The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Nov. 17, 2012

For all that Joe Peak has brought to athletics in the Silver Valley, from the Kellogg/Canyon Youth Basketball League to running the chains at Kellogg High football games for years, it’s a safe bet that there’s not too many people that haven’t gotten a pat on the back from him at one point or another.

To borrow a line from a recent state champion coach — why not a pat for him, why not now?

FOR THE first couple of years that I worked for the Shoshone News-Press in Kellogg, Joe did it all — from giving me insight into an upcoming game or writing about the local junior varsity games in his “North Fork Notebook” that appeared in the Outdoors section of the paper, it was almost like he was the hardest working reporter we had.

All I had to do when I went to a game was look across the gym, because he’d be there also — watching in the stands or along the sidelines.

And then there’s the Youth Basketball League program, which allowed youth from the Kellogg, Pinehurst and Canyon area to play and get experience in the game.

It was while watching some of the younger kids play in a tournament seven years ago at Sunnyside Elementary, that I really began to understand just how involved he really was.

On that particular afternoon, which was a President’s Day holiday, Joe was surrounded by basketball players, both as a coach and as the referee.

That day, while surrounded by kids who are now at the varsity level in most of the Silver Valley schools, when he’d call a foul — he’d explain why he did so in the hope that the player could get better.

They did just for being on the same court as Joe.

HIS BATTLE with cancer has been well documented in articles over the past couple of years, and while he’d fight, he’d still continue to write his notebook every week in the paper.

Why? — because like I’ve said before — he’s one of the hardest working people I have seen.

Keep in mind, he’s the owner/operator of the Enaville Resort/Snakepit in Kingston, but still found the time to keep everyone within an earshot up to date on whatever he felt was news on the Coeur d’Alene River Road and beyond.

This past spring, he got a chance to do what most baseball fans should do someday, attend Spring Training in Arizona.

Although the days of seeing him along the sidelines have gone, he hasn’t stopped keeping his eye on the athletes.

One of the first times I went to the Snake Pit to do a story, I was a little skeptical at first.

I’d just started working at the paper and I received a phone call that Mike Hollis, an NFL kicker formerly of Central Valley and Idaho, was going to be in town and was willing to sit down to talk about his experiences in the pro game.

After arriving, I knew it was Joe behind getting me out to the ’Pit, and it remains one of the biggest athletes I’ve ever had a chance to talk to.

Joe often closed his column by telling folks he’d see them on the North Fork.

I sure hope to again.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via [email protected].