Thank You, Ed Trusty

full circle circle A leader’s journey returns to a familiar place

Contributed by: Dr. Kimetris Baltrip, Upper School Journalism and Yearbook Teacher

Meet Man. That’s short for the full moniker his paternal grandmother gave him: “the little man of the house.” Th single-word version, popular among his closest relatives, suffid in dignifying his birthright. He was his father’s progeny, the start of a new generation. Born in 1973, Man was raised in East Baltimore, not the “good” part but the tough and scrappy side that was lined with swaths of rowhouses. Migrants from the area had relinquished it to the proletariat and the poor. This was segregated Baltimore, where people enjoyed a flavor of the “high life” on stoops, around hucksters, in salons, or at church. It was the inner city, bustling and vibrant. Man lived in a happy home with extended family and relatives, including his maternal grandmother. Later, he resided with his stepfather, mother and sister who is four years younger. He also has a brother who is 10 years his junior. His mother attended college when he and his sister were young, so an aftr-school program at the local recreation center doubled as a sanctuary. It played a crucial role – second only to church – in steering urban youth away from the lure of their surroundings. When Man spent time with his peers, he scampered on a basketball court and played football in a neighborhood fild like an ordinary child. He discovered he had natural athletic ability just like many of his friends, but he wasn’t quite like them. In his neighborhood, sports “was the avenue that many kids saw as their way out,” he said. Not him. His maternal grandmother, a woman of deep Christian faith, had spoken prophetically. Man was a leader, a standout. His family knew it, too. To his father, Man was Maurice, which was extracted from the middle of the name they shared. He was his father’s pride. “I clearly remember my dad bragging to a friend…‘My son’s going to be a doctor,” he said. “And so, I clearly thought…‘Yeah, I’m going to be a doctor. I’m smart enough to be a doctor.’” Man was just 8 or 9 then, but he had the determination of someone years older. Gazing more than a decade beyond elementary school, he was already committed

to reaching the goal he had established in his mind. His mother nurtured the prospect. “My mom who realized that I was pretty bright early on would make sure that I was challenged in the right places so that I could get the best education,” he said. “She realized that was not happening in the schools where I was going to, where everybody else in my family went.” His mother submitted an application to a magnet school outside his neighborhood. He enrolled there and at other magnet schools before eventually attending Gilman, a local all-boys independent school, in 8th grade and throughout high school.

Keeping his aim in focus He excelled academically, but his grades didn’t qualify him for the grapevine trailing in the streets. What people talked most about was the homegrown, 5-foot7, 175-pound powerhouse he’d morphed into on the football fild. Man and Maurice existed inside him, but in public more and more the now teenage boy had gained a reputation under his formal name, Edward Trusty. Or because people preferred truncations, he was known as Eddie or simply, Ed. Th latter landed in print. “Gilman running back Ed Trusty decided to turn yesterday’s game against host Forest Oak into his personal showcase,” read the beginning of an article published Nov. 3, 1990, in e Baltimore Sun. He had become the subject of headlines and fodder for sports writers across the nation. Scouts ticked off his carries, rushing yards and touchdowns, salivating at a chance to sign him to the next level. But that wasn’t him. He caught the passes, made the plays and ran off the fild, chucking the football behind him. His history as an offensive phenom would age with the turf stains on his cleats. He walked away, seeking more than exposure under Friday night lights.

The preposition “but” began many of the questions people asked him following his decision. The most pressing: But what about playing college football? “No, that’s somebody else’s dream,” he told them. “Defintely not mine.” People were shocked. Near the end of a July 30, 1991, article in e Sun, the writer seemed to begrudgingly mention his name, as if in mourning: “By the way, running back Ed Trusty, who, along with Cox, was a preseason high school All-America at Gilman last year, has dropped football. He’ll enter the University of Virginia in another month and study to be a minister. In his application for admission he didn’t even mention that he had played football.” Indeed, he was a standout. He left or Virginia, gaining a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in teaching. And by destiny, he became a doctor. He earned a doctorate of education in educational leadership from Morgan State University in Baltimore. “To me, being doctor whatever represented the highest level of achievement you could have academically…,” he said. “There’re not very many folks who, from my neighborhood and friend group in that area, go off o college and do those kinds of things…A part of it was also my own opportunity to prove to the community that there certainly is some good that comes out of this neighborhood.” His “some” expanded into a lot of good.

