The core of the best boys’ tennis team in Coupeville High School history, led by two-time Hall o’ Fame inductee Connor Tasoff. (Photo courtesy Ken Stange)
Tennis has never gotten the respect it deserves.
It was that way when I played/goofed off for three years at Tumwater back in the day and it’s still the case.
In a just world there would be a bunch more title banners hanging in the Coupeville High School gym, recognizing the work Wolf coach Ken Stange and his teams have put in over the last decade.
Some of those titles came in a two-team league, but they were still titles.
Those banners should still be there, and it does a disservice to the athletes who won them when their school ignores their accomplishments.
So, today, with the 21st class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, we’re going to work a bit on making up for that.
Putting a little twist on things, we’re going to induct Connor Tasoff twice — once as an individual athlete and once as part of the 2009 CHS boys’ tennis team, AKA The District Tourney Sweep Crew.
It may not get them a banner, but they will live on under the Legends tab that sits atop this blog. So, small victory.
For the induction, I’m going to shut up and pass the mic to their coach and let him speak.
Take it away, Stange:
In the fall of 2006, Connor Tasoff, a freshman at the time, joined the tennis team.
It was my second season as the boys’ coach. With only nine players, the previous season had been difficult.
I was pretty shocked to see more than 20 players show up for the beginning of season two. I was the beneficiary of soccer moving to the spring season.
I was also excited because although he was young and inexperienced, Connor already knew how to play.
He also had a passion for the game, a passion that let me know that he’d be the one who’d end up talking tennis with me, all day long. He ended up being that person.
Connor never qualified for state, although he did win a district crown and qualified for quad-district multiple times.
What he did was legitimize the boys’ tennis program at CHS.
I had tons of soccer players who played tennis, and a few basketball players who played tennis.
But Connor? He was simply a tennis player. He was also the team’s best player for a long time.
He showed up early and he stayed late. He took lessons and went to camps. He watched more experienced players, both recreational and professional. He soaked it all up.
He set the tone that is carried on by the likes of John McClarin and Joseph Wedekind. He put in the work and honed his game.
My favorite memories with Connor come from his senior season. Here are a few:
We had a ton of upperclassmen that year. Most of them had taken their lumps playing varsity tennis as underclassmen. Friday Harbor used to slap us silly.
The fall of 2009 was different. We were loaded.
Connor and Ben Hayes at singles. Yes, Ben Hayes at #2 Singles.
Jordan and Nathan Lamb at doubles. Garrett Knoll and Travis Curtin at doubles, as well. We rarely lost that season.
We won a league title that year. There is no banner hanging in the gym for that one.
Our league consisted of two teams back then. It was CHS and Friday Harbor. We smoked the Wolverines that year.
Connor led the way, as our top singles player.
We looked forward to the district tourney, where we knew that all four of our entries, two singles and two doubles, had the chance to advance.
In order to do so, we had to go 1-2 in both singles and doubles, which we did.
Things didn’t go so well at quads, but there was a silver lining for Connor.
Like the rest of our players at quads that year, Connor went two and out.
To say he was devastated would be an understatement. He had played his final HS tennis match.
Fortunately, he played that tennis match at the Nordstrom Tennis Center, home of the University of Washington team.
The manager of the facility had watched parts of his matches, and while she was impressed with his game, she was more impressed by how classy he was.
Once she found out that he was planning to attend the UW, she offered him a job.
Part of what he did while working there was stringing the racquets of the UW players.
For a tennis nut like me, I couldn’t think of a better college job!
I can attest to his stringing abilities. I swear by his work. His string jobs never break and the strings allow me to do good work on the court.
He is still our team’s main stringer, even five years after graduation.
Sometimes, he comes out and helps me because he knows how difficult it can be for one coach to manage 20 players.
I think of him when I run drills using the giant ball cart he and his family donated to the program. I also think of him when I pick up balls using the hopper he donated.
That lovely hitting wall on the side of Court 2? That came from Connor and his family, too.
His mark has been indelible.
He started the ball rolling. His energy and game allowed his teammates to grow and improve.
His classmates from that year, Jordan, Garrett, and Travis, all worked harder because of Connor.
Ben Hayes was a year behind, but he worked his butt off to move up the ladder. Add in a little Nathan Lamb to the mix. Those two were heavily influenced by Connor, too.
Who came after that? Aaron Curtin, and after that came Ben Etzell.
Aaron and Ben quickly took notice of a couple of unskilled ninth graders named John and Joseph.
They saw that those two young boys had a passion for the game, and immediately took them under their wing.
Those two unskilled ninth graders are now my top doubles team, and they have now taken to sharing the game with the younger guys.
It all goes back to Connor.
I may be the guy you refer to as “tennis guru” but in all actuality, I think it still all goes back to Connor.
Like I said before, he set the tone. He passed it on, and, ever since, the boys who’ve followed him have passed it on.
I owe him much.
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