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Archive for the ‘Hall o’ Fame’ Category

Take a moment for Marie!!

Posted in Basketball, Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , on July 28, 2017| 3 Comments »

   Long before she had four kids, all of whom became CHS athletic stars, Marie (Grasser) Bagby was a rebounding machine. (Megan Hansen photo)

Marie Bagby is one of the most genuinely nice people you will ever meet.

It’s a trait she shared with her sister, Marlene Grasser, and one which filtered down into all four of her children.

But we’re here to talk about the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, and we’re here to discuss not Marie’s sweet nature, but her fire and drive on the basketball court.

That’s what carried her to great success as the first true modern-day girls basketball superstar at CHS, and it’s why she is being inducted (finally) into our little digital mecca.

After this, if you pop up to the top of the blog and look under the Legends tab, you’ll find her, enshrined under her maiden name, Marie Grasser, which means she and Marlene will always be paired.

For students at CHS today, the ones who see Marie on a daily basis as she works at the school, they know she’s a warm and welcoming presence and that she’s married to the ol’ ball coach himself, Ron Bagby.

They may even know her four children, April, Ashley, Mike and Jason, were all multi-sport stars who blazed across the campus, winning Athlete of the Year honors, setting records and carrying teams to state.

But what they probably don’t know is Marie was just as big a star in her day as any of her relatives.

In the days after Title IX, Coupeville High School finally powered up a girls basketball program, but it took until the FOURTH season before the squad got to practice in its own gym.

Seriously.

Prior to the 1977-1978 season (Marie’s sophomore year), the Wolf girls trekked out to Camp Casey, put their work in, then trekked back to campus to take showers.

As the Coupeville girls fought for respect, equality and some newspaper coverage (it wasn’t until the ’80s that articles started to expand past a size where you no longer needed a microscope to see them…), Marie was the program’s rock.

Players like Suzette Glover, Pam Jampsa and Kristan Hurlburt were among the early leaders in scoring, but #15 was a true two-way terror, scoring and hauling down an astonishing number of rebounds.

As I plow through the newspaper archives, one thing surfaces again and again in the truncated stories of the day — if there was a loose ball or a carom, Marie felt it belonged to her.

She pulled down 20 or more rebounds in a single game numerous times across her four-year career, with one game her junior season a particular standout.

Facing off with rough and tumble Concrete, Marie went off for 26 points and 28 rebounds, almost holding her own on the boards with the Lions, who mustered 31 rebounds as a team.

There have been some top-grade rebounding machines in Wolf uniforms over the years, from Sarah Mouw to Lexie Black to Makana Stone, but that 28 stands tall.

It’s the largest number for one game I’ve seen in my journey through the archives.

The early years of girls basketball at CHS were a tough road.

It took a decade before the Wolves posted a winning record and went to the playoffs, and longer before they made their first inroads at the state tourney.

But when you look back at the start of the program, it’s obvious — Marie Grasser was the spark that started things.

So today, for her superior skills on the court, for the talented children she gave her alma mater, for the classy way she approaches everything she does, we are very happy to welcome her into our little digital shrine.

It’s well deserved.

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A Wynn-er all the way!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , , , on July 8, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Gabe Wynn charges off the court and into the Hall o’ Fame. (John Fisken photos)

“I … crushed it.”

Some players make you smile.

Gabe Wynn is one of those.

For the past five years, from the first time I saw him playing 8th grade basketball, on through his graduation this spring, he was one of the most reliably entertaining guys in town.

Didn’t matter the sport — football, tennis, basketball or baseball — Wynn, the son of former OHHS hoops legend Robyn (Seth) Myers, enjoyed every moment he was playing.

It’s that spirit, along with his skills and stats, which lifts him up and today, deposits him at the doorway of the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

So let’s swing those doors wide and welcome him to these hallowed digital halls.

After this, while his physical body will be leaving Whidbey for college at some point, his memory will live on, enshrined at the top of the blog under the Legends tab.

Gabe exits holding the school record for most three-point shots made in a basketball game, swishing seven in a ferocious fight with league champ Port Townsend.

He played varsity basketball all four years, making his debut as a raw frosh and exiting as a sage senior, and, along the way, he sparkled at a whole lot of other sports as well.

Wynn was a big hitter on the football field, a fireball on the tennis court and a scrapper on the diamond, willing to sacrifice his body for the good of the team game in and game out.

