Philosopher George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

But what happens if there is no past?

When Bremerton High School moved in 1988 into its new building, its recorded athletic past – trophies and pictures – did not make the cut. Somebody in authority made the decision to wipe all that out – West High, East High and Bremerton High.

That was a fateful and unconscionable decision. To erase in one quick move all that had been achieved with hard work, dedication and pride for the school is beyond the pale. There is some knowledge of who is responsible, but that doesn’t matter as much as why that person would order such a thing. What was the thinking?

Schools are built on tradition and when part of its rich history is literally tossed into the trash like garbage, what message does that send to its past (alumni), to its present (current students) and to its future (parents who might relocate in the city and send their children to the school)?

The Chuck Semancik Memorial Foundation has managed to resurrect names of state champions and placed their names on granites that have recently been installed in Victory Park at Bremerton Memorial Stadium, where Semancik’s football teams recorded many of the 211 wins he achieved in his 36-year Hall of Fame coaching career.

But much of the rest of the school’s athletic history as recorded in trophies, plaques, photos and medals resides in a dump someplace or in the fading memories of the aging athletes who proudly represented the school. Some of the history was rescued by Les Eathorne and Mike McKnight, former Bremerton coaches who were alerted by an insider to what was going on. They came and took what they could personally carry. The rest is gone (Eathorne gave some of the trophies to kids whose names were on them).

If you are a cynic, maybe that is the way it should be. After all, we collectively have short memories, so why worry about something that happened 50 years ago?

“I was thinking about (the late) Bill Morris (inducted into the Kitsap Sports Hall of Fame last month) and there is no trace of him,” says Eathorne, alluding to the whereabouts of Morris’ family and to the things that were thrown out.

“It doesn’t take long for somebody to say, ‘Who is he?” Eathorne said. “John Jarstad was the (sports) writer for the Bremerton Sun for a long time and the other day I mentioned his name and they go, ‘Who is he?’ I go, ‘There we go, down the chute again.’ ”

It’s admirable what Lane and Deanna Dowell are doing with the Semancik Memorial Foundation and the work that has been done to preserve Semancik’s memory (he died in 1999), but what happens when they give up the ghost, or God forbid, they die? Who will carry on the Semancik torch, and who will care?

Again, maybe that’s the way it should be. Easy come, easy go. Here one moment, gone the next. And who cares what Hal Lee did back in the late 1920s?

Hal Lee?

Who is he?

We do have to move on. There is no denying that. No matter what happens to us, we have to keep going or fail to prosper. I never forget my past. At times I dwell too much on it, which stops me from moving forward as fast as I should. I contend it helps me understand the present if I know my past. It helps me understand myself, and allows for some self-correction.

There have been times where I will be driving someplace and suddenly it dawns on me I have been doing something wrong all my life, and now it’s time to stop it. But if didn’t know my past, I wouldn’t have the ability to self-correct like that. After all, we are here to improve our souls, and that is one way I do it.

So how can you build on tradition if there is no visible evidence of it (other than what has been won and collected since 1988)?

How do you develop an athletic program on passion, pride and power if there is nothing from the past to tell the current student/athletes what the future can be? What ties the current crop of Bremerton athletes to their distant past except last week’s game?

Nothing.

The past did connect with the present last month at the Kitsap Sports Hall of Fame banquet held at the Bremer Student Center gym at Olympic College. I’ve only been here since 1970, but I have heard the names from the past and know a few of them, but it was goosebump time to be there and see them in person and hear some of the stories.

This was a grand event, by the way. The Kitsap County Bremerton Athletic Roundtable and guys like Bob Fredericks, Dick Thompson and Harland Berry and others did a remarkable job. The research and writing Beery did for the Hall of Fame program was the best I’ve seen in a long time.

There is no way to go to an event like this and not be impressed with the quality of athletic talent. Some of them are in the natural life cycle where their bodies are not responding as well as they once did, but their minds were as sharp as ever.

To watch Wayne Foster, a great athlete in his prime, slowly make his way to the microphone and listen to the deep emotion in his voice, or to hear Chub Milo, who accepted the award for the ailing Dean Gehring, choke up as he talked about his friend and then see the tears welling up among Gehring’s family as they listened, well, if you can’t understand what the past means you have no feelings.

Kevin Sargent doesn’t like to speak before people. He’s about as quiet as one can get and you wouldn’t expect the 6-6, 260-pound Sargent to express much other than to say thanks. But when he got up on the podium to accept his Hall of Fame induction, he bent his large frame over the microphone and with the strongest conviction and deepest sincerity in his voice he thanked three of his high school coaches – Eathorne, Ted Berney and McKnight – for being there for him at a time when his family life was very unstable and for helping him survive it all. He, of course, went on to become an NFL football player.

The past, as Foster and Sargent know, is what it is. Good or bad, it is yours. You accept it, hopefully learn from it, and then you carry it with you until you die.

Same with me. My past is littered with good things as a young kid, not so good as a teen and young adult, but collectively they make me, good or bad. I carry that past proudly, with deep passion, some sadness, but it’s mine and mine alone.

Bremerton High School’s long-ago athletic past – rich and storied as it is – has no presence at the school.

That’s a crime.

Have a great month

You are loved.