On a stormy Saturday in Kitsap County, local sport legends gathered together Jan. 16 to welcome the new inductees into the Kitsap Sports Hall of Fame.
The banquet, held at the Kiana Lodge in Poulsbo, honored 14 individuals and two teams for their outstanding sports accomplishments in Kitsap County.
The event began with a social hour for the inductees and their former classmates to catch up. As teams were seated together in the banquet hall, athletes circled the room talking with their coaches and fellow honorees.
Inductees from East High School, currently Bremerton High School when combined with West in 1978, wore customized black caps with the words “EAST” displayed across the front.
Following the social hour and buffet lunch, the inductees were honored, with each giving a speech to accept their award.
The honorees included:
- Maiya Anderson, swimming
- Miah Davis, basketball
- Rocky Hughes, football
- Harlan Thompson, motorsports
- Todd Linden, baseball
- Ozzie Saxon, wrestling
- Stener Kvinsland, coach and AD
- 1991-92 SKHS girls track & field
- Cal Pharr, football and basketball
- Ted Berney, coach
- 1994 SKHS football team
- Mark Bratonia, football
- June Wurden, tennis
- John Tracy, basketball
- Willie Bloomquist, baseball
The inductees represented high schools all across the region, including South Kitsap, North Kitsap, Olympic, Bremerton, Central Kitsap and the former East High School.
Also honored at the ceremony was Larry Vancil, the recipient of the 2015 Dick Todd Officials Award; and the late Dr. Bill Bloomquist, who won the 2015 Rex Brown Distinguished Service Award.
Willie Bloomquist accepted the award on his father’s behalf, recalling his father’s love of sports and sharing it with children in the area.
Dr. Bloomquist passed away on Nov. 19, 2014, just short of his 73rd birthday.
The Rex Brown Distinguished Service Award was established to recognize individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to impact the Kitsap sporting community.
Bloomquist coached SKYAA basketball and South Kitsap Eastern Little League, making sure every child was given a chance to play.
When accepting his father’s award, Willie talked about always seeing a rainbow during times he was thinking about his dad, including at his funeral. And on that day, when he was taking the ferry across trying to think of what to say about his dad, there was a rainbow shining across Puget Sound.
Cal Pharr’s daughter had a similar story when accepting her father’s award. After her father passed away from cancer, Pharr took his Bible, which was written in and underlined.
When her brother was stationed overseas, Pharr gave him the Bible to feel connected with their dad. However, upon returning home, he lost the Bible.
A few years later, a woman walked in to Pharr’s work and said, “I saw your name in this Bible when I was cleaning the ship and knew I had to find you.”
“I knew my dad had been working that day,” Pharr said.
Other inductees thanked their coaches and told stories of their time playing sports in Kitsap.
Miah Davis spoke about coaches trying to steal him from one another to play their sport. Another recipient, Harlan Thompson, said racing was how one could get girls back in the day.
Although the weather outside made the parking lot one giant mud puddle, the mood inside the lodge glowed as these athletes shared what made playing sports in Kitsap so special.
