Slight Detour: Game Faces and Hometown Fun

It was Senior Night at yesterday's Bulldog girls basketball game in Les Rogers Gym.

Though the seniors will play a few more home games, Senior Night is scheduled at a time when the home game is not league-related. Also, if winter weather causes a problem, there will be more games for rescheduling the celebration for senior players.

Neon halos and other accessories highlighted yesterday's introduction of the Bulldog starting five.

It's fun going to Willie's basketball games.

He's having a great year as a coach.

His players come to give it their all with each game.

And, they all shine because they're skilled, talented and highly competitive. To say there's uniformity on this year's squad would be an understatement.

All my sentiments, of course, not only as a mother of the coach but also because I watch a lot of basketball.

Plus, the record of 11-4 supports these generalities.

The team earned another substantial win (76-16) yesterday afternoon while hosting Priest River.

And, so, just like with last night's Gonzaga 115-75 final score, we Sandpoint fans could sit back, relax and enjoy the game AND the other fans.

My friend Chris came to yesterday's game.

Her family, the Moon's, are longtime Sandpoint residents.

Chris told me yesterday that her family first arrived here in 1907. She also told of the Humbird Lumber Co. influence in Wisconsin and in Sandpoint which brought one of her ancestors to the area.

It was fun to sit in the stands and point out peeps to Chris and then provide, with a little local genealogy, enough information for her to make a connection.

As often happens, yesterday's game brought out a potpourri of good ol' Sandpoint local color.

Take Bob, the intimidator, for example. It's a tag I gave him yesterday because he always says he doesn't want his picture taken but then poses.

Yesterday, he displayed a stern game face for the camera.

I remember him from the good ol' days when I first started teaching at Sandpoint High, and he was a Bulldog athlete.

His sister Carla (Poelstra) used to hang out in my Monticola class when she was a senior. Now, she lives out here in Selle where she and husband Randy took over the Poelstra dairy. The family administrates the Oden Water System, and Carla works each election where we do our voting.

Bob, the intimidator, runs the clock during basketball games, just like his dad Bobby Moore did.

For the past two seasons, Bob's grandson has sat beside him helping at the scorer's table. He stepped in to help his grandfather after his dad Ryan (Bob's son) passed away.

The scoreboard is dedicated to the late Bobby Moore, the family patriarch who sold cars and always supported Bulldog sports.

One of my most vivid memories of Bobby occurred when the Cedar Post and Monticola classes traveled to a national journalism convention in San Francisco.

We rode in the Silver Eagle, a bus which Bulldog Bench had purchased. Bobby Moore was one of the three drivers on that 24-hour trip. Except for gas stops, they never stopped the bus to switch drivers, a feat which left a definite impression on me.

Nowadays, a fourth generation of the Moore family works the SHS scoring table where some occasional good-natured harassment comes from SHS English teacher Barb Crumb who has worked with the group for a number of years.

I met Barb's mother Marian before I ever met Barb. I learned this week that Marian, a longtime 4-H horse leader and practitioner from Coeur d'Alene, will turn 90.

There were lots of other sightings of longtime friends and former students, which, of course, inspired more story telling along with that comfortable sense of feeling totally at home at the home game.

Fun afternoon and great to see these friends.

Derek Dickinson was one of my colleagues at Sandpoint High School.

He now serves as an assistant principal and announces the Bulldog basketball games.

Coach Will Love

That's Ryan and Abby Leisy who came to watch their son play in the boys varsity game yesterday.

Sorry about the fuzzy image, but it was fun to see Cooper and Aaron Vierra, along with Cooper's grandmother Candy.

Candy happens to also be my friend Chris's sister-in-law.

Mike Roos and his wife Erin, a former student and Cedar Post staff photo editor, came to watch their son play in the boys varsity contest against Priest River.

Kari Granier now serves as an assistant principal at Sandpoint High. I had her as a student as well as her father Mike Gunter. Neat to see her rise through the teaching ranks.

My friend Chris Moon and me.

Today we're doing "dog days." Chris is bringing her Lily to meet our Bridie.

Hopefully, the two will get along and have a good time running and playing in open spaces.

Should be fun.