A class of three individuals, two coaches, one contributor and one team has been selected for induction into the Snohomish County Sports Hall of Fame, and it is “another outstanding class,” said Frank Foster, chair of the Hall of Fame selection committee.
The inductees of 2015, who will be honored at a Sept. 16 banquet ceremony at Everett’s Xfinity Arena, will raise the Hall of Fame’s totals to 35 athletes, 16 coaches, five contributors and executives, and nine teams.
This year class includes athletes:
¦ Lori deKubber of Snohomish, a basketball player who graduated from Snohomish High School in 1981 and Western Washington University in 1985, and was inducted into the WWU Hall of Fame in 2013;
¦ Herb Mathis of Everett (deceased), a men’s fastpitch softball player from the 1950s to the 1970s in leagues in Everett and Seattle who was considered one of the dominant pitchers of his era;
¦ Shane Pahukoa of Marysville, a 1989 graduate of Marysville Pilchuck High School who went on to play football at the University of Washington, where he was a starting safety on the 1991 national championship team, and then went on to play three seasons in the NFL.
The coaches in this year’s class are:
¦ Jack deKubber of Snohomish, the father of Lori deKubber, who coached boys basketball for 15 seasons at Snohomish High School (1962-77) and led teams to five state tournaments, including the 1970 Class 3A state championship. He also coached at Arlington and Granite Falls high schools;
¦ Keith Gilbertson Jr. of Snohomish, a 1966 graduate of Snohomish High School who was a longtime college head and assistant coach, and an NFL assistant coach, including tenures with at the University of Washington (head and assistant) and with the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks (assistant).
The sports contributor is Kim Wilson, who was a teacher and coach at Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood high schools, and was later the athletic director in the Edmonds School in a 43-year career.
The team being inducted this year is the 1960 Everett High School football team, coached by Dick Abrams, which went 9-0 and outscored opponents by a combined 228-31 while being ranked No. 1 in the state in an era before the state playoffs, with players Mike Dire, Paul Lawrence and Jack Meyers being named to the all-state team.
The selection committee had a record number of community nominations this year, “which is a real testament to folks saying, ‘Hey, you might want to consider this person,’ or ‘You might want to consider this team,’” Foster said. “They understand the significance of going into this Hall of Fame, and their nominations were a very, very significant part of our process.”
It was, he added, “no easy task for the committee. There’s such a incredible number of excellent individuals and teams that we had to choose from, and then to have to narrow the list down. But it all culminated with another great group going in with the class of 2015.”
This year’s class includes not only the deKubbers, father and daughter, but also Gilbertson, who follows his father Keith Gilbertson Sr. (class of 2011), and Pahukoa, who follows his brother Jeff (class of 2014) into the Hall of Fame.
It will be, Foster said, “almost a family affair this year.”
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