Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Shaping The Goal Jason Weatherred Helps Saxons Regain Momentum Toward A Trip To State

John Miller Correspondent

(From South Side Voice, March 6, 1997:) Ferris High School basketball player Charlie Gordon is a senior. His year in school was incorrectly reported in last Thursday’s South Side Voice.

With Ferris’ reputation as a perennial Greater Spokane League boys basketball power, it might surprise folks to learn that the team hasn’t been to the state tournament since being crowned champs in 1994.

Last Thursday, the Saxons and their rangy 6-foot-4 forward, Jason Weatherred, sent a message: Keeping them from a trip to Seattle this time around isn’t going to be easy.

Weatherred scored 23 points, a career high, on 10-of-15 shooting as the Saxons drilled third-place University 60-48 in its final GSL game. The season finale was a far cry from last year, when Ferris lost to Shadle Park.

What’s different about this year’s team?

“No conflicts,” Weatherred says. “I think there’s a lot more determination on this year’s team to go all the way.”

That’s not to say the team isn’t a hodgepodge of contrasting personalities.

Tommy Servine is a flashy, talented guard, capable of the big play. Charlie Gordon, just a sophomore, is solid but still developing.

The team perfectionist is Jeremy Lucke. Justin Bursch is a tough defender and a scoring threat.

Weatherred, according to Coach Wayne Gilman, is the glue that helps hold everything together.

“Jason just has the ability to find the middle ground,” Gilman said.

For instance, when Ferris lost to Shadle Park on Jan. 28, Gilman says there was a certain amount of finger pointing from all parties - parents, players, coaches, even the newspaper.

Everybody had their own ideas what was wrong with the Saxons.

The team’s passing game was suffering. The fast break, which Ferris had used effectively in early-season games, was on the wane.

During team meetings aimed at ironing out the bugs, Weatherred offered ideas of how to put the team back on track.

“In that instance, Jason was an intermediary,” Gilman says.

Tough to say if it was Weatherred’s influence that made the difference. Much easier, of course, are the facts: Ferris ended its regular season with six straight wins to finish at 15-1.

When Weatherred’s four-year run at the school winds down this spring, he will have eight varsity letters in five different sports: basketball, football, track, tennis and cross country.

“Some people were trying to talk me into golf, but that’s not going to happen,” he says with a laugh, explaining why he’s alternated his sports. “I like everything I’m doing. I just don’t want to miss anything.”

Weatherred is one of Ferris’ 16 valedictorians this year. Just last week he received the first of what promises to be many academic awards: a $100 savings bond for his architectural work in the school’s vocational program that could turn into a $1,000 scholarship.

He plays tenor saxophone in the school’s award-winning jazz band. Recently he began playing guitar and piano, just for fun.

As well, a week ago, he and a group of other athletes, including Bursch and Lucke from the basketball team, started a Bible study group at Ferris that will meet every Wednesday morning. Ten students attended the first meeting.

“We pretty much examined our lives, and I think it will help us to live our lives and not be hypocritical,” says Weatherred, explaining that group members choose incidents from their own lives and try to better understand them using the Bible.

“Most of the guys who showed up were athletes, so pretty much all our examples had to do with sports,” he says, grinning sheepishly. “We’d like to get other people involved, too.”

Mike Hadway coached Weatherred in cross country this year before the senior injured a muscle in his hip and missed the remainder of the season. Hadway is also Weatherred’s vocational arts teacher and nominated him for the architecture award.

“Basically he’s a student who is really self-motivated,” Hadway said.

In an era when technology is changing so rapidly, Hadway says he often is forced to learn right alongside the students. When he has a question about autoCAD, a computer-assisted drafting program, he has to call the company - or let Weatherred do it.

“Jason is somebody you can rely on,” Hadway said. “He’s an adult. When he wants to learn, he does it.”

The same goes for Weatherred’s basketball.

Case in point: In January, Weatherred went through a period when he wasn’t using the backboard to make some of his shots near the basket. Gilman says he had reminded Jason so many times that he eventually became very frustrated.

“I actually yelled,” admits the characteristically mild-mannered coach. “You could just see Jason cringe.

“It hurt him, because he really wants to do what you want him to do.”

Sure enough, during the next game against Shadle, Weatherred banked in a couple of close-range baskets.

“Jason is very coachable,” Gilman says. “That just shows you how conscientious a person he is.”

ILLUSTRATION: Photo