The ball has two outlines of children’s hands: one showing where kids should place their shooting hand, the other where the guide hand belongs.

“See this?” Fitterer says, grabbing the ball with a smile. “This is what I’m going to be spending my retirement doing. Teaching the grandkids how to shoot.”

Fitterer has been a coach since he was 23 years old. On Tuesday, the 60-year-old told his Ellensburg boys basketball team, which was eliminated from the district tournament Friday, that he would not be returning next season. After 37 illustrious seasons coaching high school sports, Fitterer decided to retire.

He has seen long-tenured coaches come and go, some forced out, some angrily exiting and one needing a triple bypass surgery.

“In the coaching world, making it to 20 years is a big deal. Thirty-seven is crazy,” he said. “I’m the first one getting out clean and feeling good about it. I got that job at Highland High School when I was 23 just wanting to win a game.”

Fitterer has felt the desire to get out of coaching for a couple years. He worked in Ellensburg from 2010-12, which allowed him to see his players every day. He then began teaching physical education to kindergarteners, first-, second- and third-graders in Highland.

He has taught at Highland since 2012, and will likely retire after next year, his 40th. But since he switched jobs, the connection with his players at Ellensburg hasn’t been the same.

Fitterer’s coaching revolves as much around positive thinking and imagery as it does X’s and O’s. That positive thinking helped Fitterer finish 728-232 (.758) all time, and become the second coach in Washington to reach 700 wins, behind Ed Pepple, who won 952 games in 49 years, before retiring in 2009.

The commute from Highland High School to Ellensburg and back is two hours. That’s two

hours each day he could have spent watching game film, going over scouting reports or drawing up plays, if he lived in the same town as his team.

He typically finished teaching PE around 3:15 in the afternoon, then raced up to Ellensburg for a 4:30 p.m. practice.

“It’s amazing I didn’t get a speeding ticket,” he said.

There was talk of him retiring after Ellensburg’s 2012-13 season, but he decided to return for a final hurrah, figuring this would be his final run.

He debated telling the team before the season began, but decided against it, believing the focus should be on the players, and nothing should distract the team from improving every day.

Fitterer didn’t ride off into the sunset hoisting a shiny state trophy or cutting down any nets. The Bulldogs lost against Wapato in the opening round of districts after finishing the regular

season 12-8 overall, and 12-6 in the Central Washington Athletic Conference.

Ellensburg struggled all season without its point guard, Garrett Hull, who injured his knee playing football last fall. Hull and sopho-more Coleman Sparling will likely be the team’s top two scorers next season. When Fitterer announced his retirement Tuesday, he pulled Hull and Sparling aside and gave them a final order.

“I told them it was their job to make me regret my decision,” he said. “Every time I watch a game or pick up a newspaper, I want to be reminded of what I left.”

Growing upCoaching was etched in

Fitterer’s mind early on. His older brother, Jack, would sit around the kitchen table with Dean Nicholson, a legendary Central Washington University men’s basketball coach, and talk basketball for hours. As a little

kid, Fitterer sat at the table and listened.

Fitterer grew up to be a three-sport athlete at Ellensburg High School. His favorite sport was his best: football.

He was the most valuable player on the Bulldogs’ mythical state championship football team — before postseason tournaments — in 1970 as a 6-foot-1, 175-pound tailback. He was named all-league and was an All-American honor-able mention selection. On that team with Fitterer was Dan Kelleher, who has assisted Fitterer on Ellensburg’s basketball team since Fitterer was hired in 2010.

Fitterer and Kelleher, both prominent names in Ellensburg, grew up in the same neighbor-hood, and between the 11 Kelleher relatives and the six Fitterers, starting a pickup game in any sport was as simple as knocking on a couple doors.

Kelleher went on to play football at Notre Dame, while Fitterer played football and ran track at Central. Nicholson, who was coaching at the time, asked Fitterer to try out for the basketball team. He contemplated the idea, but decided two sports and school-work kept him busy enough.

He majored in physical educa-tion as an undergraduate student, then earned his master’s degree in psychology through physical education in 1981. He studied mental expectations of a perfor-mance vs. actual performance, and his studies, combined with Jack founding The Pacific Institute — which works with customers to improve performance and reach their full potential using positive thinking — is the root of his coaching prowess.

“Take a jump shot, for example. Go out and shoot a bunch of jump shots and increase your shooting by 50 percent. But mentally visualize it and then go out and practice, it will increase it by 75 percent,” Fitterer said. “By doing the positive, you eliminated the negative. If you can eliminate the negative, you can have great success.”

