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Logan Downes lines up a free throw during his junior season. (Andrew Williams photo)

It’s the gold standard.

Across 107 seasons of Coupeville High School basketball, we’ve documented 762 different players — 416 boys and 246 girls — scoring in a varsity game.

Until today, only nine had topped the 1,000-point barrier.

Now, it’s double digits for the four-digit club.

Wolf senior Logan Downes became the sixth CHS boy, and tenth player overall in school history, to achieve hoops immortality, doing so Friday on a slash to the hoop as time ran down in the first quarter of a 72-30 rout at Darrington.

The silky sniper finished with 16 points in limited minutes and sits at 227 with half his senior season left to play.

The Wolves, now 8-2 on the current campaign, have 10 regular-season games still on the schedule (assuming a postponed South Whidbey clash is reinstated), then hopefully a long playoff run.

The look of a freshman who’s coming for all the records. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Downes scored 52 points as a freshman during a Covid-shortened season, then jumped to 172 the next year, helping CHS win a league title and advance to state.

As a junior, he torched the nets for 554 points, the second-best single-season performance in school history, trailing just Jeff Stone’s 644 in 1969-1970.

Downes is averaging 22.7 a night as a senior.

 

The CHS 1,000-point club:

Brianne King — 1,549
Novi Barron — 1,270
Makana Stone — 1,158
Jeff Stone — 1,137
Mike Bagby — 1,137
Randy Keefe — 1,088
Megan Smith — 1,042
Mike Criscoula — 1,031
Jeff Rhubottom — 1,012
Logan Downes — 1,005 and counting

Steve King

Coupeville Schools Superintendent Steve King has submitted a resignation letter to the school board.

In an email to staff Friday, he said, “This decision comes after a great deal of reflection and the letter summarizes everything I have to say at this time.

“In the next few weeks the district will communicate with you in regards to transition plans with my departure coming at the end of June.”

 

To read the letter, pop over to:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YEQCdr8GIAn5YQhBwwlSkrVJXwyApDi_/view

Jamar Jenkins keeps the music flowing. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

For the first time in two decades, there’s a new person currently in charge of keeping the beat going at Coupeville High School and Middle School.

Jamar Jenkins, the school’s music teacher and band director since 2003, is currently on paid administrative leave.

Coupeville Schools Superintendent Steve King released a statement from CHS/CMS Principal Geoff Kappes Thursday afternoon, in a bid to offer clarity to rampant discussion on social media.

That statement:

“As many of you know Mr. Jenkins has not been teaching his classes over the past couple of weeks.

“In order to make sure you have accurate information I’m writing to inform you that Mr. Jenkins is on paid administrative leave while the concerns that were reported are being investigated.

“This leave is not disciplinary and the District has reached no conclusions regarding what personnel actions, if any, may be appropriate.

“We ask for patience and respect for the investigative process, as well as your understanding that we are not able to discuss further specifics of the concerns at this time.”

A graduate of the University of Washington, Jenkins has an extensive history as a professional musician, coming up through the Seattle funk scene in the 1970’s.

A guitarist and vocalist, he is one of the founders of the band Cold, Bold, and Together, originally known as Funk Experience.

Cold, Bold, and Together in their prime. (Photo property Light in the Attic Records)

That group, which later introduced the world to Kenny G, was together from 1971-1978 and opened for Canned Heat, Kool & the Gang, KC & the Sunshine Band, and Earth, Wind & Fire among others.

After band members opted to move on to different projects as disco swept the nation, Jenkins went to college, got married and fathered children, and moved into teaching music.

He had teaching stints in Tacoma and Los Angeles before moving to Whidbey Island, where his wife, Allenda, grew up in Oak Harbor.

Jenkins daughter, Janiece, is a member of the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, captured three medals at the state track and field championships in 2005, and held the school record in the 200 for eight years.

Kirsten Pelroy, a talented athlete and better human being.

Kirsten Pelroy is a special human being.

Utterly unique, her soaring spirit eclipsing even her often-amazing athletic talent, the 2016 Coupeville High School grad forever lives large in the memory of Wolf fans.

