Willie Smith | Coupeville Sports

Posts Tagged ‘Willie Smith’

Wolf legend one step from return to CHS diamond!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, Chris Smith, CHS Wolves, Marc Aparicio, Willie Smith on December 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Marc Aparicio (who has since shaved the beard), hanging out with his children.

Marc Aparicio (who has since shaved his magnificent beard), hanging out with his children.

Barring a last-second plot twist, Marc Aparicio is on his way to becoming the new head baseball coach at Coupeville High School.

CHS Athletic Director Duane Baumann confirmed Wednesday the school has offered Aparicio the position.

All that remains is for the hire to be approved by the school board, which meets 6:30 PM Monday, Dec. 21 in the Coupeville Elementary School library.

Aparicio’s potential new job is on the agenda.

A 1988 CHS grad who played baseball, football, basketball and track during his time as a Wolf, Aparicio went to state five times.

His ties to the community run deep.

Older brother Mitch was also a multi-sport star for the Wolves and current CHS sophomore Payton Aparicio, a top volleyball and tennis player, is his niece.

After graduation, Marc put in stints in the Air National Guard (electrician), Army National Guard (heavy equipment operator) and the US Coast Guard before retiring this year and moving home to Coupeville, where he lives on Penn Cove.

During his time in the Coast Guard, Aparicio, an aeronautical engineer, spent six months on ice patrol, flying search and rescue missions on the Bering Sea.

He was chief engineer for the H-65 helicopter fleet, a maintenance test pilot, project manager on two of the biggest USCG acquisition programs in history, member of a helicopter operational unit and a senior flight instructor.

If approved by the school board, Aparicio will replace Willie Smith, who retired in the spring after a very successful 19-year run as head baseball coach at CHS.

Aparicio will get some valuable help from Chris Smith.

The father of Wolf players CJ and Hunter Smith, he was JV coach under Willie Smith (no relation) last season, and confirmed Wednesday he plans to return.

“I’m looking forward to working with Marc,” Chris Smith said.

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“Welcome to Zenovia Barron Court!!”

Posted in Girls Basketball, In Memorium, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Coupeville High School, memorials, Willie Smith, Zenovia Barron on August 3, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Presto, the CHS gym looks so new and fresh. (Scott Losey photos)

New bleachers are in, now we need a new name for the CHS basketball court. (Scott Losey photo)

Zenovia Barron (Photo courtesy Devyn Barron Nixon)

Coupeville High School has never been in a hurry to name its athletic fields or buildings after people.

Some towns, they go wild.

In Cow Town, we take our sweet time.

Unless I’m missing something, the only sports-related areas at the school named in memory of people are the football field, named for local historian Mickey Clark, and the baseball field, named for Robert W. Sherman.

If you know Sherman was a 16-year-old Wolf baseball player who died in 1954 after being hit by a pitch in a game, you’re one of about three people.

Both honors are well-deserved, even if few modern-day fans have any clue who either man was.

What I propose is we welcome a third member to this exclusive group.

I challenge the Coupeville School Board to step up and name the CHS basketball court in memory of Zenovia Barron.

And to do it in time for a dedication before or during the next basketball season.

Novi, and there is no argument on this point, was the best hoops player, girl or boy, to ever pull on a Wolf jersey.

End of story.

In the words of her coach, Willie Smith:

“Dynamic, electrifying, amazing, once in a lifetime talent. Those are some of the words I’d use to describe Novi.

She had everything: she could drive, shoot the three, post up, play defense, rebound, dish the rock; whatever could be done on a court she could do it like it was second nature.

She was the most complete player I ever got to coach and I coached some good ones.

My kids loved her, her little girls basketball teams loved her, and her teammates loved and respected her.”

Novi was also one of the few CHS athletic stars who went on to make a truly notable impact playing college sports.

Her name still appears six times in the record book at the College of Southern Idaho.

She is 5th all-time in CSI womens’ basketball history for assists per game (3.7) and 10th all-time for career free throw percentage (.753).

Barron still owns the sixth-best single-season performance in program history for both steals (90) and assists (130) and remains tied for the best-ever single game effort at the charity stripe, hitting all six of her free throws Jan 8, 1999 against the College of Eastern Utah.

