New inductees for the 2021 Kitsap Sports Hall of Fame have been announced, including a standout three-sport athlete from North Kitsap and the 2001 Little League team from Bainbridge Island that advanced all the way to the World Series.
This year’s class is larger than typical since there was no event last year due to COVID-19. So the Kitsap Athletic Roundtable decided to double up and include those who were inducted in 2020. The 2021 class comprises 15 athletes, two teams and winners of the Rex Brown and Dick Todd awards.
The induction ceremony will be Feb. 5 at Kiana Lodge in Poulsbo. For more information, visit kitsapathletic roundtable.org.
Teams
Bainbridge Island Little League, 2001: A bunch of 11- and 12-year-old boys from Bainbridge defied the odds and qualified for the Little League World Series. Bainbridge won state and the West Region championship in San Bernardino, Calif., to advance to Williamsport. Suddenly, those boys became household names as West Sounders tuned to ESPN to watch. Bainbridge won its opener, beating Davenport, Iowa, 4-3, on Coby Gibler’s home run in the top of the seventh. A 2-0 loss to eventual tournament runners-up Apopka, Fla., followed, and then the dream died in pool-play with a 5-0 loss to Rolando Paulino Little League from the Bronx (they were later disqualified because star Danny Almonte turned out to be two years older than allowed). Twenty years later, Bainbridge’s names still come to life: There was Gibler, pitchers Robby Stevenson and Nash Henson; left fielder Taurean Yamada; pitcher/right fielder Peter Huisingas; third baseman Tal Glass; outfielder Dalton Gent; shortstop Rudy Sharar; catcher Austin Hurt; outfielder Michael Heald; catcher Adam Bech; second baseman Peter Leslie; third baseman Jesse Colkit, and, of course, fiery manager Don French, who had reached Triple-A in the Pirates organization as a player.
Kitsap Pumas, 2011: The Pumas won a United Soccer League Premier Development League national title, and they did it in front of their home fans at Bremerton Memorial Stadium. The Pumas, in their third season, beat the Laredo Heat 1-0 on Aug. 6, 2011. The Pumas also reached the third round of the U.S. Open Cup that season, giving the MLS Seattle Sounders all they wanted before falling 2-1 before a packed house at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila.
Athletes
Shawn Deeds (North Kitsap, football)
One of the top three-sport athletes of his era at North Kitsap (1989-91), Deeds earned 10 letters in football, basketball and baseball. He was a quarterback from 1991-95 at Washington State University during the Drew Bledsoe-Ryan Leaf era, playing in eight games as a sophomore. He’s been a Cougar for 30 years, five as a player and 25 as an administrator. He’s currently the senior associate director of athletics, Capital Projects, Events and Facility Ops at WSU.
Victor Solier (Kitsap area, kickboxing)
The six-time World Kickboxing Association champion grew up in Puerto Rico and moved to Seattle, then Bremerton, in the 1970s. He trained in Tae Kwon Do before embarking on his kickboxing career. Solier had a 33-4 record with 20 knockouts in his career.
Jessica Cabato (Central Kitsap, softball)
The 2000 Central Kitsap grad was an All-American pitcher in high school, helping the Cougars to a fourth-place finish at state as a sophomore and third as a senior. She earned all-conference and all-region honors at NCAA Division I Bethune-Cookman University.
Eli Herdman (CK, baseball)
The Central Kitsap slugger hit 24 home runs during his career, 14 in his junior season (the left-handed-hitting shortstop was intentionally walked 20 times as a senior). Herdman was drafted in the 15th round by the Minnesota Twins. He played three years professionally, hitting 19 home runs in 164 minor-league games.
Mark and Randy Plum (CK, football)
The Plum brothers were two of the best all-around athletes in Central Kitsap history.
Randy (class of ’66), who held the school record in the 110 hurdles for 30 years, earned all-conference honors as a lineman at Olympic College and was a two-year starter at Portland State, earning a tryout with the Chicago Bears.
Mark (class of ’72) was a three-year starter in football at CK, a catalyst on the Cougars’ 1969 state championship team. He was a two-way, first-team, all-Olympic League selection lineman as a junior and senior. He earned a scholarship to Washington, but a serious knee injury sidelined him for two seasons. He transferred to Montana, where he started three years. He sets school records at CK in the shot put and discus. His shot-put record still stands to this day.
Butch Stuart (CK, multi-sport)
Stuart was a three-year starter in football and baseball from 1968-70 at Central Kitsap, an era when the Cougars won two state championships and dominated the Olympic League in all sports. Stuart was all-league in football and baseball as a junior and senior. He was an all-state middle linebacker who drew recruiting interest from Paul “Bear” Bryant and Alabama, but baseball was his love. The power-hitting catcher was drafted in the ninth round by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He played two years before a shoulder injury ended his career.
Karna Lorhammer (CK, swimming)
Lorhammer made a big splash in the local swimming scene at Central Kitsap, where she earned All-American honors in the 100-meter breaststroke while leading the Cougars to their first Olympic League title in 1993. She broke six school records and ranked among the top six in the state in six events. Inducted into the Washington Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Coaches Hall of Fame in 2006, Lorhammer was a three-time Big Ten Academic All-American at Penn State.
Larry Dixon (Olympic, football)
The former Olympic High great — the 2010 Oly grad rushed for a West Sound-record 5,182 yards and 59 touchdowns during his career — started 25 of his 33 career games as a fullback at Army, rushing for 2,086 yards. He was Olympic League MVP and an all-state running back. Dixon played football at West Point.
Mike Stevenson (Olympic, roller hockey)
A 1991 Olympic High grad, he is one of the greatest roller hockey players to lace up skates. He went to his first national tournament with the Bremerton Hurricanes at the age of 14. Five years later he was the top-ranked player in the country and on Team USA, competing in the Barcelona Olympic Games when roller hockey was an exhibition sport. He played in nine world championships for Team USA, winning gold in 1988 in Vera Cruz, Mexico. He played professionally from 1998-2000 in the Pro Beach Hockey League in Huntington Beach, Calif., an ESPN made-for-TV extreme hockey league.
Gloria Battle Edmonds (Bremerton, multi-sport)
The 1991 Bremerton High athlete was the team captain and first-team All-Olympic League performer in volleyball and basketball, but excelled in track and field, where she was also the team captain while setting four schools records (discus, long jump, triple jump and shot put). Thirty years later, her discus record still stands. She earned all-NWAC honors in volleyball at Olympic College, where she also played basketball.
Kent Heathershaw (Bremerton, mountaineering)
The former art teacher and tennis coach at Bremerton High School started climbing mountains while growing up in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. He recorded first ascents of several Olympic Mountain peaks in the 1950s and ’60s. He climbed Mt. Rainier 20 times and various other peaks around the world.
Jason Hammel (South Kitsap, baseball)
The 2000 South Kitsap grad pitched 13 years in the major leagues. Aaron Sele (15 years) and Willie Bloomquist (14) are the only big leaguers from Kitsap County with more MLB longevity. The 6-foot-6 right-hander signed with Tampa Bay after being a 10th-round selection following his sophomore year at Treasure Valley CC in Ontario, Ore. The player nicknamed “Hammer” compiled a 96-114 record with a 4.62 ERA while pitching for the Rays, Colorado, Baltimore, Chicago Cubs (two stints), Oakland, and Kansas City.
Lindsey Foster (SK, basketball)
The first-year athletic director at South Kitsap starred at her alma mater as a pass-first, shoot-second point guard, helping the Wolves to three state tournaments. Foster was MVP of the Narrows League Bridge Division in 1999, averaging 15 points and 8.5 assists while helping the Wolves finish third at state. Four years later, she left Northern Arizona as the school’s all-state leader in assists and steals.
Awards
Rex Brown Award — Robin Waite
The Kitsap Pumas owner invested his heart, soul and pocketbook into bringing professional soccer to West Sound. He had been a minority owner of the Seattle Sounders that played in the USL-1. Waite was foiled in his efforts to build a 6,000-seat stadium that could be a regional hub for soccer in West Sound. He eventually worked out a deal with the Bremerton School District to use Memorial Stadium and was awarded a Premier Development League franchise that started play in 2009. The Pumas quickly emerged as one of the premier teams in the under-23 circuit, beating Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers reserve teams. Winning the national championship in 2011 was the highlight, but not the only one. The Pumas won five division titles and played in six U.S Open Cups.
Dick Todd Award — Scott Krone
He was into racquetball, boating, fishing, hiking, camping, drag racing, soccer, drag racing and wrestling, which he officiated for 29 years. Krone joined the Peninsula Wrestling Officials Associated in 1991, and in four years he was calling varsity high school matches. He was selected to referee four state championships events at the Tacoma Dome. He was president of the local association for four years, and was awarded the Washington Officials Association Meritorious Service Award in 2014.
