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March 5, 2003 :: Home This story is part of "Tourney Titans," a special section profiling the top players and teams in the history of the Class 1A state basketball tournament. |
Tourney Titans: The Voting Panel Just as the players and teams featured here were among the best ever in Class 1A (and before that, Class A) history, the all-star panel that voted for them is also a special group. The selection committee recruited by the Herald-Republic included several Washington State Basketball Coaching Association Hall of Famers, longtime journalists and knowledgeable fans. Each voter picked his top 10 teams and players in order, with 10 points going to a No. 1 pick, 9 to a No. 2 and so on. The voting committee: NICK BABCOCK, longtime sports editor at the Wenatchee World, who collaborated with World reporter GARY LINDBERG to come up with his selections. BOB BAFUS, who in his Hall of Fame coaching career (Vashon 1962-68, Colfax 1968-97) produced a 604-198 record and back-to-back state titles for Colfax in 1978 and 1979. TIM BLACK, a former Port Townsend head coach who been going to the Class A tournament since 1961, and who routinely watches every one of the 26 games. DICK BROCK, for 26 years the head coach at Tenino High School with a 328-214 career record over his Hall of Fame career. He continued to attend the Class A tourney after retiring. DENNIS DeBOER, a Lynden Christian grad and perennial fan since the early 1960s when he began taking his son, Roger (now Seattle Christian's head coach), to the state tournament. DON DAVISON, longtime Tacoma News Tribune reporter and prep basketball historian who was responsible for compiling many of the tournament records now used by the WIAA and state media (including much of the information included within this section). DALE DEVRIES, the youngest member of the voting panel and all-tournament star of Orting's 1983 championship team that beat Lynden in the title game in Jake Maberry's final game. GLENN JOHNSON, one of four brothers to play for Bill Kelly-coached Cashmere teams, current Highland superintendent, and admitted Class 1A basketball tournament junkie. BILL KELLY, now the Nooksack Valley coach after un-retiring following a Hall of Fame coaching career at Cashmere, where his teams won state titles in 1975, 1977, 1980 and 1986. KAY LEMASTER, whose Hall of Fame coaching career included a 1974 state championship at Nooksack Valley, where this season the gymnasium was named in his honor. JAKE MABERRY, who accrued a 521-176 record in his Hall of Fame coaching at Lynden, winning 40 of 55 state-tournament games en route to titles in 1961, 1962, 1968 and 1981. RON MARSHALL, Whatcom County's official statistician for a quarter-century, former publisher of two basketball guides and frequent broadcast analyst at state tournaments. DENNIS OMAN, a 1959 Class B state tournament MVP as a prep, a head coach at three schools between 1966 and 1976, and later an assistant on the Ilwaco team that finished second to Grandview in 1990. CURT SELF, known to many as "Mr. Class A Basketball" as longtime publisher of the Self Guide, which now follows the 2A ranks, populated by many longtime schools from what used to be called Class A. DICK STARK, the "voice of the Class 1A tournament" around the state for four decades as radio announcer for KPUG, the Bellingham station that has perennially covered the tournament. TIM TAYLOR, a two-time all-tournament standout for South Bend (1976-77; see Top Players) and now head coach at Brewster, the current top-ranked team in Class 1A. ELMO WISE, longtime AAU and prep coach who has been to every Class 1A tournament since 1959, either as a head coach, assistant coach or knowledgeable fan. This man, like the others on this panel, knows the game. Yakima Herald-Republic reporters ROGER UNDERWOOD, SCOTT SPRUILL and SCOTT SANDSBERRY, who between them have covered 1.7 gazillion Class 1A games, give or take a thousand or two.
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