Sewing, beach combing, surfing

I picked up Mary Gaboury at noon and we went to Bloomers Landing to get some fries and a diet coke to go. Drove to East Beach as I wanted to collect a few more rocks to set aside for when I'm ready to start rock painting again.  It was a nice hot day. We stopped to see Jackie Evanson in Hadlock who was sitting in her front lawn with her daughter. Hadn't seen her in years and years.

I took Mary to Safeway as she needed to buy some groceries for a party her nephew is throwing on Sunday for his son's graduation.  As I sat in the car for about 15 minutes, I people watched but didn't recognize anybody I knew. Course they all had masks on once they got out of their cars.  Business seemed to be brisk.

About an hour after I got home, dinner was delivered. Pineapple coleslaw, beef teriyaki, vegetable fried rice sesame green beans, brown sugar almont glazed cake.  Breakfast was tasty too. Hash browns, 2 fried eggs, 2 link sausage, blueberry muffin, watermelon.

I guess the meal, the sun, the fresh air, and the exercise wore me out as I had to take a nap in the recliner.  Thunder woke me up.

Mary sent me a picture a couple days ago of Jake being homeschooled.

While googling some other subject, I came across a blog posting I had made on the Leader website TEN YEARS AGO.  Man, where does the time go. It was interesting, though, so I decided I'd post it on my blog today.

The Glory Years

I sent out two memory requests last week-one about alumni banquets of the past and the other about state tournaments the Redskins attended. I'll write about the alumni activities next week. The tournament memories I received were a combination of facts found in yearbooks and stories people remembered about some of the games.

Joan Buhler, PTHS Alumni Association Historian wrote:

In 1947 the Redskins won the West Central District Tournament and apparently

went on to State because I remember going to at least one game at Edmundson Pavilion at UW. The team consisted of Bud Blevins, Bill Blowers, Don Brecht, Bob DeLeo, Corky Dillon, Chet Harper, Bud Herstrom, Ken Kidd, Clyde Moar, John Siebenbaum, and Bill Wise. The 1950 basketball team won 7th place at State B tournament. Players were Joe Barry, Pat O'Meara, Larry Kidd, Jack Tickner, Roger Irle, Dick Gleason, Howard Gardiner, Tom Baker, John Norwood, Jim Cameron, Vince Lux, Dick Larsen, and Skip Baker. In 1957 our basketball team took 4th place at the Class B tournament. Joe Thacker, Bruce Grady, Jim McMinn, Bill Gilbert, Larry Petersen, Lonny

Kvinsland, George Miller, Dennis Buse, Dennis Aardal, Mike Ryan, and Mike

McMahon played that year. The 1962 basketball team took 3rd place at State Tournament in Tacoma with players Rich Brooling, Loren Voetberg, Dave Edwards, Jim Delaney, Tom Delaney, Phil Harvey, John Paddock, Ray Merritt, Dick Sooy, Bill Dennis, Rich

Wallace, and Bill Brown. The 1972 basketball team placed 4th at State Class A Tournament with Rick Prill, Jim Parker, Brian Murphy, Al Adams, Paul Stroeder, Reed

Gunstone, Rock Fountain, Steve Kimball, Dave Hudson, and Keith Harper.

In 1976 Lady Redskins were State Class A Track and Field champions led by

Kim Seelye, Irene Griffith, Sarah Level, and in 1978, the Lady Redskins again won State Class A meet with Sarah Level, Irene Griffith, Terri Purviance, Nikki Fountain, Bridget Yearian, Mary Level, Andrea Mitchell, and Joyce Guiher.

Bob Lee recalled: In the 50's it seemed we went to Tacoma (State B Tournament) every year and we finished in the top four a couple of times. Jerry & Joe Thacker, Bob Crist, Bill Gilbert, and Bruce Grady played. That was in 1955 and 1956

Howie Gauthier wrote: the state track meets were held in Yakima, and in 1976 the track teams won both the boys' and girls' State Championships. This doesn't happen very often. This was the first time in the history of the WIAA -1A that this had ever happened, and it has only occurred once since then. The PTHS girls also won the state track meet in 1978 and 1979. Ken Brink was the coach. The boys' team included, among others, Brad Boland, John Stroeder (went on to play professional basketball), Mark McCready, Pat Powers, Howie Gauthier, and Jim Freitas. The girls' team included Kim Seelye and Sarah Level. Kim went on to be one of the best marathon runners in USA history.

