Kitsap Sun du lieu suivant : Bremerton, Washington • 11

SCOREBOARD C2 MARSHALL MOTORS C2 CARLESIMO CANNED C4 COMICS C5 Top athlete of The AP choses Tiger Woods who won eight PGA tournaments and $76 million over cyclist Lance Armstong Sports Jets play spoilers Playing for pride the New York Jets damaged playoff chances with a 38-31 win Monday night THE NFL C6 THIS JUST IN THE SUN SERVING WEST SOUND TUESDAY DECEMBER 28 1999 SECTION Athletes of the Century if 1 It 1 JL Srw ft 1 I Watters possibly out for Jets game I top back is hobbled with a knee sprain and is questionable for the season finale By Jim Cour The Associated Press THE SERIES The Sun continues it look at the standout athletes from West Sound SUNDAY: Baseball Athlete of the Century: Aaron Sele TODAY: Basketball Athlete of the Century Rick Walker led East Bremerton High to a couple of state titles before winning a national title at UPS WEDNESDAY: Female Athlete of the Century Myrt Kressin is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the oldest woman to bowl a 300 In her day she was the best athlete around in sports such as golf bowling and softball THURSDAY: Coach of the Century Ken Wills was a Bremerton institution coaching there for 26 years FRIDAY: Male Athlete of the Century Don Heinrich helped the Bremerton High football team to a state title He then went on to the University of Washington earning All-America honors Quiet or not he got the job done By Chuck Stark Sun Staff With the new millennium upon us perhaps only a coincidence that West basketball player of the century happens to teach computer classes And not going to surprise people who know Rick Walker that already thinking about ways of using computers to reach out to young people Now 43 and after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL in his knee last April Walker knows he play basketball forever 1 coach said Walker the boys basketball coach at West who founded a Kitsap County-based sports ministry Sports Beyond a decade ago in the future get involved in a ministry through Walker said it comes to what really interests young people today other than sports computers People love to create Web sites and use them to communicate to each Despite the distraction of Coming from a family beset by divorce Walker always has been well-grounded and has known what he wanted in life young people understand plan for their lives using Walker said really my mission field what meant to If it sounds like Rick Walker local basketball legend is almost too good to be true well read on all the kids I ever coached besides ability he had said Les Eathorne former neighbor and high school coach just wished make a mistake but he never did He come from the best home life but he just pulled himself up by his bootstraps and he made it Brant Gibler who played with Walker at East and at the See WALKER on C3 KIRKLAND The Seattle Seahawks may have to play the most important game of their season without Ricky Watters The running back who has rushed for 1180 yards this season sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee and did not play in the fourth quarter of the 23-14 victory over Kansas City on Sunday On Monday coach Mike Holmgren said he was unsure of status this week Holmgren said has a knee sprain but not in a lot of pain This week going to see how he responds going to treat The Seahawks tied for the AFC West lead with the Chiefs at 9-6 play the Jets on Sunday If Seattle wins in New York it will be the division champion regardless of what Kansas City does in its regular season finale because it beat the Chiefs twice That would put the Seahawks in the playoffs for the first time since 1988 Watters underwent a magnetic See SEAHAWKS on C6 A fitting finale or was it? SEATTLE If you came to the Kingdome on Sunday looking for closure the Seahawks failed to provide it Which is fine of course with Seahawk fans who perhaps lived to cheer another day As farewells go this one lacked finality Or as Kingdome publicity director Carol Keaton said doors are shut But we locked them So the Kingdome is coming down But the Seahawks are going on at least for another week after beating the Kansas City Chiefs 23-14 in the final regular-season game in the 24-year history The win keeps alive the Seahawks' hopes of earning a first-round playoff game back in the Kingdome on Jan 8 or 9 All required is a victory Sunday over the New York Jets in the Meadowlands or a Kansas City loss in its finale against Oakland Should the Seahawks fail to win the AFC West title Sunday's game represented the last athletic contest in the history of a building that provided a home for the majority of major-league sports events in Seattle since 1976 But before the demolition Staff file photos East Bremerton's Rick Walker (55) averaged 25 points and 15 rebounds a game during the 1973-74 season and led the Knights to their second straight Class AA state championship Walker helped the University of Puget Sound win an NCAA Division II national championship in 1976 ROUNDING OUT TOP 10 Tappe who played on 1946 state runnerup Then coach at East Les Eathorne who played on the only other state champion the 1941 Bremerton High Wildcats Prior to Walker Lyle Bakken led East to first state tournament Last year Miah Davis and Bremerton took Eathorne then in an role to his last And not all Before Eathorne came "Battleship" Bill Morris and before Morris came Hal Lee both future All-Americans at the University of Washington Without further ado we give you the best of the rest: Sun Staff Bremerton forged a reputation as a regional basketball hotbed long before Rick Walker led the East High Knights to consecutive high school state championships in 1973-74 So it happens that The list of West 20th century hoop greats is dominated by players who honed their skills in the Navy city Ed Loverich of Bainbridge stands out as a lonely strand of hay in a Bremerton-dominated stack Fully half of our top 10 came of age under the guidance of longtime Bremerton coach Ken Wills including three Louie Soriano Sid Ryen and Ted points a game Soriano who once boxed former San Diego Chargers coach Don Coryell in college went on to establish himself as one of the top collegiate basketball officials in the country Soriano continues to reside in Bremerton and has worked for 22 years as an observer of officials for the NBA 4 Bill Morris The 1938 Bremerton grad was a fiery 6-foot guard who led the University of Washington to the Pacific Coast title and the 1943 NCAA Final Four in Kansas City where the Huskies plan'd See TOP 10 on C3 the 19-year-old signed a Major League baseball contract with the Cincinnati Reds 3 Louie Soriano A peerless competitor Soriano excelled at everything But he made his mark in basketball first at Bremerton High and later as a guard at the University of Washington Twice an all-state selection at Bremerton Soriano they say would do anything to beat you And he possessed the smarts to do so He started three years for the Huskies and was All-Pacific Coast and honorable mention All-America selection as a Junior in 1950 when he averaged 17 2 Ted Tappe A marvelous all-around athlete Tappe broke Louie Cross-State League scoring record in his senior year (1946) at Bremerton High and the Northwest junior college scoring record the following year at Olympic College He scored 81 points in four games leading the Rangers to a third-place finish and earning All-America honors at the 1949 National Junior College Tournament at Hutchinson Kan In 1960 Tappe started at guard as a sophomore at Wash ington State helping the Cougars to a 19-13 record before Bremerton's Les Eathorne turned down a $4000 offer to play professionally with the Oshkosh (Wise) All Stars Later at East Bremerton High Eathorne coached basketball athlete of the century Rick Walker See JOHNS on C6 RIS BARRON PHONIs.