Trimble inducted into Music Hall of Fame

Marshall Trimble, Arizona’s official state historian and SCC instructor of Arizona history, has been chosen as one of the 10 inductees to the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame for 2010, joining the likes of Steven Spielberg, Buck Owens, Stevie Nicks and Alice Cooper.

The induction ceremony will be held in early 2011.

Trimble, director of Southwest Studies at SCC, began teaching at the college in 1972.
Having written over 20 books about Arizona and the West, he is considered the “dean of Arizona historians.”

The latest honor is among a long list of such received by Trimble over the years, including a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Arizona office of tourism in 2007.

Trimble has also been inducted into The Phoenix College Alumni Hall of Fame, the Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame and the Scottsdale  Hall of Fame.

Having previously served as board president for the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame, he now works with its outreach program, speaking and performing on its behalf.
 While in the Marine Corps, Trimble began playing the guitar, which lead to the formation of a folk group.

The group travelled and performed in Western states.

Trimble combines lectures with singing and playing guitar  in a unique genre he calls “folk western,” and has been called the “Will Rogers of Arizona.”

Each year, he lectures to hundreds of fourth graders around the state who are studying Arizona history.

Trimble was appointed by Governor Janet Napolitano to the Arizona Centennial Commission in preparation for the Arizona’s 100th anniversary coming up in 2012.
Born in Mesa,  Trimble’s early years were spent on a ranch near South Mountain. His family later relocated to Ashfork and then moved back to the Valley. He graduated from West High in 1956. After attending Phoenix College, he went on to receive his bachelors and then masters degree from ASU in secondary education.

His interest in Arizona and Western history led him to conduct an independent study program at ASU.