WSU grad Sherman Alexie wins Carnegie medal for literary
excellence
UPDATED: Sun., Feb. 11, 2018, 9:39 p.m.
NEW YORK (AP) – Sherman Alexie and Jennifer Egan are the
2018 winners of the Carnegie Medal for literary excellence.
Alexie won in nonfiction for “You Don’t Have to Say You
Love Me: A Memoir.” In fiction, Jennifer Egan won the prize for “Manhattan
Beach,” her novel set in New York City in the mid-20th century. The American
Library Association announced the selections Sunday night during its annual
midwinter meeting, held this year in Denver.
Alexie is a Spokane-Coeur d’Alene novelist, short story
writer and poet who now lives in Seattle. He recently won a 2018 Pacific
Northwest Book Award for the same book.
////////////////
Women’s Basketball WSU Cougs Fall in High-Paced Battle
With No. 9/10 Oregon
2/11/2018 from WSU Sports Info
PULLMAN, Wash. - Taking on one of the nation's top
offenses, the Cougars (10-16, 3-11 Pac-12) threw everything they had at the
high-powered Ducks (23-4, 12-2 Pac-12), forcing No. 9/10 ranked Oregon to use
every weapon in its arsenal to take home a 90-79 victory in Beasley Coliseum
Sunday afternoon.
From the outset the Cougs knew they were going to be in
for a high-paced battle as the two teams traded shots early, the Ducks from in
close while the Cougs bombed away from deep. Despite missing just one shot in
the opening 10 minutes, Oregon held just a six-point lead after one quarter of
action thanks to 11 points, including a trio of threes, from Alexys Swedlund.
When a quick third foul sent Swedlund to the bench early in
the second quarter, the Ducks took advantage of the shorthanded Cougs, breaking
the game open with nearly perfect offensive execution.
Despite falling behind by as much as 23 points to start
the second half, the Cougs fought back, using a 15-2 run capped by a Borislava
Hristova three to cut the deficit to just nine late in the third. Unfortunately
for WSU, the nine points would be as close as the Cougs would get the rest of
the way as the Ducks answered every make with one of their own in the final 10 minutes
of play. As the Cougs tried to foul and shoot their way back into the game
Oregon closed things out from the line where it knocked down10-of-11 in the
quarter to finish the game 18-of-19.
Stat of the Game
The Cougs tied a season-high with 11 three-pointers,
shooting a season-best 55.0% (11-of-20) from distance in the game.
The Cougs dropped the season-series to the Ducks as
Oregon took both meetings in the regular season.
Five Cougs scored in double-figures, the second time in
four games for WSU.
Borislava Hristova scored 22 points to lead the Cougs in
scoring for the 20th time on the season. The game marked her 11th 20+ point
game of the season and 21st of her career. It also marked her 22nd double-digit
scoring game, tied for fourth all-time among Cougar sophomores.
Pinelopi Pavlopoulou and Alexys Swedlund each score 14
points with four three-pointers a piece. The four for Pavlopoulou marked a
career high while the four for Swedlund tied a season-high.
Pavlopoulou scored all 14 of her points in the second
half, nine of which came in the fourth quarter, while Swedlund netted her 14 in
the first half.
Chanelle Molina and Maria Kostourkova each scored 10
points. Kostourkova tied her career high with five assists for the
second-straight contest.
Oregon put four in double-figures led by Ruthy Hebard's
29 points on 12-of-12 shooting. Satou Sabally and Sabrina Ionescu each added 17
while Oti Gildon chipped in 10. Hebard and Ionescu each scored their 1,000
point in the contest.
As a team, the Ducks shot 61.5% from the floor in the
contest after shooting 80.0% in the first half and 92.3% (12-of-13) in the
first quarter.
The Cougs turned the ball over just nine times marking
the second-straight game WSU finished with less than 10 turnovers after posting
just six against Oregon State.
WSU hits the road for its final regular season road trip
Friday, Feb. 16 at Utah. The 6 p.m. PT tip can be seen on the Pac-12 Network.
