Parks recalls 'heyday' in Sandpoint

In the big picture, it was only 3 1/2 years in a long life full of accomplishments.

But that brief period in time, when Pam Parks took a Sandpoint High volleyball program that had already experienced success, and helped turn it into a state power, is a time she will never forget.

“I look back on that time with so much joy,” said Parks, the longtime women’s sports advocate who will be inducted into the Inland Northwest Hall of Fame on Tuesday at the Spokane Arena. “I got that job right in the heyday, in a sense, the interest in the community, and obviously successful athletes and teams. It was so much fun to coach there, because we packed the place. We had the pep band there. We had everybody there. It was just a wonderful place to coach, and I’m so happy I had that time in my life, because it was just incredible.”

IN THE spring of 1978, Parks was coaching the volleyball team at Eastern Washington, her alma mater. She was only a couple years older than her players. But Eastern was restructuring its athletic department, and decided to combine its volleyball coaching position with an administrative position.

“So I was in flux,” Parks recalled.

Meanwhile, Pat Smith, known as the mother of Sandpoint volleyball, invited Parks to come to Sandpoint and put on a volleyball clinic.

“At that time I had never been to Sandpoint before, so when I came to town and drove across the Long Bridge I went, ‘Wow, this place is gorgeous,’” Parks said.

After the clinic she told Smith to let her know if a volleyball coaching job ever opened up in Sandpoint.

A month or two later, Parks was sitting in her office at Eastern when the phone rang.

It was Smith. There was a job opening. Jan Spring, who had succeeded Smith and coached the Bulldogs to second-place finishes at state in her two years as coach (1977 and ’78), had resigned.

Parks interviewed with Al Jacobson, then the athletic director at Sandpoint High, and got the job.

“At that time I didn’t have a job, per se,” said Parks, an Oakesdale (Wash.) High grad. “I was hired at 23 (by Eastern). I had players that were 20 and 21 in that first stint. And I really felt like I needed more experience. I was stupid enough to think that I could do it. But in reality, I was just a rookie.

“When the shift happened (at Eastern), and that (Sandpoint) job became available, it was really a blessing in disguise, because I could really go there and work on my craft more.”

YEARS EARLIER, Parks had played college volleyball against Irene Matlock, who was playing for the University of Washington. Years later, Parks met Matlock while playing volleyball in Seattle after college. When Parks took the Sandpoint job, Matlock was at Eastern working on her master’s, and helping Parks with her Eastern volleyball team. Parks invited her to join her in Sandpoint as assistant coach and, just as important, to start a club volleyball program in Sandpoint, called Ohana.

“It had a good reputation coming in,” Parks said of the Sandpoint program when she arrived. “But I’d been a collegiate coach, so even though they had been pretty good, there was a lot to learn.

“But they were sponges. They wanted to listen; they wanted to learn, wanted to win, and they took coaching extremely well. I really had a good team. We had to build it; it wasn’t going to happen overnight, and that’s why I really wanted Irene to come and do club, because they just needed to see volleyball at a higher level. And because the (high school) season was so short, they needed to play more matches. Bottom line, they needed to play more. And by having club, they were able to play more.”

Parks coached at Sandpoint for three seasons. In 1979, the Bulldogs finished second at state to Skyline of Idaho Falls. The next year, Sandpoint won its first state title. In 1981, the Bulldogs were undefeated heading into state, but went 0-2 in pool play and didn’t advance to bracket play.

“I’m really glad I did it,” Parks said of coming to Sandpoint. “It was a good decision for me. It was a good decision for Irene to come and help me, when I asked her to come help start a club, because the players needed that additional experience. When I left they hired her, and that was the best thing they ever did, and the rest is history.”

Wanting to return to college coaching, Parks took a job as coach at Montana State. Matlock succeeded her as head coach at Sandpoint, and won four state titles in four seasons before leaving to become coach at Community Colleges of Spokane.

“It was tough,” Parks said of leaving Sandpoint, “but I wanted to go back to college coaching. Because when I left Eastern in 1978, I didn’t have any scholarships. Recruiting was just barely a factor. It was more, these young women were coming to Eastern to get an education, and they might want to play a sport. It wasn’t like today. When I had an opportunity to go to Montana State from Sandpoint, I wanted a chance to coach collegiately again, and to also have that experience of scholarshipping athletes, and trying to put together a team. Really seek out and recruit athletes to a program, and build a program around them.”

“Here’s a little-known fact,” Parks continued. “When I left, Irene was also on the cusp of her own (professional) decisions. If I would have stayed at Sandpoint, I think she would have left. I think there was consternation from some people (in Sandpoint) to hire her, because she scared them. She intimidated them, bottom line. I knew she’d be great, obviously.”

AFTER THREE seasons at Montana State, Parks returned to Eastern, and coached the Eagle volleyball team from 1985-99. She is in her 18th year as senior associate athletic director/senior woman administrator at the school, and plans to retire at the end of the school year.

In Sandpoint, Parks and Matlock started North Idaho’s first club volleyball program, nearly 40 years ago. A few years later, they started Spokane’s first club volleyball program, the Spokane Juniors.

“It was so important for me to give back,” Parks said. “I wanted other people to have that opportunity to play like I did.”

She proudly notes that, these days, there are 79 junior club teams in the Evergreen Region, totaling 3,464 junior players.

She thanks Bill Neville, who coached her Spokane-based semi-pro women’s team in the mid-1970s, then later coached with her at Montana State.

“If he hadn’t been my coach, god only knows where I would have been in terms of coaching,” Parks said.

And, of course, she’ll always remember her time in Sandpoint.

“It helped me grow up, it helped me learn more about young people, their motivations in life, so when I went back into college coaching, it gave me a lot more perspective in recruiting them,” Parks said. “I just feel like it just really help me grow up as a coach. It was just a great time in my life, and I will always look back on it fondly. That was my first taste of a championship, and I wanted more, and I’ll always thank Sandpoint for that.”

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