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I first met Aaron Thomas Davies in 1997 during 6th grade. My family had just moved to Spanish Fork and I didn’t know many people nor did I have many friends. I remember seeing Aaron for the first time in a Jr. Jazz game. He was wearing short 80’s style gym shorts and this elastic band that tied to the end of his glasses to keep them on his head. I thought I had met the dorky white version of Horace Grant. But I can’t say that I looked much better either. I had worn a pair of ragged jeans and dirty tennis shoes to play basketball in because our family was too poor to afford proper athletic apparel. I then preceded to watch as this little dork began to run circles around our Jr. Jazz team. There were several times during the game that he drove right past me to score a basket as he led his team to an easy victory against us. Bitter in defeat, I can safely say that I did not like Aaron Davies very much after our first meeting. Later that year our 6th grade gym class tested all of the students in several athletic events. The students who ranked in the top 3 of each event had their names posted on the wall above the lockers. I was super excited when I placed in the top 3 for the vertical jump competition and had my name posted on that wall. But I quickly realized that my name was overshadowed by another student. Someone had managed to make it on the top 3 list for nearly every event that was tested. There it was written all over the wall: “Aaron Davies.” I was so envious of his feats, that I made it my goal to athletically surpass Aaron Davies and my arch-enemy was born. Every time I played sports, I tried to get better. I worked hard, always determined to become the best, to beat Aaron Davies.
Then it happened. I was given a chance to enact my revenge on Aaron. Our middle school was hosting an assembly in which students and teachers would race against each other through an obstacle course. Aaron and I were both selected to participate in the competition. I thought I had landed the opportunity of a lifetime. The opportunity to show the entire school that I could beat Aaron in an athletic event. As the rules were explained to us, I plotted my strategy and tactics for getting through the course in the fastest time possible. Aaron was selected to go before me in the lineup and so I had an advantage in that I could see how well he did before I even made my attempt at the course. As Aaron began the obstacle course he navigated each section with perfect precision. Straight over the balance beam, directly through the rollers, quick climbing over the rope wall. And then he came to the final 2 obstacles: a high jump bar and a tripod he needed to crawl through. The high jump bar was set to an extremely low height, one that I knew Aaron would not have trouble jumping over in the slightest. But all at once he threw everyone for a loop as he not only jumped the bar, he did a front flip over it. The audience went wild with cheering and applause as I thought to myself “Man, what a show off.” He finished navigating the tripod and then raced to the finish line.
Then I lined up to start the course. My hands sweaty and my heart pumping as fast as it could go. For an 11 year old, this was like setting my mark for the Olympic finals. The starting horn blew and I sprinted off as fast as I could go. Right off the bat I made a mistake, falling off the balance beam. Quickly recovering I navigated the next two obstacles with ease, but I knew that Aaron was still ahead of me so I had to make up time somewhere. I got to the high jump bar and rather than jumping onto the landing pad I just hurdled directly over the bar, then turning my direction to the final tripod obstacle I needed to do something drastic if I was to beat Aaron. At full sprint I dove head first “Pete Rose” style through the tripod legs in a daring stunt and raced to the finish line. I looked up at the scoreboard timer in surprise to see that I finished the course in a faster time than Aaron Davies. I had won!
But wouldn’t you know it, the very next day, guess what people were talking about? Not how I won Aaron in the obstacle course. No, everyone was talking about how Aaron Davies had done a front flip over the high jump bar. I couldn’t believe it. Even in victory, I was defeated.
It wasn’t until several years later that Aaron and I found a mutual connection, Gavin Gardner. I had known Gavin for a while because I was in the same ward as Gavin and Aaron had been friends with Gavin for a while as well. One time while we were both at Gavin’s, Aaron invited me over to his house to hang out. To my shocking surprise Aaron was not doing a very good job at being my arch-enemy. He wasn’t mean, he wasn’t judgemental, he wasn’t a show off… um OK, maybe he was a bit of a show off, but he wasn’t anything like I had imagined. I realized that all the negative things I thought about Aaron were just biased judgments based on jealousy and pride. From that moment a friendship was born.
