4A • March 17, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
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No need to ‘wait till next year’
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
R.J. MARX
I
t’s a testament to just how long Seaside
fans have been waiting that this is the
fi rst state basketball championship for
the Gulls’ boys. They defeated nemesis
Valley Catholic Saturday night 73-61,
providing that small can be better when the
right elements come together.
For the Gulls, those elements included top
starters, a marquee player in Jackson Januik,
superior coaching, depth on the bench and a
fan base that served as the “sixth man” at the
Gulls’ nest.
Over the course of this miracle season, we
had a chance to celebrate the Gulls’ basket-
ball tradition, following an arc of a school
that just kept getting better and better in the
March toward the hoops.
As far back as we can go in our ar-
chives, Seaside took its basketball seriously
— even back in 1920 when the game was
very different and the Gulls played in what
was then called the Columbia League. The
long-defunct Seaside Independent Basketball
League kept players of all ages on the courts
and barnstorming teams put on game demos
in the 1930s and ’40s, from the “Whiskered
Wizards to the “Redheads Lady Basketeers,”
surely one of the fi rst regional advances for
gender equality on the court.
In the 1960s, longtime coach Larry Elliott
took over Seaside’s high school program
from Tom House, who built the foundation
for a winning tradition after coaching at
Knappa. Elliott went on to lead nine tourna-
ment teams for the Gulls in 25 years.
In the days before the 3-point shot, size
was king, and the Gulls built an offense
around big players who could fi nd their way
inside the paint.
In a January interview, Elliott shared
how the Gulls have adapted to changes in
the game. Ball-handling, the run-and-gun
offense, the smart percentage shots — all
contributed to the team’s extraordinary
success.
This year’s team may be the school’s best
ever.
“I was on the basketball team when I was
in high school, but we didn’t do nearly as
good,” City Councilor Tom Horning said
Monday.
This year’s championship team is “defi -
nitely” the best lineup former Gulls’ star
Brian Taylor has seen.
Taylor, now a school board member and
basketball coach, remembers the 1993–94
team with standouts Tim Campbell, Byren
Thompson and Ben Morris. “They were one
of those teams that went to state every year
but couldn’t close the deal,” Taylor said.
“Last year’s team had the best record. They
even had some big guys, but when they went
up against Philomath, they were a little bit
bigger, they were a little bit faster than us.”
Elliott’s successor, Coach Bill Wester-
holm kept the winning tradition alive. But
until this year, victory at the state champion-
ship tourney proved elusive.
JEFF TER HAR/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL
Gulls fans played a key role in the season’s success.
JEFF TER HAR/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL
FILE PHOTO
Boys huddle as Coach Bill Westerholm out-
lines the play.
The Redhead Basketeers were part of the basketball craze in Seaside that stretches back to
the 1920s.
“Everybody can handle the ball, even the
big guys,” Taylor said. “We are just scrappy,
tough, we are in incredible shape. When half
your team is on the cross-country and soccer
team in the spring and fall, you know that when
they show up on the basketball court, they’re
going to be in shape and they’re going to fl y
around. Their defensive intensity was always at
the highest level and for me as a coach, that’s
how you coach kids to play basketball. If you
can keep the other team from scoring more
points than you, you’re going to win every
time.”
Coaching is the key word, as both boys’ and
girls’ successes can be directly attributed to
coaches and mentors.
To say that Seaside’s fans had a role in the
achievement is an understatement: turning out
for every home game with enthusiasm and
game savvy. The support from the Seaside
community didn’t hurt either — residents fol-
lowed the progress of the Gulls from early on,
as the boys started hot and kept getting hotter.
The girls under Mike Hawes played strong,
steady ball and compiled a record that carried
them to the semifi nals.
If they were to suffer defeat at any team’s
hands, it was fi tting they would fall in their
fi nale to Sutherlin, the team to take the crown.
And the city was there for the Gulls every
step of the way. City Council student represen-
tative Lizzy Barnes kept offi cials in the loop
with her biweekly updates of school scores
and activities, with every Gulls’ win getting an
offi cial nod of approval.
Is it any surprise that the Gulls were greeted
by a motorcade late Saturday night/early Sun-
day morning as the team returned from their
win in Forest Grove?
For once, there was no talk of bedtime.
What’s next for these Gulls?
A visit to City Council, for one thing.
They’ll be invited to City Hall for the April 10
meeting. “They deserve a proclamation,” May-
or Jay Barber said at Monday’s night’s meeting.
“As I was watching it all roll out, I was
thinking, ‘Seaside, we’re a pretty small town,’”
Councilor Tita Montero said. “To have the top
placer and the third-placer come from Seaside
is a pretty big deal. Congratulations to all the
players and coaches.”
“I echo those comments,” Barber said. “I
just think it’s a privilege to the community
where we have that kind of teen sport energy.”
