West Valley (Spokane at Pullman High track & field 4/28/2011

Cheney, Clarkston at Pullman High track meet 4/20/2011

Comets Track Club History

Originally posted Dec. 2003

"Since 1977, track & field for all ages"

The Comets Track Club of today is built upon a solid foundation of hard work more than 20 years ago.

In the spring of 1977 the Comets organized, its members associated with the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). Today, the club affiliates with USA Track &Field. Club founder and organizer was Keith Wollen, then a professor of experimental psychology at Washington State University.

A sports column from the April 20, 1977 issue of the Pullman Herald weekly newspaper explains why the club was formed. "Pullman has nearly had it all in past summers, providing competition for slowpitch softball enthusiasts, swimmers, basketball players, golfers and tennis buffs. Nowhere, however, was there a track team to be seen," the column said.

As it is today, the club was family focused in its early years. Wollen; his wife, Fran; and their sons, Doug, Craig and Bruce; were immersed in it

The Wollens came up with the "Comets" name. Craig designed the distinctive club logo, a comet with a stylistic tail. "We picked orange and black because no other club had orange and we thought it would help us identify our competitors at meets. For two years, I attended Doane College in Crete, Nebraska. They were the college colors and liked them," said Wollen, now retired and living in Port Angeles, Wash.

In addition, the Wollens were successful competitors for the club. One of the Wollen family's prized possessions is a color photo of Doug and Bruce, posing at an AAU national meet in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in their club t-shirts with the Comets logo. Each has a medal around his neck, Doug for 1st in the discus and Bruce for 6th in the shotput.

Today, Keith holds club and Inland Northwest records in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and a Comets discus record. Bruce and Doug still have club records, in the shot and discus respectively.

One of the most important parts of the Comets today are personal-best ribbons for athletes. Wollen said, "I had the idea of personal-best ribbons before thinking about the club. I always felt that too much emphasis was placed on winning … However, anyone could improve and, in my mind, that was more important than winning."

At the beginning, the Comets practiced on the Lincoln Middle School track and held meets at Pullman High School. Later in the club's history, practices and meets moved to WSU's Mooberry Track. Practices are now held at PHS and meets remain at WSU.

Wollen credits the City of Pullman Parks & Recreation with the assistance of the Pullman Lions Club with helping the club start. "And, there were innumerable individuals and businesses who helped, from coaching to officiating to supplying ice for meets and materials for signage," he said.

Today, the USA Track & Field club is the largest in the Inland Northwest. And, the club has the most coaches, too. Quite often Comets athletes, from toddlers to adults, benefit from outstanding WSU and high school student-athletes serving as Comets assistant coaches.

According to Comets head coach Mike Hinz, "The families and individual athletes of all ages who participate for the Comets today follow in the footsteps of Comets from years before…. all having fun, competing in track and field."

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Story from before the 2000 Comets season
Since 1977, the Comets Track Club has provided people of all ages on the Palouse in Washington and Idaho the opportunity to practice and compete during the summer in track and field events. A member of USA Track & Field, the club includes toddlers to senior citizens, but is dominated by girls and boys ages 4-18 and their families, says Mike Hinz, Comets head coach.

For the 2000 season, practice begins April 17 on the Pullman High School track. Practices are at PHS Mondays and Wednesdays, 5:30-6:30 p.m. until May 15, then Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 5:30-7 p.m. through July.

There are two home meets this season, the Inland Northwest Age Group Championships (all ages, youth and adults), June 17, and the Inland Northwest Masters Classic meet (ages 30 and up), July 22, both at WSU's Mooberry Track. Also, on other Saturdays, club members may travel to Cheney, Spokane and Connell for competition.

Running events include the 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 3000 and 5000 meter races, the 80/100/110 meter and 200/300/400 meter hurdles and the 2000/3000 meter steeplechase events, depending on age group and 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800 meter relays.

