Bumming around town with Bill Bumerton

Bumerton is a retired Navy fighter pilot who had been missing in action for several years while he traversed the globe looking for greener grass. He discovered the grass is only greener here (it’s blue in Kentucky), so he returned to again take charge of his 1954 green Hudson Hornet that had been in storage, refilled his pipe, and is continuing his smokin’ ways. Here is what he recently told us at the Sports Paper.

As you and I have gotten older, Big Dawg, I think we think alike. Both of us would, if we had the power, ban for life any baseball player who is found to have used, or is using, PEDs. It just doesn’t make sense for players who don’t cheat to compete against players who do cheat. It tilts the playing field and makes it tougher for players who play the game the right way and play it honestly to keep their positions in the game. And then to allow a player like A-Rod to play while he appeals his suspension further tilts the playing field. I realize all of this is negotiable through the players’ union, but it harms the game to allow it. And A-Rod just doesn’t get it. It’s easy to dislike him because he does everything to make it that way. You remember when he played for those Marinaros of yours and even then he was full of himself, and didn’t have a clue what was being said around him. You do believe, though, Big Dawg that he was a great young player even then. What you and I can’t figure out is why he thought he needed to use PEDs?  He was certainly going to be one of the best players in the history of the game, no question. So why would he want to mess with that, and all the honors what would come his way naturally?  It defies logic. But, that is A-Rod: he defies logic at almost every turn. When he dies they ought to study his brain – to see if he has one. … The more I see of Russell Wilson, the more I think he is a rare athlete and quarterback. He is something special. But every time I see him spin away from those oncoming defensive giants and scoot around end I hold my breath. He’s not the biggest guy playing football and if he gets blindsided some day by one or two of those giants it could be all over for him. I think all you Seachicken fans should be thankful because you are seeing greatness, and take him all in while you can because if he gets banged real hard he may be on the injured reserve for a long time, at the very least. … According to North Mason football coach Jeff Bevers, Tevin Williams, who was one of best kickoff and punt returners you have seen around here in a long time, is no longer playing football. He was going to Olympic College and played football for the Kitsap Peninsula Warhawks before suffering a concession. Bevers said his doctor told him he could no longer play the sport. Now, according to Bevers, Williams is working in the oil fields in North Dakota. … Al Gleich, retired teacher and coach and a real bonafide basketball junkie, is being nominated for induction into the Washington State Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. Gleich has been coaching basketball since he almost could walk. He was an assistant boys basketball coach at Berlin American High School in Germany from 1974-76 and in the 1976-77 season coached the girl’s program to a 13-4 league record and won the class B championship with three straight wins. He was at Webster, S.D in the 1977-78 season and won the league with a 13-1 record and finished seventh in the state class B tournament, finishing the year with a 22-5 record. The following year his team went 7-8 and lost its first game at regionals. In the 1979-80 season he was the head boy’s coach at Osterholz-Scharmbeck in Germany. That team went 11-1 and missed out on the state tournament when it got snowed out. The next year his team went 9-3 in league and went 2-1 in the class B championship. His out-of-state high school record is 87-23. He also coached while in Germany the National Junior Team and two club tams in the German professional league. He came to this area in 1980 and was an assistant to Howard Thoemke at Olympic High School. The 1983 Olympic team that featured Chris Welp won the state championship in four overtimes against Centralia. He coached Olympic College in the 1983-84 season and became the head coach at Olympic High School the following year when Thoemke resigned.  He was there for 10 years and then assisted Rick Walker at King’s West (now Crosspoint Academy) for four seasons before leaving to be an assistant with Mike Frink for the Oscar Robertson-owned Cincinnati team in the IBL. That lasted one year and then he returned to coach the boy’s team at Central Kitsap for two season. He left that to become the athletic director at North Kitsap for two years, then got a PE job at Olympic High and became the girl’s coach for the school for two years before retiring and moving to LakeLand Village in Allyn where he has helped with the North Mason basketball program.