Good Thursday morning. This morning, Mount Si High School’s football program is mourning the loss of a legend, who helped leave an impact on this program and community.
Then-Mount Si assistant football coach Howard Mudd (center right in red jacket), a former longtime National Football League assistant coach, is seen here with members of the Wildcat offensive line following a game in 2013. The coach passed away in a Seattle hospital yesterday at the age of 78 from injuries sustained in a recent motorcycle accident. (File, photo courtesy Calder Proudctions)
Howard Mudd, who was a longtime NFL assistant coach, including a stint with the Seattle Seahawks, but who also was a former Mount Si assistant coach, passed away yesterday at a Seattle hospital. He was 78. As we reported here last week, the retired coach was in the hospital after sustaining serious injuries in a motorcycle accident.
Many football fans will remember him for his career as an NFL assistant, but after his retirement, he and his wife Shirley made the Valley their home, residing in North Bend, and the coach volunteered his time during the 2013-15 seasons as a consultant to the Mount Si program. The Wildcat booster club, in announcing his passing on social media, noted the Mudd’s support of the program, including donating to their annual auction, coach’s BBQ cookouts and teaching of Mudd’s method of offensive line play which has helped to shape what has been a key staple of this program for many years, the strong physical play up front on that line.
Quite a few former Mount Si players who were part of the team while Mudd was helping coach took to social media with their rememberances. Former lineman Brad Christensen, who graduated from the Wildcats several years ago and played for Western Oregon University, feels Mudd impacted him in many ways. “I will forever remember the lone season I had the pleasure of spending with Howard. He not only helped me further my football career, but helped me grow as a person. Great coach, and even better man! He will be missed,” Christensen wrote on Twitter.
Another former Mount Si lineman who went on to have college success, Chris Schlicting, also credited Mudd. “I can’t thank coach Mudd enough for how much he helped me as a player and young man in high school. He was one of the greatest to ever do it. My prayers go out to his family. Rest in love Coach,” Schlicting also wrote on Twitter.
Several others, including Harrison D’Anna, Riley Peerboom, and Colton Swain, all of whom played for Mount Si during that 2013-15 span, also offered rememberances on social media yesterday.
In all, the impact coach Mudd had on many will not be forgotten, but especially the impact he left on a group of young men in our community. Many of whom went on to have success at the next level thanks in no small measure to the wisdom coach Mudd brought to Mount Si and its players. We here at the Journal send our condolences to Mrs. Mudd and the family and their friends as well on this heartbreaking loss.
In other news on a Thursday:
Golf: Mount Si alum Warford tees it up against top amateurs from Washington
Mount Si High School grad Drew Warford is staying busy as he gets ready for his freshman season of college golf at the University of Washington. He is competing this week in the Washington State Men’s Amateur Golf Championship, and yesterday, he had a special day. Warford carded a round of 70 in the second round of the event on the very tough Chambers Bay Golf Course layout in Pierce County and put himself in contention for a solid finish today.
Warford, from Snoqualmie and who graduated from MSHS back in June, opened the tournament Tuesday with a 77 to put him out of championship contention, but his 70 yesterday put him at three-over 147 on the par-72 layout and at three over par, in a tie for 24th overall in the tournament which features top amateurs from all over the Northwest. Warford will head out for his final round this morning at 9:30 at Chambers, which as you remember hosted the 2015 U.S. Open men’s pro golf championship.
He is the lone Valley entrant in the field at this week’s tournament. We’ll keep you posted. Redmond’s Sean Kato is holding a five-shot lead going into today’s final round, at 10-under par.
College Summer Baseball: Stretch run of the season not being kind to Marenco
This last part of the Expedition League season has not been kind to North Bend’s Spencer Marenco or to his Western Nebraska Pioneers. Marenco struggled again last night, and so did the Pios, as they fell to the Fremont Moo 9-3 in Fremont, NE.
The 2019 MSHS grad, who plays for Yakima Valley Community College, went 0-4 and saw his average drop to .223, the lowest it’s been since very early in the season last month, and he has only one hit in his last 15 at-bats dating back to last Thursday night’s game. Just a few games are left in the schedule, so there is time for the infielder to stop the slide and end the season on a solid note. The two teams are back in action to wrap up the Fremont portion of the home-and-home series tonight, it’s at 4:00 p.m. our time and it’s on TuneIn, search KOZY-FM.
Youth Baseball
City Baseball Showcase 7, Seattle Stars 18U 0 (game one, doubleheader): Seattle-based City beat their Seattle-based rivals in the first of two down in Aberdeen. Former Mount Si player Mason Gronewald was 1-3 for the Stars.
Narrows Baseball 8, Washington A’s 18U Premier 7 (game one, doubleheader): Tacoma-area Narrows won a wild one in the first of two also in Aberdeen, at the Seattle Premier League’s COVID home away from home at Pioneer Park. Mount Si alum Troy Baunsgard was 0-5 for the Sammamish-based A’s in the contest.
Woodinville Baseball Club 9, Boys of Summer 15U 3: WBC took care of business at an undisclosed location on the Eastside yesterday handling Bellevue-based Boys. Mount Si’s Tristan Aasland started the game on the mound for Boys and worked three innings, allowing three unearned runs on one hit, striking out six, and took the loss. Offensively, he was 0-2 with a walk. Several of Aasland’s Wildcat teammates also played in the contest.
Newcomer Jake Patton followed Aasland on the hill and allowed five runs, one earned, in three innings of work, on one hit, walking four, and offensively was 1-3. Ian Auxter doubled and walked, scoring a run and driving in a second for BoS, while Kameron Bell was 0-1 but walked three times. Brody Palmer replaced Auxter in the batting order late in the contest and was 0-1. Two other Mount Si’ers – Mason Martinell and Owen Theis – also play for Boys.
City Baseball Showcase 15, Seattle Stars 18U 14 (game two, doubleheader): City won a barnburner to take the nightcap and sweep the twinbill, scoring four times in the final frame to rally for the victory in a back-and-forth thriller. Gronewald did his part to help the Stars, going 3-4 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI’s. He will be a senior this fall at Mercer Island High School and played for the Wildcats as a freshman. His sister is Wildcat softball alum Abby Gronewald.
Narrows Baseball 12, Washington A’s 18U Premier 4 (game two, doubleheader): Narrows rolled in the nightcap to sweep the twinbill. Baunsgard, for the A’s, was 0-3 with a walk and run scored. He will be attending Bellevue College this fall and is from North Bend.