Clif McKenzie - 1973

Let me start with what I didn’t learn.

I didn’t learn how to play man-to-man defense…or if I did, I sure as hell didn’t learn to play it very well.

But then why would I need to know how to play man-to man defense…or for that matter any kind of defense? After all, Coach Eathorne assured us that if we scored more points than the other team; we would likely win the game. Now, there are those that might claim that our press was the best defensive press they had ever seen. But if they’d actually played East basketball, they would understand that what they saw was not part of a defensive strategy. An East press was an integral part of an offensive strategy that was grounded in the belief that we could only score when we had the ball. So go get the damn ball!

I never saw Coach play basketball. But I’m fairly certain that what he called “East” basketball was simply “Eathorne” basketball. We played the game the way that he played it or that he wanted to play it. And to Coach, scoring was fun. So he built a program that had its roots in every Peewee basketball team in East Bremerton. That’s where we learned to play zone defenses. Why zone…I suspect it was simply because it made finding an outlet pass easier. Which made fast breaking easier. Which made scoring easier. And…scoring was fun.

So what did I learn? I learned that basketball was fun. What I actually learned was that East basketball was fun. They didn’t have as much fun over on the west side of bridges (note the “w” in west is not capitalized…guys that played East basketball developed a healthy disregard for those bastards). They spent their time trying to figure out how to stop us (which they never did...). What the heck kind of fun was that?

That might have been it as far as basketball was concerned. It was pretty simple really. Scoring was fun.

But if it had all been about basketball, I doubt I’d be having this conversation now.

What I really learned from Les were some Eathorne fundamentals that guide me to this day. A few of takeaways are:

Assholes and Elbows - We heard this from Coach a hundred times. Assholes and elbows…that’s all he wanted to see when the ball hit the floor. Sure there were more appropriate ways to communicate that he’d like to see us hustle after loose balls. But “hustle” is what other teams did. And “hustling” just wasn’t done with the same intensity as “assholes and elbows”. So “assholes and elbows” always came up with the ball. And to this day…I don’t hustle. I go after what I want with “assholes and elbows”.

Do the Right Thing…No Matter How Uncomfortable the Conversation – Whenever I have some difficult news to deliver and begin to rationalize another path that might enable me to maybe not have to deliver the news…I think of Les. He cut two young men. The cuts were absolutely the right thing to do. But no one would have faulted him for not making either cut. The first cut involved a player that had made the varsity as a junior and then was cut as a senior. The guy was a good guy. He’d done all he was asked to do. But he simply wasn’t the right fit for a team that would be lead by juniors (and one remarkable sophomore). In the end, the decision was probably easy…but implementation meant a heart wrenching conversation with a quality individual. He had the conversation. The second involved a fine basketball player and more importantly, a close neighbor. A young man he had known for years and a young man who had paid his dues on the junior varsity. But this was another case of simply not being the right fit. Les had that conversation as well. No one would have faulted him for rationalizing another path. The takeaway for me was that he didn’t.

Superstition – Superstitions are just that…superstitions. Stuff and nonsense. Stopping the bus at the bottom of the hill at Central Kitsap didn’t give us any divine assistance or didn’t place a pox on the Cougars…we all knew that. And the ritual handing out of Juicy Fruit gum didn’t make us run faster or jump higher….we all knew that. But here’s what his goofy superstitions did for us and for every team before us and for every team after us. They crazy glued every team from every year together. We were united by these superstitions and rituals and made better by being a part of something greater than us individuals or us as a team. Those superstitions were our tribal story. And with those tribal stories we went into battle with the assistance of all those who came before us and all those who would come after us. That was a pretty cool feeling…

Those are a few…there were many more.

In the end…let me be clear about one thing. We don’t win a state championship without Les Eathorne. Period. We were good. He made us great. I was so fortunate to be a part of East basketball.

Clif McKenzie
President
Watson Furniture Group