Walter 'MAX' Weekly, 86

At a gathering not long ago, a friend told Max, “When I came to College of Sequoias to play baseball in 1957, two years after you were there, I was told that you were a legend.”

Max had attended COS in Visalia, Calif., and was an outstanding athlete. He was All Conference end on the football team in 1954 and pitched on the 1955 baseball team. Max set a single game strike out record in COS baseball that stands to this day. He struck out 21 Fresno City College batters and went on to hit a home run in the same game, winning the game 3-2. Maybe he is a legend…

Max was born Walter Maxwell Weekly on June 24, 1934, in Exeter, Calif., to Surlister and Walter Weekly. He passed away at the age of 86 on March 8, 2021, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He was raised with his two younger brothers, Marty and Marv, on a peach and grape farm near Exeter and graduated from Exeter Union High School in 1952. Max played ball in the Western Canadian Baseball League, then attended Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., on a football/baseball scholarship. While there, he also won an intramural boxing trophy for his fraternity. It was too cold for him in Pullman, so he returned home to attend COS in Visalia.

Max signed a contract with the New York Yankees in 1955 and bought his first car with his signing bonus (which was nothing like what new recruits receive today). He pitched for a year for the Modesto Reds of the California League. He was then sent to the Spokane Indians in 1956 and was their main pitcher (as well as their relief pitcher). Max was drafted into the U.S. Army around this time.

Max served with the U.S. Army from 1957 to 1959, spending most of it in Germany. He was on the rifle team and received a citation for marksmanship from President Eisenhower. Max returned home to the Yankees, but an arm injury prevented him from continuing his baseball career. He then went on into sales/sales management and retired from Dave Smith Frontier Sales in Coeur d’Alene in 2008.

Max and Barbara, his loving wife, lived in Spokane, Wash., for 17 years, then for nine years in Bayview, Idaho. They spent the last 14 years in Coeur d’Alene where they were married 40 years ago. Max loved fishing and boating on Lake Pend Oreille (on “THE BIG BOY”), as well as fishing in Alaska, Oregon and various other locations with his wife, his family and friends.

Max was preceded in death by his parents and his younger brother, Marv. He leaves behind, for a time, his wife, Barbara; one son; six stepchildren, 16 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren; his brother, Marty; a number of nephews and nieces; and many friends. Max, a believer in Jesus Christ, was a member of Candlelight Christian Fellowship in Coeur d’Alene.

His brother, Marty, once said that we don’t know exactly what Heaven will be like… but we will not be disappointed. He just could be fishing for “The Big One” or pitching on “Heaven’s Nine” with his brother, Marv.

A memorial service for Max will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, July 8, 2021, at Candlelight Fellowship Church (corner of Highway 95 and Dalton Avenue) in Coeur d’Alene.