Ryan O’Keefe (top with children, l to r, Gavin, Kendra and Kramer). Bottom, as a CHS ace and early diamond days. (Photos courtesy Renae Mulholland)
Four-time state track meet medalist Brian Miller.
Marilyn (Sherman) Clay (back row, far left) and fellow Wolf cheerleaders. (Photo courtesy Diane Eelkema)
A terror on the hard-court, Clay (bottom, far right) played at a time when female athletes rarely received the notice they deserved. (Photo courtesy Jack Sell)
Unsung excellence.
It’s what the three athletes who comprise the 49th class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame embody.
Dynamic stars, in different decades, the trio set records, won awards and yet have never really gotten their full due, for various reasons.
But today, as we welcome Ryan O’Keefe, Brian Miller and Marilyn (Sherman) Clay to these hallowed digital walls, they get their well-deserved moment in the spotlight.
After this, you’ll find them up at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab, cause that’s what they are.
We’re starting with the young gun in the bunch, Miller, who was a strong athlete all across the board, but left his biggest impact in track and basketball.
Competing at the same time as Coupeville’s most successful male track stars of all time — Kyle and Tyler King — Miller’s accomplishments went a bit under the radar.
They shouldn’t have.
Before this year’s trio of Lindsey Roberts, Makana Stone and Dalton Martin joined the club, Miller was one of just four Wolves in the school’s 116-year history to win three medals at the same state track meet.
As a senior in 2008, he showed incredible range, finishing 5th in the javelin, 6th in the high jump and running a leg on a 4 x 400 relay team which claimed 6th.
Toss in a 3rd place finish in the high jump as a sophomore, and his track career remains one of the best CHS has ever seen.
Miller wasn’t a one-trick pony, either, raining down 597 points across three seasons as a varsity basketball player.
He led the team in scoring as a junior, was second as a senior and fourth as a sophomore.
During his junior and senior seasons, Miller’s main running mate on the hardwood was Kramer O’Keefe, the son of our second inductee.
Ryan O’Keefe, part of a spectacularly-talented athletic family, which includes children Kramer, Kendra, and Gavin — all in the Hall for their own stellar play — had his greatest success on the diamond.
Coming hot on the heels of fellow Wolf great Raymond Cook (who was two years ahead in school), O’Keefe — then pitching as Keefe, before the family restored the O, was as good a mounds-man as Coupeville has ever seen.
When CHS played doubleheaders, O’Keefe would toss the opening game, then move to shortstop in the nightcap with Cook sliding onto the mound.
Among his many highlights was a 15-strikeout one-hitter to carry Coupeville to a state playoff win and a nine-game winning streak as a senior where he threw a complete game every time out.
Hidden away in his earlier days was the time O’Keefe pitched seven innings for his junior high team, then went out that same night and tossed a six-inning game for his little league squad.
That ability to do a bit of everything was also showcased by our third and final inductee, Clay.
Attending school at a time before Title IX, she never had the opportunities current Wolf female athletes take for granted.
While school records are spotty (at best) and the News-Times writers of the day ignored anything which wasn’t football, baseball or boys basketball, any time you talk about female athletes in the early days, Clay’s name pops up in the conversation.
A talented tennis player who also was a cheerleader, sang in the chorus, acted in the school play and frequently appeared on the honor roll, she was one of the trailblazers today’s stars should recognize.
Which wouldn’t be too hard to do, as she frequently appears at CHS sporting events with husband Bob, following the exploits of her countless relatives.
You can’t be a Sherman in Coupeville and not know at least one or two names on the roster, most days.
