Born in Wakita, Oklahoma, Trask received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Washburn University in 1931 where he was a member of the Kansas Beta chapter of Phi Delta Theta and initiated into Sagamore, Washburn's most exclusive honor society. Trask was a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship in 1929.The Scroll of Phi Delta Theta, December 1929, p. 182. He received a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1934. He entered private practice in Kansas City, Missouri in 1934, eventually moving his practice to Phoenix, Arizona, where he continued until 1969.
