Cullman's Rodney Trimble.

Rodney Trimble’s athletic and coaching career didn’t go the way he originally planned, but that didn’t stop him from making an impact in the sports world.

Trimble, who graduated from Cullman in 1966, will be joining a few familiar faces on Saturday when he and 10 others are inducted into the Cullman County Sports Hall of Fame during the annual banquet at the Civic Center.

The ceremony is set to begin at 6:30 p.m and will usher in the 19th class of the time-honored group.

His former coach, Cullman’s Ken Gunter, was selected to the Hall of Fame back in 2016, and one of his former athletes, Good Hope’s William Calvert, got the nod in back in 2010.

This year, however, is Trimble’s time. 

“It’s pretty exciting to me,” he said. “I’ve been hoping to get into it for several years.”

Trimble, a self-described late bloomer, didn’t run track until his senior year of high school, but his twin brother Stanley was already on the team. During his year of high school track, Trimble raced his brother several times but was only able to beat him after getting some advice from his coach. 

When he asked Gunter why he was unable to beat his brother, the latter told him he tightened up every time Stanley caught up to him. 

“That changed the way I ran after that,” Trimble said. “If they can’t catch me, they can’t beat me.”

Trimble used that mindset and his speed to set a Cullman record in the 440-yard dash that stood for 16 years, and he finished first in the Tennessee Valley Conference Track Meet.

He attended Calhoun Community College on a track scholarship, and his team won the Alabama Junior College National Championship as Trimble placed first in the 440-yard dash, 220-yard dash and the mile relay. He went on to finish sixth in the 440-yard relay at the Junior College National Championship. 

“I had a pretty good career there,” he said. 

After Calhoun, Trimble attended Jacksonville State University on a track scholarship, where he was named team MVP in 1970 and team captain in 1971.

Trimble wanted to coach track after he finished school, but a car crash in college led to a two-year stay in the hospital and a long stint in rehab. He has been in a wheelchair for 45 years.

He did end up coaching track at a volunteer level at Good Hope High School, Decatur High School and Austin High School, and he said he had the privilege of working with several good athletes and saw a few of them go on to college track careers — including Calvert.

“It wasn’t what I had in mind, but I still got to do a bunch of it,” he said. 

Trimble went on to an industrial career, and works at Steelcase in Athens today, but he is still an avid track fan and is looking forward to joining the other Cullman County athletes and coaches who have earned the honor of joining the CCSHOF.

“I’m pretty excited to join the ranks of the people I know who have been inducted,” he said.