SPORTS Port Orchard
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Friday, June 28, 2013 • Port Orchard Independent
South Kitsap moves Former Sonics express confidence freshmen athletics that NBA will return to Seattle Several former Seattle Supersonic players participated in to high school District officials still are sorting out transportation, coaching issues By CHRIS CHANCELLOR Sports Editor
The end result never seemed in question. It was just a matter of when it would occur. That finally happened last week when South Kitsap School District’s Board of Directors approved a measure to allow all freshmen to compete this fall at South Kitsap High School. Athletic director Ed Santos said he has been prepared for the possibility since January when the University Place School District moved its ninth-grade athletes to Curtis High School. That move affected the Narrows League because Curtis Junior High School athletes competed in that league, but its high schoolers play in the South Puget Sound League. Curtis’ move then started a chain reaction among Class 4A Narrows League schools. In May, the Central Kitsap School District decided its freshman also would compete at the highschool level. “We didn’t really have a lot of options,” Santos said. “When Central Kitsap moved up, we were left without a home.” Some high schools feature freshmen-only teams and Santos examined whether that might help South continue with its traditional alignment. But more often, he found that schools now used a C team with a blend of freshmen and sophomores. “I don’t know if we would have enough kids to put out on the court or out on the field,” said Santos, referring to freshmenonly teams. “And then there really was no opponents to play.” The transition will affect less than half of the Wolves’ athletic programs. Cross country, soccer, swimming, tennis and golf already use freshmen on both their boys and girls teams along with the girls bowling team. Freshmen who now will be eligible to compete at South include boys and girls basketball and track, volleyball, wrestling, baseball and fastpitch. Santos said the athletic fee of $75 per sport at South in 201213 will remain the same next season. He said that revenue is used to pay for transportation to games. SKSD transportation director Jay Rosapepe said he is working to sort out an activities bus schedule that not only will pertain to athletics, but other organizations, such as band and Junior ROTC. He said he wants to make sure there are enough buses for both field trips and activities. Rosapepe said that means two of the district’s three junior highs, Cedar Heights and Marcus Whitman, likely will share a bus while John Sedgwick will have its own. The goal, he said, will be to have everyone at the high school by 3:30 p.m. No bus service to return students to those schools will be provided. The change also means six coaches from Cedar Heights, Marcus Whitman and John Sedgwick will be moved to South. One of those will assume the role of C team volleyball coach, which is a newly created position. “We’ll try and address the need for additional coaches after we see who’s turning out,” Santos said. Santos said there are plenty of issues to sort out, ranging from the composition of coaching staffs to equipment storage, before fall sports practices begin in August. But he said his primary concern is making sure that freshmen are not discouraged from turning out because of the change. “I feel sorry for some of our ninth graders … who don’t get the experience of kind of being the big dog,” Santos said. South’s wrestling coach Chad Nass express similar sentiments. “My biggest concern with, as most coaches, is that we continue to get the same participation level they got in the junior high,” he said. See frosh, A35
Monday’s Detlef Schrempf Golf Classic at McCormick Woods
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By CHRIS CHANCELLOR Sports Editor
t might be the most iconic memory in the history of Seattle professional sports. As time expired during the 1979 NBA Finals, Sonics guard Gus Williams heaved the ball toward the ceiling of the Capital Centre as teammates rushed toward him to celebrate Seattle’s 97-93 win at Washington to secure the championship. “That was the highlight of my career,” said Williams, who played Monday during the Detlef Schrempf Golf Classic at McCormick Woods Golf Course. Now Williams and others are hopeful that future generations of fans in the Puget Sound region have an opportunity to watch the NBA again. Seattle has not had a team since the Sonics relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008, where they now are known as the Thunder. It appeared that might change when a group led by Chris Hansen purchased the Sacramento Kings in January, but their bid to own and relocate the team to Seattle was rejected in May during the NBA Board of Governors meeting in Dallas. “It was very disappointing that Chris Hansen and the group he put together fell a little short,” said Williams, who averaged 20.3 points per game in six seasons for the Sonics before he was traded in 1984. “I’m as disappointed as anyone.” But Williams, who lives in his native New York, expressed confidence that the league will return within five years to Seattle. He said the strong support displayed by Hansen’s ownership group and fans were noticed. While seemingly in contrast, disappointment and optimism were buzzwords among former Sonics. Forward Nick Collison, who was a first-round pick by the Sonics in 2003 and lives on Lake Washington during the offseason, said he followed the potential relocation of the Kings closely and said he heard from several players throughout the league who were hopeful that Seattle would land the Kings. Brent Barry, a guard who averaged 11.3 points per game for the Sonics from 2000-04, also has followed Seattle’s efforts to regain a team. Barry, who now is an NBA TV analyst, even stumped for star forward LeBron James to declare that he wanted to “start a team in Seattle” when he became a free agent in 2010. James ended up signing with the Miami Heat, where he recently won his second straight NBA championship. “I think anybody who has played
Gus Williams, pictured here in 1982, was among several former Seattle Sonics who participated in Monday’s Detlef Schrempf Golf Classic at McCormick Woods Golf Course. Williams and others believe the NBA will return a team to Seattle in the near future. Courtesy Photo
for this team has optimism that a team will return to Seattle,” Barry said. “I have a lot of great memories playing here and being part of a really proud franchise.” That does not mean Barry is happy with how Hansen’s effort to relocate the Kings ended. NBA commissioner David Stern allowed Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, a former standout point guard with the Phoenix Suns, to put together a competing offer to purchase the Kings from the Maloof family and keep it in California’s capital. Once Hansen’s bid to buy the team was denied, Vivek Ranadivé led a group that purchased the team. “I almost hate to talk about that subject after the way things shook out,” said Barry, adding that he hopes Adam Silver’s “first priority” is to find a team for Seattle when he succeeds the retiring Stern in February. Schrempf, who averaged 16.6 points per game as a forward for the Sonics from 1993-99, preached patience. “It’s obviously not happening right now, but it’s not over,” he said. “Chris’ plan was three to five years and it’s on
target.” Tim Montemayor, who works for KGO Radio in San Francisco, recently tweeted that appears to be a “working plan” to return the NBA to Seattle. “Several NBA sources in the know tell me there have been productive talks on expansion in Seattle,” Montemayor wrote June 12 on Twitter. “As the league preps for a new TV deal they have discussed a timetable but have not settled the issue.” Collison said he “knows as much as anyone else” and Barry and Williams both said they do not have any knowledge about Seattle gaining an expansion team or another franchise relocating to the market. Schrempf said his confidence that Seattle will have a team again stems from his interaction with Hansen, a San Francisco hedge-fund manager who grew up in Seattle rooting for the Sonics. “I think he’s done all the right things,” he said, noting that Hansen has purchased several plots to build a new arena in Seattle’s Sodo area. “I think he’s great for our community. I’m excited about it.”