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NIC Booster Club

cruise canceled

COEUR d’ALENE — Due to hazardous air quality conditions from wildfire smoke, the annual North Idaho College Booster Club cruise scheduled for tonight has been canceled.

The next NIC Booster Club event will be the Coaches Showcase and Reception, which is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, and is being hosted at Le Peep Restaurant. The showcase is open to the public.

Information: 769-3348

State horseshoe pitching

championships held recently

COEUR d’ALENE — The Idaho state horseshoe pitching championships were held at Winton Park on Aug. 26 and 27.

The host Coeur d’Alene Horseshoe Club plans to host the state tourney at Winton again in 2020.

Results follow.

MEN’S C DIVISION — 1, David Swensen, Boise. 2, Dave Ferebee. 3, Rick Sprague, Pocatello.

MEN’S B — 1, Wayne Petersen, Moscow. 2, Chet Ness, Post Falls. 3, Dave Ness, Post Falls.

MEN’S A — 1, Gary Opper, Boise. 2, Gary Kollman, Boise. 3, Evan Pickett, Idaho Falls.

MEN’S ELDER — 1, Doug Palmer, Pocatello. 2, Lynn Crouse, Rathdrum. 3, Tom Gasper, Coeur d’Alene.

MEN’S ELDER A — 1, Arthur Ross, Pocatello. 2, Dan Rollins. 3, Pep Plummer, Boise.

WOMEN’S A — 1, Kay Keskinen, Moscow. 2, Karen Wickham, Kooskia. 3, Darla Wessel, Coeur d’Alene.

n The Inland Empire Memorial horseshoe tournament was held at Winton Park on Aug. 19.

Results follow.

C CLASS — 1, David Ness. 2, Chet Ness. 3, Rusty Buterfield

B — 1, Homer Kleinsmith. 2, Darla Wessel. 3, Glen Wessel

A — 1, Earl Hertline. 2, Kay Keskinen. 3, Roger Baker.

Boise State begins search

process for baseball coach

BOISE — The search process for Boise State’s first baseball coach in nearly 40 years has begun, athletic director Curt Apsey announced Tuesday.

The job announcement was posted Tuesday morning, and can be found at bit.ly/2gLmMxS

“Typically, this probably wouldn’t be a job that we would publicize at this level,” Apsey said. “However, since we announced that baseball would be returning to Boise State, we have received significant interest from individuals throughout the country. We want to make sure we hire the best-possible candidate.

“We would like to have someone in place by the end of 2017.”

Were a head coach to be in place by the end of this calendar year, the Broncos could field a baseball team as early as the spring of 2020.

“I believe a head coach is going to need a year and a half to assemble a staff and put together a recruiting class,” Apsey said. “If we can have someone in place by the end of this year, it is absolutely realistic that we will be seeing Broncos on the diamond in 2020.”

Former Sandpoint great Nieman

headed to Inland Northwest Hall of Fame

Former Sandpoint High great Alli Nieman is part of this year’s class of eight who will be inducted into the Inland Northwest Hall of Fame and Scroll of Honor.

Nieman shined in basketball and volleyball at Sandpoint High, and later in basketball at the University of Idaho. She remains the career scoring leader at Sandpoint (2,046) and at Idaho (2,140), and she is the only player, men or women, in Vandal history to score over 2,000 points and grab over 1,000 rebounds.

Nieman, Steve Gleason, Rueben Mayes, Pam Parks, Dennis Patchin and Denny Spurlock will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Sister Madonna Buder and Jay Rydell will be added to the Scroll of Honor.

All will be honored Oct. 17 at 4 p.m. at the Spokane Arena.

An inspirational component of championship teams at Gonzaga Prep, Washington State and with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints, Steve Gleason’s enduring impact has been as the heart and soul of the battle against ALS, with which he was diagnosed in 2011, and in his quest to connect those with ALS to resources that enhance their lives.

Mayes flew under the radar when he arrived at Washington State — but he didn’t leave it that way. The Cougars’ all-time rushing leader (3,519 yards), Mayes went from backup to top 10 in the Heisman Trophy voting as a junior with a 1,637-yard season, which included a then-NCAA record 357 yards against Oregon.

Parks was a pioneer in area volleyball, and later had wide-reaching impact as an administrator. Along with Irene Matlock, she launched Spokane’s first club volleyball team. She was Sandpoint High’s second-ever volleyball coach, assisted by Matlock, who later succeeded her as coach. Together, they built the Bulldogs into a statewide power. Parks later coached at Eastern Washington and Montana State. More recently, as associate athletic director at EWU, she’s served on the NCAA Division I volleyball committee and as chair of the Spokane Sports Commission.

Patchin’s 31 years at KXLY-TV make him the longest-serving sports anchor in the city’s history and, combined with his talk radio and play-by-play work, his influence on the sports reporting in the Inland Northwest and how fans viewed their favorite teams has been unrivaled. With KXLY colleagues Bud Nameck and Rick Lukens, he launched Friday Night Sports Extra, a half-hour prep football highlights show blanketing the region that remains an institution three decades later. A talk radio host for more than 20 years, Patchin has also been the radio play-by-play voice for Gonzaga, Eastern Washington, Idaho and the Spokane Shock, plus the Spokane Chiefs on television.

As a Whitworth senior in 1961, Spurlock, a North Central graduate, threw for 1,760 yards and more touchdowns (27) than any quarterback in collegiate history, and his career marks of 5,493 yards and 65 touchdowns were collegiate records. Whitworth gives an award in his name each year to the male and female who best blend athletic ability with modesty, poise, humility and leadership.

Buder, widely known as the Iron Nun, has competed in more than 375 triathlons. She completed her first Ironman event at 56. She remains the oldest woman to have completed an Ironman at age 82, having done 45 at that distance.

Rydell posted a 151-42 dual meet record in 10 years as Central Valley wrestling coach. He helped establish the junior high program in the CV district, served as District 8 tournament director and managed the Region IV meet for 26 years. He’s served as director of countless invitational tournaments and worked as a wrestling official and volunteer for the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials and the World Cup of Wrestling in Spokane.