PORT ANGELES — The Roughrider Hall of Fame continues to grow in leaps and bounds, inducting 11 more legends from Port Angeles High School this summer and moving permanently to a bigger venue after outgrowing the Vern Burton Center.
In addition to the announcent of the 2022 class, the Hall of Fame is also moving its induction event permanently to Civic Field. And it’s moving the date of the event to Aug. 20.
This is the fourth class of the Roughriders Hall of Fame. To be inducted this year are Julia Cheney, Jack Estes, Jerry Payne, Marcia Isenberger, Ron Suslick, Greg Galles, Mary Fryer, Judy Brodhun Vose, Eric Lane and Robin Allen.
There will also be a couple of teams inducted this summer. Those are set to be announced within a couple of weeks, said Bruce Skinner, organizer with the Hall of Fame. Tickets will also go on sale for the event beginning in a couple of weeks, as well, Skinner said.
Bruce Webster coached cross country, track and wrestling at Port Angeles High School. His cross-country teams finished in the top four in the state three times. (Courtesy photo)
The first two Roughrider Hall of Fame events were held at the Vern Burton Center. However, no event could be held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony were moved to giant outdoor tents at Civic Field in the summer of 2021, held under tents and combining the 2020 and 2021 classes into one giant event.
The Civic Field venue was such a huge success that the ceremony and dinner are being moved to Civic Field permanently, Skinner said.
The event drew 550 people to the Vern Burton center and 700 to Civic Field, and that was with a number of people not attending due to concerns over the ongoing pandemic. He thinks it could draw as many as 800 people this summer. He said the Vern Burton Center has a capacity of 8,000 square feet while the giant tents the Hall of Fame uses have a capacity of 11,000 square feet.
“I never expected that we would have a dinner that would attract 800 people in Port Angeles,” Skinner said. “The interested is incredible.”
Skinner said one thing organizers have learned from the previous dinners is that the Hall of Fame event has turned into a reason for Port Angeles High School grads to get back together after years apart.
Judy Brodhun Vose was a badminton star at both Port Angeles High School and Western Washington University. (Courtesy photo)
“I got into it because I thought it would be fun. What we’ve seen is that it’s turned into a giant all-class reunion,” he said.
Scooter Chapman will again emcee the event.
The inductees for 2022 include:
• Robin Allen, Class of 1967. Allen won the state high school diving championship his senior year, the first year that the Roughriders had a swim and dive team. He went on to Western Washington University, where he set the WWU diving record and dove in the national NAIA swim and dive meet. After college, he played on the National Native American basketball championship team, the La Push Braves, in 1976. He was the director of security at 7 Cedars Casino for 25 years.
• Julia Cheney, Class of 2003. She was a star softball and soccer player for the Roughriders, named the 4A Narrows League MVP during her senior year. She went on to play softball at Penn, then moved on to work for the NBA, the Creative Artist Agency and works at the sports and entertainment division of Google.
• Jack Estes, Class of 1960. Estes was the coach of Peninsula College’s first championship men’s basketball team in 1970, which beat Lower Columbia 132-130 in overtime in the title game. He played for Jack Elway at Port Angeles High School, and for NFL Hall of Famer Otto Graham at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Estes taught at the University of Washington, Seattle University, Peninsula, City University in New York and overseas.
• Jerry Payne, Class of 1973. He was a member of a 9-1 Roughriders’ football team. He was a starting end and linebacker, making all-league at linebacker. He went on to play football at Washington State, starting as a junior. He also set the Port Angeles High School records in the discus — 166 feet, 3 inches — and shot put — 54-3. He later became a chiropractor and has practiced in Port Angeles for 24 years.
• Marcia Isenberger, Class of 1980. She was all-league in basketball and captain of the tennis team. She later became the No. 1 tennis player at Eastern Washington, all Big Sky Conference for two years in both singles and doubles. She went on to have a career at the YMCA, including for 10 years in Port Angeles. She later became COO of the Seattle YMCA.
• Ron Suslick, Class of 1957. He was named to the Wigwam Wiseman of America High School All-America football team, making him eligible to play in the East-West game in Memphis, Tenn. He averaged 152 yards rushing as a senior and gained 209 yards versus South Kitsap. He was named to the UPI All-State team. He had a run from scrimmage of 96 yards while playing for the University of Puget Sound.
• Mary Fryer, Class of 1975. She is the sister of Bernie Fryer. She played on Port Angeles’ first girls’ basketball team and led the state in scoring, averaging 30 points a game. She went on to play at Central Washington for three years, leading her league in assists, points per game — 21 — and steals in her final season. She went on to become a star slowpitch softball shortstop in Port Angeles.
• Eric Lane, Class of 2008. Lane was the Olympic League Most Valuable Player in basketball and baseball and set the school passing yardage and touchdown receiving record in football. He was the NWAC MVP in baseball at Lower Columbia, leading his team to the championship. He went on to play at Gonzaga, where he played baseball with Seattle Mariners pitcher Marco Gonzales. He led the Zags in hits and batted .306. He coached for eight seasons at Lower Columbia, leading LCC to two NWAC titles in 2018 and 2019.
• Judy Brodhun Vose, Class of 1967. She won several state, national and international doubles titles in badminton in 1963, 1965 and 1968. She went on to Western Washington, where she teamed with Port Angeles’ Hester Hill to win the national collegiate doubles crown and the team championship in 1971. Brodhun and Hill were inducted into the WWU Hall of Fame in 1976.
• Greg Galles, Class of 1968. He set the state swimming record in the 100-yard freestyle in 1968. He also won the state championship in 1967 in the same event. He went on to compete at the University of Washington, then joined the U.S. Navy. He was a computer engineer and programmer. He passed away in 2008.
• Bruce Webster, wrestling, track and cross-country coach. Webster’s cross-country teams won six straight league titles and finished fourth in the state in 1972 and 1973 and third in 1974. He also started a wrestling program in Port Angeles in 1962 at Roosevelt Middle School and coached track from 1968-77 and wrestling from 1968-72.
