Scooter Chapman
Sports world loses a friend
Published on Wed, Jul 28, 2010 by Scooter ChapmanRead More Chapman
It's the end of July and I became one year older Tuesday, so it's time to get ready for some vacation and clear off the sports desk.
Leading off, the notice of the death on July 5 of longtime Bremerton basketball head coach Les Eathorne. The 86-year-old former mentor of the East Bremerton Black Knights suffered from congestive heart failure and chronic pulmonary disease.
We both had heart surgery in the fall of 2005. He was under the knife about a month before me but unlike my surgery, which went off without a hitch, Eathorne had some problems right afterward and never fully recovered.
He coached four decades, but I remember most his time as head man of the Knights. He played for Bremerton in 1941 and led the Wildcats to the state title, battling my old buddy Sam Haguewood at the time.
They became close friends. During the East High years, when Eathorne brought the Knights to P.A. he would arrive with the team early, drop off the junior varsity team, then take the varsity downtown to have dinner at Haguewood's Restaurant.
Sam always fed them well and at a reduced price, I'm sure. Eathorne enjoyed that time with his varsity and many former players don't remember the heated rivalry between Eathorne's Knights and Rider coach Bob Klock's boys, but they remember those special trips to dinner.
Football frenzy
Training camp opens Saturday for the Seattle Seahawks and the first preseason game is Aug. 14 at Qwest against the Tennessee Titans.
New coach Pete Carroll has inherited a team that used to dominate the NFC West, winning four titles in a row from 2004-2007, but injuries, aging players and some questionable draft choices stopped the title parties as Seattle went 4-12 in the last year of coach Mike Holmgren and 5-11 under Jim Mora last year.
Will the Seahawks be USC North? Of the 84 players on the roster, only 40 are holdovers from 2009 but they seem to be buying into his approach, which is a little bit from the old school and some from the new school.
It's Carroll's third stint in the pros. His first two, many moons ago, are forgettable.
By the way, when U.W. quarterback Jake Locker threw out the first pitch before a Yankee-Mariner game, he got a tremendous ovation and threw a hard strike.
Husky fans can't wait for the season to begin.
As an added note, there only will be one double weekend with the Huskies and Seahawks this year. That will be the Sept. 11 Syracuse at U.W., then 49ers at Seahawks on Sept. 12.
Horse play
Emerald Downs presents the Longacres Mile Aug. 22, and the 75th running of the classic race should bring out a huge crowd, which will help the facility.
Attendance has been down all year due to the rainy spring. In the early going, there were 15 wet tracks in the first 44 racing days. The number of horses starting has been down as well.
The average race has 713 horses, down 11 percent from a year ago and down 23 percent from 1996, the track's first year.
I learned that Em Downs jockeys are using riding crops that have a new popper size. The horses respond to the sound of the popper and not the string of the rider crop.
The popper is the tip of the stick that makes contact with the horse. Instead of solid leather, the new crops have soft foam sewn inside. They are shorter, lighter and louder. Jockeys say it hasn't changed their riding style, but the horses seem to be responding well.
Tennis on tap
The Saundra Kent Memorial Tennis Tournament unfolds the first two weekends of August, and top singles players in Port Angeles and Sequim will vie on the Erickson Playfield and P.A. High courts.
There should be some excellent tennis played after the doubles tourney was completed two weeks ago in Sequim.
The Peninsula Tennis Club does a nice job of organizing the two events and you will see some outstanding net play.
Scooter Chapman can be reached at scooter@olypen.com.
Leading off, the notice of the death on July 5 of longtime Bremerton basketball head coach Les Eathorne. The 86-year-old former mentor of the East Bremerton Black Knights suffered from congestive heart failure and chronic pulmonary disease.
We both had heart surgery in the fall of 2005. He was under the knife about a month before me but unlike my surgery, which went off without a hitch, Eathorne had some problems right afterward and never fully recovered.
He coached four decades, but I remember most his time as head man of the Knights. He played for Bremerton in 1941 and led the Wildcats to the state title, battling my old buddy Sam Haguewood at the time.
They became close friends. During the East High years, when Eathorne brought the Knights to P.A. he would arrive with the team early, drop off the junior varsity team, then take the varsity downtown to have dinner at Haguewood's Restaurant.
Sam always fed them well and at a reduced price, I'm sure. Eathorne enjoyed that time with his varsity and many former players don't remember the heated rivalry between Eathorne's Knights and Rider coach Bob Klock's boys, but they remember those special trips to dinner.
Football frenzy
Training camp opens Saturday for the Seattle Seahawks and the first preseason game is Aug. 14 at Qwest against the Tennessee Titans.
New coach Pete Carroll has inherited a team that used to dominate the NFC West, winning four titles in a row from 2004-2007, but injuries, aging players and some questionable draft choices stopped the title parties as Seattle went 4-12 in the last year of coach Mike Holmgren and 5-11 under Jim Mora last year.
Will the Seahawks be USC North? Of the 84 players on the roster, only 40 are holdovers from 2009 but they seem to be buying into his approach, which is a little bit from the old school and some from the new school.
It's Carroll's third stint in the pros. His first two, many moons ago, are forgettable.
By the way, when U.W. quarterback Jake Locker threw out the first pitch before a Yankee-Mariner game, he got a tremendous ovation and threw a hard strike.
Husky fans can't wait for the season to begin.
As an added note, there only will be one double weekend with the Huskies and Seahawks this year. That will be the Sept. 11 Syracuse at U.W., then 49ers at Seahawks on Sept. 12.
Horse play
Emerald Downs presents the Longacres Mile Aug. 22, and the 75th running of the classic race should bring out a huge crowd, which will help the facility.
Attendance has been down all year due to the rainy spring. In the early going, there were 15 wet tracks in the first 44 racing days. The number of horses starting has been down as well.
The average race has 713 horses, down 11 percent from a year ago and down 23 percent from 1996, the track's first year.
I learned that Em Downs jockeys are using riding crops that have a new popper size. The horses respond to the sound of the popper and not the string of the rider crop.
The popper is the tip of the stick that makes contact with the horse. Instead of solid leather, the new crops have soft foam sewn inside. They are shorter, lighter and louder. Jockeys say it hasn't changed their riding style, but the horses seem to be responding well.
Tennis on tap
The Saundra Kent Memorial Tennis Tournament unfolds the first two weekends of August, and top singles players in Port Angeles and Sequim will vie on the Erickson Playfield and P.A. High courts.
There should be some excellent tennis played after the doubles tourney was completed two weeks ago in Sequim.
The Peninsula Tennis Club does a nice job of organizing the two events and you will see some outstanding net play.
Scooter Chapman can be reached at scooter@olypen.com.
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