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On the track or at work, Jerry Helm blazes a successful path!!

Posted in Baseball, Boys Basketball, Football, Track, Where are they now? on January 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Jerry and Lindsey Helm and the real star of the show, Finley. (Sherry Roberts photo)

Jerry and Lindsey Helm and the real star of the show, lil’ Finley. (Sherry Roberts photo)

Breaking hearts…

and breaking track records.

It’s been 15 years since Jerry Helm last pulled on the red and black and yet, in an instant, he can return to the glory days of his senior season at Coupeville High School.

“I can still see the football in the air on every touchdown that season, and every step I took in that final race to break the school record,” Helm said. “My heart rate is speeding up just thinking about those memories!”

A four-sport athlete for the Wolves (football, basketball, baseball for a bit — “I thought I was a baseball player, until I realized my favorite part of baseball was stealing bases” — and track), the 1998 grad had speed to burn.

It carried him to multiple touchdowns on the football field, where he was a co-captain, and sparked him to deliver a performance on the track oval that shattered a school record, won him MVP honors and earned him a berth at the state meet.

“Football and track were my standout sports, where my ability to out-run people was highlighted,” Helm said.

Not even a broken arm could fully derail a golden senior season for Helm.

After busting off several jaunts into the end zone on opening night against a Canadian team, Helm was felled against Friday Harbor the next week, but healed in time to make it back for playoff games against Charles Wright Academy and Tacoma Baptist.

The best was yet to come, however, as Helm capped his high school career that spring, teaming with Damon Vracin, Scott Stuurmans and Paul Donnellon to shatter the school record in the 4×400 relay in the final meet of the season.

The record put a punctuation mark on a year marked by both success and Helm’s commitment to never giving in when the odds were against him. The entire year also reinforced several lessons he has carried with him in the years since.

“The lesson of hard work speaks for itself, but the lesson of having patience, I think, has been just as important,” Helm said. “No matter how hard I tried my senior year of football, I couldn’t get my arm to heal any quicker. I could not get back into a Wolf jersey until my doctor said it was OK.

“This has helped me tremendously in life,” he added. “Life doesn’t always go the direction you think, and just when you think you’re in control, you’re kindly reminded you are not the one in control.”

Life after high school has taken some turns for the fleet-footed former Wolf.

After getting a degree in computer drafting and design, he worked in the engineering department at Island County Public Works. Then, sudden left turn and a whole new calling opened up.

The son of a longtime firefighter/fire commissioner, Helm decided to reply to a help wanted sign calling for volunteers posted at the Coupeville fire station.

“Little did I know my career path would take a sharp turn,” Helm said. “As soon as I got into the fire department, I found my true calling and haven’t looked back.”

Moving with the same speed and determination he once showed on the playing fields at CHS, Helm eventually became a full-time firefighter with Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue in 2005. He’s now Acting Captain and is in charge of training and recruitment.

“Hopefully my home town experience will bring many new, needed faces to the department’s volunteer ranks,” Helm said. “P.S. — call me if anyone wants to come join the team!”

Along the way, Helm landed in the Washington State Firefighter Calendar as Mr. October, met his wife, Lindsey, who teaches at Coupeville Elementary, and became a father to possibly the most adorable little girl on the Island, Finley.

While his daughter has a few years before she will decide whether to follow in the footsteps of mom (a cheerleader) and dad, Helm will be there to offer Finley the wisdom he’s picked up along the way.

“Although I had a few shining moments in a Wolf jersey, I was just one person. I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by some very gifted athletes,” Helm said. “Together we were able to accomplish a lot of great things.

“My hope for my daughter is she enjoys her time as a Wolf as much as I did, develop many lifelong friendships, and learn the same important life lessons. The wins are just the icing on the cake,” he added. “I look forward to watching her play basketball, softball, take laps around the same track I did, or take after her mom and cheer.

“But, I know she will have to make the choice as to which sports she plays. I’m just looking forward to taking my place in the stands as a Wolf parent.”

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Wolves invade Yakima!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, Where are they now?, Wolves in college on January 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The Wolf hoops honor roll: left to right, Mike Bagby, Jason Bagby, Ron Bagby and Brad Sherman.

Greg Oldham

Wolf Nation is spreading to Eastern Washington, bit by bit.