Kirsten’s name still graces the CHS track record board in the entrance to the school’s gym.

She was just a fab frosh in 2013 when she ran a leg on a 4 x 400 relay team which set a mark which has now stood for more than a decade.

One of the silkiest, deadliest runners to ever step to the line while reppin’ the red and black, Kirsten was a multi-event threat.

She ran on all three relay teams during her high school days, and actually also still holds part of a Coupeville Middle School record for the 4 x 200.

When not perfecting her baton handoff, then coming up big in crunch time moments during the postseason, Kirsten ran in the 100, 200, and 400, while also competing in both the 100 and 300 hurdles events.

Racking up 10 wins, multiple PR’s, and a lot of dropped jaws from rivals, she was a key part of a generation of superb female athletes who held their own against athletes from much-bigger schools as Coupeville proved it didn’t matter how many students a school had, as long as the ones they did possess were kick-ass warriors.

That carried over to the soccer field, where Kirsten used her quicksilver speed to zoom away, or sometimes right over, any fool who tried to make a play for the ball while it was on her toe.

Staring down the best booters the world could send her way, she was a rock-em, sock-em superstar who often sacrificed her own stats for the good of the team.

Kirsten played for the girls on her squad, and her happiest moment as a CHS soccer player seemingly came on Senior Night, when she asked for a group hug and got promptly mobbed by her pitch sisters.

“Can’t catch me, can’t stop me!!” (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Toss in a run as a Wolf cheerleader, and Mitch’s lil’ sis was the real deal as a well-balanced athletic success.

But like all of the truly memorable ones, Kirsten’s impact went far beyond sports.

She was, and is, a bright, shining light piercing a world of greys.

Back in her high school days I described Kirsten thusly:

“A whip-smart, truck-drivin’, multi-hair-colored-rockin’ whirlwind of fun ‘n sun, she has style for days and her epic smile reaches the field a good two feet before she does.”

A radiant star, hanging out with two of her biggest fans. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Nothing has changed since her exit into the adult world, as she remains one of the most-vibrant human beings you will ever meet.

Which is part of why today, after too long a wait, we warmly welcome Kirsten into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame as our newest inductee.

After this you’ll find her hanging out under the Legends tab at the top of the blog, joining big bro.

Entrance to our digital shrine may make it “official” that Kirsten is one of the true big-timers of Wolf Nation, but you don’t need me to tell you how special she is.

If you’ve ever met her, spoken to her, or watched her gracefully navigate the world, you already know.

Look up “transcendent” in the dictionary, and there Kirsten Pelroy will be, rockin’ the joint as always.

Dr. Jim Shank gets to shake the hand of a legend. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Gabe McMurray powers to the hoop for a bucket during an alumni game. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Gabe McMurray was a beast.

One of the big stars at Coupeville High School during my days as Sports Editor at the Whidbey News-Times in the early ’90s, he dominated in multiple sports and left an enduring impact on a writer only a few years older than he was.

The news that he passed away this week, well before his time, hits hard, and I extend my sympathies to his family and friends.

A 1995 graduate of CHS, Gabe scorched the basketball nets for 592 points, and surely grabbed as many rebounds, while playing alongside Brad Miller in one of the most formidable one-two combos I’ve witnessed during my on-again, off-again years in the Coupeville gym.

Standing at six-feet-two inches, he capped his prep hoops career by being named a First-Team All-League pick by Cascade League coaches.

That year, Gabe poured in a team-high 355 points for Randy King’s squad, still one of the best single-season performances by a Wolf basketball player, boy or girl.

That came on the heels of a 235-point performance during his junior campaign, while his first varsity bucket hit the bottom of the net when he was a sophomore.

Gabe, who was also a standout on the football field, was an inductee in the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, and came back around in his later years to prove he still had it, throwing down buckets in alumni games while often facing off with younger rivals.

He was one of a kind, as an athlete and a person.

Gabe’s former classmates and fellow Wolf athletes gathered on social media to remember him as word filtered out.

In the words of Natalie (Slater) Fisher on Facebook:

“Today CHS lost a friend. You touched many with your kindness, sarcasm, and contagious smile. You will be missed.”