Foster Faris, April Ellsworth-Bagby (top, on left) and Clay Hughes headline today’s Hall of Fame class.
They can stand with anyone.
The three athletes and one basketball team headed into the Coupeville Sports Hall of Fame on this sunny Sunday are among the best to ever grace the hallways at CHS.
Two Athlete of the Year winners, one of the most underrated running backs in program history and the last Wolf boys’ hoops team to make the trip to state, they join together to form a potent group.
So, with that, we open the doors to these hallowed digital walls for the 63rd time and welcome April Ellsworth-Bagby, Clay Hughes, Foster Faris and the 1987-88 CHS boys’ basketball team.
After this, you’ll find them atop the blog, under the Legends tab.
Our first inductee, Ellsworth-Bagby, was a two-sport star (volleyball, softball) who capped her senior season by being named the school’s Female Athlete of the Year.
On the court, she helped lead the Wolf spikers through some of their best seasons, while on the diamond she was a standout pitcher on teams which finally brought respectability to the softball program.
After high school, April went on to compete in college rugby, served 15 months in Iraq and was honored as a Pat Tillman Military Scholar while seeking her law degree.
Part of a highly-successful sports-orientated family, many of whom welcome her to the Hall, Ellsworth-Bagby graduated right on the cusp of the golden years for Wolf female athletics in the early-to-mid 2000s, but it was athletes like her who set the stage for what was to come.
She may not have gotten the trips to state little sister Ashley did, but April is a star in her own right, as an athlete, a soldier and a lawyer.
Our second inductee, Hughes, was one of the most inspired gridiron runners to ever suit up in the red and black.
Churning away next to fellow Hall o’ Famer Casey Larson, Hughes racked up 1,582 yards and 15 touchdowns in his two years on the Wolf varsity.
He broke the 100-yard barrier eight times in 17 games, three times busting 150 yards, with a high of 164 against always-brutal Concrete.
Clay was a busy bee, also returning kickoffs and punts, hauling in passes and lighting up fools on the defensive side of the ball, playing through pain at times against a stretch of the toughest foes Coupeville has faced.
Off the field, he was (and is) a walking-talking grin machine come to life, but strap on the helmet and pads, and Hughes was a rough and tumble bruiser. Never forget.
Now, if this was a real Hall o’ Fame, our third inductee, Faris, would probably have been one of the first in the doors.
But I’ve struggled to find a photo of him (until, one day, I looked up at the school’s display of Athlete of the Year photos and a light bulb went off…) and finding anyone who kept stat sheets from the ’70s?
Yeah, good luck on that.
But if you go off of nothing more than the memories of those he played with, or for, Foster is truly one of the best athletes to ever pull on a Wolf jersey.
Esteemed long-time CHS coach Bob Barker picked him as one of the five best athletes he had ever seen at the school, and the athletes who followed in his footsteps, such as David Ford, tell glowing tales of his accomplishments.
So let’s welcome Faris into the Hall, while still continuing the search for clippings and stat sheets from his prep days.
Clean out your attics, your basements, and help me really honor his athletic legacy.
Rounding out our roster for today is one of the most talented teams in school history, in any sport, the ’87-’88 CHS boys’ hoops squad.
Led by remarkably balanced scoring (four guys averaged in double figures, led by Timm Orsborn at 13.9 a game), the Wolves went 19-6 and remain, 28+ years later, the last team in program history to make it to state.
Coupeville finished 10-2 in Northwest B League play that year, missing out on a share of a league title by a single game.
But one huge positive was giving league champ La Conner, which finished 5th at state, its only conference loss.
After running wild through the regular season, the Wolves split four games at districts (which they hosted), then absorbed two tough losses at state to top-level schools.
As we wait for the the boys’ hoops program to get back to the big dance (10,400+ days and counting), let’s give the ’87-’88 squad one more curtain call.
Inducted together, as a team:
Ron Bagby (head coach)
Sandy Roberts (assistant coach)
Cec Stuurmans (assistant coach)
Brandy Ambrose
Marc Aparicio
Andrew Bird
Brad Brown
Tom Conard
Tony Ford
Chad Gale
Dan Nieder
Timm Orsborn
Morgan Roehl
Joe Tessaro
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