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Posts Tagged ‘title boards’

Let’s get historical!!

Posted in history, tagged , , , , , on August 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »

signs (John Fisken photos)

   Jeff Humphrey, owner of Whidbey Sign Company, installs the Coupeville Wall of Fame sign that centers a new historical display in the CHS gym. (John Fisken photos)

signs

If the lift’s a-bouncin’, don’t come a-knockin’.

wall

Halfway home.

Wall of Fame

   116 title boards, in 11 sports, covering CHS accomplishments from 1960 to 2016.

Jeff

   Humphrey (left) and some idiot blogger who spent his Wednesday hanging around the gym, getting underfoot.

We did it.

And let me stress the first word in that three-word sentence — WE.

When you walk in the Coupeville High School gym in the days to come, when you see what has risen, what has been remembered, what has been rediscovered, it is not the work of one person.

It is the work of a nation, of a Wolf Nation.

Everyone who chipped in, through donations, advice, access, historical knowledge, or just a pat on the back, shares in the history which now plays out on the gym wall.

For the first time, Wolf faithful and rivals alike can look up and see the complete tale of CHS sports play out in front of their eyes in living (glossy) color.

Pick the sport of your choice and you can see the changes in leagues, the rise (and sometimes fall) of a program’s success, and the moments which will live forever for the athletes, coaches and fans who participated.

Decades of history which has been locked away largely in dusty newspaper clippings is now front and center, the way it should be.

The warriors of the past are being honored, while the current generation has a target.

It’s been a long time coming and all the work paid off nicely.

Thank you, one and all.

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Countdown to history!!

Posted in history, tagged , , , , on August 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Jeff Humphrey (left) and (Contributed photos)

   Jeff Humphrey (left) and Ben Garcia craft Coupeville High School’s history at Whidbey Signs. (Contributed photos)

Baseball

   The baseball header, which sits front and center here, will have 18 title boards under it, ranging from 1960-2015.

red

   White boards represent league titles, black are district titles and red are state accomplishments.

It’s like waiting for Christmas.

Having put considerable time into this project, it still seems a little unreal that by this time next week, my efforts to recover and celebrate Coupeville High School’s athletic history will have born fruit.

All the research, all the fundraising, all the sweet-talking and back-and-forth discussions will produce what should be an exciting new centerpiece to the CHS gym.

Instead of the handful of banners which currently grace a corner of one wall, we will have an installation which honors 116 titles won by 11 different Wolf sports.

Tennis to basketball, cheer to cross country, the display, which will cover the wall directly opposite the team benches, will allow viewers to see how Coupeville’s successes have played out.

Using the school’s colors, white title boards will honor team league titles, black boards will acknowledge team district championships and red boards will hail state accomplishments.

Those include top 10 team finishes at state, as well as the 18 state titles in CHS history — two individual state titles in cross country, 14 individual titles in track, one relay state title and the 2006 team state title won by Wolf cheer.

With all the work done, what remains is the installation, which the Whidbey Sign Company plans to do the middle of next week.

Seeing the project completed (though new titles will continue to be added in the years to come as Coupeville wins them) will be huge for me.

The past year has been a rough one at times, and having this project to fall back on has been huge.

The positive result of what we’re doing helps to balance my own personal negativity, and, for that, I am appreciative.

But, deep down, this has never really been about me.

I didn’t attend CHS or play sports here (my high school tennis days were played out at Tumwater), but I have written about the Wolves on-and-off for the past two-decades plus.

I have witnessed great athletes, and better people (and a few turds, but hey, every school has to have a turd or too) and this is who the project is for, ultimately.

It’s so past generations know their accomplishments haven’t been forgotten, and current athletes and coaches have something to aspire towards.

It’s for Jeff Stone and Corey Cross and Bill Riley and Keith Jameson and it’s for Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby and Lexie Black and Mindy Horr and Amy Mouw.

It’s so people know how incredible Natasha Bamberger truly was, a 95-pound whippet who sprang from a small school on a rock in the middle of nowhere, ran people into the ground ruthlessly and won five state titles.

It’s so they remember a day in 2006 when four Wolves — Kyle King, Steven McDonald, Chris Hutchinson and Jon Chittim — meshed together perfectly, made every hand-off count, every step matter and emerged as the best relay team in all the land, brothers camped out at the top of the victory stand.

It’s for every kid who pulled on a Wolf uniform, in every sport, and refused to back down against bigger, richer schools.