When she left the Eagles, her nine steals in one game — March 5, 1999 against Utah Valley State College — stood as the school record.

It wasn’t until 2005 that she was edged out by a 10-steal performance, but Novi remains 2nd in school history.

Last year, when the Coupeville girls’ hoops squad claimed its first league title in 13 years, rolling through the 1A Olympic League like a buzz-saw, it would have been beautiful if Zenovia could have been in the stands like former Wolf teammates like Tina (Lyness) Joiner and Ashley (Ellsworth-Bagby) Heilig.

As we all marvel at Makana Stone, our current hoops sensation, it would have been interesting to see what the GOAT would have made of one of the few who have made a legitimate run at her legacy.

But, it’s not to be.

Zenovia left too early, and her unexpected death, at age 24 in 2003, deeply affected everyone who knew her, who loved her, who were dazzled by her play and her soaring spirit.

But, while she can’t be there in person, Miss Barron can be there in spirit as Makana leads the defending champs onto the floor this winter.

When the pre-game music kicks in and T.I. implores local fans to “Bring ’em out, bring ’em out,” the modern-day Wolves should charge onto a court named for the transcendent young woman who showed us all how high Coupeville players can fly.

It is time. It is right.

When the announcer picks up the mic, this is what I want to hear: “Ladies and gentlemen, and hoops fans of all ages, welcome to Zenovia Barron Court!”

Agree? Jump over and sign our petition, then share it on Facebook and Twitter. The more signatures, the bigger the impact when we take this to the School Board.

https://www.change.org/p/coupeville-school-board-name-the-chs-basketball-court-for-zenovia-barron

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Dance to your own beat!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged Christine Fields, CHS Wolves, Hall of Fame, Kristan Hurlburt, The Wobble, V.I.C., Willie Smith on August 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Two-time CHS Female Athlete of the Year Kristan Hurlburt. (Photo courtesy Sylvia Hurlburt)

Christine Fields had a pretty dang amazing run as a high school golfer. (John Fisken photo)

The forbidden dance, the Wobble, back in the olden days of 2012. (Melissa Losey photo)

Willie Smith: “Of course I can do The Wobble. I’m kind of a dance prodigy myself. Taught John Travolta and Patrick Swayze all their moves!” (Fisken photo)

A trinity of trailblazers and the day the dance died.

The sixth class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame has a bit of everything, and then some.

We have two athletes who excelled in ways that were unique, a coach who was like no other and the hip-shaking sensation that swept the nation, then got banned from Mickey Clark Field.

Rising up and joining their brethren under the Legends tab at the top of the blog — Kristan Hurlburt, Christine Fields, Willie Smith and the Wobble.

Fields, a two-sport star (soccer, golf) who just graduated from Coupeville High School and is headed off to San Diego State, goes in to the Hall for her play on the links.

Which is not an easy feat, since CHS doesn’t have a golf team.

But Christine, along with older brother Austin, made the commitment to find a way to follow in the footsteps of dad Mike, a golf pro.

That meant getting themselves to another school with no help from CHS — first Oak Harbor, then South Whidbey — and competing as a lone Wolf.

The extra travel and hurdles never slowed her down, however, as Fields qualified for the 1A state tourney all four years of her high school career.

Once there, she finished 8th, 15th, 5th and 6th — one of the best runs of excellence any Wolf has thrown down, in any sport.

The Fields family combined to make seven trips to state, and while Christine’s top-tier finishes nabs her the Hall call first, you know Austin, a true devoted big bro, would be the first to congratulate her.

Hurlburt, who was brought to my attention by niece (and current cheer/track/ballet supernova) Sylvia Hurlburt, was one of the first female athletes to bust through and get a proper level of respect for their accomplishments.

Kristan’s justifiably proud niece had the following to say:

I nominate my aunt Kristan for the Hall of Fame.

She got Athlete of the Year twice. Her name is on both of the plaques that are on the wall in the gym.

She was the first female athlete to get her picture on the wall for Athlete of the Year.

She played basketball, softball and tennis. She went to state three times total, two in basketball and one in tennis.

They got no banners because girls sports weren’t that important back then.

Quoting her, “We were lucky if the school provided us with a bus to the game or match.”

