He Has Household Name Now -- But This Jeff Stone Is Oak Harbor Coach

Jeff Stone has seen his name in the headlines recently.

Stone, the boys basketball coach and athletic director at Oak Harbor High School, has seen his name in the headlines before, when he was was a standout basketball player at Coupeville High School and Seattle Pacific University.

Stone's name has been in the news the past few weeks, but for reasons he had nothing to do with.

Stone's name was in the news the past few weeks as Jeff Gillooly, better known as Tonya Harding's ex-husband, sought to have his name legally changed to . . .

Jeff Stone.

Gillooly's request was approved last week by District Judge Dale Koch. The new Stone was released from prison yesterday.

He served a six-month sentence for plotting the attack on Harding's rival Nancy Kerrigan, who has hit across the knee with a metal pipe by a man hired by Harding's bodyguard.

Oak Harbor's Stone said friends and co-workers have teased him about his latest claim to fame.

He's even received faxes of news stories about Gillooly's name change.

"I've heard quite a bit about it," said Stone, who's been at Oak Harbor for 21 years. "My response about it is, maybe I'll teach my basketball players to carry a club around and hit the other players in the shin."

Things should get interesting for Stone when he takes the Wildcats to a basketball camp in Portland next month. Imagine when Stone checks into the hotel using his real name.

"I have to be careful," Stone joked. "I have to lay low."

Other Jeff Stones have publicly complained about Gillooly's name chage.

Jeff Stone is the mayor of Temeculah, Calif., a community of 36,000 about 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

"Here's a guy who's a known felon and he shouldn't be able to hide from the public," Mayor Stone told The Associated Press. "He shouldn't be able to hide behind someone else's name."

Actor Paul Petersen, who portrayed the Jeff Stone character on the "Donna Reed Show," also protested Gillooly's name change.

Oak Harbor's Stone usually goes to the Portland area to go Christmas shopping.

"I followed it (the Harding-Kerrigan ordeal) a little bit, just from the standpoint that she (Harding) skated at Clackamas Town Center, and we'll go there once or twice a year to go shopping," he said. "I'd tell the kids, `Hey, Tonya Harding skates here. Maybe we'll see her husband around here. Be careful.' "

Oak Harbor's Stone said he enjoys hearing the occasional joke or comment about Gillooly's name change. But that would change if Stone starts getting calls or mail for the infamous Stone.

"Maybe I'll change my name to his," Stone said.