Coach Fred Trenkle called Wednesday's team awards dinner "a celebration of the basketball season."
And the Wood River High School varsity basketball team (8-14) had a good season, one that could have been much different because of nine of the team's 14 losses were by six points or less. "We were extremely good at times," said Trenkle, having completed his 36th year of coaching.
Wednesday's dinner at the high school commons area in Hailey was also an opportunity for Trenkle to address players and parents about the hard work required to build a basketball program and compete at the Idaho 4A level against schools that draw their players from a much bigger pool of candidates.
Third-year coach Trenkle said, "We came in here to put some credibility into Wood River basketball and we certainly did that this year. We made a lot of strides over a lot of people. This group of seniors, who I started with in eighth grade, brought the credibility back to Wood River."
Saying "basketball is a game of life," Trenkle challenged the underclassmen to get in the weight room and pick up a basketball.
Trenkle gave his "Hustle" awards to, first of all, sophomore Erik Jacobson, the team's leading rebounder, and also to senior Kyle Lubeck and junior David Sibrian.
Junior varsity coach John Radford announced awards for his junior squad that collected its first-ever league victory at the 4A level.
Drew Anderson earned the Red Bull Award for Great Energy. Micah Floyd won the Versatility Award. Tyler Israel was The Quiet Man. Ben Leopold took the Sprints Award. Alex Moore was Most Improved.
Ross Parsons accepted the Cabbie Licensed to Drive honor. Patrick Patterson took the Machine Gun Award. David "Pink" Pinkard won Best Wolverine Nickname. Joel Perron earned the Late Bloomer Award. Carter Stewart was Little Big Man. Nick Sutton won the Pinball Award for Sacrificing his Body for the Team.
Coach Craig Eastop presented awards to the ninth-grade team.
Most Improved was Greg Wakefield. The 110% Award went to Sean Bunce. The Windex Award for Cleaning the Glass went to Rob Paris. The Work for What You Get honor was given to Brian Tidwell.
True Little Big Man was Kevin Cortez, and Little Big Man was Valdimir Martynko. "Da Long Bomb" Award went to Mike Brunker. Sharpshooter was Alberto Vasquez. The Making the Turn Award was given to Rafael Barriga. The Getting the Move On Award was presented to Anthony Todd.
And the "Get on the Floor Beckman Flop Award" was given to Eric Carrete.
Boatwright in state hoops program
Assistant boys' basketball coach Jim Boatwright was honored by a special spotlight in the 2006 Idaho High School Boys State Basketball Program produced by the Idaho High School Activities Association and United Dairymen of Idaho.
The program is being distributed this week during the "Real Dairy Shootout," 1A through 5A state basketball tournaments being staged at six locations in the Boise area.
Boatwright graduated from Minico High School in 1970, where he lettered in basketball, track and golf. He led the Spartans to back-to-back state championship games in 1969 and 1970. As a junior, he averaged 37 points per game during the state tournament. He still holds the record for most free throws taken and made. Boatwright is the second-leading Minico scorer, all time.
Recently, Boatwright was inducted into the Idaho Basketball Hall of Fame.
Having earned a slew of All-State and All-American honors, Boatwright received a scholarship to play at Utah State University. He was the leading scorer both his junior and senior seasons at Logan and was named Utah State's top athlete in 1974, the same year he graduated with a degree in political science.
Boatwright joined the European Professional Basketball League and played eight years for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel. Maccabi won the European Championship in 1977 and Boatwright was the team's leading scorer. He was selected as a member of the Israeli Olympic basketball team for the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
In 1988 Boatwright began teaching and coaching at Star Valley, Wyo. He guided his team to the state championship and was named Wyoming's "Coach of the Year." Since, he has taught elementary and secondary education in Wyoming, Arizona, California and now Idaho. He currently teaches social studies at Wood River High School.
Boatwright, father of four and married to Jennifer Magrane Boatwright, has run his Snowline Basketball Camp across the West for 24 years. His 25th annual camp for boys and girls ages 10-18 featuring coach Trenkle and the Wood River staff is scheduled for June 5-7 at Wood River High School gym in Hailey.
