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Posts Tagged ‘anniversaries’

Night of legends, night of memories!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 20, 2018| 3 Comments »

   Denny Clark was one of many former Wolf greats who returned Friday for the 101st anniversary of Coupeville High School basketball. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Mike Bagby is ready to suit up and drop 30.

   Randy Duggan (center) catches up with his coaches, Bob Barker (left) and Craig Pedlar.

Bill Riley, born to be a star.

   Pat O’Grady, one of the stars of the 1969-1970 Wolves, still the highest-scoring team in school history.

   Jeff Rhubottom, a one-man wrecking crew in the ’70s, reunites with Coach Barker.

Barry Brown, one of the most talented Wolves to emerge from the ’60s.

   Late in his career, Coach Barker took over the CHS girls hoops job, where he coached Sherry (Bonacci) Roberts.

   As Dale Sherman (left) tells another tall tale, Kimberly (Stuurmans) Bepler (in pink) and Tami (Stuurmans) Aparicio catch up with former babysitter, and school record-holder, Jeff Stone.

Randy Keefe, forever The Man.

   Tim Quenzer, whose picture from ’69-’70 graced the cover of Friday night’s collectiable game program.

   Coach Barker informs Bill Jarrell that yes, he does still remember every basket the sweet-shooting guard scored back in the ’70s.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Friday night was a treat, watching history come to life in front of me.

As I’ve plowed through dusty newspaper archives, scrapbooks and the memories of those nice enough to put up with my questions, I have come to a greater knowledge of the history of Coupeville High School basketball.

But seeing the players and coaches of the past return for the 101st anniversary of Wolf basketball was something different.

Men who I never saw play, many of whom I had never even met before, walked into the gym and it was all suddenly very real.

The guys from the ’70s only needed a few seconds to fall back into giving each other a hard time, and you saw the teens they once were reemerge.

In a move that showed great class, the current Wolves went down the line before tip-off, shaking hands with the legends who had come back.

For a moment, Hunter Downes met Barry Brown, Mason Grove united with Randy Keefe, and the past, present and future of Wolf basketball were joined.

And then Bob Barker, a man who changed countless lives during his time as a teacher, coach and Athletic Director, entered the gym and it was as if Elvis had returned to the building.

I’ve sat through my fair share of games at CHS, in a lot of different sports, and witnessed electrifying wins and horrifying defeats.

What I witnessed Friday tops them all.

At its core, Coupeville Sports, whether through the articles or the side projects like the Wall of Fame or the basketball anniversary, is about making sure the past isn’t forgotten while the present is celebrated.

The men (and women) who have helped Wolf boys basketball endure for 101 years, deserve to be recognized, to be remembered, and to be appreciated.

A lot of people helped me pull this off, from CHS Athletic Director Willie Smith, who shocked me by saying “go knock yourself out,” to Katey Wilson, who worked magic in crafting the game program, to public address announcer Moose Moran, who took my purple prose and turned it into vocal gold.

To everyone who said yes, to everyone who showed up, to the players, coaches, managers, stat keepers, time clock operators, cheerleaders and fans, YOU are Wolf basketball.

Thank you for letting me be a part of your night.

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Carry on my wayward (Wolf) son!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , , on January 18, 2018| Leave a Comment »

It was nothing but net for the Wolf boys basketball program in the ’70s.

Little padding on the bench seats? Just made you tougher.

   Wolf cheerleaders had plenty to yell about as CHS made four trips to state in “The Me Decade.”

And they danced all night long…

The horn section rocks the house.

Bring back the socks, and Coupeville goes back to state. Just sayin’.

Celebrating with Coach Bob Barker.

“Psst … unleash Hell on my command, boys.”

The ’70s ruled.

Coupeville High School has been playing boys basketball for 101 years — seriously, Friday is the anniversary — but one decade stands above the others.

The program has been to the state tourney five times, and four of those came during the 1970’s.

The Wolves reached the promised land in 1970, 1975, 1976 and 1979, then waited until 1988 to return.

Trip #6 has been a long while coming…

Scan both the best single-season scoring marks and career scoring totals for individual players, and more came in the ’70s than any other decade.

It’s not that there weren’t good CHS players and teams before “The Me Decade,” or after.

Mike Criscuola was a man among young boys by the time he was a mere 8th grader, and his numbers from the ’50s have rarely been equaled.

