Noah Roehl (right) swaps gossip with his former football coach, Ron Bagby. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
The question seems fairly simple, but the answer can be fairly complex.
Who is the best Wolf athlete you played with and why?
I posed that query to current and former Coupeville High School athletes on Facebook and Twitter earlier this week, and the responses came from all directions.
As the tsunami ebbs, my plan is to produce an article Sunday which will encompass as many answers as possible.
But let’s toss an early grenade on the fire.
Noah Roehl grew up smack-dab in the middle of Wolf Nation, hanging out with dad Tom as he coached high school football and youth basketball.
Later, Noah went on to be an accomplished athlete in his own right, before launching successful alumni basketball and football tournaments to raise scholarship money and honor his late father.
As someone who was on the inside for three decades, he is uniquely qualified to issue his appraisals of his fellow Wolf athletes.
While he’s too young to have seen CHS greats of the past like Jeff Stone or Judy Marti, and adult life kept him from having a front-row seat to recent supernovas such as Makana Stone and Hunter Smith, Roehl comes out swinging in his appraisals.
David … how dare you ask us to comment in such a subjective way.
We hate/love following our favorite sports blog and would never dare to respond to such a arbitrary ranking.
How do you rank Jordan vs LeBron … are they going to face off in a one vs one game? I only dream of it.
I will definitely participate in your ranking, lol.
Based just on athleticism — strength, fitness, agility and the ability to synchronize movements to accomplish a feat better than others … not necessarily leadership or other aspects that can make a team player great.
From the 30+ years I was plugged in:
Men:
1) Ian Barron
2) Mike Bagby
3) Peter Petrov
4) Gavin Keohane
5) Todd Brown
6) Greg White
7) Ford brothers – Tony and David (before my time but heard stories)
8) Ian Smith
9) Tyler King
10) Rich Wilson
11) Casey Larson
12) Todd Smith
Women:
1) Novi Barron
2) Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby
3) Marlene Grasser (before my time but heard stories)
4) Yashmeen Knox
5) Tina Lyness
6) Brianne King
7) Joli Smith
8) Emily Vracin
9) Amy Mouw
10) Corinne Gaddis
11) Kara Warder
12) Megan Smith
Some athletes only played one sport, but, in my opinion, their athleticism would have transferred to other sports easily, had they chosen to play.
Sorry, not sorry, if you didn’t make my arbitrary list of the best “athletes” I might have seen or heard about in the brief time window I covered.
Plenty of great athletes have come through Coupeville High School over the years and many went on to achieve greatness in college and beyond.
I know there are a few that probably should be on the list from the past 5+ years, I just don’t know enough to make an arbitrary guess.
Dang it, I would also added Matt Helm to this. I think he was more athletic than he seemed.
As I was thinking about this, I think I probably missed Brad Sherman, too. Probably makes the cut before Helm, maybe sneaks in around 10th on my list.
DANG IT, I guess I will add (brother) Virgil (Roehl) to this list too. Going to be an awkward Thanksgiving now…
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