To say there’s a sports tradition at Snohomish High School is to say water is wet. It’s a given, almost a natural law.
Even those who pay little attention to the sports pages know legendary names in Panther athletics.
From the 1960s into the 1990s, coach Dick Armstrong made Snohomish a football machine. Curt Marsh, a 1977 Snohomish graduate, was a lineman with the Los Angeles Raiders. Keith Gilbertson Sr. coached at Washington State University before coming to Snohomish to teach and coach for 30 years. His son, Keith Gilbertson Jr., is head football coach at the University of Washington.
Snohomish sports insiders know another name, one that makes these legends seem a bit like Johnny-come-lately.
Lawrence "Maggie" Bryant, 92, graduated from Snohomish High School with the class of 1930 1/2. Since then, he has rarely missed a Snohomish football or basketball game.
"I don’t miss very many. I got really involved in the sports program, and it’s gone on and on, over 70 years," said Bryant, a widower who lives in Marysville.
Friday, during the Snohomish-Stanwood boys basketball game, Bryant’s alma mater took time out to recognize his loyalty.
"I was sitting about five rows up from the floor. Eric Cahan, director of athletics, came up and said, ‘Maggie, we’re going to have a presentation.’ They presented me with a plaque and a red Panther fleece jacket with my name on it," Bryant said.
Cahan, the school’s assistant principal, said: "I think the greatest thing is, he was able to stop and look around. He waved to the whole crowd. People just roared — kids on both sides, people in the adult sections, they were cheering."
Longtime fans remind students that "they have a responsibility to the community and to people like Mr. Bryant," Cahan said. "We owe him and a lot of people in our community a big thanks."
Gilbertson Sr., 76, has helped Snohomish coaches as a volunteer assistant since he retired in 1981. "The kids, both boys and girls, have fallen in love with the man," Gilbertson said of Bryant.
Bryant is invited into the boys locker room before and after games. "He’ll come in and sing the old school fight song, the version he prefers. You can hear a pin drop," Gilbertson said.
A year ago, Bryant broke his leg when he tripped after a Snohomish girls basketball game in Mount Vernon.
"The next day, instead of practicing, I took our girls up there to see him in the hospital," said Ken Roberts, the Snohomish girls basketball coach. "He was so positive. That’s the really neat message he gave our girls. He wasn’t feeling sorry for himself.
"Maggie’s a good representation of why I like Snohomish," said Roberts, a 1986 graduate of the school. "I’ve coached in other places, but I love it here. It’s got the community; it feels like you’re part of a family."
Marv Hoover is part of the family, although he never attended Snohomish High. The retired Everett man, whose grown children went to school in Snohomish, attends all the games. Although Bryant still drives, Hoover and his wife often give him rides.
"He has his own seat in the new football stadium," Hoover said of Bryant.
Football kept Bryant in school an extra half-year in 1930. "I was barely eligible, but I got to play one more year," he said. A halfback, he broke his elbow his junior year but played two more seasons.
He earned his nickname at Snohomish High in the 1920s.
On the first day of his freshman year, he got on the school bus in Machias.
"There were four senior boys on that bus. Before we even went up the steps, one of them, a kid with a lot of gimmicks, introduced me by saying, ‘He’s Maggie from Machias.’
"I was 14. He called me Maggie, and I’ve had it all these years," Bryant said.
Life brought marriage and hard work. Bryant’s wife, Irene, a retired teacher, died last year. He has two sons. He worked in a Weyerhaeuser sawmill.
In a way, this sturdy man who remembers the horse-and-buggy days never left Snohomish High.
"After each football game, I’m down in the locker room. Win, lose or draw, after the coaches are through with their remarks, they’ll call on me. I’ll pep up the kids a little," Bryant said.
Hasn’t he seen enough games? Spent enough bleacher time?
"It’s just the thrill of being there," he said.
Thrilled, at 92. I’ll cheer for that.
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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