And that is why I nominate my aunt.

The Wobble lives again thanks to the Hall, revived three years after its sudden death.

There was a run for a bit where every CHS home football game would be capped with a cheerleader-led hustle to a catchy, Cab Calloway-influenced rap song by Atlanta’s own V.I.C..

You can see the original video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE_64SdD27w

With slightly toned-down lyrics for a high school audience, it was something every one could do, regardless of their dancing ability.

Invariably, it would pull in most of the remaining people in the stands and send everyone out the door with a smile on their face, win or loss.

But in October of 2012, after a complaint from ONE person, the dance was bounced and now Wolf football games just sort of lurch to an end, instead of closing on a communal, bouncy note.

But step into the air-conditioned digital world of the Hall o’ Fame, and the Wobble is playing on a never-ending loop. The way it was meant to be.

A man who could move to any beat, our final honoree hits the stage to the sound of AC/DC rippin’ into “Thunderstruck.”

Willie Smith once said, while laughing and rocking so far back in his chair he almost fell over, “I don’t need to be in any Hall of Fames, cause I’m in every Hall of Shame!!”

Most coaches, if they could manage to get that line out, accompanied by Smith’s impeccable timing, would walk away, satisfied they had hit quote nirvana.

For Willie, however, that was merely one small moment in a lifetime of solid gold quotes.

Epic win or epic loss, whether he was giddy or a half-second away from leaving his players on the side of the road and walking back to Whidbey by himself, Smith understood the necessary dance between coach and the ink-stained wretches of the press and he never half-assed his side of the “contract.”

He never dodged a question in his life and if he ever prints all of the stories he told us (especially the ones we couldn’t print) the man is headed to the best seller’s charts.

Smith deserves his spot in the Hall for revolutionizing the Wolf girls’ basketball program and becoming the first CHS coach in any sport to win a game at state.

And he deserves it for 19 years of building the school’s baseball program into one that was respected by other hardball gurus like Stan Taloff and Jim Waller, men who are enshrined in real Hall of Fames.

But he also gets in because he hit that field every day with a huge smile, tossing candy at rival players to throw them off stride for a moment.

He competed as hard as any coach I’ve ever covered, and he taught his players to never back down, never embarrass yourself or your teammates and to embrace the joy of the moment.

Willie Smith has been the gold standard around these parts for as long as I’ve been covering high school sports.

While his recent retirement (we’ll see if it sticks) deprives us, it just makes it that much more likely he’ll spend next baseball season camped out behind home plate, lobbing candy and good-natured insults at the umpires, sardonic grin stretched ear-to-ear.

You can take the man out of the game, but you can’t take the game out of the man.

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Gone too soon, never forgotten!!

Posted in Basketball, Hall o' Fame, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Hall of Fame, Willie Smith, Zenovia Barron on July 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

These vintage photos capture the in-game intensity of Zenovia “Novi” Barron. (Photos courtesy Willie Smith)

The greatest of all time.

That’s a title that gets bandied about a lot, but in the case of Zenovia Barron, the argument is pretty solid.

She was the best basketball player we have ever seen in this town, and it is an honor to induct her into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, the lone member of our third induction class.

Novi passed too soon, taken from a world that adored her at the tender age of 24 on Nov. 3, 2003.

It is easy to be angry, to imagine everything she would have accomplished in the last 12 years, on and off the court.

But today, we put anger to the side and remember her for the amazing young woman she was during her time on Earth.

At this point, I’m handing the mic to Willie Smith, who coached Novi during her brilliant run as a Wolf hoops star.

Dynamic, electrifying, amazing, once in a lifetime talent. Those are some of the words I’d use to describe Novi.

She could walk into a room and light it up with her personality and energy; she could break an ankle on the court then go play drums for the boys like it was nobody’s business.

She could start the game by singing the National Anthem, then finish an opponent with an amazing display of basketball skills.

She is, without a doubt, the best basketball player, boy or girl, that I have ever seen come through Coupeville.

I have coached and witnessed some of the best basketball players in Coupeville.

