Jim Hosek, the most successful baseball coach in Coupeville High School history. (Clipping courtesy Keith Jameson)
What if?
Today’s tale is of three coaches, one from each of the three primary boys sports, who all, at one point, were employed by Coupeville High School.
As I start to plow through the athletic history of CHS, one is left to wonder how many more championships the school might own if one, two, or all three of these men had NOT left Cow Town.
We start with the biggie.
Sid Otton came to Coupeville straight from college (he was the first All-American selection in Weber State history while holding the line at tackle), after a brief tango with two NFL teams.
While on Whidbey, the young upstart was the school’s football and baseball coach for two seasons, winning the 1969 Northwest B League title on the diamond.
And then we lost him to different pastures.
Two years getting a Master’s degree at Utah State, a four-year run as head football coach at Colfax (and an unofficial state title in ’71), and then Otton settled down with his family in Tumwater.
From that point on, he got historic.
Now 42 years into the job as T-Bird head coach (with most of the same assistant coaches the whole way), Otton is the winningest high school football coach in state history — by a lot — and has raised six state title banners.
He also suffered through a semester with me, when I was a THS freshman taking health.
The class he taught in was in a room inside the bottom of the school’s football stadium, a place with no windows where time stood still.
Entombed in cement, we ventured out at the end of class every day pretty dang sure nuclear disaster had torn the Earth apart and we would be the only survivors walking into a desolate, “Mad Max” world.
Then we would see the sun again and cry tears of joy, until the next time.
Winning football games was nothing compared to putting up with a pack of 14-year-olds going stir crazy, I’m tell you what.
Now, Coupeville has had some decent coaches after Otton, with Ron Bagby putting in a strong 26-year run.
But, what it?
What if Otton stays, and the NGUNNGU (Never Give Up, Never Never Give Up) flags fly in Coupeville? What if I don’t meet him in high school, but instead as a young reporter after the move to Whidbey?
What if the Wolves had six state titles? What if the prairie was where the premier gridiron program in the state lived?
What if?
And then we move to Jim Hosek, a much-loved teacher and coach who didn’t leave the Island, but was forced into leaving his role of shepherding the Wolves.
During his six-year run as head baseball coach at CHS (1973-1978), Hosek won 103 games, five straight league titles and four district crowns.
Year after year the Wolves were either in the state tourney or on the cusp of it, and then it ended when Hosek resigned as a teacher to focus on his family’s novelty business.
He offered to remain on as the school’s baseball coach, but the school board of the time was fairly strict about wanting teachers as coaches and went in a different direction.
Fun fact: today, in 2016, eight of the 11 head coaching positions at CHS are currently filled by men and women who are not teachers at the school.
Only Randy King (track), Brett Smedley (football) and Kyle Nelson (boys soccer) would fit the old guidelines.
In ’78, though, the school went away from their hardball guru, and he ended up going on to excel as a coach at Skagit Valley College.
Again, the Wolves have done OK since his departure — Willie Smith had an especially strong run — but, what if?
What if the man who had built the start of a dynasty had been given the chance to complete the job?
What if Wolf baseball continued to rampage under Hosek, piling up more titles, more (non-existent) banners, maybe even finish the job of winning a state title or two?
What if?
Our last man in this trio is a bit of a mystery.
Archie “Mick“ Vivian was the boys’ basketball coach for less than three full seasons, but the Wolves flew high during his time at the helm.
In his second campaign (’78’-’79), Coupeville upended King’s for the Cascade A League title, then became one of just two Wolf boys hoops team to ever win a game at the state tourney.
But, during his third season, as injuries and the death of a key player’s father ripped apart his squad, Vivian was forced to suddenly step down.
The newspaper reports at the time are vague, hinting that it had to do with an alleged incident with a female student who he gave a ride home, then nothing more is to be found.
Vivian’s players, now in their early ’50s, stand by their coach, calling him one of the best they ever played for, and believe he was exonerated shortly afterwards.
After his time at Coupeville, he taught English in Mount Vernon, drove a delivery truck and worked as a process server until he passed away in 2006.
In an online tribute story I found, he is remembered as one of the greatest athletes to ever come out of Kalama, and remains, to this day, the only guard in Washington state prep basketball history to play in four consecutive state title games.
The story lists no other coaching jobs for Vivian after his time at CHS.
I wasn’t on Whidbey in the late ’70s. I can’t claim to know the whole story about Vivian’s departure.
What I do know is this. Sports fans are a curious lot.
Give us a hint of what a coach could do, of what a coach might have been, and you can’t help but wonder.
What if Vivian had stayed in Coupeville and continued to build on his strong start?
Wolf boys’ basketball has only made it back to state one time in the 36 years since his departure. Would that have changed if he had remained?
You can’t help but wonder, the same as we do with Otton and Hosek.
What if?
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