Big Bend will honor All-Sports Hall of Fame inductees on Saturday

MOSES LAKE — Big Bend Community College is honoring its own with the inaugural Big Bend All-Sports Athletics Hall of Fame banquet Saturday night at the Masto Center, where 14 individuals and four teams will be honored as part of the 2017 induction class.

The 2017 class includes names like wrestling legends Jon Lane and Ron Seibel, along with long-time Viking wrestling coach Bob Mason. They will also pay tribute to women’s basketball coach Kelly Graves and volleyball and basketball standout Charlene Bippes Rios and others.

“Being here for 30 years, it’s something I’ve always thought was important. We’ve had a lot of quality student-athletes that have done a great job at Big Bend, and afterwards,” first-year athletic director Mark Poth said. “We want to take their life’s work into consideration and be able to recognize their achievements and accomplishments.”

The list is notable and the night is expected to be a special recognition of athletes and coaches that have made their mark in athletic achievement, as well as made an impact in their respective communities.

The Moses Lake wrestling community would be hard pressed to say where Seibel’s greatest impact was — on the mat or creating a high school dynasty with the Moses Lake Chiefs. Seibel wrestled on the same Vikings team with Lane under the direction of Dr. Mason. Both Seibel and Lane were national champions as well as Washington Athletic Conference champions.

But where Seibel (1976-2004) reached legendary status was when he shared that knowledge, turning the Chiefs into a Washington state powerhouse. He was inducted into the Washington State Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame in 2004. The Chiefs placed in the top four at the state tournament 20 times and placed in the top 10 26 times. Under his direction, Moses Lake was the state runners-up seven times and won 17 state championships. Seibel served as an assistant coach on Moses Lake’s 2015 state championship team. Seibel coached 26 individual state champions — five more as an assistant — and retired with an astonishing record of 408-28-2.

Graves, a 6-foot-6 all-state guard, actually played for Poth at Dixie (Utah) High School before moving on to Rick’s College (BYU-Idaho) and eventually the University of New Mexico. His coaching career (1989-92) started with the Vikings. Graves (1992-96) spent five years at the University of Portland and three more (1997-2000) at St. Mary’s where he led the team to the NCAA Tournament.

Graves (2000-14) took a floundering Gonzaga women’s program and turned it around, winning 10 consecutive WCC titles and advanced to the Sweet 16 three straight seasons (2010-12). He is currently the head coach at the University of Oregon where his team had the most successful season in Ducks’ history, advancing to the Elite 8 in 2016-17.

The banquet is open to the general public, but seating is limited to first come, first serve. To register, log onto the Big Bend website.

The complete list of 2017 Big Bend Community College Athletic Hall of Fame inductees includes:

Wrestling: Jon Lane, Ron Seibel, coach Bob Mason

Women’s basketball: 1991-92 team, 2001-2002 team, coach Kelly Graves, Becky Van Tine, Jenny Iverson, Lindsey Brandt, Eric Spencer

Men’s basketball: 1993-94 team, 2001-2002 team, coach John Hohman, Mark Munns, Roy Garcia, Jeremy Groth, Tom Perks

Baseball: coach Pete Doumit

Volleyball: Charlene Bippes Rios

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer for the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com