Clockwise, from left, are Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame inductees Madeline Strasburg, Lexie Black, Kyle King and Kim Meche.
A young Willie Smith, reunited with a vintage stat sheet from the 1999-2000 CHS girls’ basketball season.
I am now starting a weekly argument.
Simple as that.
If you look at the very top of this blog, there’s a tab, marked “Legends,” which sits next to “David’s Best Ever Friends” and “Who’s responsible for this.”
Under that tab, you will find the brand-new Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.
Today, I induct my first class, with one female athlete, one male athlete, one coach, one team and one moment.
Every Sunday I will add a new class, publishing a story and adding the inductee(s) to the roll of honor, where they (or it) will live on as long as this blog does.
Going forward, it’s a crap shoot.
I can add one, or a bunch. No guarantee every division will have equal representation.
Like most of what’s on this blog, it’s whatever strikes my fancy that Sunday.
BUT, you, the reader, do have a huge say.
I have an idea where I’m going to go, who I’m going to induct. But I want, and need, your input.
I need you to email me (davidsvien@hotmail.com), message me on Facebook or talk to me in person at games.
Tell me who you want to be in the Hall o’ Fame. Convince me.
Anyone who has ever played or coached in Coupeville is eligible, whether they were here in the 1920s or are currently playing.
I have a pretty good feel for local sports history, but, I will be the first to admit I have huge gaps.
Think a player, a team, a coach, a moment is being snubbed or forgotten?
Lecture me. Long and loudly.
Will I agree? Maybe. Maybe not. But I will listen to you and mull it over.
And then, like usual, I’ll do whatever I dang well choose.
But, if you don’t try and convince me I’m an idiot, then you can’t complain when I am an idiot.
Spread the knowledge. Get on your soap box. Light me up. Bring it on.
And now, to our first class.
When Major League Baseball inducted its first class, it went with Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner and Babe Ruth, arguably the five best players in history at that time (if you ignore the fact the Negro Leagues were completely ignored).
This class is not an effort to match that. I am not claiming these are the absolute best Coupeville has ever seen in these divisions.
That’s an argument for another day.
What I am saying is these three individuals, this team and this moment are among the finest we have ever seen in Cow Town. They are a dang good place to start.
In no particular order, the first-ever class to be inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame are Lexie Black, Kyle King, Kim Meche, Madeline Strasburg and the 1999-2000 CHS girls’ basketball team.
Why?
Lexie Black (Female Athlete) — The most sustained run of excellence CHS has seen in any sport came in girls’ basketball, from the late ’90s through the mid-to-late 2000’s.
Other players put up bigger offensive numbers, but Lexie is the one who, a decade later, still holds a major record, for most blocked shots (10) in a 1A state playoff game.
Her commitment to defense and team, her willingness to sell out completely and demand other teams get the heck out of HER paint marked her as a top-notch player.
That she is one of the nicest, sweetest, smartest women you will ever meet, well, that’s just a bonus.
Kyle King (Male Athlete) — Five state titles as a track star. Utter dedication to his craft, never missing a day, even when he and younger brother Tyler ran shirtless through the snow.
One of the few Wolf alumni to go on to an equally successful college career, running three years at Eastern Washington and one at Oklahoma.
Kim Meche (Coach) — A very talented volleyball player who became a very strong coach and later, administrator. Never lost her smile, or her fight, as she battled cancer for years, inspiring countless students, former players and colleagues.
A class act every step of the way, and the first inductee I chose.
Madeline Strasburg (Moment) — I have never seen anything quite like it.
Maddie Big Time, the ultimate big-game, big-moment player, stole the ball at mid-court, whirled and banked in a three-pointer from the left side that beat the third quarter buzzer by a millisecond.
OK, great play, but…
Two weeks later, coming off of Christmas break, the Wolf girls’ basketball team returns to the court.
Seconds to play in the third quarter, Strasburg, a junior at the time during the 2013-2014 season, rips the ball free, whirls, lets fly … and banks it in from mid-court, then runs off screaming as the buzzer wails.
The same incredible play. The same EXACT moment. Back-to-back games, 17 days apart.
I still don’t believe it, and I saw it happen.
1999-2000 CHS girls’ basketball (Team) — A slam dunk.
Other teams won more games. Other teams had better finishes. But this is where it started, when the Wolves refused to let it end.
March 2, 2000 they became the first team in school history to win a game at the state tourney, in any sport.
And they did it the way they had all that season, as a team of gutsy ball-hawks who attacked relentlessly, just the way coach Willie Smith drew it up.
Trailing Freeman by 11 points going into the fourth quarter, the Wolves, led by Tina Lyness, Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby and Brianne King, roared back to take the fourth quarter 20-5.
But, in the end, it wasn’t the big three, but ultimate role player Jaime Rasmussen who iced the 46-42 win, scoring the go-ahead basket before draining two free throws with five seconds to play.
A team that started the season 0-5 came back to shock Archbishop Thomas Murphy twice, then pulled off the defining win in school history in classic fashion. While having a lot of fun along the way.
Inducted, as a team:
Willie Smith (head coach)
Cherie Smith (assistant coach)
Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby
Penny Griggs
Brianne King
Yashmeen Knox
Tina Lyness
Jaime Rasmussen
Nicole Shelly
Rachelle Solomon
Tracy Taylor
Emily Young
Laura Young
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