PORT ANGELES — Two of the best teams in the history of Port Angeles separated by exactly 20 years will be inducted into the Port Angeles High School Hall of Fame along with 11 individuals picked late last year.
The Roughriders boys’ 1966 basketball team and the girls’ 1986 basketball team were added to the Hall of Fame this past week. The induction ceremony and dinner will be held April 18 at the Vern Burton Center.
Both teams finished second in the state — the highest finish ever by Port Angeles basketball teams. And both teams already have several individuals inducted into the Roughriders Hall of Fame.
Bruce Skinner who leads the hall of fame committee, was a statistician on that 1966 team.
“Both of these teams really captured the spirit of the whole town,” Skinner said.
The 1966 team played the state championship in the Seattle Center Arena, later renamed Key Arena.
“A lot of [area] people went to that game. It was their first Port Angeles basketball game ever. It just captured the town,” Skinner said.
Skinner said there was a huge parade in town after the Riders returned from their championship game loss.
“God only knows what would have happened if we had won. Around Blyn, cars starting falling in behind our bus. There were hundreds of cars. More than 1,000 people met us at the gym. We weren’t expected much after we had lost the game,” Skinner said.
The 1986 Port Angeles girls basketball team will be inducted into the 2020 Roughriders Hall of Fame. From left back row, are head coach Curt Bagby, coach Bill Tiderman, Lori Pappel, Kim Bakker, Carolyn Crist, Bonnie Pittis, Tiffany Irvine, coach Len Zenonian and coach Carol Larson. From left, front row, are Christy Nathan, Nicole Ostrowski, Monica Barlow, Ces Coulson, Leigh Morgan, Michelle Dos remedis and Debbie Niichel.
That 1966 team was coached by Bob Klock, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame as an individual in 2019, the 1966 team finished with a 25-2 record. That included victories over state-ranked teams Everett, East Bremerton, Columbia River and Burlington-Edison. They were led by Captain Lee Sinnes, Mike Clayton, Bernie Fryer, Greg Kushman and Wiley Duckett. Sinnes, Clayton and Fryer were inducted into the first class of the hall of fame in 2018.
Sinnes and Clayton were selected as to All-State teams. Sinnes was the second leading scorer and leading rebounder for the team, while Clayton was the leading scorer.
Sinnes went on to lead Pacific Lutheran University in scoring for three seasons and was an NAIA All American in his senior year. Named to the PLU athletic hall of fame in 2002, he became an outstanding high school coach for 40 years, including many years coaching the Roughriders. His 1997 Port Angeles team finished seventh in the state, and he was elected into the Washington State Coaches Hall of Fame in 2012.
Clayton went on to become the all-time leading scorer at Western Washington University, where he was a four-year starter. He played pro basketball in Sweden and in 1973 was invited to try out for the Portland Trailblazers, where he was the last player cut before the start of the regular season.
Only a sophomore, Fryer was an integral part of the team. He was an All-American in both football and basketball during his senior season at Port Angeles in 1968. He led Peninsula College to its only state championship in 1970, scoring 57 points in the championship game. He went on to become an All-Western Athletic Conference selection at BYU, and then became the only Port Angeles athlete to play in the NBA, averaging 5.3 points per game for the Portland Trailblazers. After his playing career ended, he refereed in the NBA for 1,649 regular-season games, 145 playoff games and 11 NBA Finals games.
1986 girls
The 1986 girls’ team had a similar journey, advancing to the state final and compiling a 25-3 record for the season. In the semis they upset Franklin, the No. 1-ranked team in the State.
They were led by Leigh Morgan, Ces Coulson, Carolyn Crist, Nicole Ostrowski and Tiffany Irvine. Morgan and Coulson were inducted into the Hall of Fame as individuals in 2018 and 2019, respectively, while Crist and Ostrowski were inducted into the Hall as members of the state championship 1985 tennis team last year.
Morgan was the most valuable player in the state basketball tournament that year, and was also named MVP at the girls state all-star game that same year. She went on to play basketball at Duke, and was named one of the Top 20 Duke players for the first 20 years of the program. She was also the starting point guard for the first Duke team to qualify for the NCAA tournament, and finished as the No. 3 Duke player all time for single game assists.
Coulson starred in basketball and softball for the Riders. She went on to play both sports at Skagit Valley Community College, and despite never having played competitive fastpitch, she was recruited by Oregon, where she played as a second baseman and outfielder. She is a member of the University of Oregon Hall of Fame and the Washington State softball Hall of Fame after playing 15 seasons with the Seattle Express softball team. She won the 2004 national batting crown as a member of the 2005 World Champion Express team.
Eleven former Port Angeles High School athletes and coaches were previously announced to be inducted into the Hall — Curt Bagby (football and basketball), Austin Fahrenholtz (diving), Sam Hurworth (football), Matt Lane (baseball), Sonny Luke (football), Jenny Nixon (swimming), Bob Peterson (football), Janessa Roening (softball), Bob Sheedy (track and field coach), Cheri Sinkins (badminton, triathlete), Randy Steinman (baseball, softball coach).
The hall of fame, with 42 individuals and four teams total inducted in three years, is the brainchild of current Port Angeles High School Director of Athletics Dwayne Johnson, the 35-member Hall of Fame Committee was formed in 2017, after Johnson brought the idea to local Roughrider supporters.
Tickets for the event can be purchased at www.pahshof.org. More information can be obtained by calling 360-417-7144.
