Zane Bundy, through the years.
The best-dressed booter in the biz. (John Fisken photos)
Doin’ what he does.
Zane Bundy is special.
The Coupeville High School senior, who celebrates a birthday today, is a rarity, in many ways.
I’ve seen him grow up seemingly for all of his life, because in his early days he was a fixture at Videoville and David’s DVD Den, the constant companion to mom Janine or dad Mark.
Whether he was knee-deep in the video game section, trying to fast-talk his way to renting a questionable movie that he absolutely, positively needed to see or scampering around the aisles, Zane was a friendly ball o’ fire.
As he grew, both in age and shooting up like a weed in height, young Mr. Bundy picked up the mantle of soccer star and ran with it.
Both as a select player and high school booter, he’s been one of the most consistent stars we’ve had in Coupeville in the last decade.
Zane had a nose for goal-scoring, but also showed an extremely deft touch with the ball when setting others up for the shot.
And, despite always being a pretty dang skinny kid, he has never been afraid to rumble in the scrums, taking and exchanging body blows with the burliest of foes.
Proving people can always surprise you, Bundy slipped off the pitch as a senior to join the CHS football team for the first time.
Utilizing his booming leg, he led the Wolves in scoring and was among the best prep field goal kickers in the state.
He even snagged himself a tackle late in the season, which delighted Zane and coach Ryan King, while causing his mom to (momentarily) hyperventilate.
And lo and behold, it’s football, not soccer, which he’ll be playing in college.
Who saw that coming?
Through it all, whether he was playing “the beautiful game” or staying one step ahead of grunting, 300-pound would-be tacklers, Bundy has never changed as a person.
And that, ultimately, is what has always made him one of my favorite athletes, on and off the field.
He remains today the same fresh-faced, super-friendly person he was as a young boy, though now, as a young man set to graduate high school in a week, he’s become quite the fashion fiend.
Athletes come and athletes go, and a few will always rise above the crowd, for any number of reasons. Some positive, some negative.
With Zane, it has been nothing but positive, from day one to his final moments as a Wolf.
I hope he goes down to Santa Barbara City College and makes a big splash with the Vaqueros gridiron squad. That goes without saying.
But regardless of how his entree into college football goes, this is a young man who will be a success in life, and that’s far more important.
He is too kind, too smart, too friendly, too talented, not to do well.
Today is a small sliver of his life, and I hope his cake day is a smashing one. But I also hope every day around his birthday is equally winning.
Face it, Zane, you’re a pretty awesome guy.
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