Former Coupeville High School girls’ basketball coach Greg Oldham is now calling the shots at Yakima Valley Community College, while former Wolf sensation Jason Bagby is suiting up for the same school’s mens’ basketball squad.

Oldham, who led Coupeville to the state tourney on a regular basis, is in his first year in the lead chair. After coaching high school ball at White Swan, Coupeville and West Valley, he became an assistant with the YVCC mens’ team, then bounced into the womens’ job when head coach Cody Butler accepted a position at Boise State.

The Yaks are 9-8 overall, 2-2 in league play under Oldham.

Bagby, a six-foot-four dunking machine, is a sophomore forward at the two-year college. He’s played in 16 games for a 13-5 Yak team that is ranked #8 in the most recent Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges poll.

He’s made 19 of 36 field goals (including swishing his lone three-point try) and 14 of 23 free throws. Bagby is averaging 3.3 points per game (53 total), with a high of 12, and has amassed 183 minutes of playing time, 22 rebounds, 22 personal fouls, 11 steals, four blocks and three assists.

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“I love this place, this town, this school!!”

Posted in Boys Basketball, Football, Where are they now? on January 17, 2013| 1 Comment »

Coach V, always calm and serene under pressure. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Coach V (fourth from left) and Wolf football players relax after a football camp.

Coach V is Coupeville through and through.

Dustin Van Velkinburgh grew up and became a man in this town, raised by a “phenomenal mom,” FloyDene Van Velkinburgh, and nurtured, prodded and shaped by a series of coaches who gave a young man without a father positive male role models.

He met his wife in the high school office (more on that later), starred on its athletic fields and now, a decade after graduation, he passes on the lessons he has learned to a new generation of young Wolf athletes in the town he embraces, the town he thrives in.

“I just love this place, this town and this school,” Van Velkinburgh said. “Growing up in Coupeville was huge for me. There were a lot of good people to learn from and it helped build my character, made me who I am today.”

And who he is today is a coach popular with players and parents alike, a man who guides the Coupeville High School boys’ JV basketball squad and works as an assistant Wolf football coach around his day job as a contractor.

From unpaid volunteer coach at age 20 to middle school hoops guru to his current positions (and, at age 28, a head coaching position somewhere down the road is almost a certainty), he has followed a path straight uphill.

A path that started on many of the same courts and fields he now gives direction on. A five-sport athlete during his high school days (football, basketball, baseball, track and soccer), he was a First-Team All-Wesco soccer player for Oak Harbor High School (back when the Wolves didn’t have their own program) and an award-winning wide receiver while wearing his own school’s red and black.

Toss in a basketball career that included being a key player on a 16-4 squad his senior season that was ranked as high as #7 in the state, and you have a pretty impressive body of work.

But Van Velkinburgh, whether he knew it or not at the time, was doing two things at once. He was excelling as an athlete, but he was also picking up bits and pieces of knowledge from all his coaches along the way, lessons he now uses.

“Looking back, I can name all my coaches from second grade on,” Van Velkinburgh said. “I got great stuff from all my coaches, the ones who were great with me and the ones who were hard on me.

“My mom always said, no matter the situation, there is always something to learn.”

He easily reels off names of coaches who had an impact on him, and they are names familiar to locals. Bagby. King. Dickson. Barker. Bottoroff. Sellgren.

Ron Bagby, the longtime Wolf football coach who retired three years ago, once watched Van Velkinburgh reel off field goal after field goal on the practice field. After telling his player the team could skip conditioning that day if he made the next attempt, Bagby waited until Dustin wound up, then suddenly threw his keys at his foot, throwing off his attempt, then chuckling about it.

Van Velkinburgh then beat every one of his teammates in a brutal workout (run a 100-yard dash, do 20 pushups, run a 100-yard dash, do 19 pushups, etc.), before storming off the field.

“Wouldn’t talk to me the rest of the day!,” Bagby said with a huge grin as he looked across the office at his protege.

That kind of intensity stayed with Van Velkinburgh during his first go-around as an unpaid volunteer football assistant. He would stand next to the coach, record every detail of every play, then hustle home, type the report up and have it on Bagby’s desk first thing Monday morning.

“I don’t know if he ever read the things, but I wanted him to know how much I wanted the job,” Van Velkinburgh said.

