Gone, but not forgotten

Class B basketball has been a presence in most of Tom Peterson’s 75 years – from his days as a player in the 1940s to this year, when he’s rooting on the team coached by his son.

Like many longtime fans of small-school basketball, he misses the Whitman County flavor at this year’s 2B state tournament, the first season that the Bs have been split into two divisions. That sent the majority of the small Eastern Washington teams to Yakima for the 1B tourney, rather than to Spokane – where for almost 50 years small schools with big community support have taken over the city in ways big and small for “B week.”

“Tekoa-Oakesdale. Washtucna. St. John-Endicott,” said Peterson, whose son coaches the Willapa Valley boys. “I loved watching them. Sunnyside Christian. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t envision seeing the crowds we used to have.”

He wasn’t wrong during the opening two days of the tournament at the Spokane Arena, where crowds were down and many longtime fans said that compared to the past tournament, this one feels awfully quiet.

Of course, crowds tend to be smaller for early games and loser-out games at any tournament. And this year’s tournament also is competing with other state basketball tournaments around the state.

But the biggest factor is regional – just a handful of teams in this year’s tournament came from Eastern Washington, compared to six or eight in a typical year under the old format. Gone are the rooting sections that looked like an entire town had shut down and come to Spokane. Gone is wall-to-wall TV and newspaper coverage, and the sense of the tournament as a regional touchstone of Eastern Washington.

“I know in the old tournament we had all types of coverage – newspaper fold-out magazines, welcome signs all over the place,” said Dan Schutz, athletic director from Napavine who grew up and coached in Tekoa. “There just doesn’t seem to be the same hoopla.”

Still, Schutz and others have been dealing with the reality of this situation for a long time now – since the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association decided two years ago to split Class B, setting off a wave of criticism among supporters of the Spokane tradition.

“As has been said over and over, it’s time to start a new tradition,” said Ken Lindgren, athletic director at Tekoa-Oakesdale.

Lindgren’s own history with the B tourney is deep. He grew up in Tekoa, and while his teams never qualified for state, he’s been watching the tournament since the 1960s. He’s been a coach, fan, athletic director and tournament volunteer.

He saw the difference for fans in this year’s tournament, after the Tekoa-Oakesdale girls’ team played in the 1B tournament in Yakima last week.

“There are people I see here from Whitman County who weren’t in Yakima last week,” he said, taking a break from his volunteer duties at the arena.

Tournament manager Mick Schultz has been hearing complaints about the new format for a long while.

“I’m ready to move on,” he said. “We’re still talking about small communities coming out to follow the kids. Hopefully, people will give it a chance.”

Attendance is down so far, though Schultz said he didn’t have exact figures Thursday.

He said several factors play into that, including that eight schools sent both boys’ and girls’ teams to this year’s tournament. Such doubling-up likely reduces the overall number of fans, he said.

Schultz said the focus of the event is on providing the right experience for the student-athletes, not on all the peripheral elements that have grown up around the tournament.

“We want to do the best job for the kids that are here,” he said.

But he knows a lot of fans miss the old tournament.

Ben Smalley, a longtime resident of Manson who attended games Wednesday in overalls and a farmer’s cap, said he and his wife, Elaine, have been coming to Spokane for the B tournament for more than 10 years. They come no matter what – not to root on a particular team or player, but just to enjoy the basketball.

“So far there aren’t that many people here,” Smalley said Wednesday, indicating all the empty seats.

“I don’t know how it’s going to be at the end of the week.”

Doug Hodgson of Spangle is another perennial B fan. He played in the tournament in 1976 as a member of the Liberty High team, and he’s been coming as a spectator for almost 25 years. Like a lot of people who’ve made a long tradition out of seeing family, friends, old classmates and former rivals during B week, he’s still adjusting to the differences this year.

“Honestly, it’s just not the same without the Whitman County teams here,” he said.