About 1,000 pay tribute to
Upland’s Tyler Hilinski, who died last week in Washington
By STEPHEN
RAMIREZ Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
January
27, 2018 at 6:55 pm | UPDATED: January 27, 2018 at 7:46 pm
LA VERNE —
Talented, caring, bright, passionate.
Those
where the words used by family, friends, teammates and mentors as they
remembered Tyler Hilinski during a memorial service for the 21-year-old Upland
High School graduate and member of the Washington State football team Saturday
afternoon at Damien High School in La Verne.
Related:
Former Upland football star Tyler Hilinski’s death leaves loved ones searching
for answers
Damien’s
gym was filled with more than 1,000 mourners, including members of Hilinski’s
family, some of his former teammates from Upland and most of the Washington
State University football team, including coach Mike Leach.
Damien was
chosen for the service not only because of its size, but because it held
special significance for the Hilinski family; it’s where father Mark Hilinski
attended high school.
Other
dignitaries in attendance included UCLA coach Chip Kelly and former UCLA quarterback
Josh Rosen.
To honor
his friend and teammate, former Washington State quarterback Luke Falk passed
on a chance to play in the Reese’s Senior Bowl in Alabama — an all-star game
that has traditionally been seen as a springboard to playing in the pros.
The
Washington State contingent included about 300 members who flew in from
Pullman, Wash., on Saturday morning.
Hilinski,
who led Upland to the CIF Southern Section semifinals in 2013 and ’14, died
from a self-inflicted gunshot wound Jan. 16.
“The thing
I always remember about Tyler is how positive he always was,” Upland coach Tim
Salter said. “He loved being on the football field. He loved being in the
weight room, he loved being in meetings.
You talk about people who had passion? He had passion. He made all the
people around him feel good about themselves.”
That was
not limited to his teammates. His family and friends also saw that side of
Hilinski.
“He made
our lives better, happier and more joyful,” Hilinski’s aunt and godmother,
Christine Hilinski, told the mourners. “His smile and laughter was infectious,
and he left anyone he encountered better than when he found them. He brightened
the room.”
Tyler
Hilinski, who was Inland Valley Offensive Player of the Year in 2013 after
leading Upland to the CIF-SS semifinals, threw for nearly 1,200 yards for
Washington State this past season in a reserve role. He was slated to be the
Cougars’ starter this year.
He also
inspired those he encountered, including his younger brother Ryan, a starting
quarterback and upcoming senior at Orange Lutheran in the city of Orange. What
he meant to Ryan can’t be found on the football field.
“I’ll let
it be known today that it was an honor and privilege to have Tyler as my big
brother in watching him live his 21 glorious years,” Ryan Hilinski told the
mourners. “As the youngest brother, I knew I had to prove myself. Tyler never
failed to let me feel accepted. He was the most proud brother. He was the most
kind, loving spirited person I’ve ever known.”
Some of
Tyler Hilinksi’s former Upland teammates in attendance were Elijah Jones, who
is now at the Naval Academy, and Bijan Hosseini, now at the University of Texas
El Paso.
“None of
us want to be here. It’s still shocking,” Hosseini said. “But there was no way
I wasn’t going to be here. I went to my coaching staff and told them I don’t
know what we have going on, but I need to be home.”
“What
happened is something none of us could have expected,” Hosseini added. “Tyler
was the light on our team. When anyone was down, he was the pick-me-up guy. I
was his offensive lineman and he picked me up. It was always positive
reinforcement.”
Said Ryan
Hillinski to the mourners: “Tyler, you were my hero. I love you more than I
know. I know you are smiling down on us. Take care of business up there, and I
handle it down here. I will see you when I see you, big brother.”
/////////////////////////////////////
Hundreds
pay respects to WSU's Tyler Hilinski at memorial service
By Kyle
Bonagura ESPN Staff Writer
LA VERNE,
Calif. -- The Washington State football team and staff members joined Tyler
Hilinski's family and friends in paying their final respects to the Cougars
quarterback on Saturday.