Alice Seelye Wagner wrote: I remember the PTHS basketball team won the title class A for the State of Washington and I think it was due in fact because we had Jeff Haller on our team. The year was 1965 or 1966. I was surprised he didn't go on to play for the professionals like the Sonics or Suns.

Jeff Sherman recalled: Although this memory is decades old and should probably be verified before publication, the only memory I have about the state tournaments was

the one year I went-possibly my junior year. There were seconds left in the final playoff game and the ball was thrown to Mark Haller who proceeded to go to the wrong end of the basketball court to shoot! Everyone was yelling "WRONG WAY!!! TURN AROUND!!! as loud as they could at him. Memory is fuzzy after that but I think he still went to the opponent's basket and made his shot. It was SO funny. . I don't think Mark ever lived that one down.

Skip Baker had several memories to pass on: I remember a football game when Pat O'Meara, playing in the defensive secondary, met an opponent head on in the open field. Both of them were out for a few minutes. A couple of games later Pat did the same thing to another opponent and out they went. After that Pat was asking what had happened in the time between the incidents. Apparently he lost some memory after the first incident and regained it with the next. He was a very tough and talented athlete. He was also a very nice guy.

I remember being in the stands with the band when I was a freshman at a PTHS home basketball game against South Kitsap. At the end of the game, Ben Gilbert from mid court threw up his left handed shot and it swished the net for a big victory. From then on he was called "Ozark Ike" after the comic strip hero.

When playing football I wore a plastic mask on my helmet. During my senior year we played South Kitsap on their field. They were 3 deep with letterman on one side of the line and two deep on the other. They had several players who made all league or all state, two of whom were Dick Peysno (later a U. of W. star) and big Mel Yingling (fullback). In the last quarter we were behind by a fairly good score so they put Yingling in the defensive line opposite me (not usually a defensive player but he wanted to have some fun). He was a cocky, swaggering type and verbally challenged me while waiting for the ball to be snapped. I was fortunate to get the best of him and drive him into the ground. As the play got over he grabbed me by the head and swung with a mighty right hand. I could only laugh as he hit my plastic mask. That next Sunday I was at a Methodist Youth retreat in Port Orchard and found out that Mel was out for the rest of the season due to a broken hand. I shouldn't say so but I was tickled.

I also remember Vern Geick. Vern was probably one of the most talented athletes to ever attend PTHS. I will never forget football games, as an offensive end, where he would throw a block to allow the runner to circle his end and then would get up, wave the back to follow and then throw another block downfield. He made All State that year in Football. Then in basketball he was phenomenal and fun to watch. His ball handling skills as a guard and his shooting ability was the best in the league. He again made All State, this time in basketball.

Tom Camfield wrote: I made a lot of basketball state tournament trips during my years on the Leader. Also trips to post-season football playoff games--and some track meets in later years. The most successful post-season campaign by the Redskins was the year the girls' basketball team, under coach Chuck McClurken, won the state championship. I couldn't tell you now how many gold medals Sarah Level won in the dashes, long jump and 440 relay without looking it all up somewhere.

Ken resurrected the track program at PTHS. Chuck did likewise with girls' basketball.

Jan Gillett Higdon remembered: The basketball tournaments were held at UPS so we all stayed in Tacoma. Most everyone in the same hotel with the teams. We had great songfests in the lobby. Several of us (unbeknownst to our chaperones) left the hotel and went cruising with some PTHS alumni who were in college. When we returned to the hotel, there were five fire trucks in front. Of course we were sure it was our room and probably everyone was looking for us. Found out someone had put a lit cigarette down the mail chute.

I also recall that the refereeing in one game (maybe 1957) was terrible. Our best players fouled out VERY early in the game. I remember Mr. Roffler with his program rolled up headed for the locker room with fire in his eye ready to make sure they never refereed another game.

Wally May wrote: In those years when we had a football or basketball team make it to the district or state tournament, as a member of the band it was always a lot of fun to travel on a bus and play for the team. Bob Balcom was our band teacher then.

Barbara Blowers also remembers the fun of traveling. In 1962 we went to State and found ourselves a chaperone so we could stay in the hotel. We were on the same floor as the Montesano team. They were a lot of fun. In l964 I was at a dance in Westport and someone poked me in the back -- it was one of the guys from the Montesano team. While there, we went to a dance where Rockin' Robin Roberts and the Wailers were playing. The games were great to watch -- a lot of drama. I think we ended up losing to Lynden - they were always a tough team, and I think our team may have had too much fun the night before.