Memorial service held for Trey Pike, Former Vernon High Head Football Coach

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) -The community is remembering the former Vernon High Athletic Director and Head Football Coach who died last month. Trey Pike passed away in a boating accident on August 7th, at just 36 years old.

Pike’s loved ones say he served as a role model to athletes on and off the field.

Beyond football, Pike had a love for being out on the water. That’s why his family decided to hold a memorial service Saturday at the St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club.

“The yacht club has been very important to us for quite some time since we have been here. Being that he is a captain he loved to do fishing and he ran a charter business on the side. The yacht club has just been our hangout spot. A lot of our friends are here and basically, they are like family. We have come here to do all of the boating and the events and that was actually like the last place he was that night,” Jessica Lambert, Pike’s fiancée, said.

In lieu of flowers for Coach Pike, his fiancée is honoring his memory and love for the water by helping create the Trey Pike Memorial Reef.

“The memorial reef is something that he always wanted we helped a friend with that. He actually helped deploy one and he said please promise me if the day ever comes that I will have a memorial reef that was really important to him. You never expect to do something like that now but it’s really important to me that it be done in his honor. As much as he loved fishing so that individuals can come to visit him and fish with him while he rests at sea in the place that he loved,” Lambert said.

Lambert said all the kind words about Trey and the support the community has shown her have meant so much to her. She said once they get an event together regarding the reef memorial, they will let the public know.