The blocking crew who powered the 1990 CHS football squad are joined by (bottom, left to right) Hunter Hammer, Randy King, Kyra Ilyankoff and Tina (Lyness) Joiner.
Winners, through and through.
That perfectly describes the members of the 13th class to be inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.
A diverse group with some crossover, they all had high standards and left behind big marks, though one is still adding to his legacy at Coupeville High School.
Joining their brethren under the Legends tab at the top of the blog are Kyra Ilyankoff, Hunter Hammer, Randy King, Tina (Lyness) Joiner and the 1990 CHS football squad.
Our first inductee, Ilyankoff, was a powerhouse on the volleyball court and in the track stadium.
As a spiker, she owns school records for most blocks in a game and a season, while as a thrower, she placed in the top four at state as a javelin hurler three times.
With a second, third and fourth place medal to her name, it was only injuries that kept Ilyankoff from going a flawless four-for-four from 2008-2011.
A serene, sweet-natured young woman who had a fiery, intense drive deep in her soul, she will always stand tall when we talk about Wolf athletes who simply wowed us.
Standing tall came naturally to Hammer, since the camera-lovin’ force of nature eventually grew to a lanky six-foot-seven.
On the basketball court, he was a dominant force on very successful squads (his 2009-2010 team went 16-5, best in a long time for CHS boys’ hoops), before joining track as a thrower his final two seasons, shattering long-held school marks and claiming three medals at state.
Through it all, he broke the mold by refusing to play dour like a lot of male high school athletes do when it came time for photos to be taken.
He loved having his photo snapped, and the camera loved him, thus launching the first in a line of solid gold Photo Bomb champions at CHS.
Others have come for his title in the years since, but Hunter was, is, and will always be, The Man.
Hammer’s coach in both his sports, King, has the longest current tenure of any CHS coach.
After 20+ years on the hardwood as boys’ varsity basketball coach, he stepped away, but then returned to coach middle school hoops in recent years, while continuing to lead the Wolf track program.
A teacher and sometimes football PA announcer, King has done it all and I find it hard to believe there will ever be a day when he’s not at the school, helping to guide a new generation of athletes.
And we’re certainly not going to wait for him to retire to induct him into our Hall.
Our fourth inductee, the hoops artist formerly known as Miss Lyness, was an assassin with a sweet soul.
One of the nicest people to ever trod the earth, Tina completely tamped that down when she strode onto the basketball court.
A standout player with ice in her veins when it came time to put the ball into the hoop, she was a key part of making history.
Her short eight-footer at the buzzer as a senior lifted Coupeville to a stunning 43-42 upset of dastardly ATM, knocking the private school power out of the playoffs and sending the Wolves to state.
That 1999-2000 squad would go on to become the first CHS team, in any sport, to win a game at state, kick-starting a decade’s worth of excellence in the program, but all of that would never have happened if she hadn’t dropped the dagger.
And now Tina has a young son who is showing signs of being a golf/fishing/whatever-sport-he-wants-to-play prodigy, meaning she might have helped to kick-start a new wave of excellence that will pay off for Wolf Nation down the road.
Topping our inductees on this day is a team that, without much argument, can lay claim to being the best in its sport ever produced by Cow Town.
The 1990 gridiron warriors, led by a talented senior class that left school in spring of ’91, went 9-0, winning a Northwest League title while outscoring opponents 258-107.
Led by a power running game and a cerebral, highly-efficient quarterback in senior Jason McFadyen, the Wolves rolled all the way to hosting a state playoff game.
Buffeted by Whidbey wind, Coupeville fell to Rainier in a state quarterfinal game Nov. 10, 1990, but that lone loss can’t mar what came before.
And, cementing their status, no other Wolf football team has stepped up to match their unbeaten mark or make it back to state in the 25 years since they last strode the gridiron at Mickey Clark Field.
It would be nice, on this anniversary, if the school would step up and honor the ’90 squad, though it doesn’t seem likely. Coupeville, unlike other schools, often lets its athletic past go to waste, which is a shame.
But whether they get their moment back on the field or not, we here at Coupeville Sports can remember them, and induct them, as a team, into our Hall.
Together, one more time, they are:
Ron Bagby (head coach)
Brian O’Hara (assistant coach)
Jon Prater (assistant coach)
Tom Roehl (assistant coach)
Brian Barr
Ben Biskovich
Troy Blouin
Danny Bonacci
Todd Brown
Ross Buckner
Ted Clifton
Matt Cross
Sean Dillon
Chris Frey
Scott Gadbois
Les Hall
Brad Haslam
Van Kellems
Scott Kirkwood
Eric Lester
Mark Lester
Kit Manzanares
Frank Marti
Jason McFadyen
Craig McGregor
Gerald McIntosh
Jason McManigle
David McMillan
Jerimiah Prater
Virgil Roehl
Ben Russell
Ryan Samplawski
Todd Smith
Joseph Staples
Nate Steele
Kevin Steiner
Aaron Williams
Tracy Wilson
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