Coupeville Sports

   Clockwise, from top left, it’s Linda Cheshier, Josh Bayne and Mike Lodell along with their body of work.

They all painted masterpieces.

The members of the 17th class to be inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame made their names in different fields, but the trio is united by one thing — they were all artists working at the top of their games.

So, we welcome to the podium Josh Bayne, Linda Cheshier and Mike Lodell and permanently install them at the top of the blog under the Legends tab.

Our first inductee, Cheshier, spent a much smaller sliver of time at Coupeville High School than our other honorees, but her impact was huge.

After transferring to town late in her scholastic career, TC became an immediate star for the Wolves.

She was the Cascade League’s co-Most Valuable Player in volleyball as a senior and was a rock star on the basketball court.

In the photo collage above, there is a photo from early 1992, shot by camera-totin’ legend Geoff Newton, capturing Cheshier as she explodes off the court after Coupeville stunned South Whidbey.

In that game, she took over like a boss, scoring her team’s final eight points, including a pair of free throws with 20 seconds to play to ice the 42-40 home court win.

Was that her best performance?

Or was it the one that came a week later, when she poured in 17 as CHS pulled off a colossal upset, bouncing fourth-ranked King’s, which arrived on Whidbey bearing a 16-1 record?

Not only did the Wolves win, they routed the stunned Knights, smacking them 55-39.

“This was the biggest win of the season. Make that the biggest win in many a season,” jubilant Coupeville coach Phyllis Textor told me after that game.

But wait, maybe TC’s best performance was the night… Well, how long do we have? Because there was a LOT of stellar nights.

Suffice it to say, Cheshier was one of the most electrifying high school athletes I have covered in person, and we shouldn’t ever forget that.

Our second inductee has barely been gone from the hallways and fields at CHS for a hot moment — he’s currently starting as a freshman defensive back for Simon Fraser University’s gridiron squad — but it’s not too early to honor the Bayne Train.

Awesome Joshsome splashed his name all over the school’s football record board during his days as a Wolf, becoming the first-ever MVP in the 1A Olympic League last year.

With the numbers he put up, on both sides of the ball, Bayne was rightfully named an All-State player on both offense and defense, and, frankly, should have been the 1A state player of the year.

As we sit seven games into the 2015 season, during which time the ENTIRE Wolf football squad has combined to score eight touchdowns, let’s remember, Bayne scored 25 times last year.

He also hit like a Mack truck on defense, earning the following quote:

“Josh had one tackle on a receiver, folded him in half like a cheap hooker who was punched in the gut by her pimp. He had to sit out for awhile and wait for his liver to start working again” — CHS stat keeper Chris Tumblin.

And, he was also an All-League baseball player, the only guy I’ve personally witness hit a home run over the left field fence at our park, bouncing the ball off of the third row of cars.

We could wait five years to induct him, like some Hall of Fames do, but really, why? He’s a lock then, he’s a lock now.

And then we get to our third inductee, and the one who has spent the most time in Cow Town.

A CHS grad, renowned street baller and father to current two-sport sensation Hope “The Surgeon” Lodell, Mike does his best work these days as one of the craftsmen who work magic with the school’s athletic fields.

Whether artfully painting the football field, putting the glow back in the tennis courts or making out-of-towners gasp when they see his impeccably-curated softball diamond, he’s the eternal whiz kid with the mega-watt smile.

His greatest moment?

Normally you get a little rain on the field — a common occurrence during spring sports — and softball games get shut down.

Not at CHS, where the heavens erupted mid-game in the type of downpour not seen since Noah (the biblical dude, not Mike’s son…) went on vacation.

When the clouds parted and everyone returned, they found, to their stunned amazement, a diamond that was holding no water. AT ALL.

The umpires gaped. The opposing team, which had been planning for a long, unfulfilled drive home, swooned.

The soaked-to-the-bones fans, who thought we were getting to leave for drier climes?

A mixture of pride in Lodell’s skill and a burning desire to dunk him in Penn Cove, as the game then restarted, and we got to stand around for another two hours in the coldest, wettest clothes ever worn.

But the Wolves won, and, even the dampest of viewers had to give it up to the man who makes diamonds sparkle in any weather.

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