For every coach who could have made more money on the mainland, but stayed in Cow Town for a year, a decade, a lifetime, and gave their all to your young men and women.

For every cheerleader, for every fan, for every parent and bus driver and teacher and administrator and score-book keeper and shot-clock runner.

It is your history, it is our history, and now, it will be front and center the way it always should have been.

Thank you.

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Remember the past, build for the future!!

Posted in Ranting and Raving, tagged , , , , on August 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »

This photo of Wolf cheerleaders Emily Clay (left) and Katie Kiel, taken after a paint war, was one of the first I ever ran on this blog. (Pam Headridge photo)

   One of the first photos I published featured Wolf cheerleaders Emily Clay (left) and Katie Kiel in the aftermath of a team paint war. (Pam Headridge photo)

gbb

   The most popular pic in blog history — Wolf hoops players celebrating the win which sent them to state last season. (John Fisken photo)

Coupeville Sports started in anger.

And, while a bit of that still lingers — though it’s more mild frustration than outright anger these days — I’d like to think things have largely changed for the better.

When I launched this blog Aug. 15, 2012, I really didn’t know I’d churn out 4,497 articles in the next four years.

That my readership numbers would vastly top what I anticipated and continue to grow each year.

Most of all, I didn’t realize it would offer me a chance to make a real, hopefully lasting, impact on a community in which I’ve lived for the past two decades-plus.

Back then, I was just peeved. Seriously peeved.

The Whidbey Examiner, a proudly independent paper I had written for on a consistent basis for 15+ years, had been sold to the same Canadian kajillionaire who already owned all the other publications on the Island.

One moment, we were “fighting the good fight against the Evil Empire,” and the next we were just another minor line item on a business report produced by that same “Evil Empire.”

Which might have been OK, if all my bylines (way too often the only “payment” I received) hadn’t promptly vanished, never to be seen again, erased by a giant corporation that couldn’t have given less of a crap if it tried.

So, I was mad.

When I kick-started my blog, I set out to be a major pain in the ass to the Whidbey papers.

If you look back at some of the early days, when I frequently ridiculed Canada and picked fights with South Whidbey, King’s and ATM fans, I was a bit of a turd.

A partially-justified turd, but still a turd.

Aggrieved South Whidbey fans even launched their own rival sports blog, which sputtered and died after a mere two articles.

But then things changed, not 100% (losing hundreds of by-lined stories forever still chafes me), but a good, let’s say, 83.2%.

Little bits and pieces of change came from a lot of people, though Kim Andrews probably deserves the most credit.

She was the sports scheduling magician at CHS in the early days of Coupeville Sports, and more than once she gave me good-natured grief about some of my choices.

“You can do better. You could make a real impact if you’d stop being such a butt-head all the time,” she’d say, and I’d roll my eyes.

But, over time, I began to realize how right she was, and I began to (slowly) change.

Four years later, I still tweak South Whidbey from time to time (King’s and ATM moved out of my line of fire when Coupeville changed leagues) and I’m still not totally copacetic with Canada.

But Coupeville Sports, by and large, has gone in a much more positive direction, and both my readership numbers, and what I personally get out of running the blog, have benefited.

When I look back on nearly 4,500 articles, there are some that really worked, a few that probably didn’t, and a lot in the middle.

Hearing a story made an impact on someone, getting positive feedback, in person or through the internet, has driven me more than money (though every last donation is immensely appreciated).

As we take that first step into year five, there are two areas, both still works in progress, of which I am most proud.

When I started my own Hall of Fame, which lives at the top of the blog under the Legends tab, it was a way to give myself something to write about on Sundays.

Now, 60 induction ceremonies later, it’s become something much larger, in spirit at least.

It’s a way to remember the people who have come along and left a mark, who have made Wolf Nation bigger, brighter and better, whether as athletes, coaches or contributors.

To tell them, at least for a moment, “We remember what you did. We will not forget you.”

And now, any day, a more concrete version of that sentiment will rise on the CHS gym wall.

It’s taken a good year, of research (which gave me an opportunity to forge an alliance with the Whidbey papers, thanks to the generosity of Keven R. Graves and Jim Waller), of fundraising, of fast-talking and cajoling, of believing deeply, but my title board project is almost reality.

When it goes up, the handful of banners in the gym will be replaced by a display which recognizes 112 titles won over the past 56 years in 11 different sports at our high school.

For the first time, athletes, fans and coaches will see the highly-successful Wolf teams of the ’70s remembered along side the new golden age Coupeville’s female athletic stars crafted in the early 2000’s.

