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Six for the win!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged CHS Wolves, Hall of Fame, James Smith, relay team, Sid Otton, state champ on May 1, 2016| Leave a Comment »

James Smith (top, left) is joined by fellow inductees (clockwise) Chris Hutchinson, Jon Chittim, Kyle King, Steven McDonald and Sid Otton.

Record-setters, one all all.

The six guys who comprise the 45th class to be inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame operated (and still do) at the highest levels of their sports.

Whether working as an individual, a team, or the commander of a dynasty, all of them have set standards which will be hard to surpass.

So, with that, we welcome James Smith, Sid Otton and the only CHS relay team to ever win a state title — the 2006 boys’ 4 x 400 unit of Chris Hutchinson, Jon Chittim, Kyle King and Steven McDonald.

After this, you’ll find them sitting atop the blog under the Legends tab.

Which is hardly a surprise.

Our first inductee, Otton, is the most famous of the bunch, and, admittedly, a large part of his success has come post-Coupeville.

But he started as a Wolf, and we’re claiming him.

Fresh on the job market, the former college football star landed his first coaching gig in Cow Town, where he ran the CHS football and baseball programs for two seasons.

While he was on Whidbey, he led the 1969 Wolf baseball squad to a Northwest B League title and the future was promising.

Then Wolf Nation lost Otton and he went and got all legendary at a couple of other stops on the road, most famously Tumwater, where he’s been the head football coach for 42 seasons and counting.

As well as being my 9th grade health teacher. Which was probably harder than all of his football seasons combined.

The winningest high school gridiron guru in state history, with 384 victories and five state titles, he’ll take the field for his 50th season overall this fall.

Before he does so, we’re giving him one more honor, while trying to ignore the age-old questions of “What if he hadn’t left? What if he had stayed in Coupeville? What if we were a dynasty?!?!”

As you all ponder that, we’ll skip on to our second inductee, which comes four men strong.

King won four individual state titles during his time at CHS (his five titles total ties Natasha Bamberger for most in school history) and Chittim snagged two, but they go in today with their oval brothers.

In 116 years of Coupeville High School history, only one time has a Wolf track relay unit stood astride the winner’s podium at the final meet of the season, and that foursome celebrates the 10-year anniversary of their accomplishment later this month.

On May 25-27 of 2006, the Wolves were darn near unstoppable, winning three individual state titles (Chittim in the 200 and 400 and King in the 3200), finishing a school-record fourth in the team standings.

In the premier relay event, Coupeville blasted all of their rivals, coasting to first in the prelims before savaging Goldendale, Charles Wright and a bunch of much-slower squads in the finale.

As the current girls 4 x 200 unit of Lauren Grove, Lindsey Roberts, Makana Stone and Sylvia Hurlburt aim to make their own history (they’re ranked #1 in 1A heading into the postseason), it’s a perfect time to bow in the direction of the original relay gods, who made the entire state Bow Down to Cow Town.

And then we reach our final inductee this week, a coach’s son (both mom Cherie and dad Willie) who joins his siblings in the hall.

James, like Megan and Ian, was a rock for the Wolves, a talented, hard-working athlete who excelled at every single sport that came his way.

A two-time CHS Male Athlete of the Year (2006-2007 and 2007-2008), Smith copped a ton of honors for his work on the gridiron, hard-court and diamond while operating as a captain in multiple years for all three of his sports.

Which was his strongest sport? It’s a toss-up.

Smith was tabbed as an All-League shortstop all four seasons, the first two in the 1A Northwest League, the last two in the 1A/2A Cascade Conference.

Toss in two All-League selections in basketball and three in football, where he was honored on both sides of the ball and was the First-Team QB in the Cascade Conference his senior season, and it’s an impressive body of work.

If I had to call it, I’d lean towards baseball, I guess.

It’s where he played under the watchful eye (and threat of wedgies) from a coach who he called dad away from the diamond, and he mixed power with panache.

But what the heck, if we have a time machine and need a win in any of those sports, I’m super-confident if I see James striding out there, huge grin in place, ready to kick tushie and take names.

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Catch a shooting star!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged Bob Martin, CHS Wolves, Grace LaPoint, Hall of Fame, Jai'Lysa Hoskins, Jason Bagby, John Fisken on April 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Bob Martin (left) and fellow Hall o’ Fame inductees (top to bottom) John Fisken, Jai’Lysa Hoskins, Jason Bagby and Grace LaPoint.

Indispensable.

The five members of the 44th class to be inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame can all be summed up with that one word.

Whether they were/are coaching, playing or snapping pics, this five-pack is the glue which holds/held everything together.

So, with that, we welcome Bob Martin, Jai’Lysa Hoskins, John Fisken, Jason Bagby and Grace LaPoint to these hallowed digital walls.

From this point on, you’ll find them up at the top of the blog, enshrined with their brethren under the Legends tab.

Our first inductee, Bagby, was one of the most successful athletes in Coupeville High School history, a star across three (football, basketball, baseball) sports.

Part of it was genes — dad Ron was a state champion track runner in the wilds of Forks and all of Jason’s siblings are superior athletic specimens — but a lot of it was work, skills and a burning desire to kick his opponent’s fannies.

That carried him to All-League honors, huge performances in the red and black (he was the second-leading scorer on a 16-5 hoops squad in 2009-2010) and a successful run as a college ball player.

And now, a few years down the road, he’s still a beast, as evidenced by his performances during the annual Tom Roehl Roundball Classics, where he remains a bucket-making, shot-rejecting animal with mad hops.

Our second inductee, Hoskins, offered blazing speed, big school spirit, a spine of steel and underneath the mega-grin, a willingness to get feisty.

A cheerleader and basketball assassin — she delighted in dropping the boom on foes — her greatest accomplishments came on the track oval, where she ran to state glory.

As a senior in 2013, she teamed with classmate Madison Tisa McPhee and two promising freshmen, Sylvia Hurlburt and Makana Stone, to make it to Cheney in both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200, bringing home a medal in the latter event.

Over her four years of running for the Wolves, Hoskins won 47 times as a sprinter, relay runner, high jumper and long jumper, setting a true legacy of excellence.

Her ability to excel in whatever sport she picked up was matched by LaPoint, who juggled stints in cheer, soccer, basketball, softball and track.

An absolute joy as a person who was beloved by her coaches, Grace won 10 times in two track seasons — including beating future throwing state champ Angelina Berger of South Whidbey head-to-head in the javelin during her senior campaign — then went on to play college softball.

While taking the field for Evangel University in Missouri, she also found the time to put in above-average work in the classroom and beyond.

A 2015 grad with a degree in Business Administration, LaPoint took second in the nation in the Integrated Marketing Campaign competition at the Phi Beta Lambda National Leadership Conference, which drew 1,800 competitors total.

Her drive for excellence is matched by our fourth inductee, Martin.

The former Marine has become an indispensable part of Wolf Nation, going above and beyond the call of duty to take on every coaching job necessary in recent years.

A key member of the CHS Booster Club, Martin has guided numerous athletes, male and female, working as a football, basketball and track guru at the high school, middle school and community levels.

As Coupeville has rebuilt its youth programs, which are hugely important to setting up success at the middle school and high school levels, I would wager there is no one who has been a bigger part of that success than him.

Of course, in typical low-key Martin style, he is likely rolling his eyes right now, and would say he’s just part of the team.

So, we’re going to toot his horn for him.

Without Bob Martin, and the countless hours he’s given to local youth athletics, some paid (way too little), a ton as a volunteer, we wouldn’t be seeing the rise in Wolf athletics we have been witnessing in the past couple years.

Every town needs that one person who steps up and carries everyone on their shoulders, inspiring other coaches and athletes alike.

