Presentation To Honor Wright, ‘Tuffy’ Ellingsen

Longtime area sports personality Dick Wright and the late Carl “Tuffy” Ellingsen will be honored at the fourth annual Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete dinner Monday night at the downtown Doubletree Hotel.

Wright will be given the Distinguished American Award and Ellingsen’s family will receive the Outstanding Contributor to Amateur Football Award during the Ray Flaherty scholarship dinner, sponsored by the Inland Northwest Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame.

Idaho football coach Chris Tormey is the featured speaker. The dinner is at 7. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by calling 924-7768.

Ten high school seniors will receive scholarships. The overall winner receives the Ray Flaherty Award. A back and lineman of the year will also be announced.

Wright is the first recipient of the Distinguished American Award by the local chapter. That is the highest award given by the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame and is not presented every year. It will be presented by former Gonzaga University athletic director and basketball coach Dan Fitzgerald.

Wright’s many sports-related accomplishments include serving as radio broadcaster or public-address announcer for area high schools and colleges, including an 18-year stint as voice for GU men’s basketball and 14 years with the Spokane Indians.

Ellingsen is the third winner of the contributor award. The longtime former teacher, coach and athletic director at Rogers High School and member of the Washington State University Hall of Fame follows Billy Frazier and Jim Barber as a winner of the award. Ellingsen was a member of WSU’s 1931 Rose Bowl team and won nine letters in five sports at the school.

BASEBALL

Former Gonzaga University pitcher Darin Blood is listed as the San Francisco Giants’ eighth-best prospect, according to Baseball America magazine’s annual list of each franchise’s top 10 minor leaguers.

Blood, who prepped at Post Falls and Central Valley, was rated No. 7 a year ago. He is pitching in Puerto Rico this winter and has been invited to spring training by the Giants.

According to the magazine, Blood’s strength is a hard sinker and his weakness during a hot-and-cold ‘97 season was traced to delivery problems. The Giants believe those were corrected, allowing Blood to finish the season on a high note.

Spokane Falls Community College’s winter youth baseball camp will be held in three sessions.

Hitting camps will be held Thursdays from this Thursday through Feb. 19, 7-9 p.m., and Saturdays from this Saturday through Feb. 21, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. A pitcher/catcher camp also will be the same Saturdays, 9-11 a.m. Cost is $50 per camp.

Info: SFCC athletic department, 533-3630.

The Eastern Washington University Baseball Club will conduct its second annual Lil’ Slugger clinic for boys and girls ages 8-13 on Feb. 16 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in the school fieldhouse.

Cost is $25, which includes lunch and a T-shirt.

Info: Mike Campitelli, (509) 359-7877.

COLLEGE SCENE

Anne Walton, a junior at Lees-McRae College from Spokane (Mead), played a key role in the Banner Elk, N.C., school’s successful volleyball season.

Walton, who transferred after two years at North Idaho College, set a school record with 27 digs in one match and finished with a .225 kill average and 92.5 passing percentage.

“Anne had a tremendous year for us,” said coach Chad Esposito, whose team went 27-13, won its league and had a top-10 NCAA Division II Atlantic Region ranking. “She was a team leader on the court and was one of the main reasons for our success this season. Her level of play continually improved … and her intensity pulled us through some of our bigger matches.”

Brothers Ben and Bart Orth of Spokane (Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls) have qualified for the NAIA Wrestling Tournament for Central Washington University.

Ben, a sophomore, is ranked third nationally at 150 pounds. He has a 15-13 record. Bart, ranked fourth at 167, is sidelined by a knee injury that is expected to keep him out another three weeks. He has a 10-6 record.

Central is ranked seventh in the NAIA poll.

Two Whitworth College student-athletes were named NAIA All-America Scholar-Athletes.

Jason Ashley, a junior running back from Deer Park, has a 3.76 grade-point average in international business, and Travis “Kala” Torco, a senior defensive back from Kaneohe, Hawaii, has a 3.63 GPA in sociology/philosophy.

Also honored was Andy Lusco, an Eastern Oregon senior offensive lineman from Moscow, Idaho, who has a 3.85 GPA in history.

Torco also was named to the second-team defense when the Little All-Northwest football selections were made.

Two other Pirates, senior wide receiver Dave Glenn and sophomore punter Matt Stueckle, received honorable mention.

Darcy Sohns of Spokane (West Valley) is a freshman pitcher-outfielder on the Western Washington University softball team, which begins play Feb. 12.

SNOWMOBILES

The Mullan-Lookout Mountain Sky Riders will stage its annual snowmobile street drag race on Main Street in Mullan on Feb. 7 starting at noon.

Registration begins at 10:30 a.m. Entry fee is $10 for riders with a Snoshone groomer sticker on their machine, $20 for those without. Sixty percent of the money will go to the groomer fund.

SOFTBALL

The Whitworth College women’s softball team will conduct a hitting and fielding clinic for girls ages 11-18 on Feb. 7 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. in the school fieldhouse.

Cost is $40. Participants are asked to bring their gym shoes, glove, bat and a sack lunch.

Info: Gary Blake, (509) 777-4397.

Steve Fountain, recognized as one of the top youth coaches in the Inland Empire, will put on a fastpitch pitching clinic for girls ages 8-18 on Feb. 14-15 at the University of Idaho P.E. building gym 210.

Cost is $25 and the clinic is limited to 24. It’s designed for girls from novice to intermediate levels. Participants should bring gym shoes, gloves and sweats.

Info: Mike Kinziger, (208) 885-2165; LaRue LaFerrier, (208) 885-6582.

The Spokane Nitros girls 16-and-under fastpitch team is looking for experienced players.

Info: (509) 323-7143.

The Spokane Sliders girls fastpitch team is looking for experienced 18-and-under players.

Info: (509) 468-5084.

SOCCER

Heidi Simmons, a two-time Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges all-star for Community Colleges of Spokane and the 1997 region MVP, has received a two-year athletic scholarship to play soccer at the University of Montana.

CCS coach Cor van der Meer, noting Simmons passed up several offers from four-year schools after her freshman year, said “Heidi is getting everything she deserves… . (She) demonstrates what goal-setting and dedication to achieving them can do.”

TENNIS

The 1998 Spokane Senior Tennis Classic will be held Jan. 26-Feb. 1 at Central Park Racquet & Athletic Club.

It’s open to men and women ages 35 and older who live within a 50-mile radius of Spokane. Cost is $12 for singles, $10 per player for doubles. Deadline is Thursday. Entry forms are available at area clubs and Tennis of Spokane.

Info: Mike Shanks or Tavis Throm, (509) 535-3554.

MISCELLANY

They’re calling it the Parade of Champions, and area high school football, cross country and volleyball teams and athletes are expected to respond to the invitation.

Saturday, the eight-block parade will begin and end at Main and Bernard in downtown Spokane, beginning at 1 p.m.

Also invited by the sponsoring Spokane Lilac Festival Association are the Washington State University and Eastern Washington University football teams.

The Central Valley band, which won the fifth annual Lilac Festival High School Marching Band competition, has been asked to kick off the parade.

Principals, coaches and cheerleaders from participating schools also have been invited.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo