In Pioneer Spirit, Goodrow Built Tradition -- Now, Coach Who Brought Volleyball To Kentridge Moves Into The Stands

-- KENT

They wore gym shorts, white tops and green "penneys" with white numbers on front and back. The sport was too new for uniforms.

The skill level was low and the rules lax. Evelyn Goodrow smiles at the miles high-school volleyball has come since 1968, when Kentridge opened and she informally began coaching the sport. She met Virginia Greenlee at Renton, Janet Johnson at Kent-Meridian and Jo Slosser at Highline.

The four became pioneers of the sport in Washington. This week, Goodrow officially became the last of them to retire.

"I pretty much decided in September that it would be my last year," she said yesterday. "I just felt it was time to step aside. I really need more time for myself and my teaching. . . . I'm leaving with the same enthusiasm and vigor I brought into it. You can stay too long and get worn out sometimes."

Goodrow, 57, stayed long enough to win a state Class AAA championship in 1989. The Chargers reached the final match again last fall, but wound up second to Eisenhower of Yakima. Goodrow also coached Kentridge to three straight second-place finishes in 1978, '79 and '80.

Perhaps more significantly, she is credited with helping raise the sport from its infancy. Competition went from "play days" to a state invitational in 1973 and ultimately the first sanctioned state tournament in 1974.

"She's obviously made great contributions to the sport of volleyball in the state of Washington, particularly at the high-school level," said Cliff Gillies, executive director of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, noting that participation in volleyball in the state now exceeds that of wrestling. "That's an indication of how the sport has grown. People like Evelyn Goodrow are the ones who hung in there when it needed the incentive."

Renton, Kent-Meridian and Kentridge of the now-defunct North Puget Sound League dominated Class AAA volleyball from 1976 through 1982. Renton and K-M swept all seven titles, with Kentridge settling for three seconds. The trio went 1-2-3 in 1980.

Goodrow, a Wyoming native, was introduced to volleyball in a class at Jamestown (N.D.) College. She began teaching in 1956 and came to Kent in 1959 with her new husband, who worked at Boeing. She taught that fall at Meridian Junior High School in Kent and moved to Kentridge in '68.

When the four pioneers started volleyball, they had to officiate their own matches, Goodrow recalled. Underhand sets and setting to yourself were allowed. The rule changes and the increase in skill level are the biggest differences in the sport today, Goodrow said. She remembers going to as many clinics as possible.

"The first question I had was, `What do you say in the huddle?' " she said.

After matches, the coaches would call each other to see who did what and to share the latest techniques and drills. Auburn's Nancy Zehnder, now the dean of volleyball coaches in the area, remembers being the new kid on the block in 1975 and receiving a warm welcome from Goodrow and the other established coaches in the NPSL.

"They were real good role models for me," she said, noting Goodrow was one of the early advocates of switching from afternoon to night matches.

"She's made a lot of contributions. . . . We didn't get here without people like her."

Goodrow, who will continue to teach physical education and health at Kentridge, doesn't plan to disassociate herself from the sport.

She attended a coaches' clinic in February, in part to receive her award as state Coach of the Year for 1989, when her team went 27-0, but also because "I still feel a part of the group." She is likely to show up at future clinics and expects to be game manager for Kentridge's home volleyball matches next fall.

"I'll still be involved, but I'll be able to sit with the parents and see things from a different point of view," she said. "I hope I can still be part of the volleyball family."

Doug Jansen, who was an assistant coach from 1982 through 1989 and became co-head coach with Goodrow last fall, is her likely replacement, although the position won't be filled officially until next month.

Goodrow, who estimates she has won between 300 and 350 matches, credits much of Kentridge's success to the quality assistant coaches she has had, including Ben Drinkwater, who helped her get the program off the ground, and Debbie Buse, who went on to coach Kentwood to the 1986 state title and now is head coach at the University of Washington. JoAnne Daughtry, current Kentwood volleyball and softball coach, also coached with Goodrow.

Goodrow also said she couldn't have done it without her husband, Dwayne, a constant figure at her matches. Most of all, though, she attributes her teams' accomplishments to hard work.

"I've tried to mold the kids and provide a feminine touch," she said, "to be a tiger on the court and be a lady off the court. We (coaches) work hard and they (players) work hard. We push them and they have pride within themselves. And tradition helps."

Someday, that tradition will be documented in a series of scrapbooks. Right now, all Goodrow has is the scraps - newspaper clippings and the photographs she and her husband have taken, arranged in stacks, one for each season. She expects to have the time now to compile them into scrapbooks.

Goodrow will have those memories of volleyball. And volleyball will remember Goodrow.