Happy birthday, Bessie!!
Bessie Walstad was the gold standard.
From the first moments of her freshman year to the last days of her senior seasons, she was as fine of an athlete, and a person, as Coupeville High School has been graced to have in recent memory.
A star, and better yet, a true leader who reached out to all of her teammates, top to bottom, Bessie’s impact went far beyond mere stats.
Though she had those, too.
As she anchored Wolf volleyball, basketball and softball teams, Bessie was almost always at the top of what ever chart you wanted to keep.
She has a chunk of trophies, letters, awards and All-Conference honors and deserves them.
Competing for Coupeville at somewhat of a tough time, as the Wolves tried to survive against rivals with much bigger student bodies and scholarship-bestowing private schools in the 1A/2A Cascade Conference, Walstad never backed down.
She came out swinging, always, and played hard from the opening tip to the final strike.
And she did it always with a huge smile on her face. She wasn’t playing because she had to, but because she wanted to.
Bessie, who celebrates her 20th birthday today, is now at George Fox University, on to new adventures and new successes.
But what she did for four years in the red and black can not be minimized.
She is that shining example that young athletes coming up should look to emulate.
Walstad never skipped a season, never skipped a sport. She played to win, every time, but handled wins and losses with the same grace. She was a leader, a true teammate.
Bessie took her four years at CHS and got as much out of them as she possibly could. She will be able to look back at her high school athletic days and have few, if any regrets.
I have covered sports on Whidbey Island for 24 years and she would be on the short list of the best student/athletes I have ever covered. For her athletic accomplishments, yes, but also for the person she was, and is.
Happy birthday, Bessie, and thank you.
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