Two-time CHS Female Athlete of the Year Kristan Hurlburt. (Photo courtesy Sylvia Hurlburt)
Christine Fields had a pretty dang amazing run as a high school golfer. (John Fisken photo)
The forbidden dance, the Wobble, back in the olden days of 2012. (Melissa Losey photo)
Willie Smith: “Of course I can do The Wobble. I’m kind of a dance prodigy myself. Taught John Travolta and Patrick Swayze all their moves!” (Fisken photo)
A trinity of trailblazers and the day the dance died.
The sixth class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame has a bit of everything, and then some.
We have two athletes who excelled in ways that were unique, a coach who was like no other and the hip-shaking sensation that swept the nation, then got banned from Mickey Clark Field.
Rising up and joining their brethren under the Legends tab at the top of the blog — Kristan Hurlburt, Christine Fields, Willie Smith and the Wobble.
Fields, a two-sport star (soccer, golf) who just graduated from Coupeville High School and is headed off to San Diego State, goes in to the Hall for her play on the links.
Which is not an easy feat, since CHS doesn’t have a golf team.
But Christine, along with older brother Austin, made the commitment to find a way to follow in the footsteps of dad Mike, a golf pro.
That meant getting themselves to another school with no help from CHS — first Oak Harbor, then South Whidbey — and competing as a lone Wolf.
The extra travel and hurdles never slowed her down, however, as Fields qualified for the 1A state tourney all four years of her high school career.
Once there, she finished 8th, 15th, 5th and 6th — one of the best runs of excellence any Wolf has thrown down, in any sport.
The Fields family combined to make seven trips to state, and while Christine’s top-tier finishes nabs her the Hall call first, you know Austin, a true devoted big bro, would be the first to congratulate her.
Hurlburt, who was brought to my attention by niece (and current cheer/track/ballet supernova) Sylvia Hurlburt, was one of the first female athletes to bust through and get a proper level of respect for their accomplishments.
Kristan’s justifiably proud niece had the following to say:
I nominate my aunt Kristan for the Hall of Fame.
She got Athlete of the Year twice. Her name is on both of the plaques that are on the wall in the gym.
She was the first female athlete to get her picture on the wall for Athlete of the Year.
She played basketball, softball and tennis. She went to state three times total, two in basketball and one in tennis.
They got no banners because girls sports weren’t that important back then.
Quoting her, “We were lucky if the school provided us with a bus to the game or match.”
And that is why I nominate my aunt.
The Wobble lives again thanks to the Hall, revived three years after its sudden death.
There was a run for a bit where every CHS home football game would be capped with a cheerleader-led hustle to a catchy, Cab Calloway-influenced rap song by Atlanta’s own V.I.C..
You can see the original video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE_64SdD27w
With slightly toned-down lyrics for a high school audience, it was something every one could do, regardless of their dancing ability.
Invariably, it would pull in most of the remaining people in the stands and send everyone out the door with a smile on their face, win or loss.
But in October of 2012, after a complaint from ONE person, the dance was bounced and now Wolf football games just sort of lurch to an end, instead of closing on a communal, bouncy note.
But step into the air-conditioned digital world of the Hall o’ Fame, and the Wobble is playing on a never-ending loop. The way it was meant to be.
A man who could move to any beat, our final honoree hits the stage to the sound of AC/DC rippin’ into “Thunderstruck.”
Willie Smith once said, while laughing and rocking so far back in his chair he almost fell over, “I don’t need to be in any Hall of Fames, cause I’m in every Hall of Shame!!”
Most coaches, if they could manage to get that line out, accompanied by Smith’s impeccable timing, would walk away, satisfied they had hit quote nirvana.
For Willie, however, that was merely one small moment in a lifetime of solid gold quotes.
Epic win or epic loss, whether he was giddy or a half-second away from leaving his players on the side of the road and walking back to Whidbey by himself, Smith understood the necessary dance between coach and the ink-stained wretches of the press and he never half-assed his side of the “contract.”
He never dodged a question in his life and if he ever prints all of the stories he told us (especially the ones we couldn’t print) the man is headed to the best seller’s charts.
Smith deserves his spot in the Hall for revolutionizing the Wolf girls’ basketball program and becoming the first CHS coach in any sport to win a game at state.
And he deserves it for 19 years of building the school’s baseball program into one that was respected by other hardball gurus like Stan Taloff and Jim Waller, men who are enshrined in real Hall of Fames.
But he also gets in because he hit that field every day with a huge smile, tossing candy at rival players to throw them off stride for a moment.
He competed as hard as any coach I’ve ever covered, and he taught his players to never back down, never embarrass yourself or your teammates and to embrace the joy of the moment.
Willie Smith has been the gold standard around these parts for as long as I’ve been covering high school sports.
While his recent retirement (we’ll see if it sticks) deprives us, it just makes it that much more likely he’ll spend next baseball season camped out behind home plate, lobbing candy and good-natured insults at the umpires, sardonic grin stretched ear-to-ear.
You can take the man out of the game, but you can’t take the game out of the man.
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