Old newsprint captures Hall of Fame inductees (clockwise from top right) Jim Hosek, Eileen Kennedy, Jeff Stone and Marnie Bartelson (in front).
Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason.
While some induction ceremonies into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame have had a noticeable theme, today’s 34th class is united by only one thing — excellence.
A Wolf coach and three athletes, one of whom went on to be a successful coach himself, are welcomed into our hallowed digital walls.
After this, you’ll find them up at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab.
With that we welcome Marnie Bartelson, Jim Hosek, Eileen Kennedy and (hyperbole alert) the greatest athlete in Coupeville High School history, Jeff Stone.
We kick things off with Kennedy, who was running cross country for CHS back in my days as Sports Editor of the Whidbey News-Times.
Yes, it’s true, young ones. CHS once had a cross country program, one which can hang a number of title banners in the gym if the school becomes so inclined.
Kennedy didn’t run during that ’70s and ’80s heyday, though, and when she did run in the early-to-mid ’90s, she was often the lone Coupeville girl to do so.
A distance runner in track, she left volleyball behind as a junior and hit the open trail, and consistently beat all of the boys on the Wolf squad for the next two seasons.
She never won a state title like predecessor Natasha Bamberger, but she remains to this day one of the most dedicated athletes I ever covered, and Eileen’s serene spirit has always remained with me.
Our second inductee was a little rowdier, at least on the field.
Bartelson was a goal-scoring whiz kid, but, while she repped the red and white while playing basketball, she never actually wore a Wolf uniform on the soccer field.
Her freshman year Oak Harbor and Coupeville, after much back-and-forth fighting, instituted a joint soccer program, with Bartelson’s mom, Carol, taking the head coaching position.
The deal, which was bitterly opposed by the OHHS Athletic Director of the day, allowed Coupeville athletes to compete for Oak Harbor in sports which CHS didn’t offer, such as soccer, wrestling and swim.
The biggest impact of the deal, which went through various incarnations before being disbanded (after which Coupeville started its own soccer programs), was felt on the pitch, where the Wildcats inherited a superstar.
A program which hadn’t won a game before the arrival of the Bartlesons finished 4th at the 1994 state 3A tourney, with Marnie, a sophomore, being named MVP of the Western Conference.
The only other Coupeville girl on the roster that season was senior Amanda Allmer, the team’s imposing goaltender.
After she finished a spectacular prep career, taking the ‘Cats back to state as a junior and senior, the younger Bartelson tore up the college pitch, as well.
When she graduated from Utah State in 2000, Bartelson, who scored in her first college game, left her name high on the school’s record board.
At her departure, she was #1 in career assists, #2 in points and #3 in goals all-time, while also sitting at #1 for most goals (3) and points (7) in a single game.
Our third inductee had his own torrid streak.
Hosek coached more than one sport at CHS, but he will be best remembered for his run on the baseball diamond, where he racked up 103 wins, five straight league titles and four district crowns from 1973-1978.
Coupeville baseball made deep playoff runs every year he was at the helm, and his innovations followed him when he moved on to a successful run as a college coach.
One of those was Hosek’s habit of ordering his uniforms so that every jersey number included a one, reinforcing his belief that he and his team always view themselves as #1.
Our final inductee is the man whose name comes up most often when people talk about the greatest athletes in town history.
There are two or three other names which will be mentioned, but then, after a momentary pause, everyone says the same thing, “It’s Jeff Stone. No argument.”
After high school, he was a stellar college athlete, then went on to a long, successful run up North as a teacher, coach and Athletic Director in Oak Harbor.
But, during his days as a Wolf, he set records which still stand, nearly 50 years later.
The 1970 CHS grad is best known for basketball (more on that in a second), but, let’s take a moment and glance at the stats for his senior year of baseball.
.456 batting average
26 hits
23 runs
7 triples
2 HR
29 RBI
And yes, he led his team in every single category, if you’re wondering.
On the basketball court, of course, he has never had a peer.
Playing in the days before dunking and three-point shots, he threw down 644 points as a senior, leading a ’69-’70 Wolf squad that broke 100 points in a game four times (high of 114 against Watson-Groen).
Stone was the ultimate big-game player, scoring a school record 48 in the district title game (as Coupeville became the first Whidbey Island hoops team to EVER win a district title), then snatched 27 rebounds in a state playoff game.
To put those numbers in perspective, in the 46 years since he left CHS, the best any other Wolf has done in a single game was 39 points.
The best single season scoring total I have found for any other player, boy or girl, is 198 points below what Stone netted during his senior year.
And those players took full advantage of the three-point line.
We could go on and on, or we could just stop and say what everyone else says when Stone’s name pops up.
Best ever.
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