//////////////
Men’s basketball from WSU Sports Info
WASHINGTON STATE AT OREGON
SUNDAY, FEB. 11, 2018 – 5
P.M. PT– MATTHEW KNIGHT ARENA (EUGENE, ORE.)
FINAL SCORE: ORE 84, WSU 57
POSTGAME NOTES
Sophomore Malachi Flynn led WSU with 16 points, adding a
team-high 5 assists.
Flynn tied his career high with 3 steals.
Graduate transfer Drick Bernstine grabbed 11 rebounds,
marking his most since he had 12 against Stanford, Jan. 11…he added 6 points
and 3 assists.
Junior Viont’e Daniels was the other Cougar with double
figure points, finishing with 11…he’s scored in double figures in three of the
last four games and has made at least 2 3-pointers in each of the last five
games.
Daniels played 39 minutes and has played at least 38
minutes each of the last three games.
Junior Davante Cooper got his first career start…he
played a career-high 32 minutes…his previous high for minutes was 11 against
Arizona, Jan. 31.
Cooper finished with a career-high 7 points and 5
rebounds, his previous highs were 4 points against Arizona, Jan. 31 and 3
rebounds done three times, last at Oregon State, Feb. 8.
Sophomore Carter Skaggs finished with 9 points on 3
3-pointers…he’s made at least 3 3’s in each of the last three games.
For the second-straight game, senior Steven Shpreyregin
played double-digit minutes…he tied his career high with 14 minutes played,
done in the last game, Feb. 8 at Oregon State.
With 3 points, Shpreyregin scored in consecutive games
for the first time this season, after scoring a career-high 8 points last game.
WSU used its 10th different starting lineup of the season
and fourth in the last four games; Viont’e Daniels, Malachi Flynn, Carter
Skaggs, Davante Cooper and Drick Bernstine…Daniels is the only Cougar to start
every game this season.
WSU’s 57 points are a season low.
WSU’s leading scorer, junior Robert Franks did not play
due to a knee injury…he’s averaging 17.9 points his season.
WSU has never won at Matthew Knight Arena and has not won
at Oregon since 2009.
The Cougars return home to host Colorado, Thursday, Feb.
15 at 8 p.m. and Utah, Saturday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m.
//////////
WSU men’s basketball
Without Robert Franks, Washington State offense finds new
low in 84-57 loss to Oregon
UPDATED: Sun., Feb. 11, 2018, 9:32 p.m.
By Theo Lawson Spokane S-R
EUGENE, Ore. – Washington State had already gone into its
offensive freeze four days ago when top scorer Robert Franks tweaked his knee in
a 32-point loss to Oregon State.
In Corvallis, the Cougars matched their lowest-scoring
game of the year with just 62 points. But the concept of putting a basketball
in a hoop only became more troublesome and painful for WSU on Sunday when
Franks, an 18 point-per-game scorer who can normally find the Cougars a bucket
when they need one, was ruled out against the Oregon Ducks.
Franks’ presence may not have necessarily saved WSU at
Matthew Knight Arena, but the Cougars certainly missed their junior’s versatility
in an 84-57 loss to the Ducks in front of 9,419 fans in Eugene.
WSU (9-15, 1-11) shot just 20 of 51 (39 percent) from the
field, made only 7 of 12 free throws and hit a new season low in points scored
– three days after doing the same 50 miles north in Corvallis. During their
Oregon road swing, the Cougars were outscored 178-119.
“You take 18 points off the floor, that’s huge,” said WSU
coach Ernie Kent. “… We missed Robo’s ability to shoot the ball and spread the
floor because we had some good looks, but without him out there it clamps down
on that scoring a little bit more.”
Malachi Flynn said the team learned “about an hour before
the game” that Franks was ruled out, adding “everyone’s got to step up” while
also lamenting, “obviously, it’s going to be tough to win without him.”
