In 1974 many schools were still in the process of starting their girls basketball programs. In spite of that, the first WIAA girls state tournament was held. Central Washington University was the site, where sixteen teams came together to decide the very first state...
The first year the city of Spokane had two public high schools was 1908. North Central opened that fall with approximately 325 students, all freshmen. South Central, formerly Spokane High, had a full component of students, totaling around 1,200.
Elra “Squinty” Hunter entered his 39th, and last, season as coach of the Lewis and Clark basketball team in 1963 with a strong group of returning players that went 20-5 the prior year. Led by Lance Brigham, Jay Bond and Bob Lobdell, the Tigers were...
Moses Lake has had from its inception one of the premiere high school wrestling programs in the state of Washington. The program, founded in 1952 by Ed Beardsley, was what other schools strived to emulate as they began their own wrestling programs.
The Harrington High basketball team was on a mission for the 1964-65 season. It had just missed winning the state B championship the prior year, losing in the final seconds to Cathlamet in the championship game.
Billy Frazier had just completed his first year as head coach for the Gonzaga High School football team. In December of 1939 he took on his second new job, coaching Bullpup basketball, replacing long time mentor, John “Puggy” Hunton. Since their 1932 City League championship...
The 1948 Spokane City League basketball race was a wild one. Spokane was allocated two spots to the state tournament, and the battle for that second selection went down to the wire.
Coach Dave Robertson’s basketball teams were a dominant force in the Greater Spokane League for 20 years.
Forty years ago, on Dec.17, 1976, the Greater Spokane League started its initial basketball season with a triple header at the Spokane Coliseum. With the merger of the three Border League schools, CV, Mead and University, aligning with the six Spokane City League schools, a new era had begun.
Anton Rasmussen, Jr. grew up in the Montana Hi-Line near Glasgow, Montana, the son of immigrant Danish homesteaders. In 1943, during his junior year at Glasgow High, unhappy with one of his teachers, he put a bullsnake in her desk drawer.
Coach Herm Pein was looking forward to the 1977 football season. His Chewelah Cougars had made the state playoffs the three previous seasons, falling short each time.
Ties in football have become a thing of the past . Seattle's recent 6-6 score against Arizona being the first tie in the Seahawks' history.
Coach Bob Bartlett was looking forward to the 1955 Spokane City League football season with hopes of improvement for his Lewis and Clark Tigers.
Newman Lake native Bob Shill took over as football coach of the East Valley Knights in 1967. At the time they were still a member of the Northeast A League.
The first year of Greater Spokane League volleyball in September of 1976 encompassed the formative years for girls athletics. Ten schools, including Marycliff, inaugurated the new league.
North Central’s first football game was in October of 1908. Its opponent that fall day was the Episcopalian Houston School For Boys. NC’s roster was made up of inexperienced underclassmen. The result was a 5-5 tie.
As the Spokane City League started its fifth season in 1929, Hillyard’s football team had yet to win a league game. As Coach Carl Quackenbush welcomed his small Panther team, he wouldn’t comment on its chances, but said the team would be scrappy.
Shadle Park football struggled through the early 1960s. The Highlanders went winless for three years. Their 1963 team went 0-10, scoring only two touchdowns the entire season, losing the season finale to Gonzaga Prep, 74-0.
In 1944 it was a two-team affair as Gonzaga High and Rogers were the clear favorites to battle for the football crown in the Spokane City League.
Jack Blair was born in Chicago but grew up in Spokane and Chewelah. He graduated from Chewelah High in 1960. He attended Stanford University, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Ed Brandt came to fame for his pitching in Spokane at a young age. As an eighth grader, he led his Grant grade school team to the city championship. He then continued his success on the diamond at Lewis and Clark.
There have been a lot of changes to high school track and field over the years. Looking back at an Inland Empire interscholastic meet held in Pullman in May of 1916, and comparing the results with the recent April 23rd Mooberry Relays shows the evolution.
Title IX, which gave women a more equal chance to compete in athletics coincided with the beginning of the Greater Spokane League in 1975. Softball competition in the early years of the GSL was slowpitch only.
In the final two years of the Border League, Coach Harry Amend’s Central Valley baseball team had a run of success, with league titles in 1974 and 1975.
Although the Rogers girls finished behind University for the 1986 track and field race in the GSL, coach Dick Kinzer found himself with a talented team of sprinters as his small contingent of five left for the state AAA tournament in Tacoma that year.
Vince Grippi's daily take on all things regional sports has been moved to our main sports section online. You can find a collection of these columns here.
