Clay Reilly may have hung up his jersey, but his legend still lives large. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Clay Reilly was a gamer.
Baseball or football or basketball (the latter in his younger days), the Coupeville High School grad was one of those rare athletes who never, ever seemed to give less than his best effort.
Every game I watched him play, Reilly went down fighting until the final out, the final second ticking off the clock, regardless of the score. And I saw the majority of the games he played at CHS.
And yes, Amanda Fabrizi’s lil’ bro (in age, at least) rocked some of the most impressive hair this side of a shampoo commercial, but it was his locked-in attitude, and not his flowing locks, that we will remember him for the most.
The 2017 grad left an indelible mark on Wolf Nation, and, for that, we induct him today into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, where he joins his sister.
After this, you can find both of them up at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab.
Where to start with Clay? At the end, I think.
His senior season of baseball, the final sport of his prep career, ended with an agonizing playoff loss at home. It was a game he personally played very well in, but he and his teammates just couldn’t get past their private school rivals.
As many of the other Wolves stood aimlessly around the dugout, or chatted with fans and friends, Reilly walked out to the fence in the deepest part of the outfield and stood alone for a bit.
I can’t tell you what all was going through his mind at the time, and, while I could guess, I wouldn’t ask, then or now.
I understand why sports reporters stick tape recorders and notebooks in athlete’s faces moments after they’ve taken season or career-ending losses. It’s part of the job and yet it’s not fair to the reporters or the athletes.
Sometimes it’s better to just let a person have room to breathe, a moment to themselves to begin to absorb everything they’ve gone through, the highs and lows of years of sweat, hard work and dedication.
While there was obviously sadness, I hope, that in that moment, and in the time since, Reilly also dwelled on the positives of his season and career.
Of all he accomplished, of all those he inspired and impressed with his ability, his drive and his commitment.
He was a standout on the diamond, a dude with a rocket for an arm, fleet feet and a dangerous bat, and he played a key role on the first CHS baseball team to win a league title after 24 years of wandering in the wilderness.
That came during his junior season when Reilly, CJ and Hunter Smith, Cole Payne and Co. swept to the crown in the Olympic League, accomplishing something no Wolf diamond squad had achieved since 1991.
While the Coupeville football team didn’t win any league titles during his run, Reilly, who rose to be a captain by his senior season, provided Wolf coaches with multiple options.
He could run, slashing through the line. He could snag passes, pulling in bombs while being blanketed. He could size up a guy and drop his rear on the turf, wherever you played him on defense.
And, maybe most memorably, Reilly could kick the ever-lovin’ snot out of the ball.
A dangerous return man on special teams, he became Coupeville’s kicker and punter in the latter stages of his career, quickly becoming one of the deadliest booters in the entire state.
Reilly nailed 20 of 21 PAT kicks during his senior year, while racking up nearly 1,200 yards as a punter. Coming in a season where the Wolf offense struggled at times to find a rhythm, his foot was often their best way of moving the ball.
One punt, in particular, will live long in the memories of Wolf fans.
CHS had sputtered out and was pinned deep in its own half of the field, when Reilly, dodging incoming defenders, let loose with an epic kick.
It sailed high, straight and true through the lightly foggy fall evening, arcing and tumbling ever so slightly, then came down behind the would-be returner, tore off a chunk of grass and took a perfect bounce, arcing towards the end zone.
With Wolf special team players in hot pursuit, the opposing team had no chance to return it, and no willingness to backpedal and chase after the rapidly-fleeing football.
By the time a Coupeville player downed the ball, it had traveled, with kick, and well-timed bounce, some 70+ yards, and remains maybe the single most awe-inspiring kick I have seen in a high school game.
Later that same season, while on the road and camped out in a rival team’s press box, I watched Reilly launch moon shot after moon shot on his kicks, earning actual ooh’s and ah’s from an opposing coach camped out a few feet away.
“Lordy, that kid is killin’ us!!,” he wailed into his head set, and then he stopped, rubbed his forehead and sighed deeply.
It was the ultimate sign of respect for one of the ultimate competitors to ever wear a Coupeville jersey.
Your prep sports career may be over, Clay, but you will always live large in our collective memory.
Coupeville Sports 