The Cougars missed countless point-blank looks underneath
the rim – each of them more deflating than the last. When Drick Bernstine’s
uncontested layup rattled out with 7:19 left in the half, Oregon freshman Troy
Brown pulled down the rebound then handed off to point guard Payton Pritchard,
who floated a pass to Kenny Wooten for a powerful alley-oop.
All night, sequences like that lifted the Ducks and
flattened the Cougars.
“I think they would’ve changed everything around,”
forward Davante Cooper said. “Because we weren’t down by a whole bunch of points
and all those little plays count at the end of the game when it’s so close like
that.”
The Ducks (17-8, 7-5) broke off a 14-0 run to close the
game, but it took them nearly 30 minutes to maintain a lead larger than 10
points. WSU trailed by nine when Bernstine converted twice in the paint to make
it a two-possession game at 46-41. Then, with 13:20 to play, MiKlye McIntosh
buried an open look from beyond the arc and the hosts led by at least nine
points for the remainder.
Once again, turnovers played a critical role for the
Cougars, who committed only 14 this time but saw those become 25 Oregon points
at the other end. Nine of those came in the final 1:14 when a tiresome WSU team
fired the ball into the opponent’s hands on three consecutive possessions.
After one of those, Flynn raced down the floor and drew a
flagrant one foul when he pulled Brown to the floor on the fastbreak.
“I don’t think it was composure, I think we missed a
little bit of confidence there,” Kent said. “When Drick missed those layups
there, that probably could’ve made a difference. They got a little bit fatigued
and they closed the game out in a big way. They out-athleted us down the
stretch.”
Flynn and Cooper were bright spots for the losing team.
The sophomore point guard had a team-high 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting and
dished out five assists while also collecting three steals. Cooper made his
first career start, in place of Franks, and finished with personal bests in
points (seven), rebounds (five) and minutes played (32). Viont’e Daniels added
11 on three 3s for WSU.
Pritchard was one of five double-digit scorers for the
Ducks, scoring 19 points to go along with 10 assists. Brown also had a
double-double, with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
WSU has now lost seven straight games and 15 of its last
18 dating back to the Wooden Legacy.
///////////////////////////////
MEN: Missing Franks, Cougars take a beating by Ducks
Moscow Pullman Daily News, Lewiston Trib and AP
12 Feb 2018
EUGENE, Ore. — For the Cougars, it wasn’t a good time to
be missing their leading scorer.
Robert Franks Jr. sat out with a knee issue from two
nights earlier as Washington State lost to Oregon 84-67 in a Pac-12 men’s
basketball game Sunday night.
“It didn’t feel right to him, so we just sat him down,”
WSU coach Ernie Kent said. “It’s more important to get him healthy again before
we put him out there. We needed his scoring tonight. You take 18 points off the
floor and that’s huge. We missed (Franks’) ability to shoot the ball and spread
the floor.”
Oregon’s sudden sense of urgency is showing in Payton
Pritchard’s play. It comes from being the only starter back from last year’s
Final Four team and how the Ducks need to finish strong to reach the postseason
again.
Pritchard had 19 points and 10 assists, and Troy Brown
Jr. also had a double-double. The Ducks completed a sweep of the Washington
schools by a combined 52 points, a dramatic course correction coming off a
35-point loss at Stanford.
“I’d say we’re definitely jelling more,” Pritchard said.
“We kind of moved past the bad loss to Stanford.
“We’re making strides, and going into L.A. (to play USC
and UCLA), we’re really going to have to be together. We need both.”
Brown Jr. finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and a
career-high five steals for the Ducks (17-8, 7-5 Pac-12). The freshman limped
to the bench after making two free throws with 44 seconds left following a
flagrant foul by Malachi Flynn.
It was Pritchard’s first double-double in 64 games at
Oregon and the first time two Ducks players had a double-double in the same
game since Dec. 3, 2014.
MiKyle McIntosh and Victor Bailey Jr. each had 13 points,
and Kenny Wooten added 10 points and eight rebounds.
