Schuckman: Showing maturity, toughness and respect is how Triplett honors his father’s legacy

PALMYRA, Mo. — The brute force and dogged toughness Luke Triplett carries to the gridiron often masks the Palmyra senior all-state lineman’s playful nature.

Every now and then, you catch a glimpse of it.

Following a preseason practice on a beginning-to-swelter August morning, Triplett snaked his way through the coaching office as he slipped from the locker room to the weight room.

He picked up a popsicle along the way.

“I wasn’t supposed to get one of these,” Triplett said as sucked the juice from the plastic sleeve of the grape Pop Ice.

He just flashed an ornery smile as he chewed the ice and cooled down.

Then it was all about business.

As we talked, he ripped tape from his wrists and ankles, using bear-claw hands to discard the tape in the manner he tosses aside defensive linemen. Our conversation centered on that toughness and how the Panthers’ ability to develop tenacity from front to back would be vital.

Then I asked about the shoulders, the torn labrums he suffered during his junior season and the pain. He answered most questions, declined to elaborate on others and looked generally uncomfortable discussing the injuries.

So we talked about other things and wrapped up.

After turning off the digital recorder, I apologized if I made him uncomfortable by broaching the subject of the injuries. Triplett said he took no offense to the questions. He simply didn’t want to discuss it in detail for a story. He maturely offered his rationale. He was honest and engaging and sincere.

The kid who sat down to talk football while eating a popsicle morphed into a young man wanting and willing to speak for himself.

You only learn how to be your own man from someone who is his own man.

Keith Triplett showed all three of his kids how to do that.

On the short drive back to Quincy that day, I replayed our conversation in my head and came back around to the same thought over and over. Luke Triplett was raised right.

He had the values of respect, humility and hard work ingrained in him. He understood the responsibility of being a leader means standing up for yourself and your team. The maturity to do things the right way will carry him to the peaks of happiness and enable him to fight through life’s struggles.

That will be one of the enduring legacies of Keith Triplett, who passed away Friday following a vehicular accident. He and his wife, Kim, have raised their kids the right way — to be strong, respectful, passionate and caring. And they touched lives beyond the cornfields of Northeast Missouri.

The outpouring of emotion and compassion from every corner of the Tri-State area Friday is proof. Rivalries be damned in this case. It isn’t about the jersey you wear, the city in which you live or the school you attend. It’s about offering a shoulder to cry on or a crutch to lean on.

Even the toughest of the tough need that.