All in the family: Groves name synonymous with Shadle Park athletics

It is not uncommon for siblings to go through high school together. What might be more rare is three generations of a single family all prominently featured in the athletic history of one school.

Such is the case for the Groves family and Shadle Park.

Grandpa Jim Groves taught and coached at Shadle for more than 30 years, including as head basketball coach for five years, succeeding legendary Highlanders coach Dave Robertson.

His sons – James, Joe and Randy – all went to Shadle and played sports, with Joe returning as a teacher and coach for football and track and field, and Randy as an assistant basketball coach the past three seasons.

Now Jim’s grandkids are moving through the system.

The oldest two – Joe’s son Redmond and Randy’s oldest Tanner – have graduated, leaving cousins Jake and Jillian to star for their respective basketball teams.

Jillian, a 6-foot senior, is Joe’s daughter, and 6-5 junior Jake is Randy’s middle son – and both are shooters.

The youngest, 9-year-old Dylynn, may end up the best of all of them.

Randy describes him as a “gym rat,” who spends time surfing NBA players and highlights instead of watching cartoons or playing video games.

“All the things I wish we had done with the big kids we’re doing with him,” Randy said.

Dylynn likes to pit Jake and Jillian off each other.

“He’ll say, ‘Jake had four 3s, what are you going to shoot Jillian?’ It’s kind of a fun rivalry,” Joe said.

Jake hit four 3-pointers and scored 20 points in Shadle’s 68-57 loss to University on Tuesday, while Jillian made three from distance in the girls loss to the Titans. Jillian has had a couple of games this season where she hit double-digit 3-pointers.

“I love shooting,” Jillian said. “It’s funny when teams don’t come out to guard me and give me the 3-point shot. I’m like, ‘All right, awesome.’ ”

“My coach tells me to shoot,” Jake said. “I shoot when I’m open. When my shot’s not falling, I try to work inside and try to develop my outside and inside game.”

Tanner, a 6-9 redshirt freshman at Eastern Washington, earned all-state and All-Greater Spokane League honors after his senior year last season averaging 18.2 points and 9.5 rebounds.

“Jake is for sure the better shooter,” Tanner said. “If I had Jake’s shooting ability to add to my game, that’d be really helpful. He’s a really great shooter.”

Randy, the Dean of Students for the West Valley school district, thinks his sons could have used a little of each other’s personalities.

“Tanner has always been able to harness a little bit of anger,” Randy said. “When he gets fired up, you can tell right away. You better watch out.”

Jake is more even-keeled.

“In the end, they are each their own kid,” Randy said. “They each have their own personalities. And that’s fun.”

But they get their shooting ability from their mom.

Tara (Flugel) Groves is the career leading scorer at Whitworth – men or women – an All-American and a member of the school’s athletic Hall of Fame.

“The kids have grown up with their mom kicking their butts in the driveway playing 1-on-1,” Randy said. “I think they would admit that’s exactly the way it happened.”

“Both Randy and I played college basketball so it’s fun to see that passion passed on to the boys,” Tara, a teacher at Lewis and Clark, said. “We allowed them to choose any path they wanted. We very much supported being two- and three-sport athletes. It’s just that this was what they truly loved to do.”

“It’s fun to be part of a program where my grandpa was a coach for 30-plus years and my dad is helping us assistant coach,” Jake said.

It’s an opportunity that Randy doesn’t take lightly.

“My brothers and I grew up in the Shadle Park gym,” Randy said. “It’s been a home to all of us in a lot of ways.

“I’m just super fortunate that (former) coach (Tim) Gaebe and (current) coach (Elijah) Gurash have allowed me to be a part of it. I wish the boys had been a year closer (in age) so we could have coached them on the same team.”

The pair had their battles growing up, as lots of brothers close in age do.

“It gets really competitive when we play,” Tanner said. “There’s a lot of pushing and shoving and arguing about calls and how many points we have. But honestly, he’s helped me a lot. And I think I’ve helped him a lot. Going through high school we worked out together every single day after school.”

“We loved it growing up against each other,” Jake said. “It’s made us both a lot better.”

Now that Tanner is in college where basketball is more job than hobby, he realizes how fortunate he was.

“I had (his dad) as a coach from third grade all the way up to my senior year of high school, so I think that’s pretty cool,” he said. “I don’t think a lot of people get to experience that.”

Jillian took a year off of basketball last season to participate on the cheer team, but she returned this season and is doing both at the same time.

“I decided to quit for cheer, then I realized why not do both?” she said. “This year I’m playing three sports and cheering. It’s been a great senior year. I’m glad I could do it all.

“It makes me happy to part of my family’s legacy. I really love supporting Shadle since Groves is a name you hear (in the community). It makes me happy to be on the court or on the field, wherever I am playing sports.”

Shadle girls coach Tim Riles is happy to have her back.

“She’s just played a lot of basketball,” he said. “Having someone that’s played that much basketball on your team is always helpful,” he said.

“She can flat-out shoot the ball, that’s definitely her strength.”

Jim Groves, 80, spent more than 30 years as teacher and coach at Shadle, and taught in New Mexico for 10 years prior to that.

“We try to get to games as much as we can,” Jim said. “We don’t like to drive at night anymore. We get to (home) games all the time.

“It’s a real source of pride for me to watch my kids and grandkids as they’ve gone through Shadle Park.”

The family gathers for Grandma Barbara’s Sunday breakfast, where everyone agrees the topic of discussion is basketball.

But Grandpa tries not to coach the grandkids.

“I’m sure he’s got a bit of advice for everybody here and there,” Joe said. “I think he’s more of a cheerleader now more than a coach.”

“There is no better role model than my dad,” Randy said.

“You can talk a lot about the basketball ability of the family, but I’d talk more about their character,” University boys coach Garrick Phillips said. “I know them real well. The dad is just a super, super guy and the kids always play with a lot of class. They’re always competitive but always play with a lot of class. Just a great family, first and foremost.

“The basketball ability is great, but they are a really, really good family.”

“The most important thing about all of this,” Tanner said, mentioning his cousins, aunt and uncle and grandparents all by name, “is that we’ll all one big family and we’re just really happy with Shadle Park and what we’ve all gone through at Shadle.”