Flynn had 16 points to lead the Cougars (9-15, 1-11), and
Viont’e Daniels added 11.
The Cougars trailed by only five early in the second half
before six straight points from Bailey Jr., including a 4-point play, put the
Ducks up 55-44. Oregon coach Dana Altman then went with Pritchard, a sophomore,
and four freshmen to pressure WSU full court, and the lead grew to 67-48.
“I thought their energy was really good,” Altman said of
the young group. “They were finishing plays, made plays for each other. I
really thought that was a good stretch for us.”
The Ducks finished the game on a 14-0 run for their
largest lead.
Oregon did most of its damage in transition, outscoring
the Cougars 21-3 in fast-break points thanks, in part, to 11 steals. The Ducks
also had their way inside with a 34-28 rebounding advantage and 30 points in
the paint, compared to WSU’s 12.
Pritchard had six points, including a breakaway dunk off
a steal, and an assist in an 8-0 run that put Oregon ahead to stay in the first
half. The Ducks led 38-28 at the break.
Oregon is now tied with Washington for fourth in the
Pac-12 standings with six games to go. The top four teams receive byes in the
conference tournament, avoiding an extra game in Las Vegas next month. Coach
Dana Altman’s 13-4 record (.765) is the best in Pac-12 tournament history.
Washington State lost its seventh consecutive game and
has just three wins since opening the season 6-0. The Cougars are 0-9 on the
road this season with a trip to California and Stanford remaining on the
schedule.
Dana Altman is now one of six active coaches with 21 or
more consecutive winnings seasons. The other five are in the Basketball Hall of
Fame. The Ducks clinched an eighth-straight winning season, all under Altman,
for the first time in 86 years.
Wooten sparked a 5-0 run to end the first half with a
two-handed volleyball block that Brown Jr. turned into a dunk and 3-point play.
Wooten had two blocks in just 44 seconds after coming off the bench at the
first media timeout and three for the game to give him 73, tied for third most
by a Pac-12 freshman.
Brown Jr. produced his best back-to-back games of the
season against the Washington schools and now has four double-doubles. His top
play was a back-court steal with a behind-the-back dribble to avoid a Cougar
and a driving finish over Drick Bernstine for a 3-point play and a 63-48 lead.
Oregon has a reputation for strong second-half finishes
in the Pac-12 under Altman, second only to Arizona over the past eight seasons.
WSU’s Kent, an Oregon alum and ex-Duck coach, sees it happening again. “That
team is going to be good,” he said. “They’re making mistakes right now, but
they’re getting better with each outing, and we’ve got a little bit more work
to do before we can catch a team at that level.”
WASHINGTON ST. (9-15)
Cooper 3-5 1-4 7, Bernstine 3-8 0-0 6, Flynn 5-12 4-6 16,
Daniels 4-10 0-0 11, Skaggs 3-7 0-0 9, Pollard 0-1 2-2 2, Chidom 1-2 0-0 3,
Acquaah 0-2 0-0 0, Shpreyregin 1-4 0-0 3, Ergas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-51 7-12
57.
OREGON (17-8)
White 1-1 2-2 5, T.Brown 4-9 7-10 16, McIntosh 4-6 3-4 13,
Pritchard 7-13 2-2 19, E.Brown 2-9 0-0 6, Cage 0-0 0-0 0, Kigab 0-1 0-0 0,
Wooten 5-8 0-0 10, Smith 1-1 0-0 2, Sorkin 0-0 0-0 0, Bailey 4-7 3-3 13. Totals
28-55 17-21 84.
Halftime—Oregon 38-28. 3-Point Goals—Washington St. 10-28
(Daniels 3-7, Skaggs 3-7, Flynn 2-8, Chidom 1-1, Shpreyregin 1-4, Acquaah 0-1),
Oregon 11-28 (Pritchard 3-6, McIntosh 2-4, Bailey 2-4, E.Brown 2-8, White 1-1,
T.Brown 1-4, Kigab 0-1). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Washington St. 25 (Bernstine
11), Oregon 32 (T.Brown 10). Assists—Washington St. 14 (Flynn 5), Oregon 21
(Pritchard 10). Total Fouls—Washington St. 16, Oregon 11. A—9,419 (12,364).
