John Engstrom (back row, far left) finally enters the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.
John Engstrom was the small town boy who hit the big time, and made the big time sit up and take notice.
The descendant of one of Whidbey’s pioneer families (his mom was an Engle), he rose from being a three-sport athlete and class valedictorian at Coupeville High School to thriving as one of Seattle’s most-respected newsmen.
Now, the late writer picks up one more honor, as we induct him into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.
There are a fair share of former Wolf stars whose names I know, having run across them in my hunt for stats and stories, but whose tales remain largely foreign to me.
Thanks to Charlie Burrow, who nominated Engstrom for induction, I can finally put more of a face to the name.
One down, several hundred to go, and this reminder – if there is a Coupeville athlete from the past you want to see go into our digital Hall o’ Fame, don’t assume I know their full story.
Come forward, let me know. I need your help to fill in the blanks.
With Engstrom, who graduated from CHS in 1959, we have a man who excelled in football, basketball, baseball, and the classroom during his time as a Wolf.
His name popped up during my attempts to track down all the buckets scored by Coupeville hoops stars, as he pumped in points as a junior and senior.
Playing alongside “Big” Mike Criscuola, who may be the true #1 scorer in program history (the records of the time are spotty, at best), Engstrom was Coupeville’s #2 scorer during his senior season.
That was the year the Wolves shocked the pundits by finishing second in the six-team Northwest District tournament.
Reducing to a mere paragraph or two in the pre-tourney breakdown, Coupeville stunned Sultan and Darrington, before narrowly falling to a rampaging La Conner squad in the title game.
It would be 11 years before the Wolves would become the first Whidbey Island boys hoops team to win a district crown (the immortal 69-70 CHS team coached by Bob Barker), but Big Mike, Engstrom, Sandy Roberts, and Co. made believers of all the non-believers.
After graduation from Coupeville, Engstrom attended the University of Washington, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education and a masters in education.
Spring-boarding from his time on the school paper, he went on to write for United Press International and have a long career as a sports writer, editor, travel writer, and TV critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
He and wife Susan Paynter, a revered P-I columnist, retired in 2009 when the newspaper brought its print edition to a close.
The couple lived on the Oregon coast afterwards, until Engstrom lost a battle with acute myeloid leukemia at age 72 in 2014.
On his passing, his newspaper colleagues hailed him as “a terrific supportive boss, just a wonderful human being.”
“A steadier, more laid-back person you could not find,” said another.
Among Engstrom’s many high points during his journalism career was covering the Seattle SuperSonics during their NBA championship season in 1979.
Whether camping in his fifth wheel trailer while documenting Eastern Washington wheat farmers, or living in Spain during Franco’s reign, the former Wolf was the ultimate journalist, one who impacted all of his co-workers in positive ways.
He was “a gentleman, a lovely man, a favorite colleague,” who was “all class and grace.”
And now, a bit late, but very well-deserved, he joins our lil’ digital Hall of Fame.
After this, when you look up at the top of the blog, go peek under the Legends tab, and you’ll find Engstrom camped out where he’s always belonged.
Another HOF nominee from that ’59 basketball team photo would be John Larson (CHS ’61), not for his role as basketball manager but for his feats on the football and baseball teams. Don’t have a lot of stats to back up the nomination but here are three excerpts from relevant news articles:
Seattle Times, October 1, 1960: “Coupeville’s Wolves, sparked by John Larson’s 79-yard touchdown dash clawed LaConner’s Braves in the Northwest B League, 23-6.”
Seattle Times, October 8, 1960: “Unbeaten Coupeville flattened Tolt in the Evergreen B League, 47-7. The win gave Coupeville a 4-0 season record and 2-0 league mark. John Larson made touchdown runs of 90 and four yards. Jim Yake passed to Vin Sherman for two touchdowns, on plays covering 20 and 30 yards.”
CHS Wolves Howl, May 12, 1961: “Coupeville won another league game yesterday as, led by John Larson’s power hitting, [the Wolves] shut out the Darrington Loggers in the timber city by the score of 14-0. John Larson, who has been the Wolves’ starting center-fielder for the last four years, banged out a single, a triple and a two-run homer in five trips to the plate.”
Also, HOF consideration should go to Jim Yake (“not pictured” in the photo) (CHS ’61), quarterback, scoring guard and shortstop.
btw, the class of 1961 was much larger in number than the immediately preceding and following classes, plus was about 75% boys, so dominated the boys’ sports teams for several years.
Side note: John Larson may have cost me a place in the CHS football record book as possibly the only non-player to figure in the stopping of an opposing team’s drive. During a game at the Coupeville field against Granite Falls in 1961, I was working on the sideline as a member of the “chain gang” crew when, on a third down play, a Granite Falls ball carrier was brought down close to the first down line. The referee called for us to bring in the chains for a measurement and when the linesman stretched out the chain, it appeared the Tigers had made the first down, by about an inch. But I noticed the chain was kinked and mentioned it to the linesman, who straightened it out and re-measured, resulting in the ball being an inch short of the stick. Granite Falls then opted to run the ball rather than punt. Much to my delight the runner was stopped and stood up a yard or so behind the line by several Coupeville players, stopping his forward progress. Unfortunately, just as the play was being blown dead, John Larson came flying into the pile and knocked everyone over, resulting in a penalty for unnecessary roughness and a first down for Granite Falls. So much for my brush with glory.
Correction: The game with Granite Falls was in 1960 not 1961.