Jen Canfield, Amanda Allmer, Ashley Bagby, Tina Lyness, Brianne King, Ann Pettit, Megan Smith, Makana Stone, Nick Sellgren, Pete Petrov, Rich Morris, Gavin Keohane, JD Wilcox, Hunter Hammer, Mike Bagby, Jason Bagby; you name the best basketball players in the last 23 years at Coupeville and none were better than Novi.

She had everything: she could drive, shoot the three, post up, play defense, rebound, dish the rock; whatever could be done on a court she could do it like it was second nature.

She was the most complete player I ever got to coach and I coached some good ones.

She had an innate ability to take over a game in every aspect of a game.

I’m not sure how many times she either won, secured, or tied a game on the free throw line in the fourth quarter, but it was a ton.

She was an All-League selection each of her four years at a time when we played in a VERY STRONG conference: the old Cascade Conference.

She averaged double figures each of her four years and also led the team in ASSISTS; no other player has done that since.

She shot over 45% from inside the arc EVERY year while averaging those double figures.

She formed one of the highest scoring tandems for three years with she and Ann Pettit.

Perhaps her best year was her junior year in the playoffs: we lost one starter and our sixth player right before the playoffs and entered the playoffs with eight girls on the team.

We finished fourth in our league and nobody expected us to do anything but fold and watch the boys go to state.

We faced Lynden Christian (#1 in State), Lakewood (#2 CC, 17 wins to our 9), Mount Baker, and King’s (#3 in State and eventual state champ over LC).

During those games Novi scored 20, 18, 23, and 19; she scored 12 points in the 4th quarter to Mt Baker’s seven to bring us back from a 38-31 deficit while also securing 12 boards.

She scored 18 against Lakewood while also setting up Pettit’s 28 and then helped us to a 12-0 start against King’s in the winner to state game before foul trouble took her out of the game early in the 2nd quarter.

She was offered a full ride scholarship to LC State in Lewiston, ID following a summer league game in which she ran off at halftime to throw up because she was sick.

The coaches were there to watch another girl, saw Novi, and called me that Monday to offer her the scholarship after watching ONE game; she was that electric.

I could go on and on about Novi and her basketball skills but what a lot people don’t know about her is how committed she was to our team and how caring she was.

Midway through her junior year, she really figured out what it meant to be a part of a team and how much more important it was to be a part of a team rather than THE team.

From that point, she matured, grew, and became an amazing team player.

My kids loved her, her little girls basketball teams loved her, and her teammates loved and respected her.

My heart still aches that she and I can’t sit here and go over all of this together, laughing most of the time and maybe being a bit emotional some of the time and I can’t even begin to understand how or why she is not here right now.

But I do know this, there has never been a brighter star, bigger personality, or better player than Novi in my 20+ years in Coupeville and her legacy, her impact on not just basketball but in Coupeville, will forever be around.

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Let’s start an argument!!

Posted in Hall o' Fame, tagged Basketball, CHS Wolves, Hall of Fame, Kim Meche, Kyle King, Lexie Black, Ty Cobb, Willie Smith on June 28, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Clockwise, from left, Madeline Strasburg, Lexie Black, Kyle King and Kim Meche.

Clockwise, from left, are Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame inductees Madeline Strasburg, Lexie Black, Kyle King and Kim Meche.

A young Willie Smith, reunited with a stat sheet from the 1999-2000 basketball season.

A young Willie Smith, reunited with a vintage stat sheet from the 1999-2000 CHS girls’ basketball season.

I am now starting a weekly argument.

Simple as that.

If you look at the very top of this blog, there’s a tab, marked “Legends,” which sits next to “David’s Best Ever Friends” and “Who’s responsible for this.”

Under that tab, you will find the brand-new Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

Today, I induct my first class, with one female athlete, one male athlete, one coach, one team and one moment.

Every Sunday I will add a new class, publishing a story and adding the inductee(s) to the roll of honor, where they (or it) will live on as long as this blog does.

Going forward, it’s a crap shoot.

I can add one, or a bunch. No guarantee every division will have equal representation.

Like most of what’s on this blog, it’s whatever strikes my fancy that Sunday.

BUT, you, the reader, do have a huge say.

I have an idea where I’m going to go, who I’m going to induct. But I want, and need, your input.

I need you to email me (davidsvien@hotmail.com), message me on Facebook or talk to me in person at games.

Tell me who you want to be in the Hall o’ Fame. Convince me.