Approximately
800 people gathered in the gymnasium at Damien High School as Hilinski was
remembered for his kindness, infectious laugh and knack for making others
happy.
Hilinski,
21, took his own life Jan. 16, leaving his loved ones with more questions than
answers. There wasn't a sense that a clear reason will ever emerge. But the
consensus those close to him have reached is that they all knew the same person:
a loyal, generous, caring individual who prioritized the happiness of those
around him.
"Let
it be known that it was an honor to be his younger brother," Ryan
Hilinski, Tyler's brother, told those in attendance Saturday.
Hilinski's
aunt, Christine Hilinski, and his older brother, Kelly, also spoke and
described a happy-go-lucky college student who loved playing sports, especially
football.
The
service made clear just how large a role football played in Hilinski's life.
Several pictures of Hilinski in uniform from childhood to just a few weeks ago
were on display, and a highlight package to the tune of Andy Grammer's
"Back Home," a de facto Washington State anthem, was shown on a pair
of large projection screens.
That
Hilinski was widely expected to be the Cougars' starting quarterback in the
fall went unspoken, but it was in the back of everyone's mind because it
reinforces and further complicates the question everyone is asking: Why?
"Tyler
was hurting in ways we can't imagine," Christine Hilinski said.
Many in
attendance shared the hope that Hilinski's death will generate a larger
discussion about depression and suicide and what can be done to help those who
aren't open about their struggles.
/////////////////////////
Tyler
Hilinski fondly remembered at funeral service in California
Sat., Jan.
27, 2018, 11:40 p.m.
By Dylan
Hernandez Los Angeles Times
LOS
ANGELES–One by one, the speakers climbed onto the dais and shared their
memories of the departed.
The
portrait of Tyler Hilinski that emerged at his funeral Saturday at Damien High
in La Verne, California, was that of a caring and sensitive young man who drove
his teammates on Washington State’s football team to counseling sessions and
spoke to his high school-aged younger brother over the phone every day.
On the
surface, it didn’t make any sense. These stories never make any sense.
Here was a
21-year-old who was about to become the starting quarterback for a major
university. Good looking. Well liked. Loving family.
On the
afternoon of Jan. 16, Hilinski was found dead in his apartment near the
Washington State campus from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the
head. The local coroner’s office later ruled the death a suicide.
A police
investigation has failed to uncover a motive.
Tyler’s
aunt, Christine Hilinski, said to a gathering of approximately 1,000 mourners:
“The only thing that makes sense to us is that Tyler was not well and hurting
in ways we cannot fathom. If Tyler had a choice, it would have been to continue
to embrace life and be with his family. He wasn’t able to make that choice. He
never would have deliberately hurt us.”
So a
family wonders and grieves.
Kelly and
Ryan Hilinski lost a brother. Mark and Kym Hilinski lost a son.
The
ceremony closed with a slide show accompanied by music. There were pictures of
Tyler as a baby in his mother’s arms. Tyler as a baby sleeping on his father’s
chest. Tyler as a baby next to Kelly, then a toddler. Tyler playing Little
League. Tyler playing youth soccer. Tyler with his brothers on a family
vacation. Tyler in high school. Tyler in college.
There was
something haunting about how cheerful Tyler looked in the photographs.
“Tyler was
one of those guys who would always come bouncing in the room and he’d make
everybody laugh,” Washington State coach Mike Leach said on a conference call
earlier in the week.
And that’s
what’s scary. If this could happen to Mark and Kym Hilinski’s middle son, this
could happen to anyone’s child.
As much as
we care about our children, the minute details of their internal lives become
mysteries to us as they age. And as much as we try to protect them, there are
elements we can’t control.
“The
Hilinskis, the parents, they did their best to provide the best environment for
their sons to succeed,” said Father Charles Ramirez, a pastor from Our Lady of
the Assumption Catholic Church who presided over the funeral.
