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Archive for the ‘Hall o’ Fame’ Category

Top of the mountain!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , , , on July 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

2002

The 2002 Coupeville HS softball squad, which won four of five at state. For a list of who’s who, head to the bottom of this article. (Photo courtesy Jim Wheat)

They were trailblazers who shocked the world.

Today, as we celebrate our 54th induction ceremony for the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, we honor a team which reached peaks never seen before, or since, at Coupeville High School.

So, let’s open these hallowed digital walls and welcome, finally (I needed a roster and a pic and it took some digging), the 2002 CHS softball squad.

After this, you’ll find them enshrined together, as a team, at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab.

And frankly, that’s what they are — legends.

Coupeville High School has 17 individual state titles thanks to cross country and track, but has yet to reach the top of the mountain in a team sport.

No team came closer than the 2002 softball sluggers.

They are one of three Wolf teams to have brought home a 3rd place state trophy, but their feat tops, at least a bit, what those other two teams accomplished.

The 2005 Wolf girls’ tennis team rode one hot doubles team to their trophy in a sport with extremely quirky scoring, while the 1987 CHS baseball team played through an easier format than the softball sluggers.

When Coupeville took the field at state in 2002, having reached the big dance in the school’s very first year of playing fast-pitch softball, the Wolves had to win four straight to win a title.

And they almost did, falling only to eventual champ Adna in their third game.

Rebounding with back-to-back wins to close the tourney, CHS exited with four wins in five games, the most victories achieved in a single state tourney by any Wolf team, in any sport.

Coupeville outscored their foes 28-13, beating Cle Elum-Rosalyn (8-0), Royal (3-2), Okanogan (6-1) and Napavine (11-6) behind the leadership of Sarah Mouw and Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby.

The lone loss, a 4-0 defeat to Adna, a school which has won nine state titles on the softball diamond, was even closer than the score might indicate.

While they may not have gotten the big trophy, those Wolves loom large in CHS history, even now as most of those players break through into their early 30s.

“Without a doubt the best group of coachable athletes I’ve ever worked with,” said Jim Wheat, an assistant coach on that squad who now trains umpires when he’s not calling games himself.

They could hit, for power and precision. They were slick-fielding. They ran the base-paths with authority. They were beasts in the pitcher’s circle.

Mouw was the league co-MVP, going 22-2 as a pitcher on a team which finished 24-3.

She also led the Wolves in hitting, doubles, triples, home runs and RBI.

Backing her up were fellow First-Team All-League players Erica Lamb and Ellsworth-Bagby (a four-time pick) and Second-Team selections Lindsey Tucker and Tracy Taylor.

Along with their teammates they are, arguably, the most successful sports team in the 116-year history of the school, and 99% of that argument is set in stone.

This much we know for 100% — today, 14 years after they made their run, we bring them back together again (at least on the internet.)

Instead of listing them alphabetically, we’re going to put them in the order they appear in the team photo above.

The guy with the #1 is a random WIAA official, but the ones who go in the Hall together, as a team:

2 — Kim Meche
3 — Kristin Gwartney
4 — Erica Lamb
5 — Randy Dickson (head coach)
6 — Sarah Mouw
7 — Tracy Taylor
8 — Jim Wheat
9 — Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby
10 — Laura Crandall
11 — Heather Davis
12 — Angel Black
13 — Andrea Larson
14 — Tara Guillory
15 — Ashley Ginnetti
16 — Samantha Roehl
17 — Caitlin Harada
18 — Carly Guillory
19 — Brooke Croghan
20 — Christine Larson
21 — Lindsey Tucker

Plus, they’re not in the photo, but Bruce Berg and Dale Folkestad.

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The Dude abides (always)!!

Posted in Football, Hall o' Fame, Track, tagged , , , , , , on June 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Lathom Kelley, a bad-ass with the biggest heart in the game. (John Fisken photo)

Lathom Kelley, a bad-ass with the biggest heart in the game. (John Fisken photo)

How do you measure greatness?

Do you measure it only in terms of state meet medals won, of MVP awards claimed, of popularity polls that can be easily manipulated?

Or, do you measure it in terms of heart, of commitment, of a refusal to bend the knee even when that might make your life easier?

Do you measure it in terms of orneriness on the field and compassion off the field?

Of a bad-ass who actually, not that far down, and not that well hidden, has a surprising gentleness of the soul layered underneath the good ol’ boy bluster?

I look at the four years of writing this blog, and what I see when I look across the field at Lathom Kelley is a man.

He certainly was young at the start, and to us old school types, is still a young man now at 18. But there was never a moment when he was a boy.

Lathom has been a man from day one of his freshman year to his high school graduation.

From the first moment I watched him play football, flying around the field like a maniac, hauling down runners from behind, laugh cackling across the field, he was a wonder.

Bouncing off the walls in the CHS gym, flying in one door, streaking across the court, then running up the wall at the other end and landing the back-flip (most times), the raw athletic talent on display was always eye-popping.

You put him in an event, any event, during his years in track and field, and he would throw down times and distances that were frequently astonishing.

Most times, without having ever practiced the event before.

In a just world, Lathom would have sailed through all four years of his high school life without an injury.

But, this isn’t always a just world.

Rarely have I seen such a talented athlete bedeviled so often by injuries.

If there was a moment when he strode by not wearing a cast of some kind, it was a rare moment.

Injuries denied him honors he deserved, chances to stand on podiums and hear his name called.

But never think for a moment he took the easy way out.

He played through pain that would have stopped most people cold.

One of the enduring images I have is watching him grind forward for yardage on the gridiron, casted-up arm swinging madly, as three rival players tried (and failed) to bring him down.

When you look at Lathom’s prep career, there are great moments, both on the football field and track oval.

There is also what could have been.

But honestly, that’s more me and far less him — he never struck me as a guy who was going to spend much time sitting around wallowing in his “glory days.”

So, let’s not waste too much time worrying about alternate worlds.

Let’s praise Lathom for what he was able to accomplish, when his body agreed.

For how he entertained us, for how he brightened the world of Wolf Nation, for how he strode past, sardonic grin in place, always off to create good-natured havoc and mischief.

As a fresh-faced youngster or a beard-rockin’ “old guy” he was our McConaughey, our bright shining ball o’ fire living life to his own funky beat.

And let’s praise the man, the stand-up guy who came barreling out of the stands and put a bear-hug on a classmate when he noticed the player’s parents weren’t able to be in the gym for basketball’s Senior Night.

Declaring “this is my boy!” as he posed for pictures with his newly-adopted son, it was class, pure and simple.

So, how do you measure greatness?

You measure it in heart and soul, and few have shown the heart and soul of Lathom Kelley.

Today I welcome him into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, as a one-man wrecking crew, the 53rd class inducted into these hallowed digital walls.

After this, you’ll find him alongside other Wolf greats at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab.

Will he care about this?

Part of me hopes yes, that, deep down, it’ll mean something to him, a token of our respect for him and the man he has become.

Part of me hopes he just cocks an eyebrow and says “Yeah, whatever dude,” smiles, and moves on.

Either way, the dude will abide. And that’s how it should be.

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It’s a family thing!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , , , , on June 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Fathers and sons (who became fathers). Top (l to r): Tony, Larrie and David Ford.

   Fathers and sons (who became fathers). Top (l to r): Tony, Larrie, David Ford. Bottom, Sandy Roberts, Jay Roberts and family, Jon Roberts and daughter Lindsey.

So, today is Father’s Day.

It’s also the 52nd consecutive Sunday I’ve inducted a class into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, which is kind of amazing in itself. So yay, me.

How to tie together these two milestones, you ask?

With a six-pack of honorees, as we present a unique class — two longtime, influential local coaches and the athletic sons they guided into manhood, where the sons have returned the favor to the next generation.

Today, two families, fathers and sons, as these hallowed digital walls welcome Sandy, Jon and Jay Roberts and Larrie, David and Tony Ford.

After this, you’ll find them at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab.

The four sons are part of a golden age for Wolf male athletes, guys who played three sports a year in the ’80s while also putting in time in the classroom and in the community.

They were among the leaders (along with classmates like Mitch and Marc Aparicio) during the Reagan years, a time when CHS routinely went to state in almost every core sport on a yearly basis.

Jon Roberts is the only one of the four to bag a Male Athlete of the Year Award, but the competition was cutthroat those years.

Or he’s just the best athlete of the bunch…

Let the family fightin’ begin!!

While Jon has his best in class award, it’s Jay’s name that sits up on the big board in the entrance way to the CHS gym.

Part of a quartet that set a school record in the 4 x 100 in ’86, he, along with Bill Carstensen, Tony Killgo and Rick Alexander, own the longest-standing track record in CHS history.

Both Roberts boys are matched by the Fords, who could grow better mustaches back in the day (though maybe not as lush as the Aparicios) and were rock-solid athletes in every sport.

Adding to their legends, three of the four (Jon, Jay and David) have gifted their alma mater with athletically-gifted children, as well.

David’s youngest, Jordan, shattered the school record in the pole vault this spring and was a three-sport letterman who played like his dad and uncle, with grit and determination.

Jay’s progeny, former softball slugger Madeline and current volleyball spiker/horse ridin’ sensation Ally, have carved a super-successful path, while Jon’s oldest, Lindsey, is the next great Wolf superstar.

As a freshman, she lettered in soccer, basketball and track, going to state in the latter two sports.

And, oh yeah, became the first female athlete in school history to win three medals at one state track meet, though the question remains — is Lindsey’s speed from dad, who loathed cross country during his one season as a runner, or from mom Sherry, who beat her husband into the Hall?

A lot of the success enjoyed by the Roberts and Ford boys, and their children, started with the guys they called dad.

Sandy Roberts and Larrie Ford might not be in the state record books like former Wolf football coach Sid Otton, but they are the very personification of what small town sports coaches should be.

They were there, always, wherever someone was needed, to guide, to inspire, to teach, to pat you on the back or kick you in the butt, depending on what the situation called for at the moment.

Larrie Ford’s greatest work might have come on the track oval, where he put in many years working with Wolf athletes, many of whom speak of him with deep respect, admiration and love.

A quality guy through and through, who always had time to talk to the press (he’s a personable guy with many a story to tell), he laid the groundwork for successful seasons, and, more importantly, successful lives.

He may have retired from working for CHS a few years back, but his impact will continue to be felt for decades.

And you can easily say the same for Sandy Roberts, who coached a ton of basketball (both at the junior high and high school levels) and who, to this day, continues to sprinkle wisdom onto current little league sluggers like grandson Landon.

Like papa Ford, papa Roberts is one of the nicest guys you could hope to meet, a huge smile and a firm handshake always waiting for everyone in his path.

And I’m not just saying that because he gave me a cushion to ease the agony of sitting through multiple games every week on the horrifyingly rock-hard bleachers in the CHS gym.

Though that certainly didn’t hurt his cause.

As we celebrate another Father’s Day, it just feels right to do it by honoring these six, sons and fathers all rolled into one.

May they, and their proud family legacies, continue to soar high as honored members of Wolf Nation.

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They get all the exclamation points!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , , , on June 12, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Makana Stone (top) is joined by fellow inductees (l to r) Bessie Walstad, Jon Chittim, Ben Hayes and Yashmeen (Knox) Wilson.

   Makana Stone (top) is joined by fellow inductees (l to r) Bessie Walstad, Jon Chittim, Ben Hayes and Yashmeen (Knox) Wilson.

How many exclamation points are too many?

Today marks the 51st class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, and as we head down the back stretch towards the one-year mark (haven’t missed a week yet!), you might think I would run out of superlatives to bestow.

You’d be wrong!! Mostly.

Every class has its high points, though, so let’s just dial it down a wee bit and issue this claim — today’s class is as solid across the board as any.

Help me welcome Ben Hayes, Bessie Walstad, Yashmeen (Knox) Wilson, the weekend Jon Chittim won four state track medals and our version of Ken Griffey, Jr. — Makana Stone, who, if this Hall was voted on, would, could and should go in with 100% approval.

After this, you’ll find them at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab.

First up is Chittim, who is already in the Hall as an individual and as part of a state title-winning relay team.

Today he makes a third trip into these hallowed digital walls, as 10 years down the road we honor his performance from May 25-27, 2006.

Chittim, now a husband and father of two, was on fire that year, winning state track titles in the 200 (23.02) and 400 (49.93), while running a leg on the best 4 x 4 boys relay squad in 1A (3:28.11).

He teamed with Kyle King, Chris Hutchinson and Steven McDonald for that win, and they remain the only relay team in the 116-year history of CHS to stand atop the podium at the end of the season.

While Natasha Bamberger and Kyle King are tops, career-wise, with five state titles apiece, it’s Chittim who remains the only CHS athlete to win four medals and three titles at a single state meet.

Both are records which appear to be untouchable, withstanding the best efforts of even 11-time state meet medal winner Tyler King.

Joining the speedy Chittim in the Hall is the lanky, easygoing Hayes, an eternally laid-back two-sport star.

On the tennis court, he was part of a 2009 Wolf squad which swept to a district title, then moved up to become the program’s #1 singles player.

Put him on the hardwood and Hayes put his height to good use, teaming with fellow Twin Tower Hunter Hammer to provide a reliable one-two punch.

He topped the 2010-2011 squad in scoring, tossing in 287 points for a team which came within two buckets of being the only unit to have four 200-point scorers in the same season during coach Randy King’s 20-year run.

Our third inductee, Walstad, was the very definition of rock-solid, a team leader her entire career.

Playing volleyball, basketball and softball, Bessie piled up a sizable amount of All-League and team honors while operating as a captain for much of her time in the red and black.

She led by example, fighting for every rebound, every spike, every foul ball, and she led by taking command of her teams, knowing when to exhort and when to congratulate, when to hug and when to kick ’em in the rear.

Other players may have finished their careers with more points or glossier stat sheets, but Walstad’s impact can, and should, be measured in the respect and admiration she won, deservedly, from coaches, fellow players and fans.

Like Bessie, our fourth inductee, Wilson, was a three-sport star, a vital part of Wolf volleyball, basketball and track teams.

On the hard-court, she’s part of school history, one of six players who scored Mar. 2, 2000, when Coupeville rallied in the fourth quarter to upend Freeman 46-42 at the state basketball tourney.

The first state win in program history, it kicked off a run which stretched over six years and resulted in three state trophies for the Wolf girls hoops players.

But Yashmeen’s biggest impact came in the world of track, where she won five state meet medals, covering three different events.

After placing 8th in the javelin as a freshman, she came back to nab 7th in the same event as a sophomore, while also picking up a 6th in the high jump.

Wilson capped her stellar run with a 7th in the 100 and her personal best, a 4th in the high jump, as a senior.

And then we reach today’s final inductee, Stone, who is already in the Hall for big moments and as part of a historic team.

Today, however, she gets the big call, going in as an athlete honored for her entire prep career, which came to a close this spring.

Frankly, this could have happened back on week one, and it would have been appropriate.

Regardless of when it happened, Makana is one of the few whose eventual induction was written from day one in … uh, Stone.

I have covered high school sports on Whidbey Island, on and off, since 1990, and she is the best I ever covered in person, boy or girl.

End of story.

If she had remained as a soccer player, she would have been the best the school has ever seen.

On the basketball court, her scoring numbers are matched only by Brianne King and Zenovia Barron, but scoring was just the tip of the iceberg with Makana, who snatched rebounds, pilfered steals and made jaw-dropping plays at a rate previously unseen.

Put her on the track and the numbers speak for themselves — seven state meet medals, with at least one every year, and, oh yeah, she won her first 28 races as a freshman, something no other Wolf has ever achieved.

Watching Makana run in person, and seeing one of the nicest people in the history of civilization drop that Mask ‘o Death onto her face as she erupted down the backstretch, was goosebump-inducing.

I could go on and on about her ability to bring out the best in others, teammates and foes alike, how watching her play (any sport) was like watching a great artist paint a masterpiece in real-time, and much more.

But she’s gracefully put up with four years of me blathering on, always (and I mean ALWAYS) doing everything possible to divert the spotlight onto others, making sure to hit every teammate all the way to the end of the bench.

She deserves, finally, some peace.

So we’ll keep it short and sweet, and just say this, “Thank you, Makana.”

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Record busters, dream builders!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , , , on June 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Hall

   The 1998 CHS volleyball squad is joined by (bottom, l to r) Dr. Jim Copenhaver, Bob Rea and Brian Fakkema.

High achievers, one and all.

Whether it’s sports, academics or life in the outside world, those who form the 50th class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame have had a huge impact, in town and far away.

So today we want to welcome two superb Wolf athletes whose prep careers were separated by 35 years, a contributor who helped spark a soccer revolution in Central Whidbey and one of the most brilliant teams to ever wear the red and black.

Say hello to Bob Rea, Brian Fakkema, Dr. Jim Copenhaver and the 1998 CHS volleyball squad.

After this, you will find them at the top of the blog, with their brethren under the Legends tab.

Our first inductee is Rea, the one true Strikeout King.

A three-sport star during his time at CHS in the mid-’60s, the pride of Snakelum Point was a star football and basketball player.

But it was on the diamond where his impact has lingered the longest.

Rea tossed a no-hitter against Tolt, but it was his ability to send batters down swinging which sets him apart 50 years after he last wore Coupeville’s uniform.

A lefty with a nasty curve, he made his name in 1964 on a dusty field in Darrington. Throwing 16 innings (or nine more than a normal high school game), he whiffed 27 Loggers en route to a 2-1 win.

Records which will likely never be touched in the modern era, where everyone monitors pitch counts and freaks out at the slightest twinge in a shoulder, they, like the man who set them, endure.

The impact made by our second inductee, Copenhaver, is also likely to be felt for a very long time.

While he and his family no longer live on Whidbey, having departed for the East Coast a few years back, the good doctor left behind an impressive body of work.

A soccer fiend, he did as much as anyone to kick Central Whidbey into the modern era, tirelessly working as a coach and administrator as the Central Whidbey Soccer Club went from nonentity to a booming, vibrant force.

Under his leadership, local youth booters made the first move to play outside of Coupeville, which had a huge impact on building interest and keeping athletes in the program.

Whether as a coach (it was estimated he led 40+ teams) or the league commissioner after helping start an Island-wide youth soccer league in 2006, he had an impact on hundreds of young athletes and their families.

A guy who always put the “beauty of the game” and the growth of Coupeville’s children, on and off the field, ahead of wins and losses, Copenhaver’s impact will continue for generations.

Our third inductee, Fakkema, is the nephew of the first person I ever put in this lil’ Hall, the late CHS volleyball coach Kim Meche, who is going back in today with her ’98 spikers.

During his time at CHS, Fakkema, a 2003 grad, was a beast on the hardwood and gridiron.

Hauling in passes from Wolf QB Brad Sherman, busting off huge chunks of yardage on kickoff returns or patrolling the defensive backfield, he could do it all as a football player.

Put him on the basketball court, and he was just as explosive, if not more so, draining three-balls like an early version of Klay Thompson, while Sherman held the Steph Curry role.

When you look at the records for the 20 years Randy King coached the CHS boys’ basketball program (1991-2011), Fakkema holds the mark for most treys in a single game.

He dropped six of them on Mount Vernon Christian Dec. 6, 2002, part of the 46 he had in his senior season. That season total stands as the fourth-best put up by a Wolf in the King years.

Brian’s aunt was a hugely-successful player and coach during her time at Oak Harbor and Coupeville, and today we’re reaching back 18 years to highlight one of her unsung achievements.

Working with assistant coach Toni Crebbin and a truly talented 10-pack of athletes, Meche won a state title in 1998.

Not an athletic one, no, but an academic one, as the Wolves combined to pull down the best GPA of any 1A program in the state.

That earned them a trip to the big dance, where they accepted their honors, and lit the spark on a program which has returned to state four times and was ranked #1 in 2004.

“This was our first-ever experience at state,” Crebbin said. “Really was inspiring for the girls to go experience state. Raised the bar for us to be there as players.

“Was a super smart group of girls, too!”

So, as we wrap things up today, we want to take a moment to honor a group of young women who excelled on the court and in the classroom, which is why they’ve gone on to great success in their post-high school days.

Inducted, as a team, led by their much-missed coach.

Kim Meche (Head Coach)
Toni Crebbin (Assistant Coach)
April Ellsworth-Bagby
Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby
Yashmeen Knox
Amahra Leaman
Tina Lyness
Michelle Martin
Jess Roundy
Rachelle Solomon
Joanna Thome
Emily Young

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