THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE April 7, 2016

In 1986, there was a possibility Sally Greene could return to her alma mater.

But Lewiston High opted for someone else for its vacant girls basketball coaching position, and still another person to fill its social studies teaching position.

“And so I ended up in Moscow,” Greene recalled, “and boy, what good fortune for me, because I ended up with some really good groups that came through.”

That’s for sure.

Two years later, after attending graduate school at the University of Idaho, Greene was hired as Moscow High girls basketball coach, and shortly after that, led the Bears on an amazing run of four state A-2 championships in five seasons (1992, ’93, ’94 and ’96), an era in which they dominated the Intermountain League.

“I will say I was certainly blessed with a group of great athletes,” said Greene, who is part of a class of five to be inducted into the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday night at the Best Western Plus Coeur d’Alene Inn, as part of the 54th annual North Idaho Sports Banquet. “At the time, we had years when we beat the Lake Citys and the Coeur d’Alenes as well, and we always scheduled them. So yeah, I think there was a little resentment from some of the IML schools.

“But I think in 1992, my first state championship, I had a starting lineup where my shortest player was 5-10. And for a girls high school team on any level, that was amazing. My point guard was 5-10, my front line was 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, and included three Division I players. So I realized how absolutely blessed I was with talent there for a few years.”

GREENE GRADUATED from Lewiston High in 1975, playing basketball and tennis and going through high school during the early days of Title IX.

“When I was in high school, we had girls basketball, but we played in the fall, because we didn’t want to interfere with the boys getting the gym (for basketball),” Greene recalled. “So our season finished up before Thanksgiving.”

In those early years, before the Idaho High School Activities Association got involved, the girls had a state invitational basketball tournament in Moscow. Greene remembers playing in it once.

“It seemed like we finished up our season around Thanksgiving, and then we didn’t play the tournament until January,” she said. “Seemed like we took a couple months off and then came back and started practicing again. And we wore uniforms that were hand-me-downs from the track team (the first year).”

Greene also played basketball and tennis at the University of Idaho, graduating in 1979. She coached basketball and tennis at Grangeville High from 1981-86. The Bulldogs went 78-33 with Greene as hoops coach, and she coached several state champions in tennis.

IN GREENE’s early days as Moscow High coach, the Bears competed in the class A-1 Inland Empire League, against North Idaho’s biggest schools at the time -- Coeur d’Alene, Sandpoint, Lewiston and Post Falls.

Eventually Moscow dropped into the A-2 IML, where its competition included Lakeland, St. Maries, Bonners Ferry, Priest River and Kellogg.

In the early 1990s, Moscow won 45 straight league games and five league championships. The 1990 team, she recalled, started four sophomores and a senior, and suffered through some growing pains. But two years later, those sophs now seniors, the Bears won their first state title.

Barbara Hudson, a senior post on the tallish ‘92 team, and went on to play at Saint Mary’s. Post Heather Owen, a high school All-American who went on to play at Stanford, was on the ‘92, ‘93 and ‘94 title teams, as was point guard Kelli Johnson, who went on to play at Idaho.

“I was blessed with great players, and tried not to mess them up too bad,” Greene said, humbly, of those three straight state title teams.

Moscow’s bid for a four-peat came up short in 1995, when the Bears lost to eventual champion Shelley in the first round, but came back to win the consolation title. This was after Moscow beat Bonners Ferry, its main rival in the IML in those days, in overtime to win the district title. The Bears’ reward was an undefeated team (Shelley) in the first round at state.

“I knew coming in we’d have a better draw (at state) if we came in No. 2,” Greene said of the district title game. “It crossed my mind for a millisecond that if we lose this game, we’re in a better spot, but I’m just way too competitive, and I would never tell my girls to tank a game. But I knew … “

Of that run of state titles, Greene said she was most proud of that 1996 team, whose tallest player was 5-10, and came into the season with no expectations.

While her previous title teams featured size, the ‘96 squad was led by guards Amy Lemm and Jenny Moslemi, and the Bears played a matchup zone “because we couldn’t match up with anybody man to man,” Greene said. One of her forwards was a 5-7 player “that could jump really well.”

“We had a blast, and they just played with a lot of heart, and ended up winning the state title,” Greene said. “And I retired after that year because I thought, I had such a good time with this group of girls, I just can’t top that.”

Greene retired with a career basketball coaching record of 239-90 (72.6 percent).

AFTER GETTING out of coaching, Greene was athletic director at Moscow High for a couple of years, then an assistant principal in Lewiston for a few years. For the past eight years, she worked in the education department at the University of Idaho, placing student teachers.

She retired in June, freeing her up for even more time on the golf course.

Asked what she is most proud of in her career, Greene replied, “I always felt I wasn’t coaching basketball as much as I was coaching young ladies. It was really important to me for them to understand that basketball was more than the wins and losses, and not running up the score, and respecting the game, and respecting their opponents. … I’d like to think they got life lessons, rather than just how to play basketball. I also always emphasized enjoying the journey, and having fun along the way. I know sometimes people get hung up on the winning, and for me the winning was secondary.”

And to think, she could have wound up on a different path 30 years ago.

“I’m a firm believer in things happen for a reason,” Greene said. “I certainly ended up in a much more fortunate situation in Moscow, with the talent that came through, than I probably would have in Lewiston. I’m just really honored (to be inducted into the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame), and it’s brought back a lot of really good memories.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.