A sport like cross country, no longer active at CHS but bearing a proud past, will step back into the spotlight again.

Tennis, which has never gotten its fair share of the credit, will rise up and finally be acknowledged, with track, as the most successful athletic programs in school history.

Those who came before will know “We remember what you did. We will not forget you,” and those participating today will have something to aim for, a chance to join their parents and grandparents on Coupeville’s Wall of Fame.

It’s a huge moment, for the school, for the community, as we embrace a vital part of our history, and it will mean a lot to me, to know that one idiot with a blog was able to help pull it all off.

As I head into year five of Coupeville Sports, it would be easy to slip back into poking the Falcons with cheap-shots or lament what Canada took from me.

But I’d rather look forward and try to build on what the Hall of Fame and the title board project have helped accomplished.

Somewhere, Kim Andrews is smiling.

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Know your subplots!!

Posted in Boys Tennis, Football, Girls Soccer, Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on August 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Bree Daigneault and the Wolf booters aim to take down Klahowya. (John Fisken photos)

   Bree Daigneault and the Wolf booters aim to take down Klahowya. (John Fisken photos)

Joseph Wedekind is back to help the Wolf netters defend their league crown.

Joseph Wedekind is back to help the Wolf netters defend their league crown.

Story-lines as far as the eye can see.

As we begin to wind our way towards the start of fall sports (football practice starts Aug. 17, while the other three CHS teams kick things off Aug. 22), here are a few things to anticipate.

1) History reclaimed — This one is a bit personal, as it’s something I’ve been working on for an eternity, but, when school kicks off, the Coupeville High School gym will look very different than it did when the Class of 2016 graduated.

Or, at least, one wall will.

All the research, all the haggling, all the fundraising will pay off as a new Wall of Fame will rise up around the Sad Coyote painting, celebrating 116 years of Wolf sports.

Did you play on the 1960 CHS baseball squad which won a Northwest League title?

Run for the 1982 girls cross country team which placed 4th at state?

Take the mat for the 2006 competitive cheer squad which brought home a state title?

Now you, your teammates and coaches will have your accomplishments remembered where everyone can see them.

It’s been a long time coming, and with the help of a lot of people, it’s about to be a reality.

2) Oval mania — While it won’t be used until the spring, the new CHS track oval will make its public debut when the Wolves kick off the football season.

After several years of no home track meets because of poor track conditions, Coupeville is back in the game thanks to a levy and a lot of dump truck work.

3) Bucket brigade — The first fall sports event is also the only one which involves a trophy, as the Wolves welcome South Whidbey to the gridiron Sept. 3.

The Saturday night opener (7 PM) may be a non-conference game, but the winner of the rivalry game claims possession of The Bucket for a year and bragging rights for a lot longer.

Coupeville has won in even years recently, claiming ownership in 2012 and 2014. Will 2016 follow suit?

4) New boss, not the same as the old boss — With the departure of Brett and Breanne Smedley, CHS football and volleyball have new coaches in Jon Atkins and Cory Whitmore, respectively.

Both are Oak Harbor teachers who will continue to work up North during the day, then travel to Central Whidbey to lead their teams.

Atkins, the fourth football coach in the last seven years, debuts Sept. 3 (as mentioned above), while Whitmore, the volleyball program’s third leader in the last four years, hits the court Sept. 6 when the Wolves play Mount Vernon Christian.

5) A league of their own — While tennis, volleyball and soccer will continue to play in the four-team 1A Olympic League, football is mixing things up.

Along with Chimacum, Klahowya and two-time defending league champ Port Townsend, they will unite with the Nisqually League (Charles Wright, Vashon Island, Cascade Christian, Bellevue Christian) for the next two years, at least.

The simple break-down?

Coupeville and its counterparts will have a set-in-stone 10-game regular season (no need to scramble and find a foe for a crossover game at the end), with seven league games.

The Wolves also won’t have to play the same teams twice each year anymore.

At the end, the top two or three teams (depending on how allocations break out) advance to the playoffs.

6) History, Part 2? — One of those new football league foes (Vashon) comes to Coupeville Sept. 30.

When they do, the Wolves will be staring across the field at Bryce Hoisington, who put them into the state record books (against their will) last year.

Back then, the game was a non-conference tilt, and Vashon’s running back went off on his home turf for 573 yards and nine touchdowns on 51 carries in a 70-31 Pirate win.