Dave and Bessie Kolva of Pullman are stalwart master athletes for the Comets. They coordinate and help coach the club's race-walkers. "Dave is a great example of desire, determination and dedication," Hinz says. "He started race-walking several years ago with no experience.

“Now he is one of the best master athlete men race-walkers in eastern Washington. Bessie has been equally as dedicated. In addition, they have coordinated the Comets scrapbooks the past few years and Dave is a member of the Inland Northwest Track & Field Board of Directors." Oh, and both their children are Comets "alumni."

The Huylers of Colfax are active in the club. Joanne and Mark Huylers' children, Chris and Annie, compete for the Comets and Joanne competes for it during age group championships. "They have fun and do very well in a variety of events. They are good role models for others," Hinz says.

Ben Crossett of Oakesdale has competed for the Comets the past three years in the triple jump, long jump, high jump and 100 meter dash. His best of 39 feet in the triple jump earned him second at the 1998 Nationals in Spokane. "Practices are fun because you have the high school and WSU track (athletes to help) and they've had a lot of experience," says the OHS freshman son of Mike and Debbie Crossett.

Ben's mother says, "I think it really helped him in junior high (track)." As a Tekoa-Oakesdale Junior High Nighthawk, Ben set overall Whitman County records in the triple jump (41 feet 11 inches), long jump (19 feet 9 inches) and 100 meter dash (11.6 seconds). "Ben is an easy to work with kid," says Hinz. "He's obviously a very talented athlete. He's always eager to learn." Coming to the Comets at a young age, "Ben has refined his skills, particularly in his jumps."

Also, Hinz says, "There's been a connection for a number of years" with families from Oakesdale involved in the Comets carpooling into Pullman. Hinz says adults interested in taking part in Comets do not need to have competed in track and field in their youth. "If there is an interest and desire, we can take it from there," he says.

Membership fees of $30 for the first family member and $25 for subsequent family members help pay club expenses, including supplies and salaries for assistant coaches. Comets assistant coaches include track athletes. "We have excellent coaching and more coaches than any other clubs in our area. Many of the WSU and high school athletes who coach for us do so as a way to give back to the sport. They had a good experience and learned good fundamentals as youngsters and want to provide the same to others," says Hinz.

Registration for the 2000 season takes place at PHS track during practices. Field events include high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, baseball throw (for youngest athletes), shot put, javelin, discus, hammer and weight throws. Also, race-walking competition is offered by the club every other Wednesday on the PHS track and at most weekend meets.

Competition is by age groups. There is a development age group, 6 and under, two year age groups from 7to 18, an open age group, and then 5 year masters age groups starting at 30.

Hinz says this will be an especially good year for masters athletes from the northwest interested in national and international competition. The National Masters Championships will be in Eugene, Ore., Aug. 10-13, and the North American/Central American/Caribbean Championships are at Kamloops, British Columbia, Aug. 17-20.

The Comets are family focused. "One of our club members said joining the Comets was one of the best parenting decisions they ever made," says Hinz, who is also Pullman High's head girls' and boys' track coach. "We truly have a family club. Often we have mom, dad and kids out for practice and meets. This is not a sport where parents sit in the stands and watch their daughters and sons compete. Parents compete and they also help officiate at home and away meets, doing everything from running stopwatches to raking sand in long and triple jump pits."

The largest USA Track and Field club in eastern Washington and northern Idaho, the Comets has or has had athletes from all around the Palouse including Pullman, Albion, Colfax, Garfield, Palouse, Oakesdale, Farmington, LaCrosse, Moscow, Deary and Harvard. In the past, there have even been Comets from Lewiston and Clarkston.

New Hobbs Field pressboxes thanks to PHS Greyhound Boosters

Greyhounds movin' on up: PHS boosters donate funding for new press boxes

Moscow Pullman Daily News

March 19, 2011
(With slight editing by blog editor.)

Starting this fall, home and visiting high school football coaches will no longer have to sit outside at old, blue wooden desks during games.

Area radio stations calling games and reporters also will have the luxury of sitting indoors, avoiding the Palouse's often inclement autumn weather.

The Pullman High School Booster Club donated $47,128 for two new press box buildings to be located above the western side of the field. They will be constructed off-site by Design Space Modular Buildings of Airway Heights.

Each will be 20-by-8 feet and will house coaches, scorekeepers, announcers and media.

What makes the structures unique is that they're moveable. If further developing is done to Hobbs Field, PHS’s football and track & field venue, the buildings can be converted to concession stands or just picked up and moved to another area of the school.

The current press box situation consists of a small cement building. It's usually cramped with people during football games, said PHS Athletic and Activities Director Mike Davis.

The new buildings will benefit football and track, he said, by being what's "appropriate and expected" of a school PHS's size.

"We're probably the only 2A school that I'm aware of in the state of Washington that hasn't had a place for coaches and media," he said.

While press boxes elsewhere vary, coaches and the media were always safe from the weather - a luxury PHS doesn't currently have.

They're usually outside during Greyhound events, he said, "exposed to whatever the weather conditions are on a given night. Sometimes nice, sometimes not so nice."

PHS often hosts postseason events for other schools as a neutral site, but their current facility isn't sufficient for that.

"If you don't have (press boxes), you're not considered an appropriate site," he said. Hosting out-of-the-area sporting events brings people into town who can use hotels, restaurants and other establishments.

Davis said this project is a continuation of the community's dedication to develop PHS's sports facilities, including donations for soccer fields and a baseball diamond.

"Many people in our booster club and community have recognized for years that we have a very unique facility, and it's a great place to watch high school football," he said.

That's part of the reason why the booster club has set aside about $47,000 over the last five years.

President and Treasurer Jim VanOrden said they developed other plans for how to build the press boxes, but the price tag was much higher - one was comparable to a the price of a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house and would involve on-site construction.

That would mean paying a contractor for employees' wages.

"If it was built off-site, we could avoid that," he said.

The boosters host a variety of events, including membership drives, a Christmas tree sale and an auction.

"That's where the business community really steps up and supports the school," VanOrden said, and the auction brings in about $28,000.

There was a surplus from various fundraising efforts, and the group had to decide what they wanted to do with it.

So in 2006, they dedicated $20,000 to a fund for press boxes. Another $10,000 was put into the account in June 2007, and $15,000 in 2009.

Their last contribution of a little more than $2,000 brought their total dedication to $47,128.

"We're not really in the business of hoarding wealth," he said. "We wanted to spend it on the kids."

The Pullman School Board accepted the gift at its March 9 meeting.

Music: 2011 Palouse Home & Garden Expo

Musical entertainment by the Austin brothers of Thorn Creek Express during 2011 Palouse Home & Garden Expo on Friday, March 18, 2011, in WSU’s Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum, Pullman, Wash. The Austins are from rural Genesee, Idaho.

Burgerville and New Garden in Pullman, Nells-N-Out in La Grande

Photos: Burgerville in Pullman on Jan. 8, 1958, from WSU Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections. Hutchison 16817. Vacant building, former home of Burgerville, June 2008.

Burgerville was located in what is now (June 2008 as this is written) a vacant building in the Pullman, Washington, city limits on Davis Way/the hill going into and out of Pullman onto/from Colfax. Update on June 22, 2009. See this story posted at Pullman :: Cup of Palouse.

This locally-owned Burgerville was NOT part of the Burgerville chain (Burgerville USA) which has its headquarters in Vancouver, Washington., USA.