Fitterer never wanted a “real job.” He was hired at a Class 4A school in Portland, where he coached a bit of everything and taught English.

“I wanted something competi-tive and in sports,” he said. “I guess it went well. Thirty-seven years later I’m sitting here thinking, ‘Dang, that went fast.’”

By DANNY SCHMIDTsports editor

Pat Fitterer reaches inside a black gym bag and pulls out a small blue basketball.

By DANNY SCHMIDTsports editor

Driving from Minne-sota to Ellensburg, Ian Shoemaker and

his son passed through Missoula, Mont.

The newly hired Central Washington University head coach and his team open next season against Montana, a Division I FCS program. Shoemaker looked at the Washington-Grizzly Stadium and nearly had a photo taken of him for Twitter in front of the stadium, with the caption, “This would be a cool place to get my first win.”

Cooler heads prevailed.Shoemaker, along with

Central’s volleyball and women’s soccer coaches, Mario Andaya and Michael Farrand, introduced their high school signees Wednesday inside Sue Lombard Hall in front of about 50 Wildcat fans and coaches.

The coaches talked about each player, as well any other news, such the volleyball team hosting a season-opening tourna-ment from Sept. 4-6, with Western Washington and five universities from California and Hawaii.

“It’s a kind of a taste of what we went through at the regional, and hopefully again this year,” Andaya said.

Farrand talked about his nine commits, all from Washington, and compared several to some key players from previous Central teams.

“Toward the end of the year, we really struggled with the depth that we had,” Farrand said.

“So we went out and tried to get the best of the best we could get. We worked really hard to build on the year we had this year.”

Shoemaker took the stage last, and showed a slideshow with a few highlights from his 26 recruits.

“I hope our program is in a position where true freshmen coming in out of high school are going to have a very difficult time getting on the field,” Shoemaker said. “That’s what is going to sustain our success moving forward.”

EllEnsburg

Kittitas wins district title in Wenatchee

Kittitas High School’s boys basketball team beat Liberty Bell 56-48 Wednesday in the district championship. The Coyotes’ regional details will be determined Sunday. We will have more on Kittitas this week.

— staff report

District champs

legendary high school coach calls it a career after 37 seasons

sports A5 ThursdayFeb. 20, 2014

Daily RecoRD

a perfect fit

Ellensburg High School boys basketball

cWU

See Fitterer, Page A6

Brian Myrick / Daily Record

ABOVE: Pat Fitterer looks on in the final game of his 37-year coaching career last Friday. Ellensburg went on to lose the game 60-48 against Wapa-to. BELOW: Head coach Pat Fitterer cuts down the net after Ellensburg defeated Wapato in the district championship on Feb. 18, 2012.

Central shows off fall signees

TODAY, FEB. 20NBA

5 p.m.: Miami at Oklahoma City, TNT

7:30 p.m.: Houston at Golden State, TNT

College basketball6 p.m.: Duke at North Caro-

lina, ESPN8 p.m.: Gonzaga at BYU,

ESPN2

On televisiOn

scheDUleTODAY, FEB. 20

College basketball7 p.m.: Central men at

Simon Fraser

“It’s not about wIns and losses. It’s about creatIng good people. usually you get really good people and you guIde them and help make them better.”

A6 - Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014 Daily Record - www.dailyrecordnews.com

He has coached and taught in Portland, at Highland High School, Kentwood of Covington, Sehome in Bellingham and Eisenhower in Yakima, and taught at Yakima Valley Community College part-time for two years.

In his 37 seasons coaching, Fitterer has missed the state tournament only 14 times, and missed districts just twice. He has coached football, basketball, baseball, track and field and golf, to name a few.

“Golf is the greatest coaching job in the world,” he said. “You go out and show the kids what to do, then they go play, so you play with them. To tell you the truth, the only thing I could teach them in golf was bad habits.”

There’s no shortage of hardware in Fitterer’s home. He has won two state basket-ball championships — the first with Highland in 1988, the second with Sehome in ‘96 — and has been named Washington’s coach of the year three times, while picking up league coach of the year honors 14 times.

He’s won 18 league championships, 12 district championships and his teams have made state 23 times, with top-seven finishes on 15 occasions. He made the Washington State Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2007.

Fitterer had a couple opportunities to move to the collegiate level, but never budged. He had no desire to do so.

Coming homeNo greater challenge arose

than when he was hired to coach the Bulldogs, a job he’d been eying for years in hopes of returning to his alma mater.

Fitterer led Ellensburg to a 34-14 regular-season record in his first two seasons. Off the court, it was not an easy time.