Bob is Coupeville’s unsung MVP, and he deserves all our praise.

And a schedule which doesn’t make him and his 22-man roster play middle school football games against schools with 600+ students…

And then we reach our fifth and final inductee today, Fisken.

I am not a photographer — never have been, never will be, as I’m more likely to break a camera than get it to focus and am the last human alive without a cell phone.

Which is why Fisken, and Shelli Trumbull, one of our earliest Hall inductees, are so important.

Without Trumbull and her pics, Coupeville Sports would never have gotten off the ground.

And without Fisken and his glossy photos, and his willingness to put up with my constant nattering, we wouldn’t be soaring up in the stratosphere, making serious inroads on our mega-rich Canadian-funded newspaper rivals.

For a man who lives in Oak Harbor, and has a child at OHHS, he has bent over backwards to shoot sports in Cow Town, going out of his way to not only net mucho action shots, but all of the goofy side stuff that sets Coupeville Sports apart.

I can write a billion words (and do), but I need eyeballs to gravitate to those words, and nothing brings in the peepers like a really spectacular photo.

To say I owe him a lifetime supply of Diet Coke is an understatement.

Having bought a couple of 20-packs (what is up with that, Prairie Center? You’ve never heard of selling an actual case?!?), I remain a few trillion behind on that right now.

But, as we wait for me to catch up, welcome to the Hall o’ Fame, Fisken. Hope you brought your own beverage for the induction ceremony.

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Brother, my brother!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged brothers, CHS Wolves, Hall of Fame, Jerry Helm, Matt Helm, US Navy on April 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Matt Helm and fiancee Jenna Ure.

Fire Gods Jerry (left) and Matt Helm. (Photos courtesy Jerry Helm)

Younger days with sister Mollie.

Let’s mix it up and get personal.

As we send a 43rd class into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame today, it’s going to be a one-man class and I’m going to leave the heavy lifting up to someone else.

Matt Helm was (is) a superb athlete and an even better person, and older brother Jerry, already a Hall member, is stepping forward to induct his lil’ bro.

After this, you’ll find both of them sitting together atop this blog, under the Legends tab.

So, without further ado, I give up the stage to Jerry.

My brother Matthew and I were always competitive towards each other.

As hard as it is for the older brother to publicly admit, he was a much better athlete then I ever was.

I was the hot-headed older brother; he was the quiet smooth assassin.

His ability to focus on the game and shut out the noise always made me envious. He could dribble circles around me, and shoot three pointers in my face all day long.

A very unique opportunity surfaced when I started coaching the high school track and field team.

That year, his senior year, he decided to join the track team for the first time.

Track for me was the last sport where I thought I still had the upper hand on him.

Then during his first meet, he decided to show his older brother up and crush my best height in the high jump event.

As proud as I was, I secretly was still being the hot-headed older brother inside.

What took me four years of hard work, he was able to best it, at his first attempt.

My brother and I also shared a very hard lesson our senior years.

We both ended up breaking bones that sidelined us during our senior year of football.

While mine was in the beginning of the season and I was able to make it back for the final stretch of the season, Matt’s was towards the end, which forced him to miss a big portion of his final basketball season.

In the end we both ended up missing huge portions of the sport we loved the most.

Seeing the pain on his face while sitting on the sidelines, brought back a flood of memories and was a moment of déjà vu.

My heart hurt for him and I could totally understand what he was going through at the moment.

The love I have for my younger brother is laced with tremendous pride that we wore the same Coupeville uniform and shared the same playing fields.

His bravery and strength to this day is something that still inspires me.

His decision to join the US Navy to help protect our country shows his incredible strength and dedication.

Siblings often don’t tell each other often enough how much they love each other, but Matthew’s slower, less-talented, older brother loves him very much and is very proud of him.