Paid jobs as a middle school basketball and football coach (where head coach Vinny Sellgren let him run the offense) followed and now Coach V is an established part of the fraternity of Wolf coaches, right along side many of his mentors.

“I carry a piece of each of the coaches I had with me. I’m like a sponge, I soak up knowledge from all the people around me,” Van Velkinburgh said. “It’s odd to talk about death or the end of a career at this point, but I want to be able to look back and say I made an impact on kids lives like my coaches did for me.

“I want to coach successful programs, and success can be measured in many different ways,” he added. “Every kid is different, but there’s always a moment when the light comes on, whether it’s dribbling with the other hand or sacrificing for their teammates. That’s what I always hope to see.”

Van Velkinburgh, who married his high school sweetheart Jessica Bowden (the couple met in the office when they both had to skip P.E. — he had surgery on his foot, she had a broken elbow that sidelined a spectacular gymnastics career, and his immediate reaction was somewhere along the lines of “Who is she? I have to meet her!”), is grateful to be where he is today.

In a town where his three young children can join him on the basketball court after games, or, sometimes, in the middle of a game, if they cut hard at the right moment and get past mom.

“Staying here early in my coaching career has been great. The sense of community. The people,” Van Velkinburgh said. “If I can give them back a piece of what they gave me, I’m happy. That fuels my fire.”

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“I don’t remember awards, but do remember the fantastic experiences with my teammates!!”

Posted in Girls Basketball, Softball, Track, Volleyball, Where are they now? on January 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Former Wolf star Marlene Grasser and husband Jim.

CHS basketball in '87. Back row, l to r, are Tina Barker, Sarah Powell, Terri Perkins, Marlene Grasser, Carol Estes, Coach Phyllis Textor. Front row: Aimee Messner, Trudy Eaton, Cheryl Pangburn, Sally Biskovich and Sherry Bonacci.

CHS hoops ’87. Back, l to r: Tina Barker, Sarah Powell, Terri Perkins, Marlene Grasser, Carol Estes, Phyllis Textor. Front: Aimee Messner, Trudy Eaton, Cheryl Pangburn, Sally Biskovich, Sherry Bonacci.

Grasser and Bonacci — not to be trifled with.

I want every athlete at Coupeville High School to listen and really hear Marlene Grasser’s words.

This is coming from one of the best athletes to ever wear a Wolf uniform. A four-sport (volleyball, basketball, softball, track) star. A two-time Female Athlete of the Year. A woman who played college volleyball after she graduated from CHS in 1987.

She did everything you want to. She was the star you want to be. So listen to what she says and learn.

“I don’t remember awards, but do remember the fantastic experiences with my teammates,” Grasser said. “My best memories are all involving team sports. I looked forward to practices every day and the games were a blast.

“I loved my teammates and our mutual competitiveness and cohesiveness,” she added. “It is probably what I miss the most and was the hardest to let go of when I graduated.”

It was a feeling she carried through her final days of high school life, as a trip to the state track meet cost her and her teammates the senior class trip to Disneyland. Instead of being upset, the track squad found a different way to mark the end of their run in Coupeville.

“We went white water rafting together and had a great time!,” Grasser said.

The camaraderie that she enjoyed during her playing days is something she hopes the current generation of Wolf athletes will find for themselves.

“Enjoy this time with your teammates. This may be the most competitive time of your life, so give it your all,” Grasser said. “At the same time, recognize as important as sports are, they are not going to be your life, so it is critical that you do well in school and keep the goal of college at the forefront.”

Volleyball and a scholarship to study in the medical arena carried Grasser to Central Washington University, but it wasn’t long before she ended up taking a U-turn.

“I went there and played a lot while studying very little,” Grasser said. “I quickly realized that I was in over my head academically and shifted my priorities from sports to life.”

She became a triage nurse, eventually ended up at a healthcare software company and has two children (Lance, 12 and Erika, 16) with her husband, Jim.

Through it all, her times in the red and black remain cherished memories.

“Volleyball was my favorite sport, but I have the best memories of playing basketball,” Grasser said. “Our team was so intense; we played our guts out every single game, especially our senior year when we went to tri-districts with a record of 14-6.

