GSHL Honor Awards
More than a dozen friends of high school sports were recognized Wednesday at the athletic directors meeting at Club Green Meadows.
The GSHL Honor Awards, nominated by the ADs, celebrate many behind-the-scenes contributors to high school sports in Southwest Washington. Often, they are volunteers. Or those who work the games but not as teachers or coaches. And in the case of one coach who is well known, the recognition was for something other than winning and losing.
Each school can nominate recipients. Here is the list of each school and this year’s honorees:
Camas: Dale Croswell. Has been the football announcer at Papermakers games for 31 years.
Columbia River: David and Holly Long. David Long is the longtime boys basketball coach at River, but he and his wife were honored for organizing the volunteers for junior varsity and C-squad contests in other sports.
Fort Vancouver: Dave and Kelly Christel. The two no longer have children at Fort, but they pretty much have adopted the basketball team as its own, and both volunteer their time with various sporting events at Fort and the rest of the GSHL.
Hudson’s Bay: Lynn Butts. Retired a couple of years ago, but still is the announcer for girls basketball games. Been doing that for 18 years now.
Kelso: Rick and Theresa Ames. Kelso administrators can always count on them to organize any track meet. More than 30 years of running meets.
Mountain View: Jim Rupp. Mr. Mountain View. Retired in 1999, still a fixture at the school, volunteering to help run the gym, help with track, help with anything regarding the sports programs.
Prairie: Ralphie Montgomery. (Unable to attend the ceremony.)
Battle Ground: LeRoy Jones. Longtime teacher and volunteer. “He’s a Battle Ground Tiger for life,” according to AD Karla Kalian.
Evergreen: Adrian Cagigas. Athletic trainer at the school who was recognized for coming to the aid of a fan who collapsed in the stands of a game, as well as his excellence with athletes.
Heritage: Pam Kleven. Treasurer for the Heritage football boosters who made a huge commitment to the program.
Skyview: Shannon Miles and Keela Stumpf. Between them, they have had five children attend Skyview. They continue to work with the booster club and they organize all the concessions for Skyview events.
Union: Bryan Levesque. Founder. Owner. CEO. Video-dude. The Man behind gshlfootball.com. Bryan was recognized for his professional relationships he has made with the area’s football coaches and the success of his site.
