Coupeville Sports

Jack Elzinga, a Wolf hoops legend then and now.

They’re a part of the brotherhood of the hardwood, forever.

Wednesday night, Coupeville High School junior Mikey Robinett made his varsity basketball debut, knocking down a pair of buckets to become the 411th player to score for a program which began way back in 1917.

Or at least he’s the 411th player I can document, as there are still many players from the very early days whose names and stats remain hidden behind a veil of prairie fog, their fates bound to long-lost scorebooks.

For every Banky Fisher and Gaylord Stidham, who led the 1939-1940 CHS hoops squad with 44 and 41 points respectively, there remains a bunch of prairie guys from the ’20s and ’30s just out of my grasp.

Which is why it was such a thrill in May 2021 when a program legend suddenly surfaced with new info, gently bemused that I cared so much about his teenage days.

Jack Elzinga filled up the hoops for the Wolves in the early ’50s, then went on to lead an extraordinary life.

One day he Googles himself and finds to his amazement some dude back in his hometown has been name-dropping him on a regular basis.

An email exchange later, with his side of the conversation feeling more like a beautifully handwritten letter, “The Zinger” reveals he’s not only still alive, but possesses info on the 1953-1954 Wolf squad, one of my two holy grails.

Thanks to Elzinga, I’m able to finally lock down finished career numbers for both him and Jerry Zylstra, while getting halfway home in my mission to honor Tom Sahli.

Now, we know for a fact Sahli owns the seventh-best single-season performance by a Coupeville boy, knocking down 409 points as a senior.

Combined with the 310 he tallied as a junior, he sits with 719 points on my list, jumping from #90 to #20 on the career scoring chart.

Now there’s still the matter of that other missing holy grail — a scorebook for Sahli’s sophomore season of 1951-52 — but every time someone cleans out an old barn, hope flutters on the winds.

Thanks to Elzinga’s stats, Zylstra (527 points) moved from #59 to #44 all-time, while Elzinga (770) himself jumped from #25 to #14, then back to #15 after Hawthorne Wolfe passed him last season.

“The Zinger” twice led the Wolves in scoring, rattling the rims for 337 and 309 points as a junior and senior, coming after he notched 124 as a sophomore while playing alongside Sahli.

Last night, after Robinett joined the hoops brotherhood, I was talking to current CHS coach Brad Sherman (#8 all-time on the scoring list) and Elzinga’s name came up.

So today I did my own Google search and was saddened to discover “The Zinger” passed away at age 83 in late August.

His obit mentions he battled heart disease for several years, and in our emails, he mentioned he was likely the only All-District player of his time who had survived polio just five years prior.

In our last exchange, Elzinga capped things thusly:

This has been a ball for me. So happy to share things with someone with your quirky interests.

It was my honor, sir.

Coupeville Sports has opened a door to the past and allowed me, and many others, to remind the world the 106-year tale of Wolf boys basketball is not a dead history, but an ever evolving one.

From Roy Armstrong in the ’20s to Sid Mudgett in the ’50s, from Del O’Shell in the ’80s to Oscar Liquidano in the 2010’s, every player who pulled on the uniform is part of something bigger than themselves.

Why do I write so much about stats — tracking them, name-dropping old school players as new-age players craft their own stories?

Because last night, along with Robinett’s debut, Wolf junior Logan Downes popped for a game-high 17 points, which moves him from 318 points to 335, and bumps him from #91 to #82 on the all-time chart.

That means he passes Jim Yake (331), Aaron Trumbull (330), Brad Brown (328), Charlie Tessaro (328), Utz Conard (326), Ian Smith (324), David Ford (323), Bob Rea (320) and Chris Marti (319) — all heavy hitters.

It doesn’t make their stories any less compelling, but Downes pursuit of excellence gives us a chance to remember what those other players meant to the Wolf program.

Whether you scored 1,137 career varsity points like Jeff Stone and Mike Bagby, or are one of the seven dudes to record exactly one point, you are part of the brotherhood.

Celebrate the past, cheer the present, look forward to the future.

Take a moment to toast “The Zinger,” then show up at the CHS gym tonight as Downes, Alex Murdy, and the current cast square off with Sedro-Woolley, ready to pen another chapter.

To read Jack Elzinga’s obit, pop over to:

https://www.gainesville.com/obituaries/pgai0286914