Fitterer took his wife, Kathy, to the emergency room after she had suffered horrible headaches. Doctors found a sizable tumor in her neck, and three more in her brain. They rushed her into surgery and removed a tumor the size of a golf ball from the left side of her brain.

The surgery was successful, but she had two more tumors in her brain, two in her lungs, one in her spine and one in her lymph node, leading to radiation and chemotherapy. She managed to fight through the cancer longer than doctors anticipated, but had a seizure after a brain surgery, causing a major setback.

Initially, Fitterer told Kathy — who he met in junior high school — he was retiring from everything to take care of her, but she wouldn’t let him. Not only did she want him to continue teaching and coaching, she wanted to watch the games and cheer on the Bulldogs. Since Ellensburg’s road games are typically no more than an hour and 45 minutes away, Kathy could support the team and be in bed at a reasonable time.

After districts, Fitterer and his wife went on vacation. Shortly after returning, the battle ended, and Kathy died that June.

“One of the most vicious things about cancer is you spend so much time alone, you become self-centered, because all you’re doing is thinking about what’s going on,” Fitterer said. “I really think that coaching and being in Ellensburg was so good for her, it really got her

mind away from it. I think it kept her alive a little bit longer. I truly believe that.”

The following season was a magical one for the Bulldogs. Ellensburg cruised to a 19-6 regular season before sweeping through the district tournament at West Valley High School. David Jacobs, a senior at the time, came up with the idea for the team to wear pink and white shoes to honor Kathy.

They did, and in an emotional title game, Ellensburg beat Wapato 58-39 before cutting the nets down.

Less than two weeks later, the Bulldogs beat Toppenish 64-61 in regionals to reach the state tournament. The win was Fitterer’s 700th, and wearing a pink button-up, khakis and pink and white Nike sneakers, Fitterer was mobbed by his team once the final buzzer sounded. They gathered around him, hugging him, screaming with him and holding up a white sign that said “700” in red, and “gotta love it!” in blue.

In Ellensburg’s foyer, there’s a district banner and a plaque for Kathy that says “Sixth man.”

Ellensburg finished 1-1 in state that season, then 0-1 last season. It was elimi-nated by the eventual state runner up and champion, respectively.

Father figureEllensburg senior

Ceanu Strom remembered watching Fitterer’s teams play when he was younger. He was always a fan of the way he coached, and noticed he always seemed to have good players. Strom’s freshman season at Ellens-burg was Fitterer’s first as head coach.

“I was going through some tough times my sophomore year, and he really helped me get past it,” Strom said. “He’s been through that situation many other times. He’s just a really great guy. He’s a father figure to a lot of people. It’s unfortunate for the younger guys who won’t get to experi-ence it, but I’m glad I got four years with him.”

After transferring from Davis High School in Yakima, Drew Harris played for Fitterer for three seasons at Eisenhower. Harris, a point guard who played for Seattle University and Central, now is the assistant coach of the Wildcats’ men’s basketball team.

Harris said Fitterer’s greatest contributions to him were off the court.

“You can tell he really cares about the players and helps them become more than just basketball players. He’s one of the biggest mentors I’ve had growing up,” Harris said. “He’s always been there for me and helped me out a lot. One of the biggest things he did for me and a lot of my teammates was help us get good grades and be respectful off the court. That’s one thing I try to teach my players now: how

to become a well-rounded person.”

Harris finished fourth in state with Fitterer at the helm at Eisenhower, which eventually lost to a Franklin team that was led by Venoy Overton, a former University of Washington standout, and Peyton Siva, who plays for the Detroit Pistons.

“Looking back on it, he has won with a little bit of everything,” Harris said. “Teams with a lot of athleti-cism, teams with a little athleticism, teams that are big, smaller teams. He’s always found ways to win.”

Harris was an assistant coach with Eisenhower a few years back, the same time Colton Monti was the head coach. Monti was an assistant for Fitterer at Ellensburg in 2010-11, and coached the junior varsity team. In a December game in 2011 against Ike, Ellens-burg decided to pay tribute to Kathy by wearing pink everywhere but the jersey and shorts.

Despite being on the opposite side, both Harris and Monti wore pink as well to show their support.

“The greatest compli-ment I got was from a kid I coached at Sehome. He told me he used what I taught him every day in his life, with his wife, his kids, with his fireman job,” Fitterer said. “It’s such a huge compliment, because it’s not about wins and losses, it’s about creating good people. Usually you get really good people and you guide them and help make them better.”

Retired lifeNow that he’s retired from

coaching, Fitterer is looking forward to more quality time with his four grandchildren, ranging in age from 1 to 5. His two daughters, Karly Floyd and Mindy Schultz, both live in Yakima. Floyd’s a nurse and Schultz is a teacher, and since Fitterer doesn’t teach the full school day, he wants to be more involved.

