Prep Flashback: Super Bowl MVP Rypien's new challenge is hockey

Athlete: Mark Rypien, Shadle Park High School, Class of 1981

Sports: Football, basketball, baseball

High-school rewind : Earned All-State honors in all three sports. Quarterbacked his football team to the state playoffs as a junior and senior, but might be best remembered as the MVP of the Class 4A state basketball tournament in 1981, when the Highlanders from Spokane knocked off Mercer Island, 66-65, on a controversial last-second basket. He also pitched in the state baseball championship as a junior, a game Shadle Park lost to Meadowdale of Lynnwood, 5-3.

After high school: Played quarterback at Washington State and led the Washington Redskins to a 37-24 victory over Buffalo in Super Bowl XXVI, winning MVP honors. Twice earned trips to the Pro Bowl. Retired after being released by the Seahawks in 2002. Rypien passed for 18,473 career yards in the NFL, with 115 touchdowns and 88 interceptions.

After athletics: Rypien, who lives in Spokane, has done TV color commentary, first for WSU in 2002 and now for the Spokane Shock, of the Arena Football2 League. The scratch golfer plays regularly on the Celebrity Players Tour. He started the Rypien Foundation in memory of his 3-year-old son, Andrew, who died of brain cancer in 1998.

Personal: Rypien, 43, has two daughters who keep him busy. Ambre, 17, is a senior at Gonzaga Prep who plans to attend Alabama, sings in a country-rock band, and is a state-caliber tennis doubles player. Angela, 15, is a freshman who has modeled overseas and has the potential play to college basketball.

Fast forward: Despite all his NFL accomplishments, Rypien has not forgotten his roots and can recount many fond memories of his days at Shadle Park and WSU.

"I wouldn't trade those for anything," he said, adding that he is honored to be inducted into the WIAA State High School Hall of Fame tomorrow in Yakima.

While golf has become his No. 1 sport, Rypien recently took up hockey to channel his competitive energy.

"That's my new passion, even though I can't stand on a blade an eighth of an inch wide," he said.

Sandy Ringer