I’m indirectly connected to Coeur d’Alene High’s first state football championship.

The year was 1982, when the Vikings capped a 12-0 season with a 55-13 spanking of Twin Falls in the state final in that city that Evel Knievel made famous with the aborted jump over the Snake River canyon.

My wife, Pam, was manager for coach Herb Criner and that special Vikings team.

She asked me this week if I were going to write anything about that season. Of course, I told her.

I had already begun to make a mental list of folks connected to that first state title. In no particular order, there was Doug Cox, defensive coordinator who just finished his final season at Lake City. There was Larry Schwenke, an offensive assistant and Viking lifer who is considering retirement as athletic director at CdA.

There were Jeff McLean and Steve “Bones” Myklebust, the voices of KVNI, who called that game on radio for those locals who couldn’t make the long trek south.

A few years ago, Doug Cox wandered into our office on Northwest Boulevard and dropped off a copy of an unpublished book he had written on coaching in North Idaho. It was actually 76 typed pages chock-full of his high school coaching memories that he put on paper at the insistence of his adult children, because they wanted their father to chronicle his memories before old age took over.

His thoughts remain unpublished. But I called him this week to get his permission to print some of his recollections of the ‘82 season.

“This is without a doubt the best football season that I can ever remember,” Cox began about the ‘82 season. “We went undefeated, we won the state championship. We beat the best team in the state of Washington (Gonzaga Prep) and on (a) personal side, my son Mike was chosen player of the year in the state of Idaho.

“In my opinion, this is one of the best high school football teams in the state of Idaho’s history. We proved that by beating the Washington State AAA champion, Gonzaga Prep (23-17).

“I’ve never been one to show much emotion, but after that game, I guess a lot of the emotions I had held in just flooded over. I was crying like a blubbering idiot.”

Schwenke remembers that season – and the title game – well.

“It seems like yesterday,” Schwenke said. “It’s so clear in my mind. We had to play Highland the week before in the semifinals at (Holt Arena). They called us the road warriors. Just about everything went our way in the title game. It was the perfect ending to a perfect year.”

McLean, who has been broadcasting area games since 1980, will be at Holt Arena to call the game Friday. He, too, has fond memories.

“We rode the bus with the team from the motel to the game and on the way over they were listening to ‘Eye of the Tiger’ by Survivor. It was their theme song,” McLean said.

Cox’s son, Mike, was a standout linebacker, fullback, kicker – you name it. He went on to play linebacker at the University of Idaho.

Mike Cox has remained around college football since. He was graduate assistant for Dennis Erickson for a year before hooking up with John L. Smith when he took over as the Vandals’ head coach in 1989. Cox has followed Smith at every stop. He’s currently coaching linebackers at Michigan State.

Doug Cox, 62, who retired from teaching a year ago, finished his final season at LC this fall. He joined Van Troxel’s staff the year the school opened.

Doug’s wife, Sandi, a secretary at Skyway Elementary, will retire after this year. They’re going to sell their home and move to East Lansing, Mich., where they can be close to one set of their grandchildren.

“If I get to East Lansing and there’s a high school around that needs an old, beat-up linebacker coach, I’ll go help,” he said.

Cox will listen to the CdA-Twin Falls game Friday. But his mind will rush back to 22 years ago when the Viks may have had the best year in school history.

“It was magical that year,” Cox added.