Anyone who has ever played or coached in Coupeville is eligible, whether they were here in the 1920s or are currently playing.

I have a pretty good feel for local sports history, but, I will be the first to admit I have huge gaps.

Think a player, a team, a coach, a moment is being snubbed or forgotten?

Lecture me. Long and loudly.

Will I agree? Maybe. Maybe not. But I will listen to you and mull it over.

And then, like usual, I’ll do whatever I dang well choose.

But, if you don’t try and convince me I’m an idiot, then you can’t complain when I am an idiot.

Spread the knowledge. Get on your soap box. Light me up. Bring it on.

And now, to our first class.

When Major League Baseball inducted its first class, it went with Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner and Babe Ruth, arguably the five best players in history at that time (if you ignore the fact the Negro Leagues were completely ignored).

This class is not an effort to match that. I am not claiming these are the absolute best Coupeville has ever seen in these divisions.

That’s an argument for another day.

What I am saying is these three individuals, this team and this moment are among the finest we have ever seen in Cow Town. They are a dang good place to start.

In no particular order, the first-ever class to be inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame are Lexie Black, Kyle King, Kim Meche, Madeline Strasburg and the 1999-2000 CHS girls’ basketball team.

Why?

Lexie Black (Female Athlete) — The most sustained run of excellence CHS has seen in any sport came in girls’ basketball, from the late ’90s through the mid-to-late 2000’s.

Other players put up bigger offensive numbers, but Lexie is the one who, a decade later, still holds a major record, for most blocked shots (10) in a 1A state playoff game.

Her commitment to defense and team, her willingness to sell out completely and demand other teams get the heck out of HER paint marked her as a top-notch player.

That she is one of the nicest, sweetest, smartest women you will ever meet, well, that’s just a bonus.

Kyle King (Male Athlete) — Five state titles as a track star. Utter dedication to his craft, never missing a day, even when he and younger brother Tyler ran shirtless through the snow.

One of the few Wolf alumni to go on to an equally successful college career, running three years at Eastern Washington and one at Oklahoma.

Kim Meche (Coach) — A very talented volleyball player who became a very strong coach and later, administrator. Never lost her smile, or her fight, as she battled cancer for years, inspiring countless students, former players and colleagues.

A class act every step of the way, and the first inductee I chose.

Madeline Strasburg (Moment) — I have never seen anything quite like it.

Maddie Big Time, the ultimate big-game, big-moment player, stole the ball at mid-court, whirled and banked in a three-pointer from the left side that beat the third quarter buzzer by a millisecond.

OK, great play, but…

Two weeks later, coming off of Christmas break, the Wolf girls’ basketball team returns to the court.

Seconds to play in the third quarter, Strasburg, a junior at the time during the 2013-2014 season, rips the ball free, whirls, lets fly … and banks it in from mid-court, then runs off screaming as the buzzer wails.

The same incredible play. The same EXACT moment. Back-to-back games, 17 days apart.

I still don’t believe it, and I saw it happen.

1999-2000 CHS girls’ basketball (Team) — A slam dunk.

Other teams won more games. Other teams had better finishes. But this is where it started, when the Wolves refused to let it end.

March 2, 2000 they became the first team in school history to win a game at the state tourney, in any sport.

And they did it the way they had all that season, as a team of gutsy ball-hawks who attacked relentlessly, just the way coach Willie Smith drew it up.

Trailing Freeman by 11 points going into the fourth quarter, the Wolves, led by Tina Lyness, Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby and Brianne King, roared back to take the fourth quarter 20-5.

But, in the end, it wasn’t the big three, but ultimate role player Jaime Rasmussen who iced the 46-42 win, scoring the go-ahead basket before draining two free throws with five seconds to play.

A team that started the season 0-5 came back to shock Archbishop Thomas Murphy twice, then pulled off the defining win in school history in classic fashion. While having a lot of fun along the way.

Inducted, as a team:

Willie Smith (head coach)
Cherie Smith (assistant coach)
Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby
Penny Griggs
Brianne King
Yashmeen Knox
Tina Lyness
Jaime Rasmussen
Nicole Shelly
Rachelle Solomon
Tracy Taylor
Emily Young
Laura Young