Newspaper stories and tales passed down from those who saw him in person describe him as the barrel-chested second coming of Paul Bunyan.

Hunter Smith, who is shooting up the career scoring chart during the 2017-2018 season, his senior year, is among the best I have covered in person.

A huge part of that is because he is the rare modern-day player who I think would have survived and thrived in previous decades.

Simply put, he “plays the game the right way,” and I think the older players who are returning to CHS tomorrow night will come away impressed with him.

As we count down the hours until Friday’s epic anniversary shindig (3:30 JV, 5:15 varsity, with festivities at halftime and post-game), it’s the ’70s we’re marinating in at the moment.

The photos above are courtesy Renae (Keefe) Mulholland and capture a slice of time when the Wolves owned the hardwood.

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Hoppin’ through hoops history!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on January 16, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Sean Dillon (22) goes airborne, but the basketball refuses to make the trip with him.

   Randy Keefe knows when you’re the #3 scorer in school history, somebody, somewhere, is always going to be taking your photo.

   The rough-and-tumble hoops legends of the early ’50s look ready to start a back alley brawl.

Wolf coach Bob Barker rocks legendary pants.

   Praying to the hardwood Gods. Oh wait, they could be just looking for Marc Bissett’s lost contacts lens…

Foster Faris cuts down the nets.

Trophy in hand, Keefe waits for his post-game radio interview.

Old-school or new-school. Short shorts or long shorts. Layups or three-balls. All-League or bench warmers.

Doesn’t matter what decade you played, what style you used or how much floor time you got.

If you wore the Wolf uniform, or coached, or kept stats, or managed, or cheered at any point during the 101 years Coupeville High School boys basketball has been active, this Friday is for you.

CHS is throwing an anniversary shindig centered around its home game with Chimacum (JV 3:30, varsity 5:15), and everyone is invited back.

The school, with a lot of help from tech whiz kid Katey Wilson, is producing a snazzy collectible game program, which will feature info on the first CHS hoops game in 1917, the immortal ’69-’70 team and the Top 15 career scorers.

There will be festivities at halftime, then every former Wolf in attendance can be part of an epic “team” photo after the game.

Finally, current Wolf basketball moms are providing refreshments (cake!!) for a post-game reception in the health room, which is right outside the entrance to the gym, inside the same building.

As we head towards anniversary day, we’ve been dropping vintage photos left and right here on Coupeville Sports, and today’s come to us courtesy Renae (Keefe) Mulholland and Kimberly (Stuurmans) Bepler.

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You make me possible!!

Posted in Ranting and Raving, tagged , , , , , on January 15, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   It’s like I’m the net and your donations are the ball dropping softly through. (Maddie Vondrak photo)

Today is the official five-year, five-month anniversary of Coupeville Sports.

65 months, of which the last 31.5 I have gone without a “real” job, instead living one step ahead of The Man as a full-time writer, researcher and rabble rouser.

There have been many times during that second stretch when I figured the gig was about up, that it was probably time to head back to a dish pit or farm and beat the crud out of my fingers.

Now, if video stores made a sudden, jaw-dropping comeback, the decision would be easy.

Getting paid to watch movies, and harass people into renting Bottle Rocket or Bugsy Malone, was 15 years of easy street.

Of course, it ain’t happenin’ and we all know that, no matter how much I may daydream.

So, I plug on, making just enough to survive in my one-step-above-the-Unabomber existence.

Writers (or at least those of us not named Stephen King or JK Rowling) don’t get indoor/outdoor swimming pools.

If I wanted one of those things (and you know I do), I should have spent more time in school studying to be a doctor or lawyer, and less time driving creative writing teachers nuts scrawling stories about Adam and Eve rolling dice with Satan in the Garden of Eden.

That one came back with BLASPHEMOUS scrawled in scarlet, capitol letters across the top of the first page, followed by a lecture about my eternal soul.

Good thing Tumwater was a public school, and not a private, Christian one, or I might have vanished into the dungeons I assume they have beneath those institutions, presumably never to be seen again.

I don’t have many needs and am fairly happy to exist as I do, with a beat-up car which continues to shock the world by refusing to die, and my one “splurge” being the $8.69 I sometimes cough up for Netflix.

Now, I should have a long-term plan for Coupeville Sports, a way to ensure the financial stability of an “empire” built on … writing about sports in a small town on a rock in the water in the middle of nowhere.

