Coupeville Sports

Caleb Valko, lookin’ all GQ.

Coupevillesports.com would be nothing, nothing I say, without Caleb Valko.

He is my own personal Willy Wonka gold ticket, the boy with the Justin Bieber eyes, the one-true Page Hit King (now that Hunter Hammer is semi-retired), a young man willing to talk smack, get greasy and run over refs, all to make my stories more exciting.

There are many athletes at Coupeville High School, some with some serious skills, and a few who work their butts off on the playing field.

Caleb, who celebrates his birthday today, has all that, and just a touch more.

Mr. Valko may not want to hear this, but he is NOT the most talented athlete to currently pull on a Wolf jersey. He does not have the raw speed of Madison Tisa McPhee, the size of Nick Streubel, the intangibles of Jake Tumblin or the career accomplishments of Amanda d’Almeida and Bessie Walstad.

What he does have is character, commitment, a sense of leadership and a heart that does not quit. The kid keeps on coming, in good games and bad, and he exemplifies what a Wolf should be, through and through.

When he leaves for college and beyond, there will be a large hole left behind.

It will be a hole left not just by the memories of Mr. Valko crushing the line in pursuit of a quarterback, or of him rampaging through the paint on a mad charge to the hoop.

It will be the memory of him standing off to the side on a muddy field at Chimacum, arms crossed, face a mixture of anger and sadness, as the final moments of his high school football career played out without him, a casualty of a Napoleonic ref, but an unbowed captain to the end.

He fought for his teammates, and they fought for him. After rumbling up-field, flicking would-be tacklers away like tiny gnats, Streubel, covered in mud, emerged from a pile and looked for his fellow lineman, who was supposed to have had that rare offensive play as a senior night farewell, and he flashed the thumbs-up to his partner in the trenches.

There were people crying in the stands that night, and there will be people crying in the stands when Mr. Valko throws his final shot put heave in the spring.

Many people have worn the red and black for Coupeville. Few have done it with the class and determination of Caleb Valko.