Locally: Spokane’s Jerry Campbell to receive CFL honors
For eight of his 11 seasons in the Canadian Football League, Spokane’s Jerry “Soupy” Campbell enhanced his legendary status on and off the field in Ottawa, Ontario.
In ceremonies scheduled for July 18 before a home game, the CFL team will rightfully recognize Campbell by placing his name on its TD Place Stadium Wall of Honor.
Known as “Soupy,” or just simply “Soup” since his All-City League years at Lewis and Clark High School, where he was state Lineman of the Year in 1961, Campbell went on to be a three-year Big Sky Conference defensive standout at Idaho before embarking on a CFL career that started in 1966 and ended in 1976, both in Calgary.
But he’s best remembered for the time in between, his years in Ottawa, where he was a team captain and hard-hitting linebacker considered the “heart and soul of the fearsome defensive unit called ‘Capital Punishment,’ ” according to the release announcing his Ottawa honor.
Campbell, who was 73 when he died of a heart attack in 2017, was an All-Canadian linebacker for seven consecutive seasons (1969-75), won three Grey Cups with the Rough Riders (1968, ’69 and ’75) and was inducted into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame in 1995 and the CFL Hall of Fame in 1996.
But you can’t tell Campbell’s story just with numbers. His legend is also built on stories.
And they began before he arrived in the CFL. In 1965 while at Idaho, the story goes that Campbell was tired of getting beat up in spring football practice. His roommate was future major league pitcher Bill Stoneman, so on a whim, Campbell tried out for the Vandals’ baseball team – and made it as a backup catcher and outfielder.
In Campbell’s Ottawa Citizen obituary written by Tim Baines, award-winning Canadian journalist Bob McKeown, a Campbell teammate and locker neighbor in Ottawa, is quoted saying, “Soupy was about as glamorous a character as there was, not just on the Rough Riders, but, really, in the city.
“For a middle linebacker who was as ferocious on the field as he was, he was the sweetest guy. … Teammates, opponents, everybody loved Soupy. He could go from trying to take your head off during the play to joking with you as he picked you up and sent you back to the huddle.”
McKeown recalled that after dinner one night at his home in Toronto, Campbell and a mutual friend ventured off into the night.
“The next morning, it was a Saturday, I woke up … to the sound of cartoons in my living room and my 4-year-old son laughing. Except this time there was (also a deeper) ha-ha-ha. … There is my son D’Arcy in his PJs. Next to him, in his undershirt and bare feet, is Soup.
“I said, ‘What’s going on?’ He said ‘just watching cartoons with Darc. Uh, did I leave my shoes here last night?’ I said ‘No.’ He said … ‘I guess you don’t know where my car is, then.’ ”
Basketball
Lauren Rewers, a 6-foot-4 center from Lake City and a defensive presence in three seasons at Hawaii, announced she is transferring to Michigan State for her senior season.
The four-time Idaho first-team All-State and 5A All-Inland Empire League selection in high school had 40 of her 44 career blocked shots at Hawaii as a sophomore and junior. She added 19 career steals and 203 of her 277 career rebounds came on the defensive end.
Rewers averaged 4.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 16.5 minutes in 86 games, 50 of them starts.
Johanna Teder, a 5-8 guard from Estonia, will transfer to Washington State from South Plains Community College in Levelland, Texas, where she played her freshman season, to complete the Cougars’ 2020 recruiting class, women’s coach Kamie Ethridge announced.
Teder played in all 33 games for the Lady Texans (32-1), starting 14, and earned first-team all-conference honors. She averaged 7.9 points and 4.4 assists for the season, shooting 46.9% from the field, including 37.5 on 3-pointers. In conference play, she averaged 10.2 ppg and 4.7 apg. Her season-high 26 points in the first round of regionals included five 3-pointers.
She was a member of Estonia’s U18 women’s national team in 2018.
College scene
Junior Damen Thacker picked up two awards when the Idaho men’s basketball team got together digitally over Zoom to pass out team awards voted on by the players.
Thacker received the Mike Sprenger Award that goes to the player who embodies “the grit, heart and character” of a Vandal, and the Jay Gano Most Inspirational Award.
Senior Trevon Allen of Clarkston won the Ronald White Award as the team’s most outstanding player for a second straight season. Junior Scott Blakney received the Kathy Clark Award for combined athletic and academic excellence.