Mark and
Kym Hilinski were supportive parents who raised three star quarterbacks. Kelly
played at Weber State. Ryan is a junior at Orange Lutheran High School and
fielding scholarship offers from several major programs, including Washington
State.
In Tyler,
Mark and Kym also raised a model older brother, according to Ryan. As the
youngest of three boys, Ryan said he always was sensitive to how his siblings
perceived him.
“Tyler
never failed to make me feel accepted,” Ryan said.
Whenever
Ryan received a scholarship offer, Tyler was the first person he called.
Whenever Ryan had problems, Tyler was the go-to guy.
Tyler
would answer the phone and call Ryan by his nickname: “What’s up, Big Bo?”
“When I
heard him say that, I felt like I was the most important person in the world,”
Ryan said.
In
Washington State, the Hilinskis found a capable caretaker for Tyler. Leach
works very closely with his quarterbacks. The school’s athletic department
provides extensive mental health services, including screenings for incoming
freshmen.
Leach
attended the service Saturday, as did the majority of his players. Quarterback
Luke Falk skipped the Senior Bowl to be there.
Tyler
enrolled early in college, skipping his last semester at Upland High to
participate in Washington State’s spring practice. Ramirez relayed a story
about a specific phone conversation Tyler had with his parents after his first
week or two in Washington.
“I guess
I’m homesick,” he said.
Tyler
redshirted as a freshman and backed up Falk in the two years that followed.
Mark and Kym nonetheless made it a point to take frequent trips to Pullman.
Kym was at
Washington State on Sept. 9, when Tyler replaced Falk in the second half
against Boise State. The Cougars trailed by as many as 21 in the fourth quarter,
but Tyler forced the game into overtime. Washington State won in the third
extra period.
If there
were signs of trouble, they were subtle enough to be missed.
“He was,
honestly, a very steady guy,” Leach said.
Tyler made
arrangements for an afternoon throwing session on the morning of Jan. 16,
according to Leach.
“I spent
the last week trying to comprehend a situation that is truly incomprehensible,”
Kelly said.
The
Hilinskis are determined to find something positive in their tragedy, to help
others who are in the same predicament as their son.
Ramirez
implored the young people in the audience to ask for help if they have dark
thoughts.
“Talking
to Mrs. Hilinski, she said that she believes some good will come from Tyler’s
death,” Ramirez said. “You hope so.”
//////////////////
///////////
WSU’s
‘Drive to 25’ campaign puts the focus on research
Sun., Jan.
28, 2018
By Rachel
Alexander Spokane S-R
Twenty-eight
years ago, Washington State University paid $2.8 million for vacant land on the
eastern edge of downtown Spokane.
That land
has since become WSU’s health sciences campus and a key piece of the school’s
effort to become one of the top 25 research universities in the nation.
WSU is in
the early stages of its “Drive to 25” campaign, which aims to have the
university ranked among the top 25 public research universities by 2030.
To measure
that, they’re tracking WSU’s performance in 11 areas, including research
spending, federal research grants, postdoctoral appointees and faculty awards.
The
campaign comes as the Spokane campus is expanding its own research efforts,
thanks in part to the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, which has attracted
new faculty and netted $10 million in research grants this year.
“There’s
been a lot of remarkable successes in adding to an already strong research
team,” said Daryll DeWald, chancellor of WSU Spokane. “For a relatively young
health sciences campus, we have an outstanding core.”
DeWald and
John Roll, the medical school’s vice dean for research, want to build links
between the Spokane and Pullman campuses, allowing for research between
disciplines such as veterinary and human medicine.
They’re
also exploring collaborative degree programs where students can receive
master’s degrees in Pullman, then finish their doctoral degree dissertation
work with researchers in Spokane, Roll said.
“It’s not
just the medical school, but it’s the type of research and scholarship we can
get into because we have a medical school as part of the WSU community,” said
WSU President Kirk Schulz.
The push
to increase research and academic performance comes at a tough time for WSU,
however. The university is in the midst of a $30 million budget deficit, which
has led to across-the-board cuts for academic departments and the elimination
of the university’s performing arts program.
Faculty
have criticized those cuts, saying administrators should foot part of the bill
through cuts to their own salaries. And lavish spending on the university’s
football program, including a new $20 million, five-year contract for head
coach Mike Leach, also has been a flashpoint.
Though
much of the program’s costs are paid for through private donations to the
Cougar Athletic Fund, some faculty said it feels like sports are a bigger
priority for the university than research.
“We’ve
been promoting athletics at the expense of academics,” said Donna Potts,
professor of English and a member of WSU’s faculty senate.
She said
faculty at a senate meeting Thursday were supportive of the Drive to 25
campaign’s goals, but worried whether the university would actually be able to
make the investments needed to achieve them.
Overall
federal research and development spending fell 10 percent in the last decade,
according to data gathered by the American Association for the Advancement of
Science. Spending on nondefense research decreased 17 percent in the same
period.
Schulz
said those were fair concerns and acknowledged the budget cutbacks have slowed
progress on some drives to expand research.
The
university will launch a $1.5 billion fundraising campaign in summer 2019 that
will focus on Drive to 25 goals, including faculty hiring and student success
initiatives.
WSU’s
endowment is valued at $494 million, with about $1.6 million of that dedicated
directly to the College of Medicine. Growing endowment assets is one of the 11
goals the university has set for the campaign.
“Some of
our faculty, staff and students have also said, ‘How are we going to do this in
an era of reduced resources where we’re cutting back?’ ” Schulz said. “It’s
incumbent on the leadership of the university” to communicate within the
university and address those concerns.
One of
WSU’s metrics is increasing federal research funding, something Schulz knows is
ambitious in the current climate.
“You can’t
win a race if you don’t even enter it,” he said.
But the
university also hopes to expand public-private partnerships to drive research
in both Pullman and Spokane.
Schulz
said the university is exploring a formal research partnership with Pacific
Northwest National Laboratories.
Working
with private companies can give researchers access to funding they otherwise
would not have, supporting more research positions at WSU, said Sterling
McPherson, director of biostatistics and clinical trial design at the College
of Medicine.
McPherson
is working on several projects with Ringful Health, an Austin, Texas-based
digital health startup. Currently, he’s developing a digital tool to help
health providers assess symptoms of drug withdrawal in babies.
The
condition, which health providers call “neonatal abstinence syndrome,” affects
babies exposed to drugs in utero. Nationally, their numbers have climbed thanks
to the opioid epidemic, as more kids are born to parents either using heroin or
taking medication like methadone to treat opioid addiction.
It’s
especially an issue in rural areas. But medical staff have varying degrees of
training in assessing the syndrome, which has 21 symptoms, some of which are
subjective.
“Because
it varies so much, that produces inconsistent treatment strategies,” McPherson
said. The tool he’s working on would be a digital refresher course, helping
health providers evaluate symptoms in babies using standard guidelines.
Once it’s
done, Ringful hopes to roll it out nationwide, said Chief Operating Officer Kim
Johnson.
Thanks to
the partnership with WSU, the company has opened a small Spokane office with
three staff, he said.
The work
is funded by a small-business innovation research grant through the National
Institutes of Health, which pays part of McPherson’s and his team’s salaries.
The grant itself requires a small business, so it’s funding WSU couldn’t have
accessed without a partnership.
In other
cases, a private company may directly fund research. Greg Belenky, a founding
professor of the university’s Sleep and Performance Research Center, has done
research funded by United Airlines about how to assess performance for pilots
on long-haul flights of more than 16 hours.
Private-sector
partnerships have been controversial at the College of Agricultural, Human and
Natural Resources Sciences. The Daily Evergreen, the WSU student newspaper,
reported faculty have said financial pressures and business interests led
private industry to punish researchers who weren’t delivering the results they
wanted.
Chris
Coppin, the College of Medicine’s chief business development officer, said
partnerships at WSU come with clear expectations spelled out in a contract that
researchers are free to publish results, even if they go against what the
private partner was hoping for.
“It’s
important and it helps remind the research partner that academic freedom at
this university and all universities is really sacrosanct,” he said.
McPherson
said some professors balk at the idea of private funding playing a role in
decisions about what to research. But he views projects like the ones he works
on as a way to ensure the work he’s doing meets needs in health care.
“I think
that the controversy is more of a cultural phenomenon than a real risk to the
integrity of research,” he said.
The
College of Medicine isn’t immune from budget pressure, and hiring for some
research positions has been pushed back to meet spending targets. But the
medical school is expanding, planning to increase its current class size of 60
students to 80 by 2019 and encourage those students to bring research ideas
back to campus from their work in clinics in the community.
///////////////
Perseverance
pays for Washington State walk-on Steven Shpreyregin
UPDATED:
Sat., Jan. 27, 2018, 9:52 p.m.
By Theo
Lawson S-R of Spokane
PULLMAN –
Steven Shpreyregin is a bit reluctant to admit it, but the Washington State
guard hasn’t discarded every piece of purple fabric that hung in the closet of
his childhood home.
The Husky
pullovers and T-shirts are still there – “they’re hidden” Shpreyregin offers,
and he promises, “I haven’t brought them out.”
Proximity
to the University of Washington’s Seattle campus nurtured Shpreyregin’s early
affection for the Huskies, but the WSU senior has worked exceptionally hard to
be a Cougar.
After
spending two seasons playing junior college basketball at Skagit Valley College
in Mount Vernon, Washington, Shpreyregin vowed to fulfill a lifelong dream of
playing Division I hoops – some way, some how – and offered his walk-on
services to Ernie Kent and the Cougars before the 2016-17 season.
That was
never part of the long-term plan for someone who, growing up, fell on the
purple side of the Evergreen State’s basketball rivalry. He knew just about
every square inch of Alaska Airlines Arena – the gym he and his friends often
sneaked into as young boys and the same one that will host Shpreyregin’s
Cougars at 5 p.m. (ESPNU) on Sunday.
Shpreyregin
was an avid follower of the UW teams coached by Lorenzo Romar, who was at the
Huskies’ helm for 15 years before being fired after the 2017 season. In a
roundabout way, that also gave Shpreyregin an early introduction to the man who
years later would present him with his only opportunity to play basketball in
the Pac-12.
“I used to
go to all the UW games and it was a year they were really good and they were
playing an Oregon team with coach Kent,” Shpreyregin said. “And they were
winning all their games and I was like, they were going to kill Oregon.”
But the
Ducks were flying at a speed that few in college basketball could match. That
night, the Huskies didn’t have the stamina to keep up.
“Coach
Kent’s team came running the same offense he wants us to run,” Shpreyregin
said. “Run and gun. And they just killed UW. I was like, ‘Dang, it would be
awesome to play for that coach.’ ”
But
Shpreyregin was a lightly recruited guard out of Nathan Hale High School, who,
despite being a 10th-leading scorer of the highly competitive Metro League his
senior season, didn’t attract many Division I suitors and lacked scholarship
offers from the state’s prominent basketball schools.
Perhaps
Shpreyregin’s prep career came a few years too early. That or Nathan Hale’s
instant rise to national prominence came a few years too late.
“A couple
years earlier if B-Roy was there, it would’ve been awesome,” Shpreyregin said.
The
“B-Roy” Shpreyregin’s referred to is Brandon Roy, the ex-Portland Trail Blazer
and Garfied High/UW alum who was hired to coach the Nathan Hale Raiders last
season, and brought in a crop of elite transfers headlined by the nation’s top
recruit, Michael Porter Jr.
