Silver King Gym Roof Collapses

[Simon Miller]

We had some interesting events Friday as the snow piled up and the temperature warmed. Apparently it was too much for the poor Silver King School Gym roof.

KREM2 has a story about it here, albeit brief. But there are some pictures. Scary stuff as this could have been very tragic if it happened minutes earlier or later.

http://www.krem.com/news/local/stories/ ... de49f.html

[Casey Fisher]

That is crazy. I'm glad more people didn't get hurt.

[Ken Lagerquist]

Thank God no one was seriously injured,i agree. Thats just too bad it happened, i remember some being played in there back in the day.

[Casey Fisher]

Yep. YBL games were played in that gym in the mid 1980's.

[Mike Biotti '68]

Ahhh...my old stompin' ground!. I attended Silver King through the sixth grade. Played basketball for the Silver King Savages against Canyon, Sunnyside, Lincoln, Elk Creek and Pinehurst. Our starting five was Mark Knight, Larry McGillivray, Paul Vanhoose, Scott Dumont and me. Marvin Cropp was our "hachet man". That was a cool little gym.....too bad it's gone now.

[Lauren A. Scrafford]

Ahhh...my old stompin' ground!. I attended Silver King through the sixth grade. Played basketball for the Silver King Savages against Canyon, Sunnyside, Lincoln, Elk Creek and Pinehurst. Our starting five was Mark Knight, Larry McGillivray, Paul Vanhoose, Scott Dumont and me. Marvin Cropp was our "hachet man". That was a cool little gym.....too bad it's gone now.

Mike and others:

I played for the Silver King Savages also. We never lost a game including the playoffs. I started about half the time and was the 6th man the rest of the time. We played every game at home because we had the best gym. We had a better gym than some of the small high schools in the state of Idaho. The only road game we played all season was against Sunnyside(where i served my apprenticeship in the first grade). This was great because we played at the old HS (KJRHS)at that time as a warmup to the 9th grade game. Probably the highlight of the season for me as we won by 10 points and I stole 2 passes and went all the way for layups. Luckily they went in....

I held off posting this because I have been looking for our team picture, can't seem to find it. I think every kid in the 6th grade was on this team, we must have had 30 guys on the team including Doug Yrjana, Kenny Clark, Lanny England, Dick Schreiber, Mike Padula, Ron Waldvogel, etc. I remember our cheerleader's were Saralyn Louma and Sue Waldvogel. Lanny's little brother was the mascot. I often wonder how Bob Leopold, our coach, got everyone some playing time.

We also used to play tackle football on the gym floor, in the winter. I guess being from Smelterville, Page and Silver King we were not the brightest kids...............but we had fun..

Its really too bad that the gym was let go and was in this condition. I remember a few years ago my wife(not from the area) and I visited the school. It made me sick, when I saw how the school district had let the gym deteriorate, from a leaking roof.. I know that money has been tight but you would think with the YMCA closing that the district would have kept (at least) the gym in decent shape for the young people of the community to have somewhere to play basketball and stay out of trouble. There is grant money for such situations....

When I went to school there the Yrjana's had square dancing, our Boy Scout Troop met there and we were allowed to play basketball there on weekends(besides the YMCA)...and SKS Basketball in the winter. A lot of activities were held at the school and gym. Sorry to see it go. I guess I am living in the past.

best,
L.A.Scrafford
Lauren

[Simon Miller]

Lauren,

Those are some awesome memories. I played one year of YBL in that gym when I was in 4th or 5th grade.

I agree it is most unfortunate the school district couldn't at least keep the roof in good enough shape to keep the gym usable. I have now worked for the school district for 12 years and I can say that there are a lot of things that we "should" be doing, but the State of Idaho Legislature simply doesn't fund education adequately at all. We continually run an override levy every 2 years just to offer basic educational and extra curricular programs, as well as to fund the basic maintenance of the aging school buildings. A group of school districts actually took the State of Idaho to court for underfunding education and won, but the State just found loopholes in the law and in the rulings and did absolutely nothing.