The Oz Thompson Award given to the player who best inspires sportsmanship, scholarship and leadership went to Lake Roosevelt junior Chance Garvin. The George Green Award, given to the most unselfish player, went to freshman Gabe Quinnett from Moscow, who was asked to give up his red shirt when injuries depleted the team.
Undersized grad student Quinto Forrest received the Gus Johnson Award, named for the legendary former Vandal, that goes to the top rebounder/defender.
The Idaho women’s basketball team and coach Jon Newlee were honored when the 58th annual North Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame award recipients were announced.
The Vandals, who were 22-9 and advanced to the Big Sky Conference Tournament championship game, were named the Women’s College Team of the Year, and Newlee was the Women’s College Coach of the Year.
Whitworth senior Reilly Hegarty followed up his selection to the PING All-West Region men’s golf team by being named NCAA Division III All-West Region and All-America honorable mention by the Golf Coaches Association of America. He had a 72.1 stroke average and top-three finishes in three of his four tournaments.
Joseph Glenn, a sophomore from Post Falls who led Idaho much of the season, was a second-team choice and Vandals freshman Jackson Jacob earned honorable mention on the 2019-20 All-Big Sky Conference men’s golf team.
Idaho and Eastern Washington each had a first-team selection and the schools combined for five spots when the 2019-20 All-Big Sky Conference women’s golf team was announced.
Idaho junior Valeria Patino, the Vandals’ season leader, earned her second straight first-team honor after being second team as a freshman. Eastern’s school record holder, senior Madalyn Ardueser, became the first Eagle since 2008 named to the first team.
Ardueser, honorable mention as a sophomore and junior, holds the Eastern single-season (72.46) and career (74.77) scoring average records.
Sophomores Vicky Tsai and Eddie Hsu of Idaho landed on the second and third teams, respectively, and Eastern junior Alexa Clark received honorable mention after being second team as a sophomore.
Fifteen athletes with area ties who are at least sophomores were named to Cascade Collegiate Conference 2020 Spring U.S. Bank Academic All-Conference teams with GPAs of 3.2 or above.
By school:
College of Idaho: Caleb Brown, sr., Colfax, men’s track/field; Samantha Dement, so., Lake City, women’s golf; Haley Loffer, jr., Lake City, softball; Kylie Smith, jr., Coeur d’Alene HS, softball.
Corban: Obiomachi Abonyi, so., Moses Lake, women’s track/field; Jared Bell, sr., Mt. Spokane, baseball; McKenzie Wade, sr., Shadle Park, women’s track/field; Forest Zubaly, sr., Lakeland (Rathdrum), men’s track/field.
Eastern Oregon: Shelby Starr, so., Timberlake (Spirit Lake), softball.
Northwest Christian: Moria Duenich, sr., Deer Park, women’s track/field.
Northwest: Jack Anderson, so., Lind-Ritzville, men’s track/field; Rachel Hawley, sr., University, softball; Quinn Larson-Dhaenens, jr., Northwest Christian HS, women’s track/field; Riley Sine, grad student, Central Valley, men’s track/field.
Oregon Tech: Jasmine James, sr., Kellogg, women’s track/field.
Golf
Ken Phillips had a hole-in-one Thursday on the 185-yard fourth hole at The Links Golf Club in Post Falls using a 5-wood.
Hockey
Saige Weinstein, a 5-10, 160-pound left-handed defenseman and Spokane’s first-round selection in the 2020 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft, has signed a WHL standard player agreement with the Chiefs.
The 2005-born Weinstein, who will be eligible to play for the Chiefs full time beginning with the 2021-22 season, had four goals and 16 assists in 23 games at the bantam level in 2019-20.
“He plays a 200-foot, two-way game,” said Chiefs assistant general manager Jim Hammett of the Edmonton, Alberta, native. “He’s a very mobile defender and plays hard in his own zone, with good offensive sense.”
Letters of intent
Gonzaga men’s cross country-track: Stanford Smith, distances, Kennewick (Kamiakin HS), will join the team in the fall of 2022 following a 2-year Latter-Dday Saints mission.
Gonzaga women’s cross country-track: Jillian Greene, middle distances/distances, Wilsonville, Oregon/Western Oregon University, will be a sophomore.
Washington State women’s golf: Jessi Lin, Taiwan/College of the Canyons CC (California), will be a junior.