THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Banquet leftovers, and tasty ones at that

Thanks to some rainouts, I was able to take in more of last weekend’s festivities at the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame banquet and the North Idaho Sports Banquet than I usually have time for.

We told the stories of two of the incoming Hall of Famers — Randy Mueller (last week) and Bill Bopp (a couple years ago).

It was also pretty cool to hear the stories of the other inductees, Jackie Ross Mattox and Darrah Eggers.

I remember reading about Eggers when he starred at Deary High in the 1980s. It was interesting to hear of how he became such an outstanding track and field athlete — building a two-lane, 35-meter sprint area on the family property in Bovill, Idaho (population 346, some 10 miles east of Deary), setting up a makeshift long jump pit, and inviting the neighbor kids over for impromptu track meets.

That helped him set national age-group records (age 12-13) in the high jump and pentathlon.

Then to see him give back to his school years later as a coach coaching his alma mater to three state titles in football …

IMAGINE THE pressure on Jackie Ross, growing up in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, doing her chores before heading to school, then discovering a love of track and field.

Imagine taking a one-way flight to North America for a big track and field meet as a high school senior, HOPING to land an athletic scholarship. 

What if no colleges offered? Then what?

Fortunately, the University of Idaho did, and she went on to win 10 Big Sky championships as a Vandal between 1989-93. She now works as a nurse in Spokane.

And to see her husband/best friend, former Post Falls High teacher and coach Troy Mattox, stand before the crowd at Friday’s Hall of Fame celebration and tell her story with pride and love …

And many know Mueller as a longtime executive in the NFL (many of those years with the Seattle Seahawks), the NFL Executive of the Year in 2000.

But in St. Maries, he’s probably more known as the kid with the goofy haircut who quarterbacked the Lumberjacks and later at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore. And when he’s back in North Idaho, he’s not an NFL bigwig — he’s just that guy named Randy who his buddies want to know if he’s going to be able to join them on hunting and fishing trips.

YOU WONDER if the high school (and college) kids and coaches knew how fortunate they were to have their pictures taken with a couple of former NFL players in John Friesz and Mark Schlereth?

Friesz, of course, starred at Coeur d’Alene High and lives in retirement in Hayden Lake, and he and “Stink” are former Idaho Vandals. Schlereth, who lives just outside Denver, credits the Vandals for giving a kid from Alaska a chance to make it in the NFL, and the current Fox analyst says he’ll help out his alma mater any time he can.

Including giving a hilarious speech, sprinkling in an obscenity or two, at the banquet Saturday night — did IdahoSports.com, which webcast the event live, have to go back and “bleep” out part of it, or were they on seven-second delay? Or, like the rest of the crowd, did they just say the heck with it, enjoy the talk and join in giving Schlereth a standing ovation?

In any event, can’t wait to see what next year’s banquet and hall of fame class brings.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.