In the end it is most unfortunate, like you say when perfectly good buildings go uncared for because of a complete lack of funding. That gym could have been a big asset even today. And like you said, the YMCA is in the same boat, albeit not under the school district umbrella. When Uncle Bunker went down, a lot of things went neglected simply due to a lack of funding.

Nonetheless, we need to round up some pictures of those teams you are talking about. Maybe Doug Yrjana has some. I can ask him.

[Lauren A. Scrafford]

Simon:

I found the photo. It has some damage which I need to fix. 1960-61 Silver King Savages.

First Row L-R Mike Padula #13, Saralyn Louma, Sue Waldvogel, Linda Tapper, Lanny England Mascot and Eddie Peterson #11.
Second Row L-R. Ricky McCombs SKS #14, Lauren Scrafford 15, Ron Waldvogel #5, John Lassfolk SKS #5, John Dahlmann SKS #17, Gordon Elliott SKS #15, Bob Wiles #18, Don Polley SKS #7.
Third Row L-R. Gary Englund #21, Clyde Shock SKS #10, Don Atha SKS 19, Ron Polley SKS #21, Grant Strickland SKS #23, Lynn Waller SKS 16, Duane Sipila SKS 2.
Fourth Row L-R Ray Peterson 23, Don Bovial SKS 4, Kenny Clark 31, Doug Yrjana 25, Chuck Redinger 33, Dick Bowcutt SKS 11 and coach Bob Leopold. Dale Taylor #8 was not in the photo.

This is what I have written on the ack of the photo. We also went up to Osburn and played the Osburn 6th grade and beat them in a tough game. They were not in our league but it was an practice game. Dale Alldredge had gone to SKS and they moved to Osburn that year and he played against us. He was a pretty good player. Dale A, Doug Y, Don B and Don Polley all played for Kellogg varisty in HS though Don moved after his sophomore year to Spokane and played for West Valley there. Both the Taylors and Englunds moved to Lewiston. The Peterson's moved to Rose Lake. Gordon Elliot, Ricky McCombs, Grant Strickland, Linda Tapper and Clyde Shock all left Kellogg before graduation. I hope I have that correct.

Hope this is not too big. If it is I will decrease the size.

Lauren

[Simon Miller]

Lauren,

I love the picture. I recognize a few people in there. I am sure my parents would know more. I have been meaning to reply to your great post, but have been pretty slammed at work.

Have you seen the blog "Kellogg Bloggin?" I is simply one of the best and most entertaining blogs about Kellogg related stuff I have seen. He recently posted about the Silver King School and I thought you might be interested.

http://kelloggbloggin.blogspot.com/2008 ... hasis.html

[Lauren A. Scrafford]

Lauren,

I love the picture. I recognize a few people in there. I am sure my parents would know more. I have been meaning to reply to your great post, but have been pretty slammed at work.

Have you seen the blog "Kellogg Bloggin?" I is simply one of the best and most entertaining blogs about Kellogg related stuff I have seen. He recently posted about the Silver King School and I thought you might be interested.

http://kelloggbloggin.blogspot.com/2008 ... hasis.html

Thanks for the link.. I believe my little brother had Mrs. Wollum in the second grade.

Its funny how people remember different things about Silver King, Kellogg and their childhood. I think I have a little more positive view than Bill does, though I am not naive enough to believe that Government Gulch was the garden of Eden...

Lauren

[Simon Miller]

Yeah I had Mrs. Wollum for 2nd Grade at Sunnyside as a matter of fact. KelloggBloggin is an interesting read, as well as his siblings' blogs. If I could get my grandpa/grandma to do a blog the stories would be fantastic.

It has warmed up to a balmy 17 degrees here in Kellogg, with a big snow storm looming, according to the weather "gurus."