Coupeville Sports

Kari Iverson stands alone.

There have been 147 seasons of basketball played at Coupeville High School – 102 by the boys and 45 by the girls, at least in the post-Title IX world – and, in that time, only one player with a last name starting with “I” has scored a point at the varsity level.

Iverson tossed in eight points across two seasons, scoring four in each of her two varsity seasons (1990-91 and 1991-92), to claim the honor.

She would have likely had more, but missed her senior season in 92-93 after a bad car accident.

That tidbit is just one of many I found as I wiled away some of my Snowmageddon time by going through basketball scoring records in a bid to discover who were the highest scoring players by last name.

Now, I will admit, my record-collecting isn’t finished … yet.

I have virtually complete scoring totals for 44 of the 45 seasons of girls basketball. The one to elude me, so far, is the debut team in 1974-1975.

The Whidbey News-Times of the day (shamefully) had nothing to say about that season, and the school’s yearbook has photos, but no scoring totals.

But I do have a roster, and there’s no “I” players to be found.

With boys basketball, I can claim to be on fairly solid ground with 69 of 102 seasons. And with the way records have generally been allowed to blow free in the breeze at CHS, that’s saying something.

As I piece things together, I have individual scoring totals for every season from 1954-1955 to today, but pre-’50s scoring marks have been tough to uncover.

Now, I can tell you Roy Armstrong topped Coupeville with 80 points during the 1924-1925 season, and Banky Fisher edged out Gaylord Stidham 44-41 for the 1939-1940 scoring title.

But, other than success with scattered seasons — the Bruzas brothers, Joe (71) and Stanley (48) combined to tally 119 of 186 points scored in 1926-1927, in case you were wondering — uncovering the early years of Wolf basketball remains my Raiders of the Lost Ark-style adventure.

If there’s a holy grail, it’s the 1953-1954 boys season.

The yearbook had a roster, but no scoring totals, preventing me from cementing the status of Jack Elzinga and Tom Sahli.

With Sahli, I know he scored 310 points in 1952-1953, but am missing his totals for 1951-1952 and 1953-1954.

Elzinga is even more tantalizing, as I know he rattled the rims for 337 in 1954-1955 and another 309 in 1955-1956.

That two-year total of 646 points puts “The Zinger” in 25th place on the all-time Wolf boys scoring chart, and yet, how high is he really?

Did he score 100 points in what I presume was his sophomore season? If so, he catapults up to #16. Or, if he notched 222 or more, he’s cracked the top 10.

Of course, being his first season on varsity, Elzinga’s scoring total might be much lower than his other two years. Even so, it’s frustrating to not be able to firmly place him in the pantheon.

But, for now, we go with what we have.

And what we have says there’s never been a CHS player, girls or boy, who scored at the varsity level while repping a last name starting with U or X.

There’s been one guy upholding the honor of Q, as Tim Quenzer scorched the nets for 202 points during the 1969-1970 campaign, but no Q girls.

Top it off with the odd twist of no boy with a last name starting with I, and no girl with one starting with N or Z.

The biggest surprise for me is N, but, maybe it shouldn’t have been, as only five boys — Ron Naddy, Frank Nelson, Dan Nieder, Bill Nienhuis, and Chad Nixon — check in on that side of the ledger.

Maybe N isn’t as common as I thought.

At the least, N, on the boys side, comes in ahead of Z (John Zimmerman and Denny, Jerry, and Larry Zylstra) and Y (Jim Yake, Curt and Tim Youderian).

Other factoids I found:

E and O are the only letters where the leading scorers are related.

O offers up the sister/brother combo of Kendra and Kramer O’Keefe (uncle Randy, who played when the family still went by Keefe, leads the K boys) while E gives us Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby and dad Wade Ellsworth.

Wade’s spot is hanging by a thread, though, as he’s a mere 13 points up on Elzinga (659-646), with “The Zinger’s” missing season still lurking out there somewhere in the mists of time.

Megan Smith and Bill Riley are the highest-scoring players who are NOT also the highest-scoring players with a last name starting with their letter.

Riley is #6 on the boys all-time chart with 934 points, but #4 Jeff Rhubottom (1012) edges him out for R bragging rights.

Smith (1042) sits even higher, at #4 for the girls program, but #3 Makana Stone (1158) is a rung above her, while also carrying an S last name.

Best letter to start your last name with if you want to be a top-10 career scorer? S.

Smith, Makana Stone, Jeff Stone (tied for #1), and Brad Sherman (#8) pull their initial highest, edging out B, which is brought to the dance by Mike Bagby (tied for #1), Zenovia Barron (#2), and Lexie Black (#8).

The most productive letter? K.

Brianne King (1549) and Randy Keefe (1088) combine for 2,637 points, topping the 2,407 flung up by B (Zenovia Barron – 1270 and Mike Bagby – 1137) and the 2295 offered by S (Makana Stone – 1158 and Jeff Stone – 1137).

And, last but certainly not least, is the tightest race, which played out among boys whose last names start with T.

Eight have broken 100, three have topped 200, but the title came down between a duo who hit for 300+.

Charlie Tessaro tossed in 93 points in 1984-1985, then led his squad with 235 the next season, finishing with 328 for his career.

Which I thought would be tops, but it wasn’t.

Aaron Trumbull never reached the heights Tessaro did in 85-86, but he benefited from being a rock-solid four-year varsity vet from 2011-2012 to 2014-2015.

The kind of player who did everything – rebound, defend, set screens for the big gunners – he also proved to be a solid backup scoring option.

From six points as a freshman, Trumbull jumped to 106 as a sophomore (#3 on the team), 70 as a junior, then 148 (#2 on the team) during his senior season.

His final basket gave him 330 points, edging Tessaro in the closest race I could find.

 

CHS career scoring leaders by last name:

 

A – Amanda Allmer (331), Mitch Aparicio (195)

B – Zenovia Barron (1270), Mike Bagby (1137)

C – Jen Canfield (497), Mike Criscuola (979)

D – Vanessa Davis (448), Randy Duggan (552)

E – Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby (892), Wade Ellsworth (659)

F – Amanda Fabrizi (299), Foster Faris (668)

G – Marlene Grasser (574), Arik Garthwaite (867)

H – Kristan Hurlburt (598), Hunter Hammer (755)

I – Kari Iverson (8), (no boy)

J – Annette Jameson (223), Bill Jarrell (855)

K – Brianne King (1549), Randy Keefe (1088)

L – Tina Lyness (594), David Lortz (502)

M – Judy Marti (545), Jason McFadyen (654)

N – (no girl), Dan Nieder (729)

O – Kendra O’Keefe (244), Kramer O’Keefe (636)

P – Ann Pettit (932), Pete Petrov (917)

Q – (no girl), Tim Quenzer (202)

R – Lindsey Roberts (448), Jeff Rhubottom (1012)

S – Makana Stone (1158), Jeff Stone (1137)

T – Tracy Taylor (350), Aaron Trumbull (330)

U – (no girl or boy)

V – Emily Vracin (467), Michael Vaughan (337)

W – Maureen Wetmore (438), Steve Whitney (730)

X – (no girl or boy)

Y – Emily Young (149), Jim Yake (331)

Z – (no girl), Denny Zylstra (538)