Steve Christilaw: A real era is about more than just wins

Eras come and eras go.

In a twist of logic, it’s generally the going that sets and defines the era. Apparently it’s difficult to recognize an era when you are in the middle of one.

You never saw people in Europe running around during the Renaissance saying things like “Hey, this Renaissance thing makes for an interesting era!” And you can be sure that the Britons weren’t complementing themselves on how well the Victorian Age was going while Queen Victoria was still on the throne.

Don’t even start on the Dark Ages. From a meteorological standpoint, it wasn’t any darker than usual and, with the kind of dark to which that age refers, you don’t recognize how dark it is until you finally spy a sunrise.

In sports, we define eras by the coaches who lead them.

There is no argument that the Golden Era of the Green Bay Packers is defined by the tenure of Vince Lombardi. It was so good that the National Football League named its championship trophy after it.

As a Seahawks fan from the beginning, I admit to fondly remembering the Jack Patera Era, and not just for the way saying that trips over the tongue.

You expect an expansion team to be difficult. Jack Patera made it fun. And it gave us some of the best franchise memories. Jim Zorn. Sherman Smith. Ken Easley. Steve Largent. Patera made a hero out of a little-known kicker he swiped from Dallas, Efren Herrera, who turned out to be a multiple threat off the fake field goal.

College basketball has had its share of legendary eras – some bigger than others. At the University of Kentucky they talk about the Adolph Rupp Era and in Knoxville, Tennessee they still talk about the Pat Summit Era. But the most defining era of them all is the one staked out by the coaching resume of John Wooden at UCLA.

High school sports are especially prone to staking out eras. Lewis and Clark basketball has the Elra L. “Squinty” Hunter Era and Spokane prep wrestling had two eras running side-by-side: the Ken Pelo era that lasted 37 years at Rogers and the Cash Stone Era at Mead that lasted 38. Gonzaga Prep still celebrates the Don Anderson era in football and the prep running scene has so many wonderful eras that most schools have their own, starting with Mead’s Pat Tyson Era and spreading all the way to the valley, where East Valley has the Howard Dolphin Era, and West Valley, where Howard’s son-in-law, Jim McLachlan, held court for more than three decades.

In many ways, Central Valley was the gold standard for great coaching eras.

You had the Rick Giampietri Era in football, the Rick Sloan Era in boys basketball and the Freddie Rehkow Era that carried on and exceeded the Dale Poffenroth Era. Girls tennis had the Stan Chalich Era and baseball the Barry Poffenroth Era.

With Rehkow stepping down as girls basketball coach earlier this month, the Era of Eras at CV officially hits pause, with the Chuck Bowden Era with boys track and field and Dennis McGuire with Girls Cross Country now carrying the banner of longevity.

For as long as I can remember, a stop at Central Valley High at the start of every new season was much like going home to see old friends.

There was no actual hugging involved, but the handshakes were always warm and enthusiastic and the next best thing to breaking the professional distance you like to keep with the people you cover and your work.

That’s not to say these retired coaches will disappear, and I still look forward to chatting with Rick Sloan about the finer points of basketball or about the passing game in football.

And I will forever look forward to hearing Freddie Rehkow’s take on building and honing a basketball team’s character and personality. His enthusiasm for the subject and his grasp of its finer points should make him a sought-after speaker on the lecture and workshop circuit. I hope so. If you coach kids, especially if you coach young girls, you should tap into the Freddie Rehkow library. You can learn so very much.

His National High School Girls Basketball Coach of the Year award is so well deserved.

Being a high school coach has never been an easy chore and it has grown more and more difficult over the years, between parents who feel they could coach the team themselves or that the team would be much better if their kid had more playing time, and with kids who have grown up with the instant gratification of video games and a steady diet of ESPN Sports Center highlights.

That this one school could be a haven for so many long, successful tenures is a testament to the supportive atmosphere the school created by a long string of athletics directors that includes Jay Rydell and Butch Walter and is continuing under Robin Barnhart.

That deep-seeded support came through with girls basketball even more than other sports.

Freddie Rehkow’s son, Cameron, was diagnosed with leukemia in April 2016, and as the family rallied around Cam, so too did the basketball team. This brave young man gained a couple dozen devoted sisters in the span of one heartbeat.

I cannot imagine the strength it took to coach a team with the deep passion Freddie brings to the job and support a family with an ill child. The smile never dimmed, but you could see the strain on his face by the end of the season.

That Freddie stepped down at the end of the season is no surprise. He will now turn all of his strength and focus on being “Dad.”

In his last act as a high school coach, for now at least, he teaches one last lesson on setting priorities.

Thank you, Freddie. Thank you very, very much.