There’s no way this is the ONLY Coupeville-related sports photo from the ’70s still out there. Time to clean out your closets, folks. (Photo courtesy Chuck Hardee)
OK, now that I’ve got your attention…
Over the last 30 weeks, I’ve been hard at work crafting my own personal Hall o’ Fame (it’s at the top of the blog under the Legends tab), a celebration of the people, teams and moments which, collectively, make up our town’s sports heritage.
The reaction has been far more intense than I ever imagined.
To be honest, the whole thing started as a way to give me something to write about on Sundays, traditionally the slowest day of the week in the world of small-town sports.
Now, it’s become something bigger. Much bigger, at times.
But, for it to truly blossom as greatly as it can, I need your help. Cause, even though I like to pretend otherwise some times, I don’t know everything.
The Hall so far has slanted a bit towards more modern times (though there is one guy in there who would be 100+ if he was still alive), because, having covered sports on Whidbey off and on since 1990, that’s the time period of which I have some first-hand knowledge.
Every day new names and tidbits pop up, especially from the years when I was busy in the video store biz, but a fair amount of the people who have been inducted are people I covered, people I have met, or people whose name still lingers in town.
But we need to stretch out and reach farther into the past.
I know, without a doubt, there were great athletes, coaches and teams in Cow Town in the ’60s and ’70s and well before then.
The tricky part is this — there is no magic room where I can go and get info on all that.
The Whidbey News-Times no longer allows “outsiders” to go through their bound volumes of past newspapers (understandably, as old news print crumbles under repeated use … and I annoy their corporate overlords).
The internet has its uses, but nowhere on it will I find info on how CHS did in football in the ’40s, much less a roster for the 1975-76 Wolf boys’ basketball squad, which is approaching the 40th anniversary of the first win at the state tourney in program history.
Coupeville High School, unlike some other schools, has done a haphazard job of holding on to its sports history, frankly.
All those score-books from years past? Left in the care of individual coaches, with a lot of them largely scattered to the wind.
A while back, the sons of the late coach Tom Roehl brought me a filing cabinet full of his stuff, and it was invaluable.
Going through his paperwork, for instance, I found conclusive proof Ian Barron should hold the school’s career football rushing record, and it’s not even close, regardless of what the school’s own record board currently says.
Then you have the banners in the gym, which would suggest no Wolf team did anything of importance before 1990, which is laughable.
BUT, and this is a big but, there is info out there. I know it, I can feel it.
And that’s where you all come in.
Are you sitting on score-books, rosters, photos, memories? You need to share them.
Nominate a player, a coach, a team, a contributor, a moment and tell me why. Give me info so I can sound half-way convincing when I induct them.
I have my own constantly-changing list of potential inductees, but I guarantee this, you can win me over. It’s not hard to do.
And remember, the only limitation on who and what gets inducted is up to you, the readers.
It’s not all about high school sports. Your great-grandfather was a barnstorming wrestler? Tell me about it.
As long as there is some slight connection to Coupeville, it’s all in play.
Email me (davidsvien@hotmail.com), write to me (165 Sherman, Coupeville, WA 98239), message me on Facebook or Twitter or leave a comment here on Coupeville Sports, talk to me in person at a game or harass me at the grocery store.
Can’t call me, cause I don’t have a phone, but you can work around that.
I am doing what I can, but the only way this continues to work, the only way it becomes something truly magical, is if we all chip in.
Bury me in history, baby.
Coupeville Sports 