That’s the most yards any runner has gained in a single game in the entire history of Washington state high school football, and it also put Hoisington over the top for the single-season state rushing record of 2,929 yards.

Barring injury or a sudden love of tennis, Vashon’s best player will be back on the gridiron for his senior season, and Coupeville’s defense will be looking for a little payback.

7) Two homecomings in one — Port Townsend hits Whidbey Oct. 7, just as Coupeville celebrates Homecoming.

It’ll be a reunion, as Alex Heilig, a former Wolf assistant coach (and husband of CHS three-sport legend Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby) is the new head coach of the RedHawks.

He’s been gone for two years (one as an assistant in South Whidbey, one as head coach in Granite Falls), but he taught and coached many of the current Wolf players.

8) Defend the crown — Boys tennis knocked off Klahowya to claim the league title last season, the eighth championship in program history and first since 2011.

Wolf coach Ken Stange will be in search of his 12th title at Coupeville (he has four on the boys side, seven on the girls), but he’ll have to scramble to replace his top two singles players, who both graduated.

9) More games that truly count — After two seasons of playing six league games, volleyball and soccer are joining sports like basketball, baseball and softball by jumping to a schedule which has nine league contests.

That means three match-ups apiece against Chimacum, Port Townsend and Klahowya, and less chance of what happened last year, when the Wolves had to play “non-conference” games against conference foes in a bid to fill out their schedules.

More league games also means:

10) Time to clip the Eagles — Of the 10 sports all four Olympic League teams vie in (we don’t count track, as its scoring system exists in its own special world), there are five teams which have never lost a league game in the two-year history of the conference.

Coupeville girls basketball (18-0) towers over everyone, while Klahowya volleyball (12-0), girls soccer (12-0) and boys soccer (12-0) also haven’t been touched.

Rounding out the undefeated is Coupeville girls tennis (11-0).

In eight of the ten sports there have been back-to-back league champs (Coupeville – girls tennis and basketball; Port Townsend – football; Chimacum – boys basketball, softball; Klahowya – boys and girls soccer, volleyball).

The only sports which went different in 2015 than they did in 2014 were boys tennis and baseball, where the Wolves took away titles from their big school rival.

Coupeville won four league titles in 2015, most of any school, after Klahowya nabbed five in 2014.

Now it’s time to keep that momentum going and finally ding the Eagles in volleyball and soccer.

If 2016 is to fully be the year of the Wolf, it all starts there.

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Prove me wrong (I dare you)!!

Posted in history, tagged , , , , , on July 20, 2016| 1 Comment »

CHS state track champs (clockwise from top left) Jeff Fielding, Kyle King, Steven McDonald, Chris Hutchinson, Jon Chittim, Amy (Mouw) Fasolo, Tyler King, Natasha Bamberger.

   CHS state track champs (clockwise from top left) Jeff Fielding, Kyle King, Steven McDonald, Chris Hutchinson, Jon Chittim, Amy (Mouw) Fasolo, Tyler King, Natasha Bamberger.

This is actually going to happen.

After a lot of work, by a lot of people, the effort to install 116 years of Coupeville High School athletic history on the school’s gym walls is heading down the backstretch.

The research has been done (though, in a second I’m going to ask for your proofreading on that), the proper authorities have signed off on the idea, most of the fundraising is accomplished, and we meet with the sign guy Friday.

The plan has always been to have this installed prior to the start of the new school year in Sept., and it seems 99.2% likely at this point.

After years of having just a handful of banners hanging in the gym, the new installation aims to honor every league and district title won by Wolf teams, as well as individual state championships (there are 17) and top 10 team finishes at state.

That entails, as far as I have been able to determine, 112 title boards.

Originally, it was 109, but supporters of CHS cheer have made a solid argument that the program’s three top-four finishes at state (including a title in 2006) deserve to be on the wall as well.

And, before you say it, this is a SPORTS installation going up.

I am well aware the school has a strong run of accomplishments in History Day, band, Science Olympiad and the like.

Some of those are honored in other places at the school, and, to those who would like to see a more complete version, go get ’em.

I’m behind you, I support you, I would certainly write about your efforts and help drive your cause, but Indiana Jonesing 116 years of CHS sports history, on my own time, with no pay, has wiped me out.

The sports history was my crusade.

Someone else better suited to the task will have to take up the academic side of things, if that’s something you’re burning to get accomplished.

It can be done.

We’re proving that with this project, which has brought together the Whidbey newspapers (primarily Jim Waller and Keven R. Graves) with the pain in the ass blogger who you’re currently reading.

The Booster Club, bigwigs like Coupeville Schools Superintendent Dr. Jim Shank and CHS Principal Duane Baumann, and all the people who have donated money or offered research tips, are a huge part of this.

Of course, without the athletes who accomplished these feats, and the coaches who guided them, none of this would be possible in the first place.

When the display goes up, it’s all for us, Wolf Nation, near and far.

But now, as we head towards that meeting with the sign guy Friday, scan my list and see if you notice anything off. Did I miss a title somewhere in my bleary-eyed final days?

If so, let me know. You can reach me at davidsvien@hotmail.com.

And also, you can still chip in and help the fundraising efforts. Every buck counts, especially as we add cheer.

https://www.gofundme.com/2bzt6x76

 

Titles being honored:

 

BASEBALL:

1960 — Northwest League

1965 — Northwest League

1969 — Northwest League

1973 — Northwest League

1973 — District

1974 — Northwest League

1975 — Northwest League

1976 — Northwest League

1976 — District

1977 — Northwest League

1977 — District

1978 — District

1980 — Cascade League

1987 — District

1987 — 3rd at State

1991 — Northwest League

2008 — District

2016 — Olympic League

 

BOYS BASKETBALL:

1970 — Northwest League

1970 — District

1971 — Northwest League

1972 — Cascade League

1975 — Northwest League

1979 — Cascade League

1998 — Northwest League

2002 — Northwest League

 

BOYS TENNIS:

1961 — Northwest League

1967 — Northwest League

1968 — Northwest League

2002 — Northwest League

2009 — Northwest League

2009 — District

2010 — Northwest League

2011 — Northwest League

2015 — Olympic League

 

CHEER:

2006 — 1st at State

2007 — 2nd at State

2011 — 4th at State

 

CROSS COUNTRY:

1975 — Boys 9th at State

1976 — Boys 5th at State

1977 — Boys – Cascade League

1977 — Boys – District

1977 — Boys 5th at State

1981 — Girls 8th at State

1982 — Girls – Cascade League

1982 — Girls 4th at State

1985 — Natasha Bamberger – State Champ

2010 — Tyler King – State Champ

 

FOOTBALL:

1974 — Northwest League

1990 — Northwest League

 

GIRLS BASKETBALL:

1998 — Northwest League

2002 — Northwest League

2002 — 6th at State

2003 — 8th at State

2005 — Northwest League

2005 — 8th at State

2006 — Northwest League

2015 — Olympic League

2016 — Olympic League

 

GIRLS TENNIS:

1981 — Cascade League

1982 — Cascade League

1983 — Cascade League

1998 — Northwest League

1999 — Northwest League

2000 — Northwest League

2001 — Northwest League

2002 — Northwest League

2003 — Northwest League

2004 — Northwest League

2005 — Northwest League

2005 — 3rd at State

2008 — Northwest League

2009 — Northwest League

2010 — Northwest League

2011 — Northwest League

2012 — Northwest League

2015 — Olympic League

2016 — Olympic League

 

SOFTBALL:

2002 — Northwest League

2002 — 3rd at State

 

TRACK:

1979 — Jeff Fielding – State Champ (3200)

1979 — Boys 8th at State

1984 — Boys – Northwest League

1984 — Natasha Bamberger – State Champ (1600, 3200)

1984 — Girls 5th at State

1985 — Boys – District

1985 — Natasha Bamberger – State Champ (3200)

1986 — Natasha Bamberger – State Champ (3200)

1986 — Boys – 6th at State

1986 — Girls – 8th at State

1987 — Boys – Northwest League

1987 — Boys – District

1989 — Girls – Northwest League

1989 — Girls – District

2003 — Amy Mouw – State Champ (800)

2005 — Boys – Bi-District

2005 — Boys – 8th at State

2006 — Boys – Bi-District

2006 — Jon Chittim – State Champ (200, 400)

2006 — Kyle King – State Champ (3200)

2006 — Boys 4 x 400 – State Champ (Chris Hutchinson, Jon Chittim, Kyle King, Steven McDonald)

2006 — Boys – 4th at State

2007 — Kyle King – State Champ (1600, 3200)

2008 — Kyle King – State Champ (3200)

2008 — Boys – 4th at State

2010 — Tyler King – State Champ (1600, 3200)

2010 — Boys — 6th at State

2011 — Boys – 7th at State

 

VOLLEYBALL:

1997 — Northwest League

2001 — Northwest League

2002 — Tri-District

2002 — District

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