Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Hall o’ Fame’ Category

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.

Read Full Post »

Roger that, we have a legend incoming!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , , on March 19, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   The 1952-53 CHS boys basketball squad, which made Langley cry a school-record four times in one season. (Photos courtesy Brad Sherman)

There is no Coupeville without the Sherman family.

They have carved out an enduring legacy over the decades, as farmers, community leaders and athletes.

Today, we take a moment to welcome one of their best and brightest, to our little Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

Of course, with or without my acknowledgement, Roger Sherman’s lifetime of achievement can more than stand on its own.

But, for what it’s worth, I’m very happy to reach back in time to the early ’50s and shine a spotlight on a four-sport star who will forever tower large in Wolf lore.

After this, you’ll find him camped out at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab, where he becomes the fifth Sherman inducted, joining Brad, Haley, Marilyn and Mary.

Name a sport and Roger was front and center for Coupeville until his graduation in 1953.

He played basketball, tennis and baseball all four years, while also starring on the gridiron as a sophomore and junior.

In a bit of a departure from norm, instead of me rambling on, we’re going to take advantage of the enterprising work of Brad Sherman and showcase Roger’s senior year through the use of glossy pics from the 1953 CHS annual.

So hop in the time machine and return with us to the days when a legend was born.

Roger Sherman, matinee idol and well-rounded scholar athlete.

Sherman and fellow Hall o’ Famer Tom Sahli top the stat sheet.

   Sherman (5) played for a young coach, Mert Waller (far right, back) just starting his own Hall o’ Fame career.

What a racket.

Diamond dandies.

Gridiron giants.

Caught in the spotlight.

Read Full Post »

The dynamic duo reunite!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , , on March 12, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Orson Christensen (left) and Tony Maggio, always discussing strategy, even in the stands. (John Fisken photo)

The Brain Trust.

Tony Maggio and Orson Christensen could probably finish each other’s sentences, and the two football coaches were a perfect match during their time stalking the sidelines at Coupeville High School.

With Maggio abusing his baseball cap as a fiery, but lovable head coach and gridiron lifer Christensen gliding by his side, providing a calm, cool voice of well-earned wisdom, the 2014 Wolves put together the best season in program history in more than a decade.

Utilizing the game-breaking running of Josh Bayne and the pinpoint passing of Joel Walstad, that CHS squad put up team offensive numbers never before seen in these parts.

It’s for that season, and a million other reasons, we welcome the ol’ ball coaches to the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame today.

After this you’ll find the duo of Maggio and Christensen hanging out at the top of the blog under the Legends tab.

We’ll start with the whippersnapper, Maggio, who accomplished a ton in a three-year run as Wolf gridiron head coach.

After working his way up after stints as an assistant with Oak Harbor and his predecessor at CHS, Jay Silver, the man in the #00 jersey fired up a Wolf program in the doldrums.

Two wins over arch-rival South Whidbey put the spring back in Coupeville’s step, and Maggio got the roster numbers up while also increasing his team’s wins.

He brought out the best in players from stars like Jake Tumblin and Nick Streubel on down to the last guys on the end of the bench.

And he did it by genuinely caring about his guys in ways both visible to the public and private.

Since he didn’t teach at CHS, Maggio kept a regular presence at the school by attending nearly every home sporting event the Wolves played.

He showed considerable support for his guys when they played other sports, but he was also front and center, holding court in the stands, for a ton of sports that involved kids he never coached.

The man bled red and black (and still does, frequently popping in even during his “retirement” days) and lordy, he stormed a sideline like few others.

There was one game where the refs were particularly cruel to the Wolves, and the press box had great fun counting how many times the ball cap came off and hit the turf.

But then, in typical Maggio fashion, after slapping his cap against his chest 237 times on one play, shortly afterwards he was standing next to a ref, cracking wise and making the guy smile.

Wins and losses matter, but to really build a high school program you have to invest in the students and see them as more than just athletes, something Tony always did.

We may not have gotten decades out of him, but his impact will be felt for a long time in Coupeville.

The same can be said of Christensen, a ’57 Oak Harbor grad (he was a four-sport letter-man for the ‘Cats) who played both ways on the line for Pacific Lutheran University before starting a 50+ year coaching career.

CHS was the 16th stop on his journey, one on which he’s won eight titles and been named a Coach of the Year five times.

