Wearing a tie at center, boys basketball coach Ray Stokes is presented with a seascape portrait by local artist Brenda Schwartz-Yeager during Friday's special tribute. After 30 years with the team, the coach will be retiring this year.
Wrangell High School said its goodbyes to its championship-winning basketball coach during a special ceremony last week.
Boys coach Ray Stokes announced last month his plan to retire after the end of the season, bringing to an end 30 years with the school program. As it was the boys' last home game for the year, a group of colleagues, friends and former players arranged a special tribute before Friday's varsity game.
"I had no idea it was going to be the extent it was," Stokes recounted afterward.
Cody Angerman and Jason Clark reached out to former teammates from over the years. The letters they received they arranged into a binder, which was then presented to Stokes after a slideshow memorializing the teams he fielded the past several decades.
"They touched my heart," he said of the letters, many of which recounted the ways his influence had impacted their lives. "I spent the whole night reading letters."
For Stokes, that relationship with his students was the most important part of coaching. "It's really not coaching, it's teaching," he explained. "There's so much that can be learned through the game of basketball that can be used through life."
He tried to impart to his students many things, but he said honesty, loyalty, respect, and being the best person you can be were among the most important. These were lessons which would make them better men, and hopefully could be of help when things got tough.
A number of them were there for the presentation, some coming up from Washington and Oregon. "All of them showing up, it was just such a surprise," Stokes said.
He had a few words of his own to say to the community, and though he couldn't name everyone he owed his thanks, he took time to single out those who had made his move from Idaho in 1987 an easier and enjoyable one; Fred and Suki Angerman, Keith and Kathy Appleman, Jeff and Kay Jabusch, Frank and Cheri Young, assistant coach Clark, Gene and Olinda White, and of course his wife, Valerie Stokes, who he met shortly after arriving.
As the banners on the gym wall above them attested to, the teams he coached over the years brought back a number of regional championships, and one from state in 1994-95.
"There were numerous times we were knocking at the door," Stokes noted.
During a special tribute, Jabusch noted the win in '95 came at a time when a spot of good news was most needed. Wrangell's mill had finally closed down and the state championship was won shortly afterward. While not putting any money into anyone's pockets it brought some cheer to the community as it faced an uncertain future.
The tributes moved the coach to tears, and he choked up several times through the evening.
"It was an emotional night for me," he said. "I'll certainly hold that whole evening for the rest of my life."
The evening also paid tribute to the team's outgoing class of seniors. Garrett Miller, Sam Armstrong, Tarren Privett, Dawson Miller, Sam Prysunka and Stokes' youngest son Trent are all graduating at the end of the year.
"It's a really, really great group of boys I lose this year," Stokes said. Giving them gifts, he wished them and their families all the best going forward.
After the season, Stokes said he and his wife will continue to live in Wrangell. Their four children are or will soon be in college, and retirement will allow the two of them more time to visit. Stokes also has a mother back in Idaho he would like to see more of.
A replacement for the coaching position has not been named at this time.
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