Madison Tisa McPhee and Jake Tumblin (top) are joined by fellow inductees (l to r) Megan Smith, Ashley Heilig and Brianne King.
As dominant as you can imagine, and then some.
The 9th class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame features four female athletes who define athletic success in this town, and one guy who was pretty darn good, too.
Making the move to the top of the blog, where they’ll take up residence under the Legends tab, are Megan Smith, Madison Tisa McPhee, Brianne King, Ashley (Ellsworth-Bagby) Heilig and Jake Tumblin.
What connects these five?
Success, success and more success. Oh yeah, and raw talent, too. That’s always nice.
Tisa McPhee is the rare Wolf to have shined brightly as an athlete both in and out of school.
While wearing a CHS uniform, she was a dazzling volleyball and soccer player, one who was willing to sacrifice her nose if necessary to stop the other team from scoring.
Her biggest impact, though, came on the track oval, where she was a fleet-footed sprinter and hurdler, helping to set school relay records and hauling home multiple medals from the state meet.
Put her on a horse and Mad Dawg was just as likely to kick your rear, thundering through obstacles and becoming one with her trusty steed.
Before she exits the stage, we’ll let her deliver a speech for Tumblin, a standout football and baseball star who is now a two-time inductee (he was a key member of the 2010 Central Whidbey state championship little league squad).
Hi Mr. Svien! I just read about your new HOF deal and I have an extremely amazing athlete (I may be biased but I don’t care) for you to consider … Jake Tumblin!
Jake, for some reason I still can’t get my head around, was looked over as Athlete of the Year his senior year, when he was the starting catcher for about three years on the baseball team and starting in whatever position his football coach ever asked of him all through high school as well.
And, as you know he is going to play at Simon Fraser in the fall.
He is not only one of the best athletes Coupeville has and will ever see, they will not get a greater captain on any team or all around student.
Jake is one of the most modest, strong and considerate players/teammates etc. there has ever been on a field.
Why he was not Athlete of the Year when he was all of this and more I couldn’t flipping tell you.
He is the person that the school should idolize and hold a standard of for all the rest of student athletes to come.
And knowing him as well as I do he would make it seem like he could care less about what CHS staff and administration picks him for or not, but he is also deserving of recognition for the time/effort and sportsmanship he put forth during his four years.
JT is most definitely a worthy choice.
And with that, Rumblin’ Tumblin, Jake the Snake, zips into the Hall o’ Fame the same way he used to hurtle into the end zone — like a bat out of Hell.
Hot on his heels is the holy trinity, the three women who were the absolute pinnacle of sports excellence in Coupeville over the past 20 years.
Smith was a three-time Athlete of the Year winner who lettered 12 times (four each in volleyball, basketball and softball), the best athlete in a family that has already seen coach/dad Willie inducted into the Hall o’ Fame and brothers Ian and James dangerously close to joining them.
Megan is that rarity, a highly-accomplished athlete who led by example while rarely displaying any ego.
Her quiet confidence and her will to win were astonishing and if you have one game to win to save the world, in any sport, I want her front and center.
She was/is that good.
King and Heilig also had very successful siblings, a chunk of whom are currently in the Hall as we speak, but you can make a very strong argument Brianne and Ashley, like Megan, are the standard bearers for their families.
When it comes to CHS girls’ hoops, no player has ever scored as much as King did, and it’s not even close.
As far as we’ve been able to figure out, she owns the top three single-season efforts in program history and scored 1,549 points during her splendid career.
Her totals:
(1999-2000) — 275
(2000-2001) — 446
(2001-2002) — 386
(2002-2003) — 442
Without even taking into account her exploits as a track and cross country runner into consideration, Brianne is a slam dunk for the Hall.
Our final inductee is the one who I have the biggest personal connection to.
These days, Ashley is grown up and married, a mom to an adorable little girl who may one day be the next great Wolf superstar, but, to me, she’ll always be the girl with the pigtails and the extra-baggy shorts who also worked behind the counter with me at Videoville.
Off the court, one of those rare people who you just adore. She is as sweet and kind and smart and wonderful a human being as has ever existed.
On the court, be it volleyball or basketball, or on the softball field, Ashley was just as adored by her coaches.
A leader, a feisty lil’ warrior who would slice her foes off at the knees and leave them to bleed out, she was the linchpin of the most successful run of female sports teams CHS has ever known.
The biggest banner in the school’s gym is for a 3rd place finish at state by the 2002 Wolf softball squad, a team that, led by Heilig, won four of five games at the tourney.
Outscoring opponents 28-13, they lost only to eventual champ Adna, beating Cle Elum-Rosalyn, Royal, Okanogan and Napavine.
At some point, if I can track down a complete roster for that team, I will induct them all into the Hall.
For now, their leader goes in, for that moment and the ten million other times she would stride out to play whatever sport was in season, get mistaken for the ball girl, then kick unholy amounts of booty.
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