Shpreyregin’s
Hale teams hovered around the .500 mark – “we would go to districts and lose to
top-tier teams,” he said – but a few his younger teammates were still around
last season, when Roy, Porter and an assembly of all-stars teamed up to deliver
a State 3A championship to the Raiders, who went undefeated and were ranked No.
1 in most national high school polls.
Shpreyregin
followed the story from the other side of the state, where he was still trying
to establish himself as a Cougar without many of the perks a scholarship player
might take for granted.
“The big
thing is the stipend,” Shpreyregin said. Scholarship athletes receive a monthly
sum to cover living expenses. Walk-ons foot all of those bills on their own.
“You don’t
get that,” he said. “So it kind of sucks when everyone’s getting that check to
pay and then you’re like … dang.”
“Most
walk-ons come into programs, and regardless of what you can tell them as a head
coach, they’re going to feel like they’re the low man on the totem pole with
all the other scholarship players around them,” Kent said. “And that’s a mental
thing you have to go through. To really compete every day and realize you can
compete at this level.”
In most
cases, walk-ons are used sparingly throughout a season – in “garbage time” of
blowout wins or losses, or in times of dire need. The Cougars faced the latter
in a neutral-site game against Kansas State last season.
Illness
precluded forward Jeff Pollard and guard Viont’e Daniels from playing in the
game and WSU’s six-man bench was trimmed to three when it was announced
sharpshooter Derrien King had left the program that same day.
Kent
pulled his walk-on from the bench in the first half and Shpreyregin logged 10
minutes in his D-I debut. He made a 3-pointer in the second half, finishing
with three points and one rebound. Shpreyregin played in eight more games as a
junior and logged a season-high 13 minutes against Utah.
“Dream
come true,” Shpreyregin said. “… It’s been really awesome. It’s just shown that
my hard work has paid off that I got trusted to go into games, in key moments
of the game. Just help out the team.”
His
perseverance was rewarded earlier this season with a gift Shpreyregin never saw
coming.
One day
before the Pac-12 opener versus UCLA, Kent sang the praises of his walk-on
during a team meeting.
WSU Men's
Basketball
✔
@WSUMensHoops
Excited to
officially have FORMER walk-on, Steven Shpreyregin, as a scholarship player!!
#GoCougs #RespectOurHustle
5:06 PM -
Dec 28, 2017
Replies
22 22 Retweets 134 134 likes
Twitter
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“Quite
frankly, it’s killing me that you can’t play,” Kent said of Shpreyregin,
injured at the time. “Because he’s been better than some of you guys that are
on full-ride scholarships. He’s giving me more on a day-to-day basis than you
guys are giving me, which in return, because we have a scholarship to give, I’m
going to reward you with a scholarship.”
A video
posted by WSU assistant Ed Haskins shows an elated Shpreyregin being swarmed
and mobbed by his Cougars teammates.
“It was
just super surreal,” Shpreyregin said. “I didn’t even process it until later
when I told my parents.”
Malachi
Flynn
@malachi_flynn3
Congrats
to my bro @kingstevo13 for earning a scholarship to the Zuu. Hard work pays
off! #GoCougs
12:17 PM -
Dec 28, 2017
2 2 Replies
19 19 Retweets 96 96 likes
Twitter
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Shpreyregin’s
played sparingly this season, but Kent calls him one of the team’s “more
competitive” and “smarter” players.
“He now
gets an opportunity to work through some things here in our program to pay for
those things himself,” the WSU coach said.
Part two
of the WSU-UW rivalry takes place Sunday in Shpreyregin’s neighborhood. It’s
the last time he’ll return home as an opponent of the program he grew up
supporting, but the first time he’ll do so as a scholarship player.
“Going
back to a gym I grew up five minutes away from,” Shpreyregin said, “it’s really
awesome.”
#
