Chimacum’s most famous export.
Small talk. It’s a big game.
As Coupeville prepares to move into a new league this fall, you may find yourself face-to-face with fans from new schools, trying to find a common ground.
Of course, you want to be prepared, ready to pepper your conversation with little tidbits of info that make the person on the other side think you know their town inside out.
You might be bluffing, but they’ll never know.
So, here we go, some meaningless facts on the three towns which will send schools into the new 1A Olympic League to vie with your Wolves for athletic supremacy.
You’re welcome.
Chimacum:
*Despite the town being named for the American Indians who once occupied the land (the Chimakum tribe) the school mascot is … the Cowboys. Awkward.
*Author Betty MacDonald grew up on a local chicken farm and turned her childhood into a best-selling book, “The Egg and I.” Later, the book was transformed into an Oscar-nominated film in 1947 starring Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert.
Ma and Pa Kettle, who were supporting characters in the original film, spun off into their own series. Nine movies were produced starring Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride, and the series was so popular it saved Universal Studios from bankruptcy.
Given second life, the studio went on to release “Jaws,” “E.T.” and “Jurassic Park” in later years and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2012.
*’70s folk singer Linda Perhacs, who worked with Daft Punk on their 2006 film “Electroma,” recorded a song called “Chimacum Rain.” You can listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb59WCJTs_Q
Port Townsend:
*Forget about Cowboys. The school nickname for 88 years was the Redskins, until a change (amid much heated debate on both sides) this year.
During the search for a new nickname, one of the finalists was Sasquatch, but it wasn’t to be, as the more mundane Redhawks won out.
*Legendary sci-fi writer Frank Herbert (“Dune“) and mountain climber Jim Whittaker, the first American to summit Mt. Everest, both called the town home at one point.
*Glass, a progressive rock trio that played in the ’60s and ’70s, including at the first Jimi Hendrix Memorial Concert, consists of three PTHS grads (Jeff Sherman, Greg Sherman, Jerry Cook).
After being bumped out by disco and punk, they vanished for a bit, then resurfaced in time for Y2K and are back at it again.
To sample some of their recent work, which has a “Twin Peaks” goes to church vibe, try: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su_5AEpSuy0
Klahowya:
*Officially known as the Klahowya Secondary School, and servicing grades 7-12 in Silverdale, the school was a 2A school up through last year, and just slid under the cutoff to drop to 1A when the new counts were taken in the spring.
*The youngest of the four schools which will call the Olympic League home, KSS was opened for the 1996-1997 school year, and claimed a 2A state title in girls’ soccer in 1999.
*”Klahowya” is Chinook for “Greetings” and the name is currently plastered on an 800-passenger, 87-car ferry that plies the waters in the San Juans. It also graced a sternwheel steamer that operated on the Columbia River from 1910-1915.
Coupeville Sports 