PORT ANGELES – Not even a 20-minute power outage could dampen the mood at the seventh Port Angeles Roughriders Hall of Fame dinner held Saturday night at Civic Field in Port Angeles.
Ten individual athletes and three teams were honored during the induction ceremony, which was attended by more than 500 people. A minor power outage was not a major problem, as lights and sound were restored and the event concluded about an hour before the onset of heavy lightning and thunderstorms on Saturday evening.
The theme of the evening was community and what a special community Port Angeles is in shaping its history of outstanding athletes.
Burdette Greeny, class of 1993, received one of the biggest reactions of the night. He played baseball at Port Angeles and then played at Washington State, where he was eventually drafted by the New York Mets. He went on to coach volleyball at Washington State and later at the University of West Virginia.
Greeny said one of the most important lessons he learned from athletics is humility.
“I honestly don’t think I deserve this,” he said. “Humility is super important.”
Greeny said West Virginia is a lot like Port Angeles, a place where community is important. He hadn’t been to Port Angeles in a while and was driving through town to visit his old haunts. His track career had taken him around the world, from Serbia to Iceland to Mount Ararat in Turkey. None of them compare to Port Angeles, he said.
“You have to realize what a special place Port Angeles is,” he said. “This place is absolutely special.”
Derek Church, class of 1993, set three swimming records at Port Angeles and then went on to BYU, where he set more school swimming records.
“When I looked at the photos (from that event), I realized I spent 20 years of my life practically naked,” he said, joking that he considered showing up to dinner in a Speedo and tie. He said the sport has given him opportunities he never thought he would have, allowing him to swim in China and at the University of Notre Dame.
Liz Money Weber was a soccer star in the class of 2002. In her penultimate and final year at Port Angeles High School, she was named the Olympic League’s Most Valuable Player, then transferred to Oregon State and received honorable mention in the Pac-10 League for three years.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved competing,” she said. “My dad encouraged my competitive spirit by teaching me humility. I was out jogging and he was chasing her and telling her to ‘lift your knees. Pick up your pace,'” she said.
Jesse Schouten was a tennis singles champion who graduated in 1999. He later went on to be named Athlete of the Year at Skagit Valley College and NWAC Coach and Player of the Year. He has had a successful career as a professional, semi-professional and coach, and is also a hitting partner for top players such as Roger Federer and Andy Murray.
“Life goes by so fast. It’s not often that you get those moments where you slow down and realize what a journey it’s been,” he said.
Julie Urfer Shevlin, a 1992 graduate, was a state gymnast who placed second on floor exercise. Because her mother, Jan Urfer (also a Hall of Fame member), was a gymnastics coach, she was able to compete in school meets and had the opportunity to watch older girls compete.
The most important thing she learned is that “the older girls fall down a lot more than you do. I saw these girls fall down and get back up.”
Kiah Jones Sullivan is one of the newest recruits of the 2012 class. She was the Olympic League’s most valuable volleyball player in 2011 and led the Riders to two state tournament appearances before playing for Central Washington.
“My parents made me the athlete I am today,” she said. “They followed me all over the Pacific Northwest and to Alaska and even to Italy.”
Jones Sullivan said one of the things she learned in sports was “to be happy and excited when a teammate does well. I try to practice that today with family, friends and neighbors when they do well.”
Mike Madison, class of 1977, is the fourth member of his family to be inducted. His niece Jessica and nephews James and Jon were all inducted, primarily because of basketball. Madison was the state’s second-leading scorer in 1977, averaging 25.1 points per game, making the All-State team and the Olympic League MVP.
Madison then played for Concordia College and was head coach at Shoreline Christian for six years.
Madison said there have been so many great basketball players and coaches at Port Angeles High School over the years, such as Mike Clayton, Sherri Felton, Bernie Fryer, Lee Sinnes and his niece and nephews.
“It was a special place to play basketball,” he said.
He said his brother Guy Madison was also a great player.
“This is the first time I’ve hit him. I’m the guy up here and he’s the one sitting,” Madison said.
Barry Wilcox was a champion cyclist in Port Angeles, but his life and career changed when he suffered a spinal cord injury in a road accident, causing a fracture that left him wheelchair-bound. He later became a champion handcyclist, winning a bronze medal at the 2023 Paracycling World Championships in Scotland. He is also a lecturer in exercise and nutrition science at Park University in Gilbert, Arizona.
“I have the opportunity to inspire student-athletes, and they inspire me,” he said.
Cameron Braithwaite, national long jump champion, is another of the recent graduates of 2012. He went on to compete in the decathlete at the University of Puget Sound. He was proud to be part of the Hall of Fame’s history and to meet people from past classes.
“I feel so honored to be here. There have been so many good athletes here over the years,” he said.
Heather Lucas Barlow was unable to attend, and her teammate Monica Barlow Zuckett accepted the event on her behalf. Lucas Barlow is a 1985 graduate and was selected to compete in track and field. She held six running records at one point at Port Angeles and still holds the school record in the 1,500 meters. She was an All-American in track and cross country at Pacific Lutheran and won the Seattle Half Marathon and the Appleton, Wis. Marathon.
Team
Three teams were also inducted, including Port Angeles’ first swim team of 1967 and 1968. The 1967 team finished second in the state in its first year of existence, losing only to Wilson High School in Tacoma, which won 24 consecutive state titles. Greg Galles and Robin Allen, both members of that team, and coach Don Fairbairn were all inducted in previous Hall of Fame classes.
Dale Ridgway, a member of the team, said “the stars just aligned” for this first-year team. “We were all fast.”
“We did extremely well against big city programs. We were way off the I-5 corridor,” Ridgway said.
Moderator Bruce Skinner pointed out that at that time, an athlete from the Seattle-Tacoma area along the I-5 corridor who was a good swimmer attended Wilson High School.
Also inducted was the 1982-1985 cross country team, which went 23-0 in league competition and won four league championships.
Robin Mather, a member of that team, said that as part of training, the coaches “took us out into the country and made us walk eight miles back to the high school.”
“Those four years with those teams and those ladies have made me who I am today,” said Teresa Bower, another member of the team.
Finally, the 1972 two-mile relay team of Steve Phillips, Dave Rains, Robin Chavis and Rick Melvin was included. This team set a national record in the indoor two-mile race at the Seattle Center Coliseum, now the site of the Climate Pledge Arena.
Melvin was only 15 at the time.
“14,000 people (at the Seattle Center Coliseum) is pretty intimidating, but once the gun goes off, the nerves go away,” he said. The team finished fourth in a meet the week before Seattle, and Melvin motivated them.
“We wanted to get a little revenge,” he said.
Sequim High School will join Port Angeles High School in getting its own athletic hall of fame. The induction ceremony for Sequim will be held on September 14 at the Cedars at Dungeness.
