Who’s the best of all time? | White River High School sports

Thousands of players have pulled on pads and a helmet during the past 104 years, all representing White River High School – whether they be Mountaineers or Hornets.

October 2, 2013 11:36 am

Thousands of players have pulled on pads and a helmet during the past 104 years, all representing White River High School – whether they be Mountaineers or Hornets.

Now, in a strictly-for-fun exercise, and effort is under way to select the school’s all-time football team.

The public is invited this season to help choose White River’s top offensive players; next year, the emphasis will shift to the defense.

Getting the ball rolling on such a project wasn’t easy, as high school football history often gets cloudy as the decades pass. Organizers went to the Foothills Historical Society and read every article about every game they could find in issues of the long-defunct Buckley News Banner. From back issues of the Enumclaw Courier-Herald they read about each game from 1974 to 2012; at the Enumclaw library, they were able to research games from 1909 through 1918; the Tacoma Public Library was used to research articles found in the pages of the News Tribune; and school yearbooks added even more information.

Also contributing to the process were the insights gleaned from such stalwarts of the Hornet football program as Terry Veltkamp, Deryl Ross, Mark Kaelin and Bob Walker.

The result is a long list of players, separated by position, with brief highlights listed for each. Included are 12 linemen, six quarterbacks, 10 running backs and eight receivers. When scrolling through the pages of the online survey, voters are asked to choose five linemen, one quarterback, three running backs and three receivers.

Anyone can vote by logging onto www.whiteriverhornetsfootball.com and clicking on the link found on the home page. Or, go directly to the survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s/All_Time_Offense.

Assistant football coach John Dorsey has headed the project. He said votes will be collected until the end of the season and results will be made public shortly after. His goal is to have some sort of display for the school, noting the all-time Hornet team.

Nominees

Receivers

“Stubby” Smith (1943-45) • Rich Scott (1989-91)

Bo Hubbard (2001-03) • Andrew Banks (1999-2001)

Todd Jensen (1998-2000) • Jason Gran (2001-03)

Sean McNulty (2002-04) • Michael Madden (2007-09)

Running backs

Bob Ross (1940-42) • Art Svidran (1942-45)

Gary Sambila (1947-50) • Fred West (1947-50)

Mark Ross (1963-65) • Doug Mullins (1966-68)

Greg Kaelin (1975-77) • Greg Baker (1970-72)

Tad Covey (1989-91) • Andy Hahto (1997-98)