“Working hard as an individual in order to support my team as effectively as possible (no excuses) was a huge lesson,” she added. “Also, being coachable has been incredibly important in helping me get jobs and move up the ladder quickly. At the same time, Georgie Smith taught me not to take sports seriously. If not for her humor and influence I may have missed that lesson and I needed that my second year at Central when the new coach and I didn’t click.”

She did click with her high school coaches, and fondly remembers many of them, from Phyllis Textor (“Ms. Textor was one of the biggest influences on me and I feel incredibly lucky to have had her in my life. I still impart her lesson, “excuses don’t mean anything” on my kids, but she really taught me so much more about life”) to Ron Bagby (“My awesome track coach who always made practice fun — even though, to this day, I hate running”) and many more.

“Our assistant coach in basketball and track was Larrie Ford (David and Tony’s dad), who was great as an encourager to all of us. He never let me get down if I was struggling and always knew what to say to make me feel better,” Grasser said. “Also, two coaches who had huge influences on me in elementary school were Mr. Libby (Tricia’s dad) and Mr. Messner (Barbi/Aimee’s dad). In hindsight I just can’t believe their patience with us girls year after year on the Lee’s Lions softball team! Those were good years and I loved those two guys.”

And then there were the girls she played with day in and day out.

“My teammates who I would do anything for were Sarah Powell, Terri Perkins, Tina Barker, Sherry Bonacci, Georgie, Aimee Messner, Sally Biskovich, Carol Estes, Cheryl Pangburn and Trudy Eaton,” Grasser said. “We had some great times together with the guy athletes on the bus and ferry rides.

“When certain songs come on the radio like AC/DC’s “Back in Black” or Def Leppard’s “Photograph,” I go right back to 1986-7!,” she added. “My hurdles buddy in track was Chad Gale and I remain in awe of Tina Barker’s 400. She barfed after every race … ew!”

Bonacci, who would go on to marry fellow Wolf athletic star Jon Roberts, said this about Grasser:

“Marlene was my athletic role model. She was such an amazing and gifted athlete and one of the nicest people ever. She always helped me and encouraged me to strive for excellence and become the best I could be.”

Grasser remembers it often being the other way around.

“I love Sherry,” she said. “I was looking through stuff to try to find an old photo and came across about a dozen letters of encouragement and advice from her.”

Here is an excerpt (dated Feb 12, 1986):

“Smile! You didn’t look too happy last night when I saw you. You’re always smiling.

I’m really sorry about you guys losing. I know I’m not much comfort but you guys tried and you lost by just a few mistakes that you know you won’t make again, right?

So always look to the bright side! Marlene, like I always say, don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s not good!

I was really sad we lost too. It’s so frustrating, especially when you are sitting on the bench from fouling out, you haven’t made any baskets and you turned the ball over a couple times (that’s what I did!)”

“I’m the one who thought of Sherry as my role model. She was always so bright and cheery and made the best of any situation. I admired that and strove to be that way too!”

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Mitch Aparicio: Once a stud, always a stud!!

Posted in Baseball, Boys Basketball, Football, Track, Where are they now? on January 4, 2013| 1 Comment »

Mitch and Tami Aparicio

No ‘stache, but tons of studliness

Aparicio works his magic behind the drum kit. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Sydney Aparicio’s old man had some serious skills.

Long before his little girl became a three-sport star (volleyball, cheer, softball) for Coupeville High School, Mitch Aparicio was a ‘stache-rockin’, award-winnin’ beast with a motor that never stopped running at full-speed. A three-time Mr. Hustle award winner in basketball — while playing for his future father-in-law — he remains one of the most honored athletes in school history.

By the time he graduated CHS in 1987, a year before younger brother and fellow high school ‘stache enthusiast Marc, he was an 11-time letter winner (four in football, three apiece in basketball and baseball and one in track). Toss in All-League baseball honors as a sophomore and junior and a ton of football awards, including being selected as the team’s Defensive and Offensive Player of the Year in different seasons, and he had a nice run.

And, while he and his teams had big moments — football went to state three times in four seasons — it’s the memories he made that will stay with him long after the awards get dusty on the mantle.

“Looking back at it now, I believe the best memories I have are of living in a small town and being close to family,” Aparicio said. “Living in a small community was a great opportunity to be involved, to play everything and get recognized by your family and community.”

