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Purpose with a Passion

Rick Hamlin ’96, social studies teacher and coach, celebrates 25 years at Trinity
Teacher, coach, alum, fan. Few, if any, Titans can boast as many hours logged on the Trinity campus — more fully engaged with the life of the school in all its facets — than Rick Hamlin ’96.
 
A point guard for the Titans’ historic 1995-96 state championship team, Hamlin hangs the banner proudly on the back wall of his social studies classroom. Some 21 years later, Hamlin was on the court again after coaching the team to its second state title, a historic run that drew gobs of media attention to Dale Travis Court. “His leadership helped create unforgettable seasons: the 2012 Prep League Championship, the 2013-14 breakthrough season and the 2017 state championship victory,” remembers Stephen McCarthy ’05, assistant coach with Hamlin for 11 years. “But the trophies tell only part of the story.”
 
“I think Rick is really that classic independent school teacher,” says Social Studies Department Head Marcus Jones ’00. “He truly loves Trinity — it's not a job for him, it's a passion and he's always going to give his best to help the school thrive.” 
 
The Path Back to Pittaway
 
The child of two former public school teachers in Northumberland County, Va., Hamlin grew up with a deep-seated appreciation for the value of education. Although he originally planned to be a psychology major at the University of Virginia, it was Linda Verdery, then assistant head of school at Trinity, who convinced him to change majors and become a social studies teacher. “Linda gave me the blueprint for how to get back to Trinity,” he says. “I often described her as my second mom.” Enter Tom Aycock, then head of school, who hired him as a 23-year-old only a year out of college and gave him the confidence that he was ready for the job. His good fortune continued when he ended up teaching next door to the late Page Mauck, multitalented and devoted math teacher and Hamlin’s former soccer coach.
 
But it was his Trinity basketball coach and mentor, the late Dale Travis, who Hamlin calls “the most impactful male figure in my life” next to his own father. Learning of Travis’s devastating cancer diagnosis in 1996, Hamlin wrote Travis a personal letter, encouraging him to fight the disease. “My dream is to someday follow in your footsteps and be the basketball coach at Trinity,” he wrote. “And if I could ever impact half as many people as you have, I would consider my life to have been a success.” Amazingly, Travis’s widow, Marty, saved the letter and personally delivered it to Hamlin on the court before his first game as boys basketball head coach in 2011, saying “you're about to live your dream.” 

The View from E-Hall

Room E-6 — the lone classroom on the long corridor between the Commons and E-Hall — may be the last windowless room in Trinity’s Academic Building. While a teacher with his seniority would have had every opportunity to move to a more spacious home, Hamlin has stayed put for the last 22 straight years. Papering the walls are the accumulated mementos of a lifetime as a sports fan: Redskins, Red Sox, Liverpool, and of course, his beloved Trinity Titans. Yellowing news clippings and treasured team photos compete for space on bulletin boards with laminated maps of the US.  
 
Often perched at the front-corner lectern, Hamlin has educated, inspired and often entertained a generation of students on the subjects of US history, world history, IB geography and more. Colleagues praise his teaching style as a mix of humor, innovative projects, class participation and content. “I often walk past his classroom and hear him using voices, singing songs or telling stories to keep students interested,” says Jones. Former students recall Hamlin singing about the impactful invention of the printing press, putting on various English accents when covering the Middle Ages or shouting "This is Sparta!" during a lesson on Ancient Greece.
 
One of Hamlin’s favorite periods to cover in 9th-grade world history class is the Age of Reason. “In a lot of ways, our education at Trinity is a direct byproduct of Renaissance and Enlightenment thought,” he says. “The marriage of believing in a higher power spiritually, but also seeing the need to experiment and to prove things as a driver of truth. That’s what we do as a school.”
 
But his most indelible, formative moment came amid his first two weeks as a Trinity teacher in September of 2001, only one year out of college, when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on a Tuesday morning. Hamlin found himself confronting a lot of reflexive anger and passionate jingoism in the moment, alongside his responsibility to teach critical thinking skills. “I feel really strongly as a social studies teacher that I don’t want to silence any perspectives,” says Hamlin, “9/11 prompted me to be really intentional about every assignment and discussion. It forced me to become a better teacher quickly.”
 
Attitude of Gratitude

Through his nascent years as a young teacher, Hamlin says he was blessed to be guided by a Mount Rushmore of mentors that included Travis, Verdery, Aycock and Mauck, among others. “The people of this school have formed me into the person that I am,” he says. “I try to pay it forward by being a light for students and for young teachers and coaches. I would like to think of myself as someone whose door is always open.”
 
Carter Tyree, assistant girls soccer coach and co-sponsor of TESPN, is one of those young coaches and colleagues grateful for Hamlin’s mentorship. Since 2021, Tyree and Hamlin have served as founding cosponsors of TESPN, Trinity’s burgeoning sports broadcasting club. What began in the pandemic has grown into a considerable media presence in its own right, giving dozens of Trinity students hands-on learning experiences in sports broadcasting and media. “He has such a depth of knowledge of the history of the school and all of the people who pass through it,” says Tyree. “My favorite memories with Rick are… the excitement he shares with us assistant coaches and his players when we've pulled off a big win and the pride we take in our TESPN work.”
 
When Hamlin does color commentary for TESPN broadcasts, he rarely needs notes. “I often marvel at his ability to recall facts and events in great detail,” says Marcus Jones. “I can't imagine that there is a bigger Trinity sports fan — or anyone who has watched as many Trinity sports or cheered harder for Trinity athletes — than Rick.”
 
Jones recalls taking a road trip to Lynchburg on a Saturday morning in 2004 to witness the return of football to Trinity after 15 years. “They were playing a JV schedule in their first year, and there were only a handful of parents at the first game at VES,” recalls Jones, “but we stood on the dirt track behind one of the old rusted uprights, and we cheered like it was the state championship in what was a 22-0 defeat.”
 
An Outpouring of Passion

For fellow coaches and teachers, along with former students and players alike, the word that comes to mind most often when asked about Rick Hamlin is “passion.” Passion for teaching history. Passion for coaching. Passion for Trinity and its impact on the community. Passion as a sports fan and for the power of sports to bring people together to do incredible things. “For decades, he has poured that passion into Trinity, into bringing history to life in the classroom, and into every arena of athletics,” says Steven McCarthy. “He has a gift for seeing potential in others — and an even greater commitment to helping them realize it.”
 
For Laura Hamlin Weiler ’00, Rick’s sister and longtime Trinity coach and staff member, the quintessential image is of him leaping on the sidelines while coaching a game in the 2017 state basketball tournament. “His entire essence is on display in that moment,” says Weiler. “He is clearly pouring every ounce of himself into that moment, and his teams played harder because of that passion. It captures the camaraderie he built on those teams, the culture of team first, doing everything you can for the larger goal of the team.”
 
For Hamlin, though, there is another indelible image that comes to mind: when Bobby Oldfield ’16, team manager, drained a late-game three-pointer versus STAB on senior day. “Bobby arrived as a ninth grader in a wheelchair,” recalls Hamlin. “He loved basketball, and he loved Trinity, but managing was all he could do.” On senior day, with the league title on the line, Hamlin was determined to flip the script and give Oldfield a chance to play minutes in a varsity uniform. In overtime, the Titans built an eight-point lead with 18 seconds left. Oldfield entered the game, dribbled the ball up the court and nailed the three-pointer at the buzzer. “That is my very favorite memory,” says Hamlin, misty-eyed. “I mean, I've got a lot of great ones, but that will be really hard to top.”
 
Moments like those — where students are included, celebrated and make unexpected contributions to the community — are when Hamlin says he feels proudest to be a Titan. “I want to find the best in everyone,” he says. “Whether you play cello or quarterback. Whether you are the most popular kid in school or the most awkward… I have always felt that Trinity Episcopal School allows students to be who they truly are.”
 
Courtney Frayser Jenkins ’08, now a marketing manager at Redeemer Episcopal Day School in Richmond, says Hamlin instilled support, respect and perseverance in her as a coach and teacher. “The biggest lesson he taught me was how important and transformative it is to be a part of something bigger than myself,” she says. “And in order to make a difference and to have a positive impact on a collective — whatever that may be — I must be that person individually first. That has stuck with me my entire life.”
Building Community
 
Former players like Torey Burston ’12 remember him as a relatable motivator who practiced what he preached. Burston recalls 30-minute drill sessions in “the rebound room,” where toughness was paramount. “We came out of there bruised sometimes, but we would always leave the room with our arms around each other because we knew at the end of the day, we were teammates and brothers,” recalls Burston. Now the student life coordinator at Trinity, Burston recently enlisted Hamlin to join him back on the bench as an assistant coach with the JV boys team — and will follow in Hamlin’s footsteps as the varsity boys coach in 2026. 
 
Morgan Taylor Pilkington ’05 was a member of the girls varsity soccer team during Hamlin’s first year as coach and saw firsthand the impact he has on his students and athletes. “He always made time, always listened, and always offered thoughtful guidance,” says Pilkington, now an instructional designer with Chesterfield Public Schools. “The lessons, conversations and example he set continue to influence me today.”
 
Henry Coleman III ’20, who wore a Titans uniform for three seasons (2018-2020) before playing for Duke and Texas A&M, now works for the University of Arizona Athletics. “Coach Hamlin for me was more than a coach,” recalls Coleman. “He taught me lessons both on and off the court: how I should play the game the right way, but how I should treat others and go about my life in the right way.” Coleman says Hamlin modeled positivity through adversity. “This trait of being positive at all times has helped me through a ton of ups and downs of life.”
 
Hamlin’s former player, student and assistant basketball coach Steven McCarthy offers an even broader perspective. “While sports often measure success in wins and losses, Rick measures it in growth,” he says. “His greatest victories are found in the character, confidence and development of the students and athletes he serves. That is where his passion shines brightest — and where his legacy is most deeply felt.”
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