Clockwise from top left are Sarah (Mouw) Samuels, Brad Sherman, Bob Rea and Brad Miller.
There have been talented athletes and big moments in the history of Central Whidbey sports, but few reached the levels achieved by those who make up the 55th class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.
Two athletes who ruled over multiple sports, and two moments when nothing short of perfection was achieved, make up today’s honorees.
So welcome into these hallowed digital walls Sarah (Mouw) Samuels, Brad Miller, the afternoon Bob Rea whiffed 27 batters in one game and the night the Wolves boys’ basketball squad made all 22 of its free throw attempts.
After this, you’ll find them atop the blog, living under the Legends tab with their brethren.
We’re kicking things off with Rea, who is already in the Hall as an athlete.
Today, he goes in for the day in 1964 when he set a Coupeville High School baseball record which has remained untouched for 50+ years.
Facing off with Darrington on its home field, Rea went the distance in a wild 16-inning affair, setting down 27 Loggers before collapsing back onto the school bus with a 2-1 victory under his belt.
Ray Cook, who notched 21 K’s in a 1976 game, seems to be the only other Wolf to have topped the 20-strikeout mark in a game, and if you let a modern-day pitcher throw 16 innings, the coach would probably be fired for “abuse.”
So, I’m pretty sure Rea’s marks may stay untouched for another 52 years.
While his performance was largely a one-man show (though he still needed his teammates to score, eventually), our second moment enshrined in the Hall today was a true team effort.
In the 20 years Randy King coached boys hoops at CHS (1991-2011), he had three nights when his team was flawless at the charity stripe.
One team was 2-2, another 4-4 and then, on Jan. 3, 2003, four Wolves combined to go 22-22 at a time when Coupeville needed every single point.
Trailing host Friday Harbor by six entering the fourth, the Wolves ripped off 27 points, 15 on free throws, to rally for a 63-58 win.
Casey Clark led the way, going 11-11 (the only player to hit double digits in made free throws in a single game during King’s tenure), with eight of those coming down the stretch.
Nearly matching him was Brad Sherman, who hit all seven free throws he attempted in the fourth.
Mike Bagby and Brian Fakkema had each tickled the twines for two freebies apiece earlier in the game to wrap up the best night at the line in modern Wolf history.
Afterwards, in typical understated King fashion, his response to the papers was simply “That’s a pretty good performance.”
Indeed.
Our third inductee, Miller, was a master of the big moment, a rampaging beast in three sports.
Big and bald (he often sported a shaved head when I was covering his exploits), the 1995 CHS grad scored 526 points on the hardwood, while hauling down a considerable number of rebounds.
He was the team’s leading scorer as a junior, number two as a senior and, along with fellow Hall o’ Famer Gabe McMurray, formed one of the most potent one-two combos the Wolves have ever had.
Put him on the baseball diamond and he was one of the few modern-era players capable of making a run at Rea and Cook as a strikeout fiend.
Miller whiffed 19, 18 and 14 in different games, while also leading the team at the plate, where he topped the Wolves in hits as both a junior and senior.
Samuels had a lot less time at CHS than any of her fellow inductees, as she and her family moved to Whidbey from Iowa in 2001, just in time to start her senior year.
That year, though, she put together a run that stands with anyone to ever wear the red and black.
A First-Team All-League pick in all three of her sports (volleyball, basketball, softball), she was a Northwest League Co-MVP in softball and helped carry all three of her squads to state.
Volleyball won a league title (the last time Wolf spikers have done that), finished second at tri-districts, then made a run at state, while basketball (6th in 1A) and softball (3rd in 1A) achieved the best results in program history.
With Samuels meshing her considerable skill-set with classmates Ashley (Ellsworth-Bagby) Heilig and Tracy (Taylor) Corona, the hoops squad rolled to two straight wins to open the state tourney.
While they hit a roadblock after that, the 2001-2002 squad remains the only Wolf hoops team to reach the state semifinals.
As good as she was in volleyball and basketball, Samuels saved her best for last.
On the softball diamond, she joined a program which was making the jump from slow-pitch to fast-pitch and she promptly put together the best individual season ever achieved by a Wolf slugger, before or since.
Samuels led CHS in batting, doubles, triples, home runs and RBIs, while going 22-2 on the mound for a team that finished 24-3.
After years of lackluster performances, the Wolf softballers won the only league title in program history, then swept to four wins in five games at state, falling only to nine-time state champ Adna.
Now that’s domination.
Coupeville Sports 