Coupeville Sports

Mike Criscuola

And then there were nine.

Well, there’s always been nine. But now I can prove it.

Thanks to recently unearthed stats, we can now credit Mike Criscuola with 52 additional points from his sophomore basketball season in 1957-1958.

That officially (well, as official as anything compiled by me can be…) pushes “Big Mike” over the 1,000-point barrier, leaving him with 1,031 career points.

Which means he’s the fifth boy, and ninth player overall, to score 1,000+ points on the hardwood for Coupeville High School.

Well, actually he was the first to do it, but you know what I’m talking about.

Criscuola, who was on the CHS varsity as an 8th grader, was built like a Mack truck.

Add the glasses he normally wore, and a barrel chest which strained to pop free from his uniform, and, even as a young man, he looked like a dad who had slipped in to the team photo by accident.

The #1 scorer in school history when he graduated in 1960, Criscuola’s numbers have held up amazingly well over the past six decades, even as the three-point shot has ignited high-octane offenses.

And, while we are (slowly) able to pull his scoring stats back into focus, no one will ever know how many rebounds he hauled down, as those stat sheets long ago blew away in the prairie breeze.

Those who played with him vividly remember Criscuola yanking down nearly every loose ball within a five-mile radius.

Barring the successful completion of a time machine, or an Indiana Jones-style discovery of a secret cache of stats in the hidden basement of a 100-year old prairie barn, those rebound numbers will remain a mystery.

But, at the very least, we can continue to fine-tune the numbers we do have, and pay tribute to a true Wolf hoops legend.

Coupeville High School basketball 1,000-point scorers:

Brianne King — (1549) — (1999-2003)
Zenovia Barron — (1270) — (1994-1998)
Makana Stone — (1158) — (2012-2016)
Jeff Stone — (1137) — (1967-1970)
Mike Bagby — (1137) — (2002-2006)
Randy Keefe — (1088) — (1973-1976)
Megan Smith — (1042) — (2006-2010)
Mike Criscuola — (1031) — (1956-1960)
Jeff Rhubottom — (1012) — (1975-1978)