Modern-day Bill Riley. (Photo courtesy Riley)
“I hope that my teammates and coaches that are still alive today would say I was a good teammate.”
Bill Riley remains one of the most talented athletes to ever represent Coupeville High School, the second ever to be named CHS Athlete of the Year, but he was never concerned with being showy or drawing attention.
Instead, he was a highly successful three-sport athlete by focusing on what he could add to a team.
“Stay humble, let your performance on the court or field be all you need to say,” Riley said. “No need to bring any attention to yourself or celebrate excessively after a great play.
“People will know you did well without the theatrics.”
And the 1973 CHS grad did as well as any athlete to ever pull on the uniform, an All-League First-Team pick in basketball and football (on both sides of the ball) who also went to the state track and field meet as a long jumper.
On the hardwood he was on the 1969-1970 hoops squad that became the first in school history to go to state, then later compiled the second-best single-season scoring average in program history.
Put him on the gridiron and he was a monster, or, at the very least, played a position known as “monster,” which gave him the ability to follow the ball (“That was fun!”) at all times.
It worked, as league coaches honored him for his work as a safety and floating linebacker, as well as his offensive game as a running back and flanker.
So it came with little surprise when Riley was tabbed as his school’s Athlete of the Year in ’73, making him the successor to Corey Cross, who won the first two times the award was handed out.
Following in his teammate’s footsteps remains an honor for Riley.
“I had the deepest respect for Corey,” he said. “He was a natural leader.”
As an athlete, Riley soaked up lessons from those around him, and the men who were coaching him, lessons which have impacted him throughout the years.
“No question, Coach (Bob) Barker was a significant influence,” Riley said. “I looked up to the upperclassmen, Randy Duggan, Corey Cross of course, Jeff Stone, Pat O’Grady.
“On the coach front Craig Pedlar (track and JV BB). In football, Coach Steele, Lippincott, Hosek and legendary football coach Sid Otton were all important figures during those development years.”
With the passage of time, athletes of the ’70s, who put together a truly golden era in Coupeville, may not be as well-remembered as they once were, but the town remains largely the same.
“Those memories are long gone for most people that lived in Coupeville when I was playing sports,” Riley said. “What is irreplaceable, and I believe so special about Coupeville, is how the entire town would support the team.
“Small schools and their towns seem to have that closeness with their teams,” he added. “It felt like the movie Hoosiers at Coupeville during basketball season.”
Riley, who fondly remembers the run to state in ’70 (he was a last-minute selection as a freshman when another player was injured), tempers that with a bit of sadness over his highly-rated ’72 squad falling just short and being knocked out a step away from state by La Conner.
But through good times and bad, the sport remains his favorite, and one he is still active in today.
While he gave up playing in 2008 after a hip replacement, he has been involved in sponsoring teams at the 3A/4A state tourneys in Tacoma for many years.
“Basketball was the best sport because it has kindled a love for the game to this day,” Riley said. “I still believe that high school basketball is the purest form of the game.
“For the last 14 years I have been able to be with the players and coaches, at practices, in the locker room and meals when they come to the Tacoma Dome for three days.
“It’s penance for not making it in 1972, I suppose,” he said with a laugh. “In a sense I get to go every year to the state tourney, living it thru the teams I sponsor.”
The one-time prep sports star grew up to get an undergraduate degree in Business Finance and an MBA, and has been involved in real estate brokerage, investment, property management, construction and land development since 1978.
As he’s progressed through the business world, Riley has used sports lessons to shape modern-day decisions.
“So many lessons to be learned from playing sports — competition, leadership, working together for a common goal are all attributes that have helped me in business,” he said. “Having good mentors at an impressionable age was invaluable.
“I specifically remember Coach Barker using the term “we were a poised team” in 1972 after coming back and winning the Kings Garden game,” Riley added. “I believe we were down double digits late in the fourth quarter.
“Winning games, sometimes by small margins, provided a great lesson on remaining calm during times of stress and has helped me in business.”
Riley’s daughter, who followed her dad into the business world, is 30 now, and if he ends up with athletic grandchildren, the former Wolf ace will be quick to help the newest generation.
“I would help them aspire towards competitive sports because it taught me so much about life, but only if they initially show a liking.”
As he looks back on his own fond memories and surveys the modern-day sports scene, Riley has one very important lesson to pass on.
“Soak it in; it goes by fast,” he said. “Never feel that you’re great or good enough; there is always something you can work on to make you and your game better.”
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