Local coaches deal with tragedy and basketball

Published 11:32 pm Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Winning basketball games means a lot to Nick Brown and Brian Hill. But, more than ever, they understand what really matters in life.

Brown, Arlington High School’s boys basketball coach, and Hill, Glacier Peak High School’s girls basketball coach, each had success guiding their respective teams this season. The coaches also dealt with unexpected, life-changing events.

For their ability to handle adversity, continue coaching and respect officials, Brown and Hill have been named coaches of the year by the Snohomish County Boys Basketball Officials Association and the Snohomish County Womens Basketball Officials Association.

Brown and Hill are “good role models for sportsmanship and emphasize sportsmanship in their programs,” Mike Cashman, a member of both officials groups and incoming president of the SCWBOA, wrote in an e-mail.

In addition to naming Arlington’s Brown their Norm Lowery Sr. Coach of the Year, the boys hoops officials announced their Dennis Myers Player of the Year (Cascade senior Jamieson McDaniels) and their host school of the year (Grace Academy of Marysville). The girls hoops officials’ player of the year is Monroe’s Sammi Clark and their host school of the year is also Grace Academy.

The awards will be presented March 27 during a combined banquet at Normanna Hall in Everett.

Brown coached the Arlington boys basketball team to the 4A district playoffs and a 13-10 record. His wife, Caryn Brown, was diagnosed with breast cancer in early December. With her encouragement, Nick Brown kept coaching.

“It means a lot,” Nick Brown said about his coach of the year award.

“It’s a reflection on my (players) obviously. I think that we have great young people and great young men who rallied around me and rallied around my wife,” added Brown, who called Caryn Brown the heart and soul of the team.

Nick Brown said he and his family greatly appreciate the support that they received from their community, rival schools and basketball officials, who used pink whistles at many of Arlington’s games to raise awareness about breast cancer.

Caryn Brown is doing well, Nick Brown said. She recently had her third chemo treatment and has one more to go, in about three weeks.

Glacier Peak’s Hill, the girls officials’ coach of the year, was shaken by tragedy at the end of 2009. On New Year’s Eve Hill and his then-pregnant wife, Denette Hill, happily awaited the birth of their son Nathan, their second child together. (Brian Hill has two children from a previous marriage.)

Hill’s wife’s contractions were strong enough for them to go to the hospital. When they got there nurses checked the baby’s heartbeat, but they didn’t find a pulse.

Nathan, the Hills were told, died in the womb because he was so active that his umbilical cord kinked, cutting off the flow of oxygen and nutrients.

“It was the worst day of my life,” Brian Hill said.

“It opened up my eyes to the fact that (in) the game of life there’s no referees able to call a foul when something goes wrong,” he added. “I wish someone could have called a foul. It was just heartbreaking.”

The day after the stillbirth Hill did not attend Glacier Peak’s practice, but he and his wife eventually invited players to their house and they grieved together.

Hill decided to continue coaching. At Glacier Peak’s next game, a league contest against Shorewood on Jan. 6 in Snohomish, Hill’s players all wrote 31 — the day of Nathan’s stillbirth — on their wrists with a black marker.

Following a moment of silence for Nathan before tip-off, Glacier Peak beat Shorewood 54-26. It was an extremely emotional night, Hill said.

“There was no way in the world we were going to lose the game,” he said.

In honor of Nathan, Hill now drapes a No. 31 Glacier Peak uniform on his sideline chair before every game. Going into this week, Glacier Peak was 13-10. The Grizzlies played a loser-out 3A District 1 tournament game against Meadowdale on Tuesday.

The New Year’s Eve tragedy changed Hill’s attitude about coaching, Hill said via phone a few hours before his team played Meadowdale. He’s more focused on helping his team improve, he said, and less worried about whether officials get every call right.

“Being a high school referee is kind of a thankless job,” said Hill, “and I truly appreciate everything that they’ve done.”