Arnold T. Truex … Arnie.
The name is synonymous with sports, physical education and coaching not one but three different high school sports teams while at Atlantic Highlands High School.
Born in November 1912, one of ten children, the oldest son of William Tilton Truex and Esther Hurley, Arnie married Margaret Wright in 1938 and the couple lived in Neptune before moving to Atlantic Highlands in 1940, where he had been coaching in the high school for several years.
The graduating class of 1939 paid a special tribute to Truex in their yearbook, devoting an entire page in “sincere appreciation for the very fine and devoted effort” he made on students. His efforts to produce athletic activities, they wrote, “resulted in a greater appreciation of love of sports, the better evaluation of good sportsmanship and the desire to learn and play the games as near perfection as humanly possible.”
As proof Truex’s efforts were not in fine and to show some of the reasons why he has always garnered respect, admiration and gratitude from every student, the tribute page listed the season’s records for each of the sports during their four years the Class of 1939 was instructed by Truex.
The list include bringing one of the two smallest high schools in the Shore Conference Group II division third place awards in the 1936 season in both baseball and football, as well as another second place in baseball and one in basketball.
In the 1937-38 year, Truex had the Atlantic Highlands football team tied for first place with Lakewood in Shore Conference football with seven victories and one tie, and at the same time taking first place in Shore Conference basketball. In the North Central Jersey Championship, the team fell to Princeton by a single point in the state finals, but in that same year, the baseball team also took third place.
In 1938-39, Truex’s teams place fifth in football, third in basketball and first in baseball.
As a final tribute, the graduation class expressed their appreciation for all the achievements and wished him success in all future undertakings…except, they added “in the Leonardo-Atlantic games.”
Truex died in June, 1978 at age 65.
