Football Foes At Pete's Pool Face Decidedly Uphill Battle -- Enumclaw's Home Is Spsl's Worst

While Enumclaw appears to be stacking up well against the rest of the South Puget Sound League on the football field, the Hornets' football field doesn't. Stack up, that is.

Pete's Pool, Enumclaw's home field, is easily the poorest facility in the league. The three other stadiums in the North Division (Troy Field in Auburn, French Field in Kent and Federal Way Memorial Stadium) feature artificial turf. The Kent and Federal Way facilities both received new playing surfaces this summer. Pete's Pool is a grass field. And newcomers will find a few other surprises.

"They're going to die when they come to Enumclaw," Enumclaw Coach Ron Miller said.

Headphones can't be used (no hookups), there's no place for the visiting team to videotape (Miller makes a copy of his for the visiting team) and it's best for the players to come dressed in uniform, since there really is no visiting locker room - just a meeting room.

The Pete's Pool field is a seven-minute bus ride from Enumclaw High School.

Miller called Kentridge Coach Marty Osborn to remind him what to expect before last Friday's game. Osborn remembered well. His Mount Rainier teams used to play at Enumclaw. He warned his Kentridge players.

"I told them one end of the field ran uphill, so all the hills we'd been running would come in handy," Osborn said. "And I told them if it's raining, we might have to save someone so they don't die, and that when you look across the field you only see people from the ankles up."

He was exaggerating, but not by much, so his players would be a little relieved at the actual field.

"It wasn't as bad as they thought," Osborn said.

Except when the lights went out at 8 p.m., the time junior football practice usually ends. Someone forgot to turn off the timer, and it took 20 minutes to get the lights back on.

In a way, though, it's football like it used to be played.

"You kind of go in a time-warp there," Osborn said. "We get so into the communications aspect of the game. I'm used to being plugged in (with headphones) and having three different voices in my ears. It's kind of different. You have the whole coaching staff on the field. It's kind of like being back in a junior-high game. And the fans are wandering around the sidelines, giving you suggestions. . . . You have to dress at school and they stuff you in some bingo-like hall. It's something out of `Hoosiers.' "

Pete's Pool has not been deemed an acceptable site for playoff games. After playing first-round games there in 1982 and '83, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association made Enumclaw play at Auburn's Troy Field.

Different look in 1960

Miller remembers playing at Pete's Pool in 1960. The county-owned property used to be the home of what was believed to be the largest open-air swim pool on the West Coast - named after Pete Chorak, who donated the land. The swimming pool is gone now; in its place is a big parking lot.

Miller said it is unlikely Enumclaw will have a new facility in the near future. Bond issues to build a new junior high have repeatedly failed. Miller said Enumclaw likely would play at a neighboring facility, like Troy Field or Spartan Stadium (Sumner) before a new one would be built in Enumclaw.

"Ron's kind of got his hands tied," Osborn said. "It's too bad. He runs a great program. It would be nice for him to have a really nice facility."

Osborn finds an upside to playing in Enumclaw, though. He is a native of Bremerton and most of the coaches on his staff come from smaller communities.

"It's like they shut down the local barber shop and everyone goes to the game," he said. "I like that."

Miller said he plans to call Federal Way Coach Tom McConnaughey and warn him what to expect for Friday's game.

"I'll tell him," Miller said, "but he won't believe me."