Ask him about his time on the gridiron, and the moments tumble out, one glorious memory after another.

“Football was my favorite sport because of the man time,” Aparicio said. “Lifting, goofing around, practicing, hanging out together, playing on Friday nights then watching game films on Monday.”

His favorite moments include big wins (“Beating the undefeated Darrington Loggers at Darrington. They were ranked in the top five of the state. We didn’t just beat them, we spanked them, 42-12!”), huge individual efforts (“Playing Orcas Island in the pouring down rain, I rushed 30 times for 194 yards and we won 12-0”) and transcendent plays by teammates (“Jay Roberts catching a fake punt pass in the mini-playoffs against La Conner to go to state. We ran that play twice in the two weeks! What a stud!”)

He also has two memories from his freshman year, of a lighter note, that remain burned in his brain.

“Dan McCutcheon would dare that he would eat bugs and slugs during stretching to raise money and keep it light,” Aparicio said. “And when we were at La Conner and Scott McGraw and the center changed the play in the huddle and ran a fake hike play that went for like 60 yards and Coach Franz got so mad.”

The chance to play multiple sports with the same teammates cemented relationships, and the closeness of Coupeville itself has provided him with new friendships long after graduation.

“I have some great friendships from my high school years and with guys I didn’t know in high school, older or younger,” Aparicio said. “When I meet them years later as a former Coupeville grad, we would talk about how they looked up to me and the other way around, or, you know someone’s brother, etc.

“We have a connection to CHS through having experienced team sports together,” he added. “Scott Losey, Rusty Bailey, my brother, Marc, Jon and Jay Roberts, Rob and Rick Alexander, Dave and Tony Ford. A band of brothers and we didn’t even know it!”

Now a father (he married high school sweetheart Tami Stuurmans in 1991), he has had a chance to coach both of his daughters in various youth sports. Looking back on his own time as a young athlete, he realizes what an impact the teachers and coaches of his youth ended up having.

A talented drummer, he credits English teacher Steve Hill with giving him his big break musically. After joining the band Confessor as a high school junior, he played with them three years before quitting to play college football at Western Washington University, though he has continued to wield the sticks over the years in other groups.

On the playing fields, two men stand out — a football coach barely older than his players and a basketball dean who would go on to figure prominently in Aparicio’s life.

“I think having Ron Bagby come to coach football my sophomore year was a great fit!,” Aparicio said. “He looked like he was our age, but lightning fast and didn’t take any guff!

“I don’t remember any deep discussions with “Bags”, but you knew you were in for a battle as soon as you stepped on the field or court with him,” he added. “He had swagger. Coupeville needed an attitude adjustment back then and we got just what we needed when Ron and his group of buddies arrived in ’84.

A scrapper and hustler on the basketball court, Aparicio worked his butt off for the man whose family he would later join.

“As far as having a favorite coach, it would have to have been Cec Stuurmans,” Aparicio said. “He knew I didn’t have graceful skills on the b-ball court, but he knew I would do what he asked and he trusted me out on the court to put the hammer down on unsuspecting opponents.

“Plus, I married his oldest daughter, Tami, so I want to make sure I stay in his will!,” he added with a huge laugh.

A 25-year vet of the IT infrastructure and network operations industry, Aparicio enjoys watching his daughters follow in the footsteps of their parents (Sydney gets her cheerleader genes straight from mom). While careful not to push them too hard (“We looked at it as an opportunity to get with friends and run around, so that was the main focus, having fun”), he does feel the old juices flowing.

“Sitting in the stands is tough, because I’m very competitive,” Aparicio said. “I get very frustrated at the high school level watching teams that don’t have solid fundamentals. Not sure if it’s just the way kids are today, but I don’t think they have that same level of competitiveness for sports. Seems like it’s more important that everyone had fun, but losing is not fun, so not sure how you turn that around.

“I love to see how the kids experience the games, growing as individuals and learning how to work together, developing a strategy to get something accomplished,” he added. “It’s so awesome when that all comes together.”

Now clean-shaven, the man who helped usher in ‘staches to the Wolf squads of the ’80s (one photo from the period shows half the CHS boys’ basketball team sporting fuzzy lip action), Aparicio is content to let others carry on the mission today.

“I don’t miss it, but I can appreciate guys who can grow and support a gnarley ‘stache!”

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