LETTERS
Another one
that got away
I read with great interest the
Seen from Seaside column titled
“The championship that got away”
by R.J. Marx in the March 3 Sea-
side Signal.
My brother Gary Williams
was on that 1973-74 team. He is
pictured in the team photo: #10
kneeling in the front row, second
from left. I am writing to mention
that there was another “cham-
pionship that got away” just the
very next year with the 1974-75
boys basketball team. That team
did not have the services of Mark
Wickman who was truly a Seaside
basketball star, but did make it
all the way to the state semifi nals
where they lost to Marist in a real
nail-biter, 43-42.
My brother Gary was on that
team (also coached by Larry
Elliott) and I attended the semifi -
nal game at Mac Court in Eugene
with my parents Chet and Joyce
Williams. They came ever so close
to being in the State championship
game.
On a related note, both Mark
and Gary were instrumental in
helping the Gulls with the Boys
Track State Championship in the
PUBLIC MEETINGS
1973-74 year and coached by Gene
Gilbertson.
Gary passed away in 2004 and
I still treasure my memories of him
and his teammates in both basket-
ball and track during his career at
Seaside High School.
Steve Williams
Seaside
The kindness
of strangers
Thank you Astoria, Seaside and
Cannon Beach. I am not a resident
of the area, but absolutely adore it,
and it means more to me than you
know. I’ll explain.
I have been coming to the area
for some time, fi ve years ago, to
be exact, since I fi rst discovered it.
I adore it, and come as often as I
can, it’s truly special. In fact I’ve
been here for the last few days. A
little over a year ago my mother
and father died, 13 days apart, and
it ripped me to pieces.
They loved the ocean, my
mother especially. The last ocean
they laid their eyes on was at
Seaside at sunset. I can’t imagine
a better end. Since then, the area
has been a refuge, something
good, and a feeling of some sort of
familiarity of my parents to hurt,
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
David F. Pero
R.J. Marx
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Michael Quatrociocchi and his
dog in Cannon Beach.
rejoice and connection. When I’m
there it’s like they’re not gone, like
I’m not gone.
Not long after they died, my
dog (her dog as well) fell ill with
cancer. She’s getting treatment,
but will pass away. She is the last
living link to her I have, to some-
thing special just between us. She’s
always gone with me, and she will
continue to until she can’t — she
shares the love of the area with me.
She means so much. We are the
best of friends, she’s all I have. I
will continue time to give her the
best life possible.
Something happened Sunday.
ADVERTISING
MANAGER
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Betty Smith
Carl Earl
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
ADVERTISING
SALES
John D. Bruijn
Brandy Stewart
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
Rebecca Herren
Katherine Lacaze
Claire Lovell
Eve Marx
Esther Moberg
Jon Rahl
Along Cannon Beach, adjacent
to Haystack Rock, my dog and I
stopped to watch the sun go down.
Those sunsets are the most beauti-
ful; Sunday was the most beautiful.
Now I know the people of the
area are wonderful. I’ve inter-
acted with them for years, and
they’ve been kind to my parents
and pooch, and myself. As I was
leaving, a woman approached me
and said she was a photographer.
She said she had a picture for me,
and normally doesn’t approach
subjects, but felt I needed a picture
she had taken of us.
When I saw it, I didn’t know
what to say, but cry. First it made
me happy, sad she was going to
die, sad for my parents gone, but
joyous in its connection, it’s love,
hope, and something we all share
that can’t ever die. All because a
resident I didn’t know — a strang-
er’s kindness, a common thread of
all residents — who knew enough
to know what it meant, and that I
needed it.
I know the area is special, and
has given me, us, so much, and
brought it all together yesterday.
I’d like the communities to know
that.
Michael Quatrociocchi
La Grande
Tuesday, March 21
Sunset Empire Parks and Rec District, 4
p.m., 1225 Ave. A, Seaside.
Seaside School District, 6 p.m., 1810 S.
Franklin, Seaside.
Tuesday, March 28
Seaside Airport Advisory Committee, 6
p.m. City Hall, 989 Broadway.
Wednesday, April 5
Seaside Improvement Commission, 6 p.m.,
City Hall, 989 Broadway.
Gearhart City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 698
Pacifi c Way.
Thursday, April 6
Seaside Parks Advisory Committee, 7 p.m.,
City Hall, City Hall, 989 Broadway.s
Tuesday, April 18
Sunset Empire Parks and Rec District, 4
p.m., 1225 Ave. A, Seaside.
Seaside School District, 6 p.m., 1810 S.
Franklin, Seaside.
Thursday, April 20
Gearhart Planning Commission, 6 p.m., City
Hall, 698 Pacifi c Way.
Wednesday, May 3
Gearhart City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 698
Pacifi c Way.
Tuesday, May 16
Sunset Empire Parks and Rec District, 4
p.m., 1225 Ave. A, Seaside.
Seaside Signal
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