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A class of class acts!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged Austin Fields, CHS Wolves, Hall of Fame, Ian Smith, Jacki Ginnings, Sean Donley on April 10, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Hall o’ Fame inductees (clockwise from lower left) Sean Donley, Ian Smith, Jacki Ginnings and Austin Fields.

Strong athletes, better people.

The four Wolf alumni in the 42nd class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame had many different athletic pursuits in their time in the red and black, yet all left a lasting legacy for two reasons.

They were very, very good at their chosen sports, and they handled their affairs with great class.

So, with open arms, we welcome Jacki Ginnings, Austin Fields, Sean Donley and Ian Smith into these hallowed digital walls.

After this, you will find them at the top of the blog under the Legends tab, which shouldn’t be a surprise.

Our first inductee, Donley, was a standout on the soccer field, a team leader who worked his rear off on the pitch and was named team MVP for his efforts.

A deadly goal scorer who was also always willing to do the less glamorous work whenever necessary, Sean was the kind of player every coach was thrilled to see on the first day of practice.

Off the field, he was a sterling co-worker at Christopher’s on Whidbey, never complaining, always looking on the bright side of life, and his piano-playing chops?

Pretty dang impressive.

Donley’s low-key, smooth operator personality was matched by our second inductee, sweet-swinging golf ace Fields.

Son of a pro, and older brother to fellow Hall o’ Fame duffer Christine, Austin went to state three times during his tenure at CHS, while having to drive a harder road than most of his fellow Wolf athletes.

Without a team at Coupeville, Fields trucked himself back and forth, playing first with Oak Harbor, then South Whidbey, over the course of his four years, while always staying out in front of his Wildcat and Falcon “teammates” when it came time to post scores on the course.

Now studying to take over the golfing world as a course designer, Austin is going to continue to etch his name on the world. Of that, I have no doubt.

Our third inductee, Smith, is one of the most accomplished athletes in recent CHS sports history, a three-sport star (football, basketball, baseball) who more than held his own in a family of big-time performers.

He had a history of coming up big in the spotlight (ask South Whidbey about the time he plunged a knife through the heart of their boys’ basketball program with a buzzer-beater), but it’s his versatility which truly set him apart.

Smith was named an All-Cascade Conference football player five times from 2008-2010, while being honored at three different positions.

His work in the secondary was noted all three seasons, while he appeared on the honor roll as a wide receiver in 2009, then as a quarterback in his senior campaign.

That was similar to his work on the diamond, where he was a Second-Team pick as a pitcher one time around, then a First-Team nod as an infielder another season.

Through it all, Smith was an absolute rock for his teams, the very definition of a player who lived for team, played for team and gave his last drop of sweat for team.

While the argument over who was better between Ian and older brother James (who, simmer down, will get his day in the Hall as well) will probably never be settled, suffice it to say they both earned every one of their honors.

P.S. — I flipped a coin to decide which brother to put in first. Talk to the quarter, James, cause it did not go your way.

And then we move on to our final inductee on this Sunday, Ginnings.

A highly-accomplished two-sport sensation who excelled on the soccer pitch and the tennis court, Jacki remains one of the most beloved, respected Wolf athletes I have ever witnessed play.

She had more grit than you can imagine, and would fight like a devil to win the day, yet would always emerge at the end with the same serene expression on her face, win or lose.

Ginnings, like her fellow inductees, more often than not came out on top, but she always treated her foes with grace and they usually responded in kind.

Ask her teammates and coaches and the response was overwhelming in a way rarely seen.

They adored Jacki, as an athlete and a person.

The day she graduated, CHS lost a true warrior and a class act, but it also gained a legend to inspire those who will follow her path in the years to come.

