La Conner plays again on anniversary of Concrete High School gym opening

Throughout their shared histories, La Conner and Concrete high schools have been fierce foes vying for league, district and state sports titles.

But when they next meet it will be a friendly rivalry in the truest sense of the term.

La Conner teams and fans have been invited to participate in celebrations Jan. 5 honoring the “70-plus anniversary” of the opening of the Concrete High School gymnasium to coincide with that night’s girls’ and boys’ basketball games.

La Conner was the visiting team in the first-ever boys’ high school junior varsity and varsity basketball games played at the Concrete gym in 1952, according to Paul Bianchini, who is helping coordinate the anniversary event.

Bianchini said the tentative Jan. 5 schedule includes a 4:30 p.m. dinner served by the Concrete Booster Club, a 20-minute program with the surviving members of the 1952 La Conner and Concrete teams will be introduced following the girls’ contest and a 10-minute ceremony with introductions of past Skagit County scoring leaders Gail Thulen and Andy Otis of La Conner and Tyler Clark of Concrete at halftime of the boys’ game.

Bill Newby of Concrete and Dave Alvord, Sr. of La Conner – who played in the teams’ 1952 matchup – have been selected as honorary coaches for the anniversary festivities.

Bianchini grew up in Concrete and was a star athlete at Mount Vernon High School before playing tight end on iconic University of Washington coach Don James’ first Husky team.

“It will be a night to celebrate not only the Concrete High School gymnasium,” said Bianchini, “but to celebrate each and every person who has had the opportunity to compete here whether they be basketball, volleyball, wrestling, intramural sports or town teams and all of the fans who have traveled here to support their teams and the community of Concrete.”

Bianchini and other organizers opted in favor of this celebration rather than waiting three years for the gym’s 75th diamond milestone.

“So,” said Bianchini, “we’re calling it the 70-plus anniversary.”

Bianchini said plans are to hang banners featuring images of players from the 1952 La Conner and Concrete teams. Each banner, he said, will bear one of four words – “Tradition,” “Rivalry,” “Memories” or “Community.”

“The idea,” Bianchini told the Weekly News, “is to reinforce the connection between the two schools and their communities.”

Bianchini has exhaustively researched the archives of the Concrete Herald, mining historical nuggets penned by that paper’s legendary publisher-editor, the late Charles Dwelley, who retired to Shelter Bay and closed out his award-winning career writing a weekly column for the Channel Town Press, which was published here from 1976-2006.

Bianchini’s sleuthing discovered that fundraising began in the 1940s for construction of a new gymnasium.

“They were awarded grants for it in 1944,” said Bianchini, “but because of World War II the fundraising was postponed for a time.”

Immediately following the war, Concrete and La Conner faced off in several high-stakes games. In 1947, when Concrete defeated Mount Vernon High School, Bianchini said the Concrete Herald reported that the Lions’ “hardest, roughest fought game” was with La Conner.

During that era, La Conner’s Landy James, later a two-sport standout at Washington State University, scored 24 of the Braves’ 44 total points in a game against Concrete, whose roster included future Lions coach Jack Bradley.

In the 1970s, James and Bradley would coach against one another at their respective high school alma maters.

Alvord and James both played for one-armed Braves coach Jack Whittaker, for whom La Conner High’s outdoor athletics facility is named. In 1951, Whittaker inserted Alvord, then a freshman, into the starting lineup to bolster the team’s rebounding and interior defense.

Alvord recalls the Lions-Braves game that season being played in Concrete’s old gym on Main Street. In 1952, Concrete was able to welcome La Conner and other teams to its new building.

Bianchini said he is grateful for help received on the Concrete gym anniversary project from Rene Pedroza, Scott Novak, Kristin Huizenga and Christine Tripp of La Conner.

Tripp, a La Conner alum and now the middle and high schools principal, served as an administrator with the Concrete School District.

“I got to know her,” Bianchini said,” when she was up here and she filled me in on a lot of the La Conner tradition.”

By having combed the Concrete Herald files, along with reflections on his youth, Bianchini is likewise up to speed with Concrete’s sports heritage.

“I’ve always loved Concrete history,” he said. “I grew up playing in the gym. The coach at the time, Fred Todd, let us come in on Saturdays to play.”

On Jan. 5, the doors will be open for all Concrete and La Conner hoopsters – past and present alike.