He purchased the blue basketball to help Kai, his grandson, shoot.

Even when he isn’t coaching, he’s coaching.

In addition to his grand-children and daughters, Fitterer plans to stay busy with Kirsten Danielson, who he will marry in the summer. The couple plans to sell their houses and buy a place together in Yakima to live closer to the family.

Ellensburg residents will still see plenty of Fitterer next season. He plans to attend Bulldog sporting events across the board — especially basketball. He doesn’t know how he’ll feel walking into the Ellensburg gym and watching a team play with so many players he coached.

He doesn’t have to worry about paying to get into any games. Fitterer was given a lifetime pass for free entry to any high school sporting event in Washington.

“I don’t know if I’m making the right decision now. This

is all I’ve ever done. There’s a chance I could regret it, but right now it feels like I’m doing the right thing,” he said. “I’ve always been all in. I really felt I gave my best effort at every practice until the last minute of that last Wapato game. I was working hard and totally into it as far as I could go.”

The music man Fitterer loves music and its

uplifting vibe. He compared a concert to a marquee basketball game, because of the electric atmospheres. Most people around him know he enjoys listening to music, and maybe even are aware of his love of dancing, but it’s who he listens to that is a bit more surprising.

In the past 18 months, Fitterer has seen Madonna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and P!nk in concert.

Harris recalled a visit he and Monti made to Fitterer’s home a few years ago. Fitterer took out his Nintendo Wii, and much to Harris’ surprise, dominated his two pupils in a dancing game.

When country star Brad Paisley played a show in Yakima nearly five years ago, Fitterer, Schultz and Kathy all went. They were only a couple feet from the center of the stage, which Paisley was wandering about throughout his show.

Fitterer told Kathy and Mindy to go high-five Paisley since he was so close. Both refused out of timidness. Fitterer told them to watch and learn.

He walked up to the stage, and sure enough, high-fived Paisley as he was playing guitar.

“We were all leaving the event center and two basketball officials saw me and said, ‘We saw you on the screen with about eight 13-year-old girls, high-fiving Brad Paisley at the front of the stage,’” Fitterer said. “I was oblivious, but I’m sure that’s exactly what it looked like. Those officials had a great time with that one.”

Fitterer said the best part of coaching is the feeling he gets the night before a game, after he put in the six to nine hours of prepara-tion, knowing exactly what the other team is going to do and being able to relax. The worst part of the job, he said, was having to cut kids from the team. It can be tough when a student’s parents are friends or coworkers with him, but his job to make the best team possible.

He has no regrets in his 37 years coaching.

“There’s been some tough, tough times, but I don’t think I’d change them,” Fitterer said. “I think that’s part of the building process. There’s been some real tough ones, but I think I’d make the same mistake again just to learn from it.”

Fitterer gathered his papers, and closed the door to a small office inside one of the Ellensburg locker rooms for one of the final times. He put the stack of papers inside the gym bag, and before zipping it shut, picked up the blue basketball again.

“Yep,” he said, staring at the ball, nodding slowly. “This is what it’s all about now.”

Local and Sports

Pro basketballEASTERN CONFERENCE

Conf. Overall L Pct GBd-Indiana 41 13 .759 —d-Miami 38 14 .731 2d-Toronto 29 25 .537 12Chicago 28 25 .528 12½Washington 26 28 .481 15Brooklyn 25 27 .481 15Atlanta 25 28 .472 15½Charlotte 25 30 .455 16½Detroit 22 32 .407 19Cleveland 22 33 .400 19½New York 21 33 .389 20

Boston 19 36 .345 22½Orlando 16 40 .286 26Philadelphia 15 40 .273 26½Milwaukee 10 43 .189 30½

WESTERN CONFERENCE Conf. Overalld-Oklahoma City 43 12 .782 —d-San Antonio 40 15 .727 3Houston 37 17 .685 5½d-L.A. Clippers 37 19 .661 6½Portland 36 18 .667 6½

Phoenix 32 21 .604 10Golden State 32 22 .593 10½Dallas 32 23 .582 11Memphis 30 23 .566 12Minnesota 26 28 .481 16½Denver 24 28 .462 17½New Orleans 23 30 .434 19Utah 19 34 .358 23L.A. Lakers 18 36 .333 24½Sacramento 18 36 .333 24½

Today’s games

Miami at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m.Denver at Milwaukee, 5 p.m.Houston at Golden State, 7:30 p.m.

