HEBRON, Ky. — Ginny Trosper is still amazed at the text messages sent to her late husband David Trosper’s phone on almost a daily basis.
“‘Coach I love you,’” Ginny said, recalling the messages. “’I know you are not here. But, I wanted to reach out and tell you about this.’”
David Trosper died unexpectedly June 7 at the age of 55.
For 18 seasons, Trosper was the Conner High School head football coach. He proudly wore red, white and blue. But, his most important occupation was being a mentor to countless student-athletes.
“Football came second,” Ginny said. “It was creating these boys to become men. He mentored so many. It’s very obvious by the legacy that he’s left.”
Hear more about that legacy, and how Trosper's students remember him below:
Trosper, a beloved coach and business teacher, spent countless hours helping student-athletes through phone calls or simply being at school.
Trosper introduced his family to some student-athletes who had difficult home lives. Before Thanksgiving one year, Trosper became distraught at the thought of a young man leaving Kentucky after being in 15 foster homes.
"He touched so many lives," Conner athletic director Jim Hicks said. "He was involved in every aspect of the community."
The Cougars, who open the season at Madison Central Friday night, are wearing helmet decals bearing the coach's initials. His former parking space near the school will likely be reserved for a student-athlete of the week.
“He was a big father figure to all of us,” Conner senior quarterback Grayson Montgomery said. “Some people might not have had a father figure and he served that purpose.”
Trosper, a 1988 Boone County graduate, woke up at 4:44 a.m., to make sure he could leave the house by 6 a.m. for school. He wore the same khaki pants and socks each Friday night during a football season.
“David loved Conner football,” Ginny said. “I had to laugh because I said, ‘If you ever leave, I don’t know what we’re going to do because everything we own is red, white and blue.’ It was Conner all over it.”
Trosper took a great deal of pride in his yard and the screened-in deck (“dude deck”). He loved his wife and his daughters. David and Ginny were married 12 years.
Ginny also knew about how much David enjoyed following the University of Notre Dame and New Orleans Saints.
Trosper greeted students with a smile and often waved at parents during bus duty before the first bell each morning at Conner.
“His favorite team was the New Orleans Saints,” Conner principal Andy Wyckoff said. “One of his former grad students is a coach there. And my daughter bought me a New Orleans Saints coffee mug so I can have coffee with him every morning.”
Wyckoff’s voice filled with emotion as he spoke about his late friend. The coffee mug was proudly with him on the first day of school last week, as Trosper continues to be missed.
“Life is not infinite,” Wyckoff said. “And we need to stay close to our friends. When I walked out of here last year on June 1 after school was over I assumed that Dave was going to be here on Aug. 14 when we started school this year. And clearly he’s not. And of course there are things I would’ve said to him.”
And yet anyone connected to the Conner football program knows the late coach would be proud.
Former longtime Beechwood coach Noel Rash answered Wyckoff’s phone call to become the Cougars coach this summer with a limited time frame. Rash and Wyckoff used to be rival baseball coaches. Both know there isn't a playbook for this coaching scenario.
“He cares about kids,” Wyckoff said. “Very similar to Dave. He’s about molding young men as much as he is about teaching them the game of football.”
Rash is an eight-time state champion with more than 200 career wins. He’s in his 35th year of coaching high school football. He was a consultant for the St. Xavier football program toward the end of last season after being a Holmes assistant in 2023.
Suffice to say, Rash didn’t think he would be a head coach again.
“I didn’t know these boys at all,” Rash said. “It didn’t matter. There is a set of 17-, 18-year-old kids that have been with this coach who I know is very emotionally attached and I know how he feels about his players. It’s a very similar relationship I had built with my players.”
Rash and Ginny Trosper spoke for about an hour on the phone before Rash took the position. Rash wanted Ginny’s blessing. She gave that to him at the end of the phone call.
“We laughed and we cried,” Ginny said. “Did a lot of crying. He was very supportive of me."
Ginny plans to attend at least three home games this season. She sat in her familiar seat behind the team’s bench during its scrimmage Aug. 8. The days are difficult.
However, Ginny knows there is no doubt her husband would approve of Rash coaching the Cougars.
“Play hard and play for each other,” Rash said. “Make sure when things get bad that we pull each other up. When adversity strikes pull each other up and let’s go through this thing together. Dave and I shared so many values about how to coach kids. As far as we treated kids and how we tried to get them from start to finish – extremely similar.”
