. He won the Colonial Relays and the East Coast Invitational.
His personal best, 15-7¼ in the Rebel Relays, was the third highest mark in the nation in the spring of ’81 and remains our school record.
His accomplishments earned him the Outstanding Senior Athlete award that year and induction into his alma mater’s Athletic Hall of Fame this past fall.
“Trib had a great attitude and just loved pole vaulting,” said Jim Hickey, Collegiate’s head track coach for 37 years.
“You put talent and determination together, and you have a really nice combination.”
LaPrade was an accomplished sprinter as well.
As a junior, he teamed with Scott Brooks, David Murphy, and James Hatcher to win the league mile relay title. The next spring, he ran 22.4 in the 220 to claim the gold.
“Trib was willing to jump in and contribute points wherever we needed them,” Hickey continued.
“He was a great model for the rest of the team.”
Though LaPrade experienced great success, life wasn’t always smooth or easy, which brings us back to our story.
It was a Wednesday, just three days before the state meet his junior year, and Collegiate was hosting a middle school age-group competition.
As the afternoon was ending, LaPrade took to the runway, then located on the infield on the south side of the track, for several run-throughs without the bar.
As he began his ascent, a young boy playfully jumped onto the pit. Altering his descent to avoid falling on the lad, LaPrade landed near the edge, slipped awkwardly off the side, hit his head on the track (which was then asphalt), and came to rest in a sitting position with his head listing frighteningly to the left.
“The lights were out,” he said. “I don’t remember any sounds or anything visual.
“It was one of those concussions you read so much about these days.”
In short order, a crew from the Tuckahoe Volunteer Rescue Squad arrived and transported him to the Medical College of Virginia Hospital where he remained overnight for observation.
He recuperated at home on Thursday and Friday and on Saturday cleared 14 feet to win the state championship.
“To come back so quickly after such a devastating fall showed true grit,” said Lewis Lawson, an assistant track coach at the time.
“To soar those heights under those circumstances showed remarkable spirit.”
Since 2007, Collegiate’s athletes have undergone Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment & Cognitive Testing (ImPACT), which assesses neurocognitive function including memory, attention, brain processing speed, and reaction time.
When they suffer a concussion, there’s plenty of data available to determine when they can return safely to action.
Though LaPrade’s competitive juices were flowing, there’s little chance that he would have competed so soon under today’s guidelines.
“Back then,” he said, “I really didn’t think anything of it. I just got bumped in the head. I was cleared by the doctors. Everything was cool.
“It’s so unusual to get a concussion vaulting. It’s actually really hard to miss a pit.
“Looking at old movies of myself, I’ve seen myself slipping off the pole. That was a lot more frightening.”
LaPrade earned a B.S. in engineering from UCLA where he vaulted for two years before injuries took their toll.
He and his wife Carolyn live in Jacksonville, FL, where he’s an accomplished photographer. From 2001 – 2009, he coached vaulters at the Bolles School and also serves as a coach with the Anti Gravity Pole Vault Club. He still competes and two years ago cleared 12 feet.
In all that he does, LaPrade puts to use the lessons he learned going back to the days when he first discovered his athletic passion.
“Athletics is a microcosm of life in general,” he said. “You have to work hard to get good at what you do.
“There’re times when things are really boring, but you have to look at it as drills make you better.
“There’re times when there’s a lot of pressure, and you have to stay under control.
“There’re the bad times, and you have to get over it and get on with life.
“Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. That carries over to anything you do.
“It’s the quality of the quantity of the perfect practice that makes all the difference.”
-- Weldon Bradshaw
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