Ed’s Early Years

Eddie Lee Pepple

as written by Seth D. Landau

“Family is the first part of culture”

The word “culture” derives from a French term, which in turn derives from the Latin “colere,” which means to tend to the earth and grow, or cultivate and nurture.

“Family is the first part of culture” – Eddie Lee Pepple

This is the story of Coach Ed Pepple and his culture.

This is the story of Coach Ed Pepple and his culture. It was during a time where the concept of culture in high school basketball was not a term, nor had the full concept of “culture” been developed.  His culture changed many hundreds of lives.

Eddie’s path to Husband, Father, Ed and Coach Pepple leads all the way from a little boy, happy when most would be sad, spending his time alone playing with focus, to becoming a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The story starts in the middle of his record career, when Coach Pepple experienced the rarest of rare events and the hardest part of coaching, of life.

It wasn’t hard in the sense of having players who lost parents or had sad things happen to them. Nor was it as intense as Coach Pepple’s joy as each one of his four children were born.

This moment was the most intense and incredible thing a coach can experience coaching. Coach Pepple watched his players, their families, the band, the students and all the fans go through having their sports’ hearts explode, twice. The reason, a 66-65 final score.

This score was a big test of Coach Pepple’s culture. It was a moment spoken of to this day among Mercer Island teams.

It was an exciting moment when the time expired and the game ended. The Mercer Island players jumped for joy. All the Islander fans jumped and screamed with out-of-control happiness. It was everywhere. It was amazing. Mercer Island’s first State Basketball Championship.

The net was being cut down by his son Kyle, the team’s point guard. His family watched from the stands.

At that moment, through all the noise and chaos, Coach Pepple kept his word to a member of the team, made before the game, to meet that player at center court when Mercer Island won the game. They met there and hugged. Just for a short moment, then everything changed.

At that moment the Coach Pepple’s first championship was his, with his son on the team and family watching. It took victories in a string of loser-out games to get to this moment. It would be the first State Basketball Championship for Mercer Island High School.

After the game and all the chaos, Ed rode the bus with the team back to the Mercer Island Gym where he addressed the players, the families, the students and the fans of that 1981 team. It was inspiring in a way that many didn’t realize at the time. It might have even inspired the coach.

In a short alone moment during that evening, the coach thought about the path that led to this.

Eddie Lee Post was born on July 22, 1932

Eddie Lee Post was born on July 22, 1932 in Denver, Colorado.

in 1933, the family moved from Denver to Red Lodge, Montana, 

then later to Roundup, Montana where they lived until he was three years old.

While the family was in Red Lodge, Eddie’s mother worked as a waitress at the local restaurant/lounge and his father was the bartender as well as the maître d’ there.

This was a tough time for Eddie. No one has extensive memories of things before they are three years old. Eddie had a few, and they were vivid. Some of his clearest memories were of his father and mother constantly arguing.

As it is with all children that age, impressions are made and they are strong. Even then little Eddie knew what he didn’t like.

One of Eddie’s happy memories of these early Montana years took place at the cowboy restaurant-lounge where he went with his mother, Helen. She had mentioned in a conversation with some friends there how Eddie could sing and dance. So, they said “Bring him down.”

Helen brought Eddie down to the bar a few nights later and, with the place cheering him on through beer foam and rattling ice in glasses, little Eddie gave them a singing “Lady in Red” and dancing show on a center table. (Even then he had the moves and was working on his voice.) This was fun to Eddie and he showed how happy he was with that special smile. The place went crazy for him. He heard his first cheers and a got few coins thrown in as well.

His mother decided to leave Archie and move to Seattle

His mother decided to leave Archie Post and move to Seattle with Eddie in 1934. Eddie never saw nor spoke to his natural father again.

Eddie remembered they left on a dark night with a friend of Helen’s from work. They picked up their things, got in her car and drove to the train station. Mother and three-year-old Eddie left Montana together, off to a new start. Helen loved Eddie so much and did her best to comfort him and constantly show her love as the train rolled on.

It was the last time Eddie saw or talked to his natural father, Archie Pope

The Seattle area was a place where relatives lived. Helen arranged for them to live with family in the Rainier District for a while before moving to Phinney Ridge. Eddie spent most of his free time alone or with his mother when she wasn’t working.

Helen enrolled Eddie in a kindergarten on Rainier Avenue and after two days, he dropped out. It wasn’t required and Eddie just didn’t want to be there. Coach Pepple told me he is not sure what that means or how it happened. But that was the end of kindergarten for him, and It may have been a precursor to his academic desires in his early school years.

Helen and Eddie, once she was squared away, moved into a basement apartment on the Ballard side of Phinney Ridge, not too far from the Woodland Park Zoo (Which later will play a major part in Eddie’s life.) This was a happy time for Eddie. Life was happy. They had friends and Eddie had attention. His mother was the center of his life.