But it’s basketball where his legacy will be the most enduring.

Over the course of his high school career, Gabe showed a mix of big-time play and quiet, committed hustle.

He’s part of a select group of Wolf hoops stars who scored points at the varsity level in all four of their seasons, and raised his scoring total each season.

Helping lead a painfully young, inexperienced team through his senior campaign, Wynn became a go-to scorer, raining down treys from behind the arc, while retaining an ability to fight for buckets in the paint.

Along with the points, the rebounds and the steals, Gabe set himself apart with his grit and hustle.

And also, and this is a huge thing, with his willingness to get up every time he was sent to the floor, or sent a rival to the floor, and deliver a quick word, or just a butt-slap and a nod, to let the other player know it’s not personal, it’s the game.

Playing against Stevenson, a school which traveled 525 miles, round trip, to fill out its schedule with a non-conference game, Wynn made sure the visitors would never forget him.

Sparking a 64-60 Wolf victory, he exploded his own bench, sending chairs and teammates flying during a wild scramble for a loose ball.

Not content to stop there, he then did a full somersault over a Stevenson player’s shoulder while latched onto a rebound that both players badly wanted.

When Wynn hit the floor, the resulting sound was a mix of a cannon shot and a watermelon hitting the ground after being dropped from a skyscraper.

But he got the jump-ball call he wanted, and staggered back to his feet, checking on the condition of the rival player first before gently massaging his own head.

It was vintage Gabe in every way — not giving up, no matter the cost, but always mindful of those around him.

Off the court, on the court, he was the same quality dude every step of the way.

Stats are important, and Wynn piled up some nice stats, but character matters more, and his was A+ all the way.

Which is why inducting him into the Hall o’ Fame is such an easy call.

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They all scream-i for Mimi!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , on July 1, 2017| 1 Comment »

   Mimi Johnson, the newest member of the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame. (John Fisken photo)

Mimi Johnson did it all.

Down the road, when it sinks in that she and her family (husband Scott and children Elliott and Stella) have really left Whidbey behind for the wilds of Danville, Kentucky, her absence will be enormous.

Mimi wore many hats during her years in Cow Town, as a player, coach, volunteer and business owner, and today we induct her into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame for her full body of work.

After this, you may not find her down at the CHS softball field as often, but you will always find her up at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab.

We’re enshrining her as a Contributor, as a way to encompass everything she accomplished.

Back in her high school days, when she was still writing Iverson on her papers, Mimi was a standout softball player for CHS who later went on to play college ball.

After marriage and kids, she joined with brother Matt to do the seemingly impossible and resurrected Ebey Bowl after a decade-long absence.

The bowling alley of their youth had spent years neglected, basically a dumping ground for old car parts and boats, when the duo sparked a Phoenix-like rebirth.

When not working together to run the family insurance business, the brother/sister combo recreated a ’50s-style alley, and the place was popular with a new generation during its second run.

Around all that, Mimi, like her husband, devoted countless hours to Central Whidbey Little League.

Working as a coach, she took several softball teams, at different age levels, to the state tourney, capping her run by leading the Juniors squad to the big dance this year on the very day she was moving off-Island.

Through it all, Mimi rarely, if ever, lost her smile.

She was adept at bringing people together and worked to include players and families from North and South onto her Central Whidbey teams, when the other parts of the Island couldn’t field their own squads.

Mimi got along with everyone, even umpires, and her impact on a generation of young local softball sluggers, who have been ripping through rivals (but doing it with class) at every level, is immeasurable.

And now she’s gone, Kentucky’s gain and our loss.

Except, she’s not really gone.

Mimi’s fun, unassuming style will linger on through seasons to come, as her players go on to take the field for other coaches.

As future softball successes play out, she will be a part of them, if from afar.

And if Kentucky doesn’t work out?

Whidbey is always here waiting, and it wouldn’t be hard to find a coaching job upon her return.

Just start off with “So, yeah, I’m in the Hall of Fame…” and go from there.

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Four legends, four magic moments!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, Softball, Track, tagged , , , , , , on May 28, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Katrina McGranahan (top) is joined by (l to r) Maya Toomey-Stout, Mitchell Carroll and Lindsey Roberts. (Maria Reyes and John Fisken photos)

Life is made up of moments.

Today, as we open the doors to the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, we’re going to immortalize four such pieces of time, and the athletes who crafted them.

