THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: A Star, both on the screen and off

When Bill Fagerbakke was a student at Minico High in Rupert, he was approached by a man that changed his life.

Well, more like yelled at.

“I played football, basketball and track in high school,” Fagerbakke said. “I was lucky enough to have this guy in two sports in my life.”

That guy was Bart Templeman, the throws guru at the Iron Wood Throws Center in Rathdrum.

“Before I even played football, I was a sophomore, and Bart just accosted me in the hallway one day,” Fagerbakke said. “He said, ‘hey, look at you. Look at this big frame you have. You’ve got to come out and throw for me.’ And I knew who he was because I’d heard of him, and he was a neighbor of mine, but I didn’t know what he was talking about.”

But that interest changed things.

“When you’re 14, and gangly, and someone shows that kind of interest in you, it’s pretty inspiring,” Fagerbakke said. “And I ended up falling in love with the throws, and I especially loved throwing the discus.”

It wasn’t just on the playing field that Templeman affected Fagerbakke either.

“One of the extraordinary things about him was that he also taught government,” Fagerbakke said. “And he was just as impactful with his government students as he was to his athletes and sports. That’s how much heart he puts into not just sports, but everything he does. My older brother, when he had classes with him — and he was four years older than me — he really liked Bart just as much as I do. He had this experiment where he’d have five hippie kids and five really conservative kids go out and knock on doors and have people sign the Bill of Rights. And nobody would sign the Bill of Rights for the hippie kids, and my brother was really touched by that and respected him. I can tell you when he walked away from teaching, that was a loss to the profession of teaching.”

FAGERBAKKE, THE voice of ‘Patrick Star’ on SpongeBob SquarePants, visited the area last weekend for the seventh annual Iron Wood Throws Classic at the Iron Wood Throws Center in Rathdrum, signing autographs and sending video messages.

“I’ve been in touch with Bart a lot in my adult life,” said Fagerbakke, 63, who graduated from Minico in 1975. “And he hasn’t ignored my phone calls, so we’ve had a nice relationship, whether I was living in New York or riding my bicycle through Idaho or Montana. I’ve been able to keep up with Bart my entire life. And I knew what this place meant to him, going all the way back to his first throwing camp. That was a weekend, at his house (at Cougar Gulch, in 1989). And seeing him build this thing, because of his passion, that just doesn’t happen. I’m so happy to be here and see him reach this.”

Fagerbakke got his acting break on the television series ‘Coach’ as Michael ‘Dauber’ Dybinski, an assistant coach. He also had a role on "How I Met Your Mother.”

“When I got that job on 'Coach', I was doing theater,” Fagerbakke said. “It kind of took me back to my playing days at the University of Idaho (where he was a defensive tackle, before a knee injury forced him to quit football). The coaches offices were in the basement of an old gymnasium, just like on the show. It was kind of a crazy thing. We had all these people from the NFL that I got to meet like Eric Dickerson, Eddie George, Troy Aikman and George Allen, Barry Switzer and Hank Stramm on one episode our second year.

From time to time, he’ll get stopped on the street by fans of his.

“It’s more of a vague sense of recognition,” Fagerbakke said. “Some people will come up to me and ask if they went to school with me, or where do I know you from. The thing about cartoons is that nobody really cares about this (his face), so when I’m at Comic-Con, it’s more about who’s doing the voices.”

Fagerbakke will get his shot at the starring voice as “The Patrick Star Show” debuts on Nickelodeon in July.

FAGERBAKKE, WHO now lives in Los Angeles, is a diehard fan of the Rams.

“I became a Rams fan when I started watching the NFL in 1969,” Fagerbakke said. “I was living in Rupert, and back then, with the regional broadcasting, we got to see the Rams a lot. That year, they won their first 11 games in 1969, and they had phenomenal players such as Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, Roman Gabriel, Willie Ellison, Jack Snow and Billy Truax, and I just became — in the most organic way to be a sports fan — in the passions of boyhood. And the emblem on the Rams’ helmet, I became a fan that way.”

Fagerbakke stuck by the team, even with the move to St. Louis in 1994, and return to Los Angeles in 2016.

“I’m so happy they’re back and I’m sorry for the fans in St. Louis; they deserve to have a team back there,” Fagerbakke said. “I’m really excited they’re back and cannot wait for Sunday night against the Bears with the first night in the new stadium, wow.”

And yes, he’s been in the new SoFi Stadium, in Inglewood, Calif.

“They had an event where season ticket holders could go in and sit in their seats,” Fagerbakke said. “And you know I was there. I spent 45 minutes just looking around and kind of wish that Johnny Hecker was out there punting. I wanted something, but it didn’t really matter. It was great. It’s a beautiful stadium. I actually went when the Rams played at Minnesota a few years ago because it’s the same architect that did our stadium in Inglewood. So I got my appetite whet for their style. It’s kind of weird with a plexiglass dome in L.A.”

In case you’ve missed it, one of the Rams’ big offseason moves was the acquisition of quarterback Matthew Stafford from the Detroit Lions.

“My old buddy and I were dreaming about this toward the end of the season,” Fagerbakke said. “They were talking about him moving, and do you think we had any chance of getting Stafford? Jared Goff, bless his heart, he wasn’t in sync with (Rams coach Sean) McVay’s offense. And it felt like there were training wheels on the game plan or something. He was so closely protected, and now I feel like the cover is going to come off of it. With our receiving corps, oh my goodness, it’s going to be great.”

Aaron Donald, the Rams defensive star, kind of reminds him of a player from his childhood.

“In my mind, to me, he’s our second Deacon Jones,” Fagerbakke said. “He’s the most dynamic player we’ve had since him. I just love watching him play, and love watching offenses trying to figure out schemes to slow him down.”

MAYBE THE only thing slowing Fagerbakke down these days was some of the participants at the Iron Wood Throws Classic, who stopped him for an autograph or voice message in the form of Patrick.

And sure, they're fans of his for sure.

After last weekend, he became fans of those throwers as well.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The 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.