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The awesomest of the awesome!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged Cheer, dance, Hall of Fame, Sylvia Hurlburt, Track on April 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Sylvia Hurlburt, the first still-active CHS athlete to be inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame. (John Fisken photo)

Sylvia, the teammate. (John Fisken, Kristin Hurlburt and Deb Smith photos)

The toes, the toes… (Michael Stadler photo)

Sylvia inherited the awesome gene from mom Kristin. (John Fisken photo)

Dear Sylvia Hurlburt,

You stepped in to Coupeville High School as a freshman right as Coupeville Sports started up, and, along with the rest of the Class of 2016, have been the first generation of Wolves to have their athletic accomplishments exhaustively detailed on a day-to-day basis.

And yet, it is fair to argue you have perhaps not received your full due.

Today, five days before your birthday, I want to right that (at least a little bit) by bestowing on you an “honor” that no one else has received.

As the sole honoree in the 41st class to be inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, you are the first athlete to be enshrined before graduation.

Yes, even before you-know-who.

A handful of other Wolves still competing have landed in the Hall for creating magical moments, or as part of a team, but, up until this moment, there was always sort of an unwritten rule that we would laud an athletic career after it became a complete career.

But why wait?

I know you’ll be in the Hall, for a ton of reasons, and setting some sort of future date for enshrinement would be pointless.

You’re gonna be in there, you deserve to be in there, so you’re going in now, to stand alongside your aunt Kristan (literally, because when folks hit the Legends tab up on the top of the blog, your name, in alphabetic order, now sits between your aunt and Kyra Ilyankoff.)

You were a superstar before the birth of Coupeville Sports — May 2, 2012 you won three events (100, 200, 4 x 200) as a CMS 8th grader — and you’ll be one long after you move beyond my coverage area.

But during the time this blog has been active (Aug. 2012 to today) you, Sylvia Lawanda (yeah, probably not your real middle name…) Hurlburt, have been as truly transcendent as any one I have covered.

Track, where you have never been able to compete at home due to a crumbling CHS oval, is your first, but far from your last, calling card.

A superb sprinter and a relay anchor with ice in her veins, you’ve been to state with four relay teams (with 3rd and 5th place medals in the 4 x 200), and you currently are one-fourth of the most dangerous squad in the land.

Running along with Lauren Grove, Lindsey Roberts and Makana Stone, you, Sylvia, are part of the current fastest 4 x 200 team in 1A and the second-fastest 4 x 100 unit.

I fully expect you to add more state meet medals to your trophy case when the season winds down in May in Cheney (or maybe Chelan? No, probably not Chelan…).

Pack some sunscreen, for yourself, cause it’s hot over there, and for the other teams, cause they may finish the race with severe wind burn from you lapping them so hard.

But, of course, you are about much more than just track, Miss Hurlburt.

You’re a cheer captain, a strong student, and a highly-accomplished, life-long practitioner of the brutal, beautiful art of ballet.

When I hear athletes complain about the rigors of their sport, I think about sending them your way, because, frankly, they have nothing on dancers.

That you have endured years of bodily abuse (the toes, the toes…) while continuing to perform so elegantly, always amazes me.

And then, of course, towering over everything, over the speed on the oval, the grit on the stage, the spirit on the sideline, the commitment in the classroom, we have you, Sylvia the person.

Even when you’re being snarky, even when you’re dropping side-eye at me as I lamely try to explain why I’ve never traveled to one of your track meets, you remain one of the friendliest, most thoughtful, considerate, truly caring, well-spoken young women I have ever known.

Watching you interact with your teammates, especially in the quiet moments when you don’t know people are watching, I have come to know just how special you truly are.

You’ve been willing to be in a ton of photos, Sylvia, and the funny ones are gold for me here on the blog.

But the ones where you and Makana are hugging each other, and joy spills out of both of you because of your pride and happiness in each others accomplishments, that’s what I will remember.

The moment where you and Lauren are standing alone at the line, heads bowed, holding hands, united by something far, far deeper than being part of the same relay unit, still slays me.

It has been a joy to write about you these past four years, and to be a small slice of your life, even when you’re giving me (well-deserved) grief, Miss Hurlburt.

I hope you know how special we all think you are, as an athlete, yes, but even more as a person.

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