WOMEN: Cougs again fall to a ranked team
Not even 9-for-11 shooting from beyond the arc could
rescue the Cougars in their second straight game against a top-25 opponent.
Ruthy Hebard scored 29 points, hitting all 12 of her
field goal attempts, as No. 9 Oregon beat Washington State 90-79 on Sunday at
Beasley Coliseum to remain in a tie for first place in the Pac-12.
Satou Sabally and Sabrina Ionescu each added 17 points
for Oregon (23-4, 12-2 Pac-12), which shot 80 percent in the first half and 62
percent for the game.
“That was a heck of a weekend for Ruthy,” Oregon coach
Kelly Graves said. “I mean, 12-for-12, a perfect night, and she went perfect
(5-of-5) from the line too, It’s incredible.”
“If you like offensive basketball, that was the game for
you tonight,” Graves said. “Two teams that didn’t miss a whole lot.”
Borislava Hristova scored 22 points for Washington State
(10-16, 3-11), which was coming off an overtime loss to No. 16 Oregon State on
Friday. The Cougars shot 48 percent in a losing cause, but made 11 of 20 from
3-point range.
“We played two top-20 teams this week,” WSU interim coach
Mike Daugherty said. “Really I thought we played great this weekend.”
The Ducks welcomed back Lexi Bando, the nation’s active
career leader in 3-point shooting at 45.5 percent, from injury. She scored nine
points.
////////////
Men’s basketball
After loss, Kent says Cooper will play ‘a lot more’
WSU battles but drops seventh-straight Pac-12 game
By Dylan Haugh of Cougfan.com
WITH LEADING SCORER Robert Franks sidelined with a knee
injury, Washington State (9-15,1-11) dropped its seventh-straight Pac-12 game
on Sunday, an 84-57 loss at Oregon. In defeat, 6-11 forward Davonte Cooper
earned more playing time, said Ernie Kent.
Cooper, a junior who joined the WSU program last year out
of Tyler JC in Texas, made his first career start at Washington State with
Franks out of the lineup. He finished with seven points and five rebounds.
“He’s going to play a lot more down the stretch because
he showed some promise that I really, really liked,” Kent told radio play-by-play
man Matt Chazanow on the postgame radio show. “He gave us some fight and
heart.”
Bigs Cooper and Drick Bernstine did their best to replace
Franks’ production but also missed their fair share of point-blank shots in the
second half that Kent said were far too costly.
“There were a lot, I mean a lot of layups that our bigs
missed inside,” said Kent. “That could have been a big difference in this game
to convert some of those ... we had some great opportunities to keep this thing
to 10 and then who knows what happens coming down the stretch.”
Kent said postgame that Franks tweaked his knee at Oregon
State on Thursday but should be back for home tilts against Utah on Thursday,
and Colorado on Saturday.
Carter Skaggs, who rolled his ankle at OSU and had to
leave the game, was able to go Sunday in Eugene. He gave the Cougars a solid 27
minutes, finishing with nine points all on 3-pointers.
WSU limited its turnovers to just four in the first
half. And the Cougs played solid defense
over the first 20 minutes, switching between a 1-3-1 zone and man, keeping
Oregon off-balance at times. The second half was a different story.
THE GAME WENT DOWNHILL with a little less than 12 minutes
left. Still within striking distance down 51-44, Milan Acquaah fouled Oregon
guard Victor Bailey Jr. on a made 3-pointer and Bailey converted the free
throw. The Cougars never got within single digits again and Oregon finished the
game on a 14-0 run to pad the margin.
