Hawthorne Wolfe, prairie legend. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Amadeus is a great movie, one of the best to ever claim Best Picture at the Oscars.
It’s the somewhat-fictionalized tale of a real-life genius — the fast-talkin’, fast-walkin’ king of transformative musical compositions, one Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
As brought to life by Tom Hulce, who was Oscar-nominated but lost to film rival F. Murray Abraham, the film version of one of history’s legendary wild men is mesmerizing.
And why do I bring this up now, so many years after Videoville has faded into memory and I scrape out my bucks writing about prep sports instead of gushing about films?
Because, for the past seven years-plus, Hawthorne Wolfe — the most-entertaining man in prep sports — has reminded me on an almost daily basis of Mozart, or at least the version of him captured on celluloid.
Whether raking on the baseball diamond or draining three-balls on the hardwood — while launching a lot of those long-range missiles from somewhere out in the parking lot — Hawk is truly unique.
“Are you not entertained?” (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Others are here to play, some to excel.
Hawthorne is here to burn the joint down, marinate in the cheers (or boos) from the gathered throng, and make dang sure you’ll remember him long after the final whistle.
Bobbing, weaving, playing to the audience — both the one in the stands and the one inside his own brain — he talks to the refs.
To other players.
To people in the stands.
And, frequently to himself, keeping a running commentary going and being his own best hype man.
It has been ever so, since Hawthorne was a floppy-haired middle school hoops hotshot who ran laps around the gym after missing a single free throw — in a game Coupeville won by double-digits.
Now, at one point, he switched up and started running backwards, just to see if his coach noticed.
Then reversed again, and was back going forward just as said coach started to say something, a devious grin on his face as Hawk relished the confusion.
A young Hawk, angling to earn some sweet, sweet cash from doing hair shampoo ads. (Pat Kelley photo)
When high school arrived, Hawthorne, channeling the shoot-first, shoot-second, shoot-always style of “Pistol” Pete Maravich, was a varsity starter from day one of his freshman season.
He never left the starting lineup, and, even with a pandemic putting a (slight) crimp in his roll, crafted one of the best runs any Coupeville hardwood player has ever achieved.
Hawthorne led the varsity in scoring as a freshman and finished just a bucket off of repeating that feat as a sophomore.
That was also the first of several moments when I witnessed him find a new maturity, as he spent his time after a season-ending playoff loss not asking about his own point totals, but instead praising the veteran players who were departing.
“A little shake, a little bake, and then I embarrass you.” (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Two seasons in, with two to go, he was set up for a run at the very top of the all-time scoring chart for a CHS hoops program which was 101 years strong before he pulled on a varsity uniform.
You don’t always get what you want, though, and dealing with the reality of life has made Hawthorne (and his Class of 2022 mates) stronger for the struggle.
A gym rat who lived to put up shots, he reached a new level as a junior, raining down 21 points a night — only to be sandbagged by Covid cutting the season to 12 games.
With the pandemic receding (a bit) during his final go-round, Hawthorne lived through the best and worst of a sports world thrown asunder by nonstop virus testing and often arcane rules.
The 2021-2022 basketball season saw all but two members of the CHS varsity boys team have to sit out games at some point, with coach Brad Sherman often juggling lineups at the last moment.
Through all the confusion, though, the Wolves responded, often with a different player leading the scoring attack each night.
In this jumbled world, Hawthorne, like his teammates, adapted.
Returning from his own down time, he found a new niche as a wild man on defense.
He delivered crisp passes to open teammates and was a cheerleader for his fellow hoops stars.
All while remaining the king of chatter, the guy who danced and flexed and popped his uniform in front of the Oak Harbor student section after Coupeville savaged its big-school neighbors.
That opening-night win hailed a season for the ages, as Wolfe and the Wolves won the program’s first league title since 2002 and its first district crown since 1970, before punching a ticket to state.
Party like it’s 1970. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Coupeville was 16-0 and the only undefeated team left in 2B when it earned its first berth at the big dance since 1988, and narrow losses to powerful Kalama and Lake Roosevelt can’t dampen what this group achieved.
Hawthorne went out the only way he could, dropping 10 of his team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter of his final high school game.
That his final shot — a three-ball flicked skyward while he balanced on one leg — splashed through the net to give him exactly 800 career points was the exclamation point required.
Of course, he didn’t stop there, heading out to the baseball diamond where he earned league MVP honors while helping spark Coupeville to another league title.
Like Mozart before him, Hawthorne was composing new ditties to the end, taking time to talk it up with the ump between innings as he strolled back to the dugout after striking out the side in a tense late-inning game.
Everyone else was on edge.
Hawk? He was having the time of his life, as always, and wanted to make sure to share the feeling with everyone involved.
A lot of athletes have come and gone across the decade that Coupeville Sports has existed, but few, if any, have been half as entertaining as Joan McPherson’s grandson.
Hawthorne always had a story to tell, his eyebrows wiggling in delight as he let loose.
He could be sensitive — his tributes to Bennett Boyles, a teammate who lost a battle with cancer early in life, were poignant.
He could be a little cocky, but it was a fun cocky, delivered with a disarming smile, and it was balanced by his growth in maturity, both as an athlete and a person.
Most of all, he was worth the price of admission every single time out.
Win or lose, Hawthorne was going to amuse, he was going to impress, and he was going to do it in a way only he could.
If you thought there was any question as to whether he would one day gain entry into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, you haven’t been paying much attention.
Hawk was headed to the top of the blog, ready to fling the door open on the Legends tab, from the time he was in elementary school.
You can’t play favorites, they tell me.
To which I respond, yes, I most certainly can.
“The autograph line starts over there.” (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
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