By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

RALEIGH — High-flying David Tripp stayed in the air even longer than usual on Monday, roughly 13 hours.

Counting a layover of about four hours in Paris, it was a 17-hour travel day for the 6-foot-5 Tripp, as he joined his new pro basketball teammates in Armenia.

Tripp, 28, got engaged about a month ago, and figured it was time to settle down and move into the coaching aspect of basketball full-time, but then the phone rang, and Tripp always answers the phone because you never know who might be calling.

“The call came out of the blue,” Tripp said. “Someone saw my profile online, and that led to an offer from a team in the top league in Armenia. It’s a pro basketball opportunity, and I don’t want to ever look back with any regrets. Armenia is not a wealthy country, but if I play well enough there it could lead to playing for a team in France, Italy, one of those countries where the pay is a lot more.”

Armenia is way out there, off the beaten path and under the radar. If you spin a globe, you’ll find it’s a land-locked nation in that part of the world where Europe and Asia intersect.

“I tell everyone it’s close to Turkey,” Tripp said.

That’s accurate. Other neighbors include Iran, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Tripp is the poster child for refusing to give up on basketball dreams. He was cut from high school teams as a freshman and sophomore. He didn’t quit. He kept dribbling. And then he was dunking.

After moving from Connecticut to Kannapolis, he showed promise and played jayvee ball as a junior at A.L. Brown.

By his senior year, the athletic late bloomer had found his stride and his confidence, and he put together a series of games in which he scored 20 or more points for coach Shelwyn Klutz’s varsity Wonders. He torched Robinson twice. That was the 2013-14 season.

That success led to a chance to play for the Davidson County Community College Storm and coach Matt Ridge. DCCC was always a national contender in the junior college ranks.

Tripp played two seasons for DCCC where his teammates included former Carson star Tre Williams, who became a standout in Division II at Claflin. Tripp averaged 11.8 points and 6.2 rebounds for the Storm as a sophomore in 2016-17.

Tripp signed with Bluefield College and was a key player there until he suffered a devastating ankle injury that sidelined him for two seasons.

When he made his comeback, it was at the NAIA level with the Milligan University Buffaloes in Elizabethton, Tenn.

In his second game at Milligan, Tripp dominated — 33 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five blocked shots. He assisted on the deciding bucket in overtime, then blocked a shot to preserve the win.

He turned in a terrific final college season at Milligan as a graduate student, averaging 20.7 points, while shooting 57 percent from the field. His coach called him “the heart and soul of the team.” That was the 2020-21 season.

Since then, Tripp has done some assistant coaching with Ridge at the school is Thomasville that is now known as Davidson-Davie Community College.

“I’ve learned so much basketball from Coach Ridge,” Tripp said. “I helped coach a team that was undefeated until the final four. I became a student of the game, learned the X’s and O’s, learned how to scout opponents and study film.”

Tripp also has continued to play the game, his dreams deferred, but still intact. He played in the East Coast Basketball League for the Charlotte Tribe. While there’s a wide range of talent in the ECBL, Tripp played against a few guys who had NBA stints. He played against guys who were conference players of the year for D-I college teams.

Tripp was one of the standouts for the Tribe and turned in quite a few games with 20 or more points.

“I’ve stayed in shape,” Tripp said. “Still running every day.”

He’s not kidding. He enjoyed a tough workout and a run before he got on the plane that took him from Raleigh-Durham to Paris.

At 28, Tripp realizes his basketball life is closer to the end than the beginning, but he looks at this Armenian adventure as one more chapter in his amazing story. It’s going to be part of who he is and his hoops education. He hopes to one day coach a high school team. He’s going to have lots of valuable lessons to share.

“I know most guys my age have hung it up,” Tripp said. “But I hope I can inspire some young players and keep them from giving up on the game after they’ve had a setback. There’s a whole lot to be said for loving this game and sticking with it.”