As we entered High School, I began to realize just how great of a person Aaron was. Aaron didn’t care who you were, he befriended all types of people. Whether you played sports or video games. Whether you were a cheer leader or sang in the choir, he treated people the same. I watched in awe as he would bring people into our circle of friends who I had never even seen before and made them feel like they belonged. I have talked to several people who experienced this kindness first hand and still thank Aaron to this day for making High School a more bearable place.
My stance of jealousy turned to that of admiration. I looked up to Aaron in high school and he became a role model to me. He always excelled in everything. Sports, Academics, Girls (yes I just grouped girls as a category… Trust me they are much more complicated than sports or academics will ever be.) I felt more confident in life just by being around him. He made me believe in myself. He was the one who motivated me to run track and field and helped me to become confident in myself as an athlete and as a person. I will always be grateful to him for helping me find my own identity during High School.
I will never forget the summer between our Junior and Senior year and all of the fun times we spent together. Every day we would wake up and go to the gym. His consistency in working out every day and trying to get better always kept me motivated to become better myself. After working out we would go to McDonalds, where for an entire summer all we ever ordered was 3 Double Cheeseburgers every weekday for 3 months straight (In fact I largely contribute and thank McDonalds for helping me gain 15 pounds between my Junior and Senior year). We attended sports camps down in St. George, at Snow College, and in Denver Colorado. The number of fun experiences I was able to share with Aaron that summer are incredibly numerous, but I’m going to try to sum them up in one super duper awesome compound memory sentence.
In one summer we got in a fight on the basketball court; we almost got shot at in Denver; we went to Denny’s in St George at random times during the night; we hoarded bags of candy from a rich girls house we had never met before; we watched in disgust at the hazing that went on within Box Elder’s football team; we rented movies from shady video stores (ones that were probably not allowed at basketball camp); we went bridge jumping into Salem Pond; we cruised main for no apparent reason; we hit on girls, got rejected by girls, then hit on the girls that we were rejected by and got double rejected by those girls (slow learners); we competed in milk chugging contests, poker parties, pool games, and video games; we worked, we played, we fought, we prayed, we ate, we slept, we ran, we sweat.
The bonds and relationships we formed over our high school years were incredible. So incredible that when I was offered a scholarship to play football at a few schools, a major part in my decision of choosing to go to Dixie was because of discussions I had with Aaron and us deciding to go to college together. I’m sure that Aaron played some part in the decisions that Gavin and Craig and others made when deciding to go down to Dixie as well.
College was a big wake up call for me and Aaron. Both out on our own for the first time, we tried to figure out what we wanted to do with our lives. We experienced a lot of joy and heartaches during those years. We each went through individual relationship issues and we were able to sympathize with each other. I’m thankful that he was there for me during those times. We began to grow up (I’m still just beginning) but eventually I found the most wonderful woman in the world and I asked her to marry me. Surprisingly, she agreed. Even more surprising though, was that Aaron approved of her as well which was a relief since our circle of friends rarely approved of each others serious relationships. (Which Lauren Gardner should be thankful for as well since Aaron fully approved of Gavin’s decision!)
And as my life changed I noticed that the conversations I had with Aaron began to mature as well. We would talk about business ventures and potential partnerships and we talked about what we wanted to do with our lives. We talked about having kids and raising our children in the same neighborhood. We even talked about planning our wives pregnancies (trust me I’m bad on this one) in the same year so that our kids could play sports together. We joked about how we were like Julius Campbell and Gerry Bertier in Remember the Titans and how after all this we were going to grow old together. We really started seeing eye to eye. We both had our faults but we also both made commitments to becoming better people.
And so my relationship with Aaron Thomas Davies has developed over the years. From jealousy, to admiration, to a mutual dedication to becoming a better person. I am privileged to have lived side by side next to such a wonderful person and friend. Today we celebrate your birth, tomorrow we lay your body down to rest. But I will always remember the values of hard work, dedication and acceptance that you taught to me and as I raise my children I will try to instill them with those same values.
Happy Birthday bro, I look forward to the day that we will meet again.
Love your brother and friend,
Trent Bingham