So, let’s pay tribute to Lindsey Roberts, Mitchell Carroll, Maya Toomey-Stout and Katrina McGranahan for crafting events which, after this, will sit at the top of the blog under the Legends tab.

Pop up there, scroll down past Athletes, Coaches and Contributors, stop on Moments, and viola, there they’ll be, forever alive on the internet.

And in the memories of those who created them.

Our first two moments came at this year’s West Central District 3 track and field championships, though one of the two has a footnote (which we’ll get to in a second.)

But we start at districts, where Roberts, a CHS sophomore, and Carroll, a senior, chose the same meet to smash school records which were set before either of them were born.

Roberts sailed through the 100 hurdles in 15.97 seconds, knocking Jess Roundy (16.06) off the track big board, where her name had resided since 1999.

When Lindsey’s name goes up to replace Jess, it will give the speedy supernova her third appearance on the board, as she’s already a member of 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relay units which own school records.

With half her career ahead of her, Roberts is tied with Chad Gale (long jump, 110 and 300 hurdles) for most school records, two shy of Makana Stone (200, 400, 4 x 1, 4 x 2, 4 x 4) for total track board dominance.

Carroll exits having won a 5th place medal in the triple jump Friday at the 1A state track and field championships, while also ensuring his name will live on (at least for a bit) at the entrance to Coupeville’s gym.

In our second Hall o’ Fame-worthy moment, he sailed 43 feet, three inches at districts, knocking Virgil Roehl (42-11.50 in 1994) off the record board.

The change erases the last touch of the ’90s from the male side of the Wolf record book, as all the records now are either holdovers from the ’80s or were set between 2000-2017.

Not content to stop, though (this is that footnote), Carroll erupted for a jump of 43-11.75 at state, adding eight-plus inches to his record and ensuring it has just that much more chance to live as long as Roehl’s mark did.

Our third magic moment isn’t really one moment, but we can fudge things a bit since it’s very much a milestone.

Toomey-Stout, AKA “The Gazelle,” is on her way to putting her name up on the record board, having come dangerously close to busting school records in the 100 and 4 x 2 in her first go-round.

What she did accomplish though is nothing short of amazing, as she became the first Wolf girl in the 117-year history of the high school to qualify for and compete in four separate events at one state meet.

Bouncing from event to event in the blazing Cheney sun, Toomey-Stout ran in the 100, 200, 4 x 1 and 4 x 2, and was still bouncing sky-high at the end of her first (but I doubt last) trip to state.

For our final Hall-worthy moment, we step away from track and head to the softball diamond.

McGranahan has been pouring in strikes for the Wolf sluggers since she first stepped inside the CHS pitcher’s circle three seasons ago.

Her junior campaign was her finest though, as she used her arm and booming bat to lead Coupeville to a 19-5 record, the second-best mark in program history.

Along the way, she faced six teams which made it to state — South Whidbey, Lynden Christian, Sequim, Friday Harbor, Chimacum and Bellevue Christian — blitzing four and battling to the final out with the final pair.

We could talk about the frequent out-of-the-park home runs, the electrifying strikeouts, the steals (she has wheels to go with her strength, leading the team in pilfered bags) and her quiet leadership skills.

But today we honor McGranahan for a moment which stands as a testament to her inner strength.

Having made a 90+ mile trip with her teammates to Tacoma for the district playoffs, she threw every pitch for the Wolves across four games in little more than a day.

Coupeville split those four contests, two of which went to extra innings, falling a single out short of state in a 10-inning battle royal with BC in the tourney finale.

The Vikings went on to win twice at state, the best showing of any Wolf foe to make the big dance.

By the time she was done, her throbbing arm encased in a cool-down mechanism, McGranahan had hurled pitch after pitch, racking up 33 innings in just under 26 hours.

None of the other five teams at districts played more than three games, and Killer Kat’s pitching duties included a tourney-opening nine-inning win over Vashon, followed by a second game against a fresh BC squad literally five minutes later.

The Wolves had time only to walk from one field to the other, with no food or water break, as the start time for the second game had already passed thanks to game one going to extra innings.

Every one of Coupeville’s players put in supreme effort during districts, overcoming illness, injury, fatigue and heat in their quest to get to Richland.

But McGranahan deserves a special tip of the cap, since, as pitcher, she was literally the focal point of every single moment on defense.

While still finding time to clear the fences yet again with a home run in a win over Seattle Christian.

Time and again, Katrina reached down and found something maybe even she didn’t know was there, and her performance stands with the best the softball program, and her school, has seen.

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Two towns, two swings, one superstar!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, Softball, tagged , , , , , , on May 14, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Mikayla Elfrank loves the long-ball. (Jordan Ford photo)

It is one of the more amazing sports achievements I have witnessed in person.

One batter, two consecutive swings, in two consecutive at-bats, against the same pitcher, but in two different towns, six days apart, ending with the biggest bang high school softball has to offer.

It’s why we’re here today to welcome Mikayla Elfrank (and her booming bat) to the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

Now, Elfrank, a three-sport star who has been an immediate hit on the volleyball and basketball courts as well as the softball diamond since transferring from South Whidbey to Coupeville during her sophomore year, will have to wait a bit for the ultimate induction.

She’s on a fast track to join boyfriend Jordan Ford in one day being placed in the Hall as an athlete, but that’s a career-capping award.

As a junior at CHS, Elfrank has much more to show us before that (most likely) inevitable induction.

Today, though, she goes in for creating a moment, one which will now be found nestled under the Legends tab at the top of the blog.

In many ways, Elfrank’s run as a Wolf parallels Madeline Strasburg.

The former Wolf star, who also was a big hitter and big-game standout in the same three sports Elfrank plays, first got in the Hall for creating a moment out of time, before getting the induction call that honored her entire career.

With Maddie Big Time, it was an uncanny performance on the hardwood.

Playing in back-to-back games, but 17 days apart, thanks to winter break, Strasburg pulled off the same play, at the same moment in time, in stunning fashion.

She picked the pocket of a rival ball-handler, spun and dropped a half-court shot off the glass as the third quarter buzzer sounded, then did the EXACT SAME THING the next game.

Same spot on the floor, same moment on the clock, same result, same big grin as she barreled off the court, knocking down teammates as they mobbed her.

When you click on the Legends tab and scan the Hall o’ Fame, Strasburg’s mind-bending display of artistry is the first Moment ever inducted.

Now, we jump forward a couple of years and pay witness to the shock and awe capabilities of Elfrank.

We open on the CHS softball field May 4, 2017.

Sequim, a big 2A school, has come to Cow Town for a non-league clash on an extremely sunny day and Coupeville has the bags juiced with one out in the bottom of the first.

Hefting her bat like the weapon it is, Elfrank rocks back and forth a bit, then goes absolutely calm as Sequim hurler Shelby Jones unleashes a pitch.

One violent, and well-placed swing later, the ball screams over the fence in straight-away center field, still rising as it exits for a bases-clearing grand slam.

Almost.

A brief base-running snafu — Sarah Wright, coming off of first, slows down for a moment to make sure the ball is going yard while Elfrank is flying like a woman who doesn’t realize she just murdered the ball — catches the eye of the field ump.

In a flash, the grand-slam becomes (technically) a very long three-run single, as Elfrank is called out for passing her teammate on the base-paths.

But, facts are for the Whidbey News-Times. I print the legend.

Anyway, it won’t matter, as Coupeville will tack on another run the next inning and eventually win 4-3.

But then things hit a real road bump.

Lightning and thunder, though far, far off on the horizon, force the game to be postponed in the second inning, before Elfrank can return to the plate.

Jump forward six days, and the Wolves are off to Sequim for the second game in a scheduled home-and-away match-up.

The two coaches agree to finish the lightning game after the regularly scheduled contest, and Coupeville takes both games to finish 17-3 headed into the playoffs.

But first, Elfrank heads to the plate in the top of the first, with two runners on base (including Wright, who is up on her toes and ready to sprint) and Jones back in the pitcher’s circle.

It’s been six days since the duo faced each other, but, on the very first pitch, same result.

Elfrank cranks a moon shot to center, not only clearing the fence, but bouncing the ball off of a ride at the carnival being set up behind the Sequim softball field.

The blow earns her a Dairy Queen gift certificate from the rival coach, who had joked in pregame warmups about any hitters doing just that.

It also earns her induction into the Hall o’ Fame.

Two consecutive pitches, two consecutive swings, against the same pitcher, but six days apart in two towns, both ending up with home runs to straight away center.

Never seen it happen before. Will never see it happen again.

Of course as I say that, I imagine Elfrank saying, “Never?!?!? Hold my Blizzard!!” and immediately proving me wrong.

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