Splitting his time between college and high school coaching jobs, Christensen, an innovator and a people person in equal measures, has been successful everywhere he’s twirled a whistle.

Virtually every coaching position he accepted has had similar trappings — a program which hadn’t been successful for several years prior to his arrival, which then became a winning one while he was employed.

Christensen is a treasure trove of football knowledge and has never been shy about sharing what he’s learned with fellow coaches, players or idiots who write blogs.

He knows the game inside out and it has always been a pleasure to talk with him, or linger in the background and listen to him imparting wisdom.

Like Maggio, Christensen has always seen his athletes as people first, and the respect accorded to him by players, coaches and fans is remarkable, and justified.

Even take away the epic football achievements, and he’s just a truly nice guy, one of the best I’ve met in my sports writing career.

So, today, with a great deal of respect for both men, based on how they conduct themselves on and off the gridiron, I welcome the dynamic duo to my lil’ Hall o’ Fame.

You earned it, gentlemen. You earned it.

Read Full Post »

A heart as big as the world!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , on March 5, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Joltin' Jae LeVine. (John Fisken photos)

Joltin’ Jae LeVine. (John Fisken photos)

Flash gets group-hugged during a volleyball match.

“Flash” gets group-hugged during a volleyball match.

Her scholarly side rises to the top during a road trip.

Her scholarly side rises to the top during a road trip.

"Coach, we'll talk more later, but it's time for me to go be awesome now."

“Coach, we’ll talk more later, but it’s time for me to go be awesome now.”

We’ve gotta let her in. Otherwise she’ll just knock the door down.

There is no obstacle too big for the Mighty Mite to crush, no challenge too high for JaeBird to fly over, no feat too daunting for Flash to zoom right past.

A young woman of many nicknames, and far more accomplishments, Jae LeVine is joy and giddiness, strength and passion, all wrapped around the biggest lil’ heart to ever stride across the prairie.

She is also, as of today, a certified member of the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

As if there ever was a doubt.

Miss LeVine will now occupy a spot at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab, joining big sis Micky and dad Sean.

Somewhere off to the side multi-talented lil’ sis Izzy plots how long it will be before she too joins the pantheon.

“Soon, soon…”

But today is all about the irrepressible one, the bright, shining supernova who crashes through life, drum sticks in one hand, softball bat in the other, calculator stuck in her back pocket.

Jae “Flash” LeVine is a stellar scholar, a wild woman on the skins and an athlete who has never given less than her all.

Frankly, it’s remarkable that she is an athlete at all.

LeVine has dealt with a Ventricular Septal Defect (a large hole in the inner heart wall that required open heart surgery as a baby) and Aortic Stenosis since birth.

After a brief run as a basketball player, doctors made her quit her favorite sport, but she endured as a volleyball spiker and softball slugger.

Where there is a will, there is a way, and Jae has more will than the rest of us combined.

Instead of moping around, she has embraced each challenge, head held high, impish smile lighting up the galaxy around her.

Along the way, she’s dabbled in drama, been a student leader, kept things hoppin’ at Prairie Center and made the lives of everyone around her immeasurably better.

But this is an athletic hall, and when Jae retires her CHS uniforms, she will leave behind multiple memories which clinch her induction.

I will remember her final moments as a hoops star, before she had to leave the court.

Nailing a three-ball from somewhere out in the parking lot, LeVine put an appropriate cap on her middle school days by promptly dancing back up the court, arms above her head, “Rocky”-style.

As her fan section (which covered the entire bleachers) went bonkers, she alternated pumping her fists by pointing at one fan, then another, before exiting the game in a wave of her own giggles.

I will also remember the night she was playing libero part-time in a volleyball match, which meant she had to keep swapping out her uniform top.

LeVine would zig off the court, disappear for a moment, then reappear, each time acting if she was Superman flying onto the scene.

The final time, instead of merely dropping her discarded uniform top, she whipped it over her head, dropping it into dad Sean’s hands on a dime.

Then exited in a wave of her own giggles.

The softball diamond has been Jae’s refuge, the one sport where doctors have let her play out her dreams for her entire high school career, and she has blossomed out there.

A scrappy defender who sells out for every ball smacked her way at second base, she has become quite adept with her glove, while also developing a nice aggressive streak at the plate.

Through rain and sleet and snow (it’s spring sports … there is no sun), “Flash” is a ball o’ fire, with a little fist-pumping, a whole lot of teammate hugging and much roof-raising when she’s up to shenanigans in the dugout.

Every day, in every way, Jae LeVine proves, in school, in sports, in life, that you, and you alone, dictate the size of your heart and how much you will get out of this life.

She is my hero, and I am very happy to induct her into my Hall o’ Fame.

Read Full Post »

She’s a killer, a three-ball thriller!!

Posted in Basketball, Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , on February 26, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Kailey Kellner busts through the defense, on her way to rattling home another bucket. (John Fisken photos)

   Kailey Kellner busts through the defense, on her way to rattling home another bucket. (John Fisken photos)

It must be the intitials. Kellner, hanging out with fellow Hall o' Famer Kacie Kiel.

It must be the initials. Kellner, hanging out with fellow Hall o’ Famer Kacie Kiel.

Over the past three-plus years, I have had a front row seat to a transformation.

When Kailey Kellner first walked into the Coupeville High School gym midway through her freshman year, none of us knew much about her.

She was a mystery, a total unknown, a shy young woman who had been plucked from England and transported to a rock in the middle of the water in the Pacific Northwest by a family move.

Today, as we sit just a couple months away from her graduation, we all know Kailey much better, and we know this as simple truth — she is now, and has always been, a Hall of Famer.

From a tentative freshman to a sweet-shooting senior, from a girl who didn’t know a play to a rampaging force of nature ripping rebounds out of rival’s hands, she has grown before our eyes.

And so it is, with deep appreciation for how she conducts herself, on and off the court, that we, her fans, welcome her into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

After this, you’ll find her up at the top of the blog, abiding under the Legends tab that so aptly describes her.

Kailey could rain with the best of them, and her long, arcing three-balls from the corners, which would ripple the nets with a gentle splash as they hit pay dirt, were often a thing of beauty.

But she was a player who worked on her game throughout her career, adding new wrinkles to it, and could never be defined for just one small facet.

Kellner made her varsity debut as a sophomore, and was a key player as a junior and senior, a member of three teams which won Olympic League titles.

She exits having never lost a conference game as a varsity player, and Kailey is a big part of why those teams were so successful.

Scoring punch can never be underestimated, but over time, her quiet leadership skills and a willingness to sacrifice for her teammates was just as important.

When I look back at her career, the game which I feel best defines her was a district playoff game against Seattle Christian during her junior season.

The Wolves, playing on the road, had been rocked the game before by Charles Wright Academy.

Not so much on the scoreboard, where a late CHS rally almost stole a win, but down in the pits.

The much-rougher Tarriers socked the Wolves in the face (often literally) and if the Coupeville players were expecting the big city refs to save them, it was never going to happen.

Returning to the court in a game where the stakes were plain — win and you go to state, lose and you go home — CHS stepped onto the court a different team.

This time, they were the aggressors. The beasts on the boards. The ballers who weren’t takin’ no crud off of no one.

Makana Stone was transcendent, flying above the fray for 24 points and 20 rebounds. Mia Littlejohn was sparking the offense and Lauren Grove was lights-out on defense.

Every Wolf who touched the hardwood that night, all eight of them, fired as one and made the big city girls take several steps back.

It was the pinnacle of modern Coupeville basketball, a night which will stay with all of those who played, coached or lost their voice screaming in support.

And Kellner?

The three-ball-lovin’ sharpshooter who normally played most of the game on the outside, crashed into the paint with a vengeance that I have rarely seen in 25 years of high school sports coverage.

Her mere stats — 12 points, 10 boards and five assists as Coupeville roared to a 49-33 win and its first trip to state in a decade — only tell part of the story.

It was the look in Kellner’s eyes that night. The stride in her step. The pride in her work.

The soft-spoken young girl who tentatively stepped into an American gym two years before was replaced by a strong, confident young woman, and it was beautiful to behold.

On that night, for 32 minutes, no one wanted it more than Kailey did.

I hope, as she goes forward, she always remembers that night.

What it took to get there. What she accomplished. And how it felt afterwards.

Kailey is going to achieve big things in her life, and whether they come on the court or off, her large fan club is going to be thrilled for her.

But, before she leaves us and heads out to conquer new worlds, let’s take a moment to say a simple, heartfelt thank you.

Thank you, Kailey, for showing up in Cow Town, for playing with honor and fire, and for being a truly remarkable young woman.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »