Huwe ends nearly three decades of coaching
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
Kirk Huwe stepped down as boys basketball coach at Klickitat High School, this summer, perhaps ending 28 years of coaching at the school. Perhaps, because it isn’t the first break from basketball he has taken at Klickitat. However, the last time was a three-year hiatus from 1999-2002, while he was still coaching volleyball. He hung up volleyball after the 2006 season, so this time he is without any coaching responsibilities and says “you can never say never, but this is pretty close to never.”
Huwe, who continues to teach at Klickitat (he teaches physical education, Spanish, a little math and drivers education) will leave the coaching ranks on a positive note, as his Vandal’s returned to the State basketball tournament for the first time in 41 years, last winter. It was also the squad’s first winning season in league play for some time.
Huwe came to Klickitat in mid-year of the 1980-81 school year. He attended Eastern Washington University after graduating from Waitsburg, northeast of Walla Walla. Huwe played all sports in high school and was on Eastern’s junior varsity basketball team for two years. He credits his choice of a teaching career to a comment made by the superintendent of schools in Waitsburg, who told him he was going to become a teacher. He clearly hasn’t regretted the decision.
In spite of his success in coaching, Huwe is unable to remember his record or even the years that he has coached. It’s a record of which to be proud. His greatest success was in volleyball, where his teams were 182-18 in regular season play, compiling 81 straight wins from 1997 through the third game of 2003. He coached girls basketball for six years with a record of 90-31.
Huwe says he has no regrets, but “would have liked to have had a state championship in volleyball (best finish was second in nine trips to State), but I don’t judge anything on the record…it’s more about the relationships,” says Huwe. In fact, he says he always liked practice more than games, because he likes teaching. He also enjoyed the comaraderie with other coaches and players’ families.
Huwe describes himself as a small town person. Waitsburg was about the size of Klickitat when he grew up. He describes the community of Klickitat as very supportive of the school and says “they treated me very well.” He met his wife, Tammie, at EWU, where she was the resident dorm advisor. She is currently the business manager at Klickitat School. They have two daughters, Lyndsey, who is an anthropology major at Central Washington University, and Melissa, who will attend Eastern Oregon with an education major, this fall.
Huwe is pretty low key off the court. On the court, he is very vocal. He admits, “I was pretty emotional as a coach, I tried to interject emotion. I was a defensive coach more than offense, and it requires intensity.”
Huwe won’t identify any one factor for his decision to step down from coaching. “There is never a good time to quit,” he says. “There is always a kid you want to stick around for.” Health isn’t an issue, however, ten years ago, Huwe lost a kidney to cancer, which remains prominent in his mind. He believes it is just time to pass the coaching job on to the next person.
He still loves to teach, and at age 50, has plenty of years ahead at Klickitat. “Teaching is a great job, watching children grow up,” says Huwe, “you always have the same vacation as your kids.”
So, what will he do with the free time? He said he would hunt and fish when he quit volleyball, but only came through on the fishing. In fact, he has fishing down pat. Huwe works his drift boat adeptly from hole to hole along the Klickitat, and knows how to catch fish. He claims he once caught a salmon that took an hour to land. He hasn’t picked up hunting, which he did in his younger days, but says he will now.
But, the sport he is likely to master next is golf. He has motivation for becoming a good golfer. He wants to beat his brothers. ‘I am very competitive. I can’t beat my brothers in golf right now, but I want to beat them, so I am going to work on my game.” Given Huwe’s track record and his athletic versatility (he once ran the marathon in Portland, although he says that was 100 pounds ago) he will probably accomplish that goal, perhaps at Dallesport’s future golf course.
Maybe the “pretty close to never” coaching leaves room for Huwe to become the Klickitat golfing coach…he just needs some kids who want to learn the game.
Wandersheid’s putter lets him down at championship
A solid 72 in the second round of the Washington Junior Golf Association championship left Zach Wandersheid poised for a top five finish going into Friday’s third and final round. After continuing strong, accurate work from tee to green, Wandersheid’s putter let him down in the final round, and an uncharacteristic 83 left him 21 strokes back in 20th.
Wandersheid, who has one more year of eligibility in WJGA, says “everything was off” in his putting. “It’s a tough course, with small greens and tight fairways,” says Wandersheid. But those aspects presented few problems. Wandersheid learned he could play with the older players, but he believes he needs more work on putting. It was the first 80 plus round the Goldendale player shot all year.
It didn’t take Wandersheid long to get back in the groove. He shot a pair of 73 rounds in the two days following the championship, at a tournament in Yakima. He will play in the PNGA amatuer tournament, Aug. 11-15, and lay off until the Goldendale club championships in September.
Bree Wandersheid was also playing in Spokane at the WJGA championships, in the 12-13 year old division. Twelve girls competed in the division, and Wandersheid found herself 10 strokes back at 83 after the first round.
According to her brother, “we knew she would have a tough time due to her size disadvantage, but she played pretty well.”
Wandersheid’s second round was an 88, which kept her in ninth place. The winner, Chelsea Saelee, of Seattle, shot incredible rounds of 79, 71, 70.
Timberwolves give team effort at Oregon camp
It isn’t football season yet, but Goldendale made a giant step forward in developing the team concept under new head coach, Donnie Strother. Thirty-one Timberwolf players participated in an intensive, three-day football camp at Eastern Oregon University in LaGrande during July, a camp that focused on team play.
Developing that sense of team will be important to the Timberwolves, who lost a number of key players to graduation, including their starting quarterback, Tanner Milliren, first team all-league wide receiver/defensive back, Kyle Hamilton, first team middle line-backer, Wade Plumlee, and perennial 1,000 yard rusher, first team running back, Nick Dohrman.
The routine for the camp was team versus team, first as small groups (lineman, linebackers, running backs in one group and quarterbacks, wide receivers in the other), then 11 on 11 scrimmage and seven on seven passing competition and lineman challenge. Twelve teams were at the camp, including SCAC teams from Naches Valley and Riverview.
The whole experience, including the team meetings and travel to and from the camp were important for the team, according to Coach Strother.
Support for the camp came from donations from Mid-Columbia Vet Clinic, Pioneer Surveying, Les Schwab Tires, Goldendale Tire Factory, and Klickitat Valley Realty. Income from the Future Timberwolf clinic, held earlier this summer, also supported the expense of players who helped with the camp.
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