Hugh Dave "Tripp" Whitener III

1971 - 2022

Hugh Dave "Tripp" Whitener III
January 3, 1971 - December 7, 2022
Columbia, South Carolina - Hugh Dave "Tripp" Whitener III died peacefully on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, surrounded by family and friends. Tripp was born to Hugh Dave Whitener, Jr. and Sandra Rinehart Whitener in Columbia, SC on January 3, 1971. Tripp showed his love of being in control early in life by arriving late and missing the 1970 December 31st tax deadline, much to his father's chagrin. Tripp grew up in Columbia, where he made many lifelong friends and graduated from Spring Valley High School in 1989. One of his favorite high school memories was when he and some buddies were able to sneak into the shared RNE and SV football stadium and paint the RNE steps green and gold before the big rivalry game.
He started Wofford College in the fall of 1989 and was a member of Kappa Alpha Order fraternity, which was also a source of many lifelong friendships. He shared his love of music and cassette mix tapes with the fraternity where he proudly served as the "Music Man." Tripp majored in Political Economy and Philosophy and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1993 with the Departmental Award for his major.
After graduation, Tripp returned to Columbia and was hired into the NationsBank Commercial Lending Management training program in 1994, where he met his wife, Wesley. After dating for three months, Tripp boldly walked into their manager's office, without Wesley's knowledge, and announced that they would be getting married and would need to be placed in the same city, which ended up being Charlotte, NC, after his prediction came true. Tripp was a successful treasury management sales officer for four years and then started as a commercial relationship manager after moving back to Columbia. Tripp had a long and industrious banking career and worked at RBC Centura Bank, where he opened the de novo office in Columbia, First Citizens Bank, where he worked for over ten years and was the Commercial Area Executive with the first-place commercial team in the state for eight consecutive years, South State Bank, and most recently, First Horizon Bank. He was a 2001 graduate of Leadership Columbia and was chosen as a "Top 20 under 40" by the State newspaper in 2008 for outstanding community service and leadership. Tripp also graduated from The Riley Institute Diversity Leaders Initiative of Furman in 2010.
In addition to his successful career, Tripp served on numerous community boards, including Town Theatre (Executive Board for 9 years; President for 6 years), Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties (Board for 8 years; President for 2 years), Indian Waters Council Board for 7 years, City Center Partnership (Board for 3 years; Chairman for 1 year) and the South Carolina Central Alliance – Committee of 100 Board. He was very involved in his children's schools where he and Wesley were PTO Presidents at Brennen Elementary School in 2011 - 2012 and on the Board of the Ben Lippen Athletic Booster Club from 2019 - 2022.
Tripp's proudest accomplishment was his two children – daughter Gray and son Jake. He was devoted to them and extremely involved in their lives and activities. He was thrilled when Gray chose to attend Wofford and got him reacquainted with his alma mater. Tripp's true passion was coaching his children's sports teams, including Jake's travel baseball and church basketball for many years and Gray's church basketball team. Tripp was meticulously detailed and organized and loved learning the games and creating coaching strategies. He would search for each player's strength and utilize it to make the team better. His favorite sports memory with Jake was the Shockers winning the USSSA World Series in 2015. Finally, Tripp was a lifelong avid Gamecock fan. As a highly regarded baller and one of the founding members of the world-famous "Third Base Hecklers," Tripp has been widely credited for singlehandedly securing back-to-back national championships for his beloved Yardcocks.
In addition to his wife and children, Tripp is survived by his mother, Sandra, of Columbia and his sister, Laura Whitener Caputo (Mike) of Savannah, GA, as well as her children Emma, Connor, and Jack. He is also survived by his paternal aunt Jane Whitener Cain, his maternal uncle Ernest Leland Rinehart Jr., and cousins on both sides. Tripp was predeceased by his father, Dave, his paternal grandparents, Hugh Dave (H.D.) and Marie Whitener, Sr., of Gastonia, NC, and maternal grandparents Ernest Leland and Marjorie Rinehart of Greenwood, SC.
Services will be held at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Columbia on Monday, December 19th at 2:00 p.m., with a visitation on Sunday, December 18th from 5:00 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. at Dunbar Funeral Home on Devine Street. The family will have a private commitment. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Wofford College, 429 N. Church Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303 or wofford.edu/give. Tripp would love for all his former fellow coaches and players to sit in a designated area at the funeral so if you were a Scrapper, BLW, Cane, Shocker or EPC Falcon, please sit together in the front.
Memories may be shared at www.dunbarfunerals.com.