Friday’s gamesNew York at Orlando, 4 p.m.Dallas at Philadelphia, 4 p.m.New Orleans at Charlotte, 4 p.m.Cleveland at Toronto, 4 p.m.Atlanta at Detroit, 4:30 p.m.Denver at Chicago, 5 p.mL.A. Clippers at Memphis, 5 p.m.

Fitterer Continued from Page A5

By the numbers

n 37 seasons coachingn 728-232 (.758) all timen 2 state championshipsn 3 state coach of the

yearsn 23 state appearancesn 18 league

championships

Obituaries

Brian Myrick / Daily Record

Ellensburg High School basketball coach Pat Fitterer coach-es the Bulldogs against Wapato last Friday.

MERLE  MONROE  SCHMITH

Merle Monroe Schmith passed away Feb. 12, 2014, Avamere Rehabilita-tion of Sequim. Merle

was born in Seattle on April 11, 1919. A private celebration of life will be held at a later date. Cremation Association of Port Angeles is in care of arrangements.

death notice

in BRieF

August 21, 1930 -

February 7 2014

Chuck passed away in Phoenix Arizona. He is survived by his wife Sonja of 60 years, 4 children, 7 grand-children and 4 great-grandchildren. He

retired from Tom Matson Dodge and moved to Ellensburg in 1979 to

farm. Memorial services were at his home in Arizona City, Arizona. He will be greatly missed by all that loved him. RIP my love.

CHARLES ADAMS

“It’s very funny,” Hugs said, “lots of laughs.”

The play is directed by Anneliese Childress, with music director Adrienne Shields and stage manager John Mounsey. EHS has worked with the Central Theatre Ensemble at Central Washington University on the production.

Rehearsals started in early December after the audition process and several hours of callbacks.

Some student actors have been involved with theater all four years of high school.

“One of my favorite parts is definitely getting into a different character, but also interacting with people I know but they’re also in character, so it’s kind of just a fun interac-

tion there,” said Caralyn Cutlip, 18, who is part of the cowgirl trio. She also plays a train porter and Queen Victoria.

“I really liked the music side of the musical, I really love music and I like acting, and showing emotion not just by talking but by dancing and all the other actions that come through showing emotion,” said Aren Blackwood, 17, who plays character Tommy Keeler.

“The amount of stress that we get and the amount of sleep that we lose, it really makes our final product so much more worth it,” said Darby Wedekind, 17, who plays Sylvia Potter-Porter and is part of the cowgirl trio.

AnnieContinued from Page A3

Jerrol’s evolved into selling books, office supplies, Central Washington University apparel, toys and an assortment of other items.

Winegars changed even more dramatically, eventually losing the dairy cows and going into the coffee and ice cream business.

Williams said both businesses have long been part of the community and connected in ways he is still discovering. He said he was talking to Kori Winegar’s step-grandmother and she mentioned she worked at Jerrol’s in 1947.

“Our histories are inter-twined,” Williams said.

The stores share not just a history, but also an outlook and approach to business. Williams said there is a sense of responsibility that comes with operating a long-time business with strong community roots, and his family has tried to give back through its business and personally.

“We have the same values, the same long-term idea of business,” Williams said. “This is not about tomorrow. It’s about 50 years from now.”

Winegar said upholding

his family’s values and heritage is important to him.

“I have respect for what my grandparents have done and what they started,” Winegar said. “I hope to build on that. We’ve gone through a tremendous amount of change from milking cows to selling coffee.”

“What those who came before us taught us is you have to change, and listen to the customer.”

New space amenitiesIn addition to the

coffee and ice cream, the community will have access to conference/meeting space that can be used for multiple purposes from presenta-tions to birthday parties.

Williams said he was interested in creating the meeting space because he does presentations on how to successfully operate a small, family business. He will use the space for presentations but it will also be open for public rental. The space will accommodate about 50 people.

“I’m excited about having the capacity for birthday parties and presentations,” Williams said.

ChAngesContinued from Page A1

SPOKANE

Probe sought in whistleblower case

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is demanding an investigation into the treatment of whistleblow-ers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

Two whistleblowers have been fired in the past five months after raising safety concerns about the construction of a $13 bil-lion plant to treat the site’s most dangerous radioac-tive wastes.

Wyden’s office said Thursday he will ask the

Government Accountabil-ity Office to investigate both the pattern of con-tractor retaliation against whistleblowers, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s lack of response to those actions.

Donna Busche, a man-ager at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, was fired Tuesday morning by URS Corp. Walter Tamosaitis, who also worked at the Waste Treatment Plant construction site and raised safety concerns about the plant, was fired by URS in October.

— Associated Press