Getting by with some friendly help

It’s always good to get a little help from your friends sometimes.

And in this business, you never really know just when that moment will come.

IN CASE you missed it, we’d reported that the Intermountain League girls soccer match between St. Maries and host Coeur d’Alene Charter was to be played on Wednesday at Community United Methodist Church Field.

That isn’t quite where the game wound up being played.

Due to a water well issue over the summer, the field was unplayable.

“We rent the field from Community United Methodist Church,” Coeur d’Alene Charter athletic director Aaron Lippy said. “This summer, they have had water well problems that did not allow for the field to be watered regularly. The field dried out and was very hard, and not the best to play or practice on.”

Charter had to shuffle some games at the start of the season, moving a preseason jamboree across Ramsey to Lake City High on Aug. 16 and the team’s opener against Kellogg to Teeters Field.

The jamboree was canceled, and the match with Kellogg was postponed due to smoke on Aug. 20 and rescheduled for Sept. 22 at 10 a.m.

Wednesday’s match against St. Maries was moved to North Idaho College, as is this Tuesday’s match against Priest River.

Practices have also been altered for Charter.

“We have rented the Jenny Stokes Field (on Kathleen Avenue, down the street from the school) from the city to practice,” Lippy said. “Both the city and NIC have been gracious enough to allow us to rent a field to meet the team’s needs.”

Lippy added the program hopes to return to Community United Methodist Church Field for the Sept. 18 match against Kellogg.

CHANCES ARE that if you’ve spent some time in the Silver Valley, you’ve listened to the local AM station for all your local sports needs.

That era comes to an end today, as KWAL 620 in Osburn goes off the air for the final time.

For years, Paul Robinson and George White were the voices behind the microphones that broadcast games, from Mullan to Kellogg, as well as district games in Lewiston when Wallace was in the Central Idaho League.

A little industry secret during my time as a sports writer in the Silver Valley was that often times if they were broadcasting a game, and deadline approached — rapidly on some nights — I’d tune in their broadcast to get a final score and motor back to the office. Often times I’d do the same for district games if and when I couldn’t be there in person.

Much beyond sports, both Paul and George are great guys, sponsoring the annual George Wild wrestling invitational in its inaugural years, presenting KWAL coats to bracket champions during the tournament.

And serving quite a large impact, still to this day on those around them.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.