The 1925 Coupeville High School yearbook, only the fifth the school produced in its first quarter century. (Jack Sell photos)
Mollie Bailey’s great-grandfather, Robert “Fat” Engle, headlined the nine graduates.
1925 was a golden time in Coupeville.
The farm boys were the undisputed titans of Island County 91 years ago, besting Oak Harbor and Langley to nab county championships in three of the four sports played in those days.
Football, basketball and track all belonged to the Wolves, whose players bore nicknames like “Fat,” “Cushy,” “Beans” and “Sockee.”
Only baseball eluded their grasp, when a narrow 3-0 loss to Oak Harbor left them in second-place, a game back, at seasons end.
I learned all that, and much more, thanks to a fairly pristine copy of the 1925 Coupeville High School yearbook, the “Clarion,” which landed in my hands thanks to local library legend Leslie Franzen.
Dotted with just as many Engles, Shermans, Grassers and Libbeys as you would expect, the yearbook was the fifth published in school history (CHS started in 1900) and the first in many years.
It’s also easily one of the most detailed I’ve seen, sports-wise, from any time period.
All the scores are there, with neatly-ordered little write-ups on each game, providing a crystal clear window into prairie sports of the past.
So, grab your seat in the Wayback Machine and let’s skip back to a time when the faculty numbered three, the graduating class hit nine, and the athletic wins topped both combined.
Football:
An 18-man squad, led by captain Robert “Cushy” Cushen, quarterback Marion “Buster” Sill and lineman Robert “Fat” Engle, aka current CMS star Mollie Bailey’s great-grandfather, stuffed Oak Harbor twice to be hailed as county champs.
The Wolves finished 3-3, splitting games with Anacortes and falling to Burlington and Fairhaven, but frankly, none of that mattered as long as they crushed the interlopers from up North.
And they did, rolling to 23-6 and 25-7 wins.
Playing in a time before face masks were en vogue, Coupeville got touchdowns from Cushen, Sill and Joe Bruzas and a “well-directed” field goal from their captain in the first win.
The second time around, the two teams played in front of an estimated 400 fans, all of whom saw that Oak Harbor’s line “was like paper and their offense easily stopped.”
Langley apparently sat football season out.
Basketball:
The Falcons returned in the winter, but the hot streak continued for the Wolves, who went a flawless 4-0 against their Island rivals.
Tripped up a bit by bigger off-Island schools, Coupeville finished 6-5, but played four postseason games.
After beating Index 13-10 in a battle to decide which team from the district would advance to the Northwest Tournament, they went 1-2 at the tourney.
Which raises the question, not easily answerable, if that ’25 squad should be regarded as district champs, 45 years before the 1970 Wolf squad was hailed as the first Whidbey boys’ hoops team to win a district title.
What we do know for sure was Coupeville drilled Oak Harbor (22-10 and 16-12) and Langley (19-11 and 28-17), and center Roy Armstrong was the Jeff Stone of his day, dropping in 80 of his team’s 177 points that season.
On a side note, 47 years before Title IX kicked in, CHS fielded a girls hoops squad as well, though it almost ran out of players before the season was finished.
Still, led by captain Mary Sherman, the Wolves did pull off one victory, nipping Langley 12-9.
Baseball:
The Wolves were denied a third-straight county championship, losing a 3-0 pitcher’s duel to Oak Harbor on the final day of the season.
Joe Libbey struck out 11 over nine innings, but he was matched by North end hurler Ely (no first name listed), who benefited from a three-run eighth inning rally by his teammates.
The win left Oak Harbor, which took two of three from the Wolves, at 4-1, while Coupeville finished 3-2 (4-3 overall).
Langley, which did NOT have a great 1925, struggled in at 0-4, being blown out 18-4 and 13-4 by the Central Whidbey sluggers.
Track:
The Island County Track Meet was dominated by the farm boys, with Coupeville’s 70 points more than Langley (28) and Oak Harbor (21) combined.
Sill, a four-sport letter winner as a junior, won three events, taking the 50, 100 and 220 races.
Dean Edmundson won the discus and high jump, while Armstrong (pole vault), Lewis Berry (shot put) and Stanley Bruzas (mile) also came in as victors.
Coupeville capped off its stellar 1924-1925 campaign by handing out athletic letters to:
Football:
Roy Armstrong
La Verne Arnold
Melvin Arnold
Lewis Berry
Joe Bruzas
Stanley Bruzas
Robert Cushen
Wesley Dickinson
Dean Edmundson
Robert Engle
Melvin Grasser
Aron Grove
Melvin Holbrook
Roland Jenne
Sam Kieth
Fred Lovejoy
Marion Sill
Basketball:
Armstrong
L. Berry
Cushen
Engle
Kieth
Joe Libbey
Sill
Jennie Capaan
Maxine Fowler
Marvel Howard
Eunice Libbey
Jessie Libbey
Daisy Race
Frances Race
Mary Sherman
Beulah Sullivan
Alice Winterburn
Luella Zylstra
Baseball:
L. Arnold
Burley Berry
L. Berry
J. Bruzas
S. Bruzas
Cushen
Grasser
Kieth
Libbey
Lovejoy
Sill
Track:
Armstrong
L. Berry
J. Bruzas
S. Bruzas
Edmundson
Kieth
Sill