Yes, well…

Anyways, I have gotten far more personally out of this blog, and its side projects, than I did out of all the years I wrote for the newspapers on the Island, so I persevere.

With no “real” job competing for my time, I have ramped up the number of stories I publish (5,821 so far, which averages out to three a day, every day), the speed with which I publish (why not read about the game you just played while you’re still on the bus ride home?) and those side projects.

With time to dig through dusty back rooms, attics, basements and half-forgotten memories, plus opportunity to drive local sports officials batty with frequent, grandiose requests, we’ve made a difference.

The Wall of Fame that runs the length of the CHS gym and honors teams and athletes from multiple decades.

The revamped football record board, which now more accurately tells the history of Coupeville’s gridiron accomplishments.

And now, this Friday’s 101st anniversary shindig for Wolf boys basketball, hopefully followed fairly shortly by a record board for girls and boys hoops.

If I was working a “real” job, none of that is likely to have happened, as I would never have had the time to research, beg, cajole and relentlessly drive those in charge batty.

Since I painted myself into a corner on advertising years ago, and steadfastly refuse to drop a pay wall on Coupeville Sports (never means never), I get by on the goodwill of my readers.

Your donations and your support are what keeps this going, and I thank you.

So, as we head towards the basketball shindig, and kick off the start of our 66th month on the blog, if you like what I’m doing (or just don’t want to see me cripple my fingers in a dish pit anymore), maybe think about actively supporting the cause.

And I call it a cause, because I am just the conduit.

This is about the athletes, coaches, managers, stat keepers, fans, cheerleaders, parents and family who came before us, the ones who are active now, and the ones still to come.

Past, present, and future, coming together to build the legend of Wolf Nation.

Me, I’m just the guy who is trying to document it all, and, if I can pay for some propane along the way, so much the better.

 

Want to help? You can donate by mail (165 Sherman, Coupeville, WA 98239), in person (I’m at almost every home game, for every sport) or via PayPal (there’s a donate button on the top right side of the blog). 

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You complete me!!

Posted in Fundraisers, tagged , , , , on August 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Won’t someone think of the children?!? Your donation today can keep me from returning to the work of my younger days.

We’re about to hit a major milestone.

Next Saturday, Aug. 12, marks the five-year anniversary of Coupeville Sports and, together, we’ve accomplished quite a bit.

The local newspapers have a job to do, and they do it well. In particular, Jim Waller at the News-Times is my Mr. Miyagi, and I have great respect for his work.

But, what we’ve concocted over here on the fringes of journalism, me the writer and you the reader, is its own thing.

No one else is as fanatical about Cow Town, or as prone to writing about it at 2 AM.

Through 5,417 articles, a book (get your copy today!) and side projects like creating the CHS Wall of Fame or working on football and (coming soon) basketball record boards, we’ve sparked a revolution.

And Coupeville Sports isn’t fading away anytime soon.

I hit a rough patch a few months back, and thought about walking away, but cleared my head and realized other things in my life needed to change, not my writing.

So, as we head towards another school year — fall sports practice begins Aug. 16, with the first game Sept. 1 — I am newly re-energized and ready to drive Athletic Director Willie Smith bonkers with 10,001 emails a day.

Through these five years, the thing which has driven me forward, which continues to lift me up, has been your support.

Whether financial or a pat on the back (or, sometimes, just a good kick in the rear…), knowing you’re reading, you care and you’re appreciative, is huge.

Since leaving Christopher’s on Whidbey two summers back, I have scraped out a living solely as a writer.

While I’m not getting that indoor/outdoor swimming pool with a waterfall in the middle anytime soon, I haven’t missed my rent (my landlord thanks you) and my middle-aged fingers don’t miss the dish pits.

As I fire back up for a new school year, this is a perfect opportunity to be the wind beneath my wings.

If you’ve ever thought about supporting Coupeville Sports, my writing and researching, now is a perfect time.

Buy an ad ($100 for the life of the blog), purchase a copy of Bow Down to Cow Town or flip a few bucks my way.

There’s a large Donate button on the top right of the blog or you can mail something to 165 N. Sherman, Coupeville, WA 98239 or stuff dollar bills in my pockets in person.

I’ve never charged to read Coupeville Sports, and never will. If you want to read it for free, so be it.

But, if you want to be one of David’s Best Ever Friends, even better.

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