It’s a small world

I’ve met a lot of people over the years through my job and through sports as a player, coach and fan. I do my best to remember the names of athletes and coaches.

One never knows when they may cross paths and there is no better conversation starter than to say your name sounds familiar. I think I saw you play a few years back.

It’s a quirky thing I do but I know it means something to a person when they are recognized for something they accomplished in high school sports. I know that everyone that has played a sport likes to relive a game or two from back in the day.

Very seldom does anyone ever say let’s change the subject. Okay, to date it has never happened.

A few weeks ago I met the owner of a home in Adams County. She had a couple of concerns and I walked through the home with her to see if anything might seem out of the ordinary. There were a few things that led to the extra usage during a very cold time of last year.

We visited for a while and I talked about my love of sports and the chance to coach again at the junior high school level and how much I enjoyed working with kids.

She talked about her in-laws that lived in another part of the home and she said her father-in-law coached at a small school in north central Washington years ago.

When I told her I recognized his name as a coach that took a team or two to the state tournament so many years ago, she asked me if I would like to meet him and I said, “Yes, I would like to meet him!”

We went to the adjoining living area at the back of the home and she introduced me to this silver-haired man in his eighties. Coach Bob was sharp as a tack and had a great memory.

I narrowed down the time that he coached at the school and I said, “You took a team to state in 1970.”

I said to his daughter-in-law that his team was rated No. 1 before the tournament and that his team was really good.

Coach Bob talked about a very frustrating experience he and his team had the second night of the tournament when the eventual state champions defeated them. He talked about the tournament like it happened last March instead of 47.5 years ago.

I rattled off the names of several players on that team and he remembered some positive things about each one.

Then I said, “Do you remember the team you played the last night of the tournament?” He did.

I said, “I was on that other team.” He asked, “You played for Ritzville?”

“Yes, I did,” I replied.

“We didn’t match up with your team very well. We went as far as possible with what we had,” I said.

I told him about seeing my coach less than two weeks before he died in August, and how important it was to make that trip.

I then said, “You were the coach from the opposing team in my last high school game.”

He asked, “That was your last game?”

“Yes, it was but I’m very happy to have gotten the chance to meet you. This has been a very enjoyable experience for me,” I said.

As we left he thanked me for taking the time to visit with him about that memorable state tournament in 1970. I’m happy I took the time as well because I respect my opponent and this guy would have been a joy to play for, I certainly felt that way during the visit.

People often say to me that it is a small world, and I can only reply, “I’m glad it is!”