FISHING -- Harold Van Riper, a former Gonzaga University basketball star who moved to the Olympic Peninsula to found a popular salmon fishing resort, passed away recently. He was 80.

The former owner of Van Riper's Resort at Sekiu in the western Strait of Juan de Fuca was born on Dec. 11, 1930, in Wilmar, Minn.

"Harold was one of the best mooching anglers around, and you'd always see him fishing off Mussolini Rock usually with a big king bending over his rod," said Tony Floor, director of fishing affairs for the Northwest Marine Trade Associaiton, in a story by Mark Yuasa of the Seattle Times.

Van Riper attended Gonzaga University where he was a standout center for the basketball team between 1949 and 1953. His daughter, Monica, later became a standout hoopster at Eastern Washington University.

Services are set for 1 p.m., Dec. 18 at the Sequim Prairie Grange, 290 Macleay Road in Sequim. Memorial contributions can be made to the Neah Bay or Clallam Bay School athletic programs.