According to the chain’s Website, that Burgerville started in 1961. Pullman’s Burgerville was in operation in at least 1958 if not many years before. See photo. It's a guess the Burgerville chain has "USA" in its name to, possibly/maybe, distinguish it from Pullman's Burgerville, and maybe also to assure its home base of Vancouver USA was not confused with Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Comments posted online concerning Pullman’s Burgerville include fact that well after Burgerville closed, the building served as a drop station for deliveries of the Spokane Spokesman-Review daily newspapers. Newspapers dropped off were later delivered to Pullman (and Albion?) homes via newspaper carriers. At some point after that, the location became a Daily Grind, part of the Pullman-based coffee house. Burgerville was a “hot spot for a lunch in ’59, it was owned by the parents” of a high school classmate, said one poster. Ten years later, said another, “My dad took us out there all the time for swirl cones on the way to the old drive in (movie theater).” A 1962-63 employee of Burgerville said, “What a fun place to work. Wish the young kids now could enjoy it like we did.”

While Pullman’s Burgerville is gone, Pullman has another locally-owned burger restaurant, Cougar Country, which opened in 1973. It’s a great place to eat. Be sure to have special sauce with your meal.

This brings us to a popular Burgerville story. Whether or not it’s true it not important. Two people were driving to Pullman, a city they'd never visited. They drove and drove and drove. Getting past the scablands and rolling Palouse wheat fields, the drove down a hill into a populated area.

A sign, next to a small building in the area, announced, "Welcome to Burgerville." But, they were looking for Pullman. They kept driving. When they got 8 miles from Pullman in Moscow ("Moss-coe") , Idaho, they stopped and asked for directions. "Where is Pullman? I drove through Burgerville, but I can't find Pullman."

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Photo: Nells-N-Out, La Grande, Ore., March 2008.

Traveling on Interstate 84, between Pendleton and Baker City in Oregon?
If so, visit Nell's-N-Out, a drive-through only restaurant in La Grande on Adams Avenue. In addition to steakburgers, Nell's features "mixed drinks," meaning soft drinks made with syrups. Examples include the Scottie, Polar Bear, Blue Angel, Raspberry Kiss, Green River and more.

Marcia Hanford Loney, a 1969 La Grande High School graduate, says her favorite Nells' drink was the Teddy Bear, "although I couldn't tell you what was in it - perhaps chocolate and Coke and something else."

The Polar Bear is the favorite of Sally Brownton Wiens, La Grande High Class of 1962. It's half and half (meaning half milk and half cream) and Coke. It's "the best" she says, "and I still splurge once in awhile and have one!"

See photo.

Postscript-- Photos below from Burgerville USA chain. Sign from Beaverton, Oregon, taken July 11, 2008, and restuarant from Newberg, Oregon, taken July 12, 2008.

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Speaking of Pullman restaurants, don’t forget Arctic Circle, where New Garden (photo below) is now located, and A&W, now the location of Nuevo Vallarta.

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Pullman's Burgerville torn down (bites the dust) Nov 10, 2008

(Note: Burgerville of Pullman, Washington, preceded start of the unrelated Burgerville chain out of Vancouver, Washington.)

Both below from Tammy Lewis, Pullman Chamber of Commerce executive director:

=Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 2:21 PM
Subject: We did it!!!
Thank you to all of you who donated to the demolition of the old Daily Grind/Burgerville. ...  We did it! We are one step closer to a beautiful new entry that will properly tell visitors what a wonderful town Pullman is! It is expected to be demolished next week! 

=Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 11:53 AM
Hello all, we apologize for sending yet another email, but we have a very exciting opportunity before us. Community Action Center has agreed to donate to the City of Pullman the land along Davis Way (old Daily Grind) for our use to install a "Welcome to Pullman" sign and landscaping. Motley and Motley have now agreed to Demolish the old buildings for the reduced price of $2,000. (Asbestos and lead Inspections are complete). Mayor Johnson has just agreed to donate the first $500 to the project, therefore we need $1,500 more. They would like to get it done immediately if we can get the money together. The money could go through CAC and therefore would be tax deductible. They have asked the Chamber to put the word out to see if we can get the donations necessary to complete this exciting project. Please contact us as soon as possible if you would be willing to donate to this cause.

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