Watching this young boy grow from age three to age seven, one could see him observing everything and taking it all in. It almost looked like he was processing it. He spent a lot of time alone and made it all useful one way or another.

When Eddie was seven, Helen met Raymond Pepple. Raymond’s family came from Williston, North Dakota. Most of them were in the Everett area as well as Wenatchee.  Raymond came regularly into the restaurant where Helen worked to check the entertainment machines.

Helen and Raymond dated during that time. Raymond was nice to Eddie and often would take Eddie with him on his routes, where Eddie counted the coins. They went all over Western Washington, including to Mt. Rainier on one of the routes. Raymond taught Eddie many things. State capitals, tallest mountains etc. Eddie loved learning and more so the way Raymond taught him.

On June 17, 1939 Raymond and Helen were married and Eddie had a stepdad at age seven.

On June 17, 1939 Raymond and Helen were married and Eddie had a stepdad at age seven. They moved to a home in Ballard, then moved again to a home in the Broadview area. Raymond loved Eddie and adopted him. He became Eddie Lee Pepple.

This was also the time that Eddie had a lot of time on his hands alone, so his mother Helen taught him how to make dice out of sugar cubes and suggested ideas for games to play.

Eddie soon figured out how to put them to use in a baseball game he created using current major league players. The sugar-cube dice represented outs, strikes, balls, base hits, etc. and Eddie had the team’s lineup as well as each player’s box score and statistics. He kept game records and had playoffs and championships, all with a pen and paper, two sugar-cube dice and a young boy’s imagination.

Simple sugar cubes had the amazing power to move players in a small boy’s mind around the bases and through the game. Each game was completed with an outcome.

Throughout his life Eddie kept scores, records, stats, actions in his mind. He enjoyed it.

Then it all came fast with Helen, Eddie and Raymond. Right after Pearl Harbor, Raymond enlisted and he and Eddie hit the road during the school year for Kentucky, his first assignment. The two set off by car for Louisville, then after a few weeks on to Fort Knox where Raymond joined the tank corps. As they drove, Raymond taught and quizzed Eddie on facts about many different things, including a lot of science. He also taught Eddie about the things they saw on the trip.

During this time Helen stayed in Seattle with Eddie’s new half-brother Gary to sell the house. When it was sold, Helen moved down with baby Gary.

Raymond and Eddie arrived in Louisville

Raymond and Eddie arrived in Louisville and moved into a one-room, short-term apartment behind a liquor store. It had a pot-bellied stove for heat. Ed earned money stocking the store after school.

Immediately after  Pearl Harbor, Raymond went into the Army, causing the family to move from station to station during World War ll. They traveled from Seattle to Kentucky to Maryland to Texas to California and then back to Washington, first Wenatchee then Seattle, all between 1939 and 1943.

Eddie attended sixteen elementary schools in that time. In one year, six elementary schools saw him sit in the classroom chairs. The teachers to this day are looking for that smile and happy disposition.

Eddie didn’t just play fun games and do things as a follower. It’s a sure bet that many times he ended up directing the fun. 

Recess was a form of physical activity that he shared with the other kids at whatever school he attended. Kids can be very cliquish, especially so in different parts of America. Yet they never referred to him as a stranger, or the new kid. He was Eddie.

There was a feeling that they didn’t want him to leave. There were times where Eddie didn’t want to leave either, yet he knew how his life was, and that he would leave.

Eddie’s grade school tour was the same length of time that the Beatles toured.

“It’s not the time, it’s the way it is used.” Let’s enjoy the Elementary Tour list.

Eddie spent first grade and part of second grade in the Rainier Valley in Seattle. He finished up second grade in Ballard and spent third grade there.

There was one moment in Eddie’s life that shook him to his core. The summer between second and third grade, Eddie went to Green Lake with his dog Sugar. Sugar was a sweet dog and Eddie  played with her all the time. She was a medium-sized mix that Eddie loved very much. As they were leaving, Sugar ran into the street and was hit by a car. It was one of the few times Coach Pepple remembered crying.

One day when Helen was at work, Eddie and his same-aged cousin decided to have an adventure. They started at a pharmacy on Rainier Avenue, then continued to Rainier playfield. They decided to go to Sick’s Stadium where the Seattle AAA baseball team played and from there they went to see family friends who owned a store on Yesler Avenue.  They weren’t there so Eddie and his cousin decided to go to the Smith Tower, then from there through downtown then across the Aurora Bridge to Woodland Park. Then they went to visit friends of Helen’s, who called her and then put Eddie and his cousin on buses back home. Helen recognized this adventure and didn’t scold Eddie; instead, but she made him promise to never do that again. He never did.

In 1940 during his third grade at Broadview

In 1940 during his third grade at Broadview, after school Eddie would go from Ballard by bus to downtown Seattle, where Helen worked at the Pit barbