Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Hall o’ Fame’ Category

In it to win it!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , , on July 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Hall o' Fame inductees (clockwise, starting in top left) Ryan King, Nick Streubel, Erica (Lamb) Holland, Chad Brookhouse.

   Hall o’ Fame inductees (clockwise, starting in top left) Ryan King, Nick Streubel, Erica (Lamb) Holland and Chad Brookhouse.

Commitment.

To their school, their sports, their families, their faith, they were as rock-solid as they come, fully embracing the big C at every point in their lives.

Who am I talking about?

The athletes who comprise the 56th class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, a stellar collection of some of the best to ever wear the red and black.

With that, we welcome Erica (Lamb) Holland, Chad Brookhouse, Nick Streubel and Ryan King to these hallowed digital walls.

From this point on, you’ll find them up at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab with other Wolf greats.

Our first inductee, Holland, was, without a doubt, one of the most talented athletes CHS ever had the honor of claiming.

She was also a bright shining light beaming out to the world, a young woman who led by example on the field and in the classroom.

Like sister Taniel (who she joins in the Hall), Erica set an exceptional standard for all who followed, including talented younger brothers Jordan and Nathan.

A true three-sport star, Holland was a key player on volleyball, basketball and softball squads which achieved heights never before reached by Wolf girls athletic teams.

By the time she graduated in 2003, after being co-Athlete of the Year with Amy Mouw and co-Valedictorian, she had helped carry five teams to state.

While it would be impossible to single out one sport as her best — she was aces in everything she played — Erica’s greatest contribution might have come in softball, where she was the ultimate team player.

Over the course of four years, and the school’s transition from slow-pitch to fast-pitch, Holland played every single position on the diamond, culminating with a run at catcher for the 2002 squad that finished 3rd at state.

Our second inductee, Brookhouse, was also a jack of all trades.

On the gridiron, he was named an All-Cascade Conference selection on both sides of the ball in 2009, honored for his work as a tight end and a linebacker.

On the basketball court, he did a lot of the dirty work, while also coming in as the fourth-leading scorer on a 2009-2010 hoops squad which went 16-5, the best mark any Wolf boys team has achieved in decades.

Brookhouse closed his prep career by punching 32 hits for the 2010 CHS baseball squad — the best single-season total of the last three decades — capping a strong run.

Our final two inductees, Streubel and King, share the fact they both anchored the line for Wolf football, and that King stayed on at his alma mater to coach Streubel and his teammates.

The Big Hurt was one of the most imposing physical specimens ever to trod the gridiron at CHS, though away from the battle in the trenches Streubel is the very epitome of a low-key nice guy.

Quite the talented swimmer in his younger days, Nick was a rock for a rebuilding Wolf boys’ hoops program, an accomplished thrower in track and the very last person opposing quarterbacks wanted to look up and see come crashing through the line.

But take away the pancake blocks, the times he blew up multiple would-be blockers and the play in which he got a rare chance to carry the ball and hauled seven Chimacum tacklers into a giant mud hole, and he’d still be a Hall o’ Famer.

For the time, covered from head-to-toe in manure-scented mud, he chased speedy Wolf coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh down a ferry dock and caught him in a bear hug.

For the time he plucked V’s little son off the ground and held him up in the air so the wildly grinning preschooler could dunk on a real hoop.

And for a million other times when he was a genuine class act, on and off the field.

Going in to the Hall with Streubel is a guy who is Coupeville, through and through.

King played on the last Wolf gridiron squad to post a winning record (way back in 2005) and he’s been diligently working to help get Coupeville back to those days as a coach.

Whether as a football assistant at the middle school or high school level, or as a head coach (he made a strong debut this winter coaching 7th grade girls basketball), King shows the same commitment today that once carried him through days of banged-up knees, bruises and stingers while blocking for Casey Larson.

A great story teller (some of which I can actually print), he is part of the glue which holds together Wolf sports.

For schools to be successful, top to bottom, you need those coaches who are there because they really, truly believe in the value of what they’re doing.

Because they want to give today’s athletes a chance to reach the same success they enjoyed.

Ryan King is one of the good ones, and the Hall is happy to welcome him.

Read Full Post »

Welcome to Domination Nation!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , , on July 10, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Clockwise from top left are Sarah (Mouw) Samuels, Brad Sherman, Bob Rea and Brad Miller.

   Clockwise from top left are Sarah (Mouw) Samuels, Brad Sherman, Bob Rea and Brad Miller.

There have been talented athletes and big moments in the history of Central Whidbey sports, but few reached the levels achieved by those who make up the 55th class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

Two athletes who ruled over multiple sports, and two moments when nothing short of perfection was achieved, make up today’s honorees.

So welcome into these hallowed digital walls Sarah (Mouw) Samuels, Brad Miller, the afternoon Bob Rea whiffed 27 batters in one game and the night the Wolves boys’ basketball squad made all 22 of its free throw attempts.

After this, you’ll find them atop the blog, living under the Legends tab with their brethren.

We’re kicking things off with Rea, who is already in the Hall as an athlete.

Today, he goes in for the day in 1964 when he set a Coupeville High School baseball record which has remained untouched for 50+ years.

Facing off with Darrington on its home field, Rea went the distance in a wild 16-inning affair, setting down 27 Loggers before collapsing back onto the school bus with a 2-1 victory under his belt.

Ray Cook, who notched 21 K’s in a 1976 game, seems to be the only other Wolf to have topped the 20-strikeout mark in a game, and if you let a modern-day pitcher throw 16 innings, the coach would probably be fired for “abuse.”

So, I’m pretty sure Rea’s marks may stay untouched for another 52 years.

While his performance was largely a one-man show (though he still needed his teammates to score, eventually), our second moment enshrined in the Hall today was a true team effort.

In the 20 years Randy King coached boys hoops at CHS (1991-2011), he had three nights when his team was flawless at the charity stripe.

One team was 2-2, another 4-4 and then, on Jan. 3, 2003, four Wolves combined to go 22-22 at a time when Coupeville needed every single point.

Trailing host Friday Harbor by six entering the fourth, the Wolves ripped off 27 points, 15 on free throws, to rally for a 63-58 win.

Casey Clark led the way, going 11-11 (the only player to hit double digits in made free throws in a single game during King’s tenure), with eight of those coming down the stretch.

Nearly matching him was Brad Sherman, who hit all seven free throws he attempted in the fourth.

Mike Bagby and Brian Fakkema had each tickled the twines for two freebies apiece earlier in the game to wrap up the best night at the line in modern Wolf history.

Afterwards, in typical understated King fashion, his response to the papers was simply “That’s a pretty good performance.”

Indeed.

Our third inductee, Miller, was a master of the big moment, a rampaging beast in three sports.

Big and bald (he often sported a shaved head when I was covering his exploits), the 1995 CHS grad scored 526 points on the hardwood, while hauling down a considerable number of rebounds.

He was the team’s leading scorer as a junior, number two as a senior and, along with fellow Hall o’ Famer Gabe McMurray, formed one of the most potent one-two combos the Wolves have ever had.

Put him on the baseball diamond and he was one of the few modern-era players capable of making a run at Rea and Cook as a strikeout fiend.

Miller whiffed 19, 18 and 14 in different games, while also leading the team at the plate, where he topped the Wolves in hits as both a junior and senior.

Samuels had a lot less time at CHS than any of her fellow inductees, as she and her family moved to Whidbey from Iowa in 2001, just in time to start her senior year.

That year, though, she put together a run that stands with anyone to ever wear the red and black.

A First-Team All-League pick in all three of her sports (volleyball, basketball, softball), she was a Northwest League Co-MVP in softball and helped carry all three of her squads to state.

Volleyball won a league title (the last time Wolf spikers have done that), finished second at tri-districts, then made a run at state, while basketball (6th in 1A) and softball (3rd in 1A) achieved the best results in program history.

With Samuels meshing her considerable skill-set with classmates Ashley (Ellsworth-Bagby) Heilig and Tracy (Taylor) Corona, the hoops squad rolled to two straight wins to open the state tourney.

While they hit a roadblock after that, the 2001-2002 squad remains the only Wolf hoops team to reach the state semifinals.

As good as she was in volleyball and basketball, Samuels saved her best for last.

On the softball diamond, she joined a program which was making the jump from slow-pitch to fast-pitch and she promptly put together the best individual season ever achieved by a Wolf slugger, before or since.

Samuels led CHS in batting, doubles, triples, home runs and RBIs, while going 22-2 on the mound for a team that finished 24-3.

After years of lackluster performances, the Wolf softballers won the only league title in program history, then swept to four wins in five games at state, falling only to nine-time state champ Adna.

Now that’s domination.

Read Full Post »

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.

Read Full Post »

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.

Read Full Post »

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.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »