Bryan Garinger - 1974

It is still a pretty vivid memory in my ever aging mind where I can recall wanting to be an East High Knight basketball player. It was when Coach Eathorne brought either the 1967 or 1968 team over for a talk to the Olympic View elementary school. I saw those players in their uniforms and warm ups and decided then and there that is what I wanted to be when I got to the high school. I would practice my skills on the Albro court (aka bomb shelter/wine cellar) against the likes of Dave (Spiderman) and Dan (Tenacious D) Hegland just down the alley from my house. I don’t remember why, but I did not play pee-wee ball at North Perry. My basketball career started at the Junior High (Dewey) when Rick Walker was just as tall and just as good as the rest of us. Our coach, Jerry Willson, started our indoctrination into East Basketball and it continued when we were freshman with Dick Danubio and JV with Dave (On the line – AGAIN!) Holmer.

Making the team and then winning two back to back state championships definitely ranks right up there as one of the greatest highlights of my life. (I haven’t been in another parade into town since.) And it was not just the basketball skills we were learning along the way. The original Knight, Lyle Bakken, had sent us all letters after the 1973 title games and it had a quote from Gen. MacArthur in a speech he gave to a graduating class at West Point. The quote was “On the fields of athletic strife are sewn the seeds that on other days and other fields will bear the fruits of victory”. I didn’t really fully appreciate the meaning back then, but there is no doubt in my mind that everything I put in practice today at work is something I learned back then. Today we are being asked to lead with attributes such as “Charting the Course, Setting High Expectations, Inspiring Others, Find a Way, Delivering Results and Living the Values”. All of those things can clearly be demonstrated by what we learned on the court with a big E in the middle. It’s not hard to see why I frequently find my mind wandering back to those days practicing and playing on the hardwood at East High School.

There were many great memories along the way on the varsity team. I didn’t play much being the back up to Richard Arena. I looked on in awe as he lived a very charmed life. Then in my senior year there were many games to remember. I was not a prolific scorer like some of my teammates. My role was more rebounding and assists. I do remember scoring well at CK, but I also remember just as well the only defeat at NK with their fan-shaped glass backboards. The final two games against Cleveland and Foster are also very memorable for two different reasons. (Man those Cleveland guys were tall!)

None of this would have been possible without the leadership, mentoring and sometimes substitute fathering of our coach, Les Eathorne. There is probably no single man more responsible for the leadership skills I use today in my professional life and he continues today to have an impact on my personal life. I will be forever in his debt and have dedicated my effort in documenting the history of EHS Basketball to him.

Bryan Garinger
Senior Engineering Manager
The Boeing Company