Reflections on his journey He returned to his alma mater and taught at Gilman for 13 years before serving as the head of the lower school for five years at Baltimore’s Calvert School. In 2014, he moved to Houston and joined The Kinkaid School to serve as assistant headmaster. He was promoted to interim head of school in 2018 and hired as interim head of The St. Paul’s School for Boys in Baltimore beginning July 1, 2020. “I’m grateful that this is where I was able to serve and grow for the last six years,” he said, reflcting on his time in Houston and the support he and his wife Dynell received. “I truly believe that there are great people here at Kinkaid.” He said his greatest influence came from a gift e received from both of his grandmothers: their faith. And Kinkaid’s four core values – honesty, responsibility,

respect and kindness – so aligned with his Christian beliefs and personal standard for how to treat people that they felt natural for him to espouse. But he contemplated why those tenets didn’t seem to translate as easily for others, especially around topics of class, race and culture. “I think there’s, to a degree, some reticence about embracing, whether it’s diversity, equity and inclusion or whatever it is,” he said. “And the truth of the matter is that we really can’t prepare ourselves and our community for the world ahead if we don’t.” His “hope and prayer,” he said, is that the good within Kinkaid’s community will move the school forward through healthy partnerships and allowances for whatever differences that people could use as points of separation. In parting ways with Kinkaid, he symbolized the vision of his younger self. Man was a boy who had the boldness to follow his own convictions. He desired to be an example to the naysayers, to challenge the limits ascribed to people from the inner city. He excelled within the boundary of Baltimore and broke through it, coming to Houston and proving that success isn’t mapped along a single route. He embodied the proof he’d sought. “Now, I’m going home,” he said.

Sound leadership – with a smile – can make the challenges that come with transitions quite bearable.

“My commitment to bringing joy and light to the community was of utmost importance to me,” said Dr. Ed Trusty, former Interim Head and assistant Headmaster at The Kinkaid School. Dr. Trusty closed his office or and offially ended his tenure at Kinkaid on June 30, but his commitment and contributions while he guided the school through transitions in leadership left a ualifid impression on those whom he served. Kinkaid’s board chair, Mr. Ken Cowan, commented that Dr. Trusty was “a prime example of living out our core values daily.” The Kinkaid Alumni Association shared that sentiment. In 2019, the association created The Core Values Award as a prestigious honor that recognizes a Kinkaid employee who exemplifies he School’s four core values and goes above and beyond in her or his work. The association renamed the honor – The Edward M. Trusty, Jr. Core Values Award – to memorialize his legacy. Dr. Trusty said the award’s rebranding was an “incredible” feeling. “It was overwhelming, actually. I never do any of my work for recognition but from a place of love and care,” he said. “The recognition alone, and the fact that it will be here in perpetuity, is indeed a blessing and a testament.” During his six years of service to Kinkaid, Dr. Trusty said his greatest fulfillment was enriching the lives of students. He taught interim term courses, held a community group, launched a yearly all-school convocation and developed the Celebration of African-American Heritage and Culture. His daily interactions with students endeared him to them and earned him the 2020 yearbook dedication. “One of the reasons we wanted to dedicate this year’s book to Dr. Trusty is that we wanted to fid a way to honor and recognize all the hard work he’s done these past few years,” said senior Haylie Sims, a yearbook editor-in-chief. Students, along with the balance of the School’s community, celebrated some of Dr. Trusty’s signature habits. Quite religiously, he stood in hallways to greet passersby with a smile; added polish to his wardrobe with a colorful bowtie; engaged audiences with poems, anecdotes or songs; and worked to personally resolve different situations instead of referring people to someone else. Faculty members also benefited from his commitment as he emphasized their need to develop and grow in their respective filds and to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion. He traveled with faculty to the People of Color Conference annually and supported a number of professional outreach and training opportunities for faculty across all three divisions of the School. When Dr. Trusty learned that the School’s community wanted to pay tribute to his legacy through fiancial gifts, e decided those gifts hould be used for students who need them most. Thus, The Edward M. Trusty, Jr Fund was established to assist students receiving fiancial aid. The endowment will help pay for some students’ incidental expenses such as books, computers, fild trips, uniforms and meals. If you are interested in making a contribution to the fund, please contact Tom Moore at tom.moore@ kinkaid.org. “Ths fund to support students like me who could not have attended an independent school without signifiant fiancial support is a reminder of how kind God is and how it is our collective responsibility to serve others and give back,” Dr. Trusty said. Cowan said Dr. Trusty will be remembered as leader who exhibited “grace and class.”