The 3-point happy Cougars live and die from beyond the
arc. WSU hit six treys in the first half and four in the second – but two of
the final 3-pointers came in the last five minutes when the game had already
been decided. WSU shot 35 percent from beyond the arc, 39 percent overall. Oregon connected on 51 percent of its
attempts, 39 percent of its 3-point shots. The Ducks’ outscored a short-handed
Cougars’ bench 25-8.
Malachi Flynn led the Cougars with 16 points and five
assists. Kent said his sophomore point guard played a well-rounded game.
“Much, much better,” said Kent. “I thought he did a
really nice job, just battled. Was a great floor general and played pretty
fatigued in the game, got a little worn down at the end there.”
Viont’e Daniels was the only other Cougar in double
figures with 11 points. WSU only made 20 field goals on the evening, 10 of them
from downtown.
Oregon led 38-28 at halftime before WSU scored on its
first four possessions of the second half to close the gap to five points.
////////////
Report: Mike Leach hiring Mason Miller as new OL coach
Air Raid disciple with longtime ties to Hal Mumme
COUGFANcom
MIKE LEACH IS hiring Mason Miller as his new offensive
line coach to replace Clay McGuire, according to a report by
FootballScoop.
Miller, who spent this past season at Nevada as o-line
coach, has longtime ties to Hal Mumme and the Air Raid offense.
According to Miller’s bio page on Nevada’s website;
“Miller has keen awareness of the Air Raid offense, having played and coached
at Valdosta State with Wolf Pack offensive coordinator Matt Mumme and his
father, Hal, an architect of the Air Raid system. Miller moved with Mumme to
stops at Southeastern Louisiana, New Mexico State and McMurry before spending
the last three seasons as the offensive coordinator and associate head coach at
Tarleton State.”
McGuire, it was announced by Texas Tech on Signing Day,
is leaving WSU after six years to coach running backs and be the co-offensive
coordinator at his alma mater.
The File on Mason Miller
Born: July 23, 1975
Hometown: Marietta, Ga.
Family: Wife Megan; Daughters Madison and Mallory
Education: Bachelor's, Valdosta State, 1999
Coaching Experience
2017: Offensive Line, Nevada
2014-16: Assoc. Head Coach/Off. Coordinator, Tarleton
State
2013: Head Coach, McMurry
2009-12: Off. Coordinator/Offensive Line, McMurry
2007-08: Assoc. Head Coach, New Mexico State
2005-06: Offensive Line, New Mexico State
2004: Offensive Line, Southeastern Louisiana
2003: Running Backs, Southeastern Louisiana
2000: Wide Receivers, Washington & Lee
1998-99: Off. Coordinator, Valwood High
Playing Experience
Valdosta State: Fullback (1994-95)
///////////////
Is Luke Falk a contender to be back-up QB for New England
Patriots of NFL? Link to story from ESPN.com
///
::::::::::
RAY HOBBS
Info from HoundCentral.com:
"… Ray Hobbs graduated high school in 1947, in
Sheridan, Wyoming. Hobbs was born and raised in Acme, Wyoming, in a coal mining
town of about 150 people. His dad got a job at Coulee Dam when Hobbs had two
more years left in high school. Knowing he had a good chance of winning with
his team, he was able to convince his parents to let him stay in Sheridan for
the remainder of high school. His parents’ decision paid off and when he was a
senior his team won the state championship. Hobbs could have played in college
at Wyoming but realized his parents wouldn’t be able to watch him play, and
that’s what brought him to Pullman to play four years at WSU as a PAT
kicker. After graduating college Hobbs
started to coach at Pullman High School …."
Remembering legendary Pullman coach Ray Hobbs
By Stephan Wiebe, Moscow Pullman Daily News Feb 12, 2018
(Photo from the Pullman Herald)
Football was the lifeblood for legendary Pullman and
Colton football coach Ray Hobbs.
It wasn’t about the wins — he accumulated plenty of those
in his five decades of coaching — it was about turning boys into men, and the
relationships he developed.
Even after he stopped coaching two decades ago, he would
still look at plays and obsess over games whenever fall rolled around.
Hobbs coached in five decades from the 1950s to 90s, most
of that time spent with the Pullman High Greyhounds, but also stops at Lewiston
as an assistant and Colton.
Hobbs died Friday at Regency Assisted Living in Pullman.
He was 88 years old.
“He was a master teacher, a brilliant strategist and just
a darn good guy,” said former Lewiston coach Nick Menegas, whom Hobbs coached
with as a defensive coordinator for two seasons in the late ‘80s. “He was the
real deal. If he was upset with you, he let you know it without hard feelings
and always a handshake, and if he was happy with you, he let you know that
too.”
The number of young players Hobbs impacted over the years
is too numerous to count, but his influence is apparent in the emails he
received right up to the end from players he coached 50 or even 60 years ago.
Hobbs was known as a tough, but humble coach who had his
own way of coaching and his own way of talking. He affectionately called his
players “honyocks,” and loved his sayings like “woulda-shoulda-coulda,” and
“slower than molasses in January.”
While going through her dad’s emails last October, his
daughter, Jody Hobbs, found an email from an old player, who said his only
regret from high school was not winning more games for Ray his senior year in
1967. He asked Ray in the email to tell him how he became an honorary
“honyock.”
“I told it to my dad and he looked at me with a sparkle
in his eye and said, ‘Tell him he was a good kid and he gave 100 percent,’ ”
Jody said Saturday, holding back tears.
Ray compiled a 188-104-8 record in 33 years at Pullman
High and brought his total to more than 200 wins coaching 8-man football at
Colton in the late ‘80s and ‘90s. He finally retired for good in 1997 at 68
years old.
Jody, 65, was a cheerleader for her dad’s Greyhounds in
high school. She jokes that she’s probably set a record for number of times
hearing the “Star Spangled Banner,” because she heard it from the time she was
in her mother Josie’s womb to the countless games since.
“He never thought he was done,” Jody said of Ray. “He was
always looking at plays and thinking about things and watching games. He
thought he was always a coach.”
When he wasn’t on the football field, or, sometimes, the
basketball court, Ray was probably out fly-fishing or camping.
An avid outdoorsman, Ray loved to spend time in the
canyons in his native Wyoming during the offseasons, or in the wilderness in
northern Idaho and Washington.
“We didn’t have the fancy gear they have now,” said
63-year-old John Hobbs, Ray’s son. “We had the high-top Converse tennis shoes,
Wranglers, and a T-shirt and that’s how we went fly-fishing.
“It was fun to watch him fish. He always had to be out in
the middle (and) he could put a fly on a dime at 25 yards.”
On the football field, Ray was known for his to-the-point
personality and his run-oriented wing-T offense.
He liked running the ball so much that he sometimes gave
Menegas a hard time about his pass-first offense at Lewiston.
Menegas recalled a football game in Boise in 1987 in
which Lewiston beat Capital High by throwing the ball 64 times at Bronco
Stadium.
Menegas said he remembers getting on the bus and seeing
Ray just shaking his head.
“I finally said, ‘Ray, what’s the matter?’ and he says,
‘64 times?’ ” Menegas said. “He just didn’t believe in throwing the football no
matter the outcome.
“I knew he was a man of principal and a man of his word,
and he was always trying to get ’em to insert the wing-T, which he was
phenomenal at … just classic Ray, a man of principal, that’s for sure.”
Even when Ray was hard on his players or coaches, he
wasn’t one to swear — something coaching buddy Dave Harrington said he
remembers about him.
“I never heard Ray swear,” said Harrington, a former
Lewiston, Pullman and Clearwater Valley coach and administrator. “He had every
other kind of euphemism — ‘You son of a gun,’ or ’Gosh darn it.’
“His love of football and working with young people was
unsurpassed. The guy loved the game like nobody I’ve ever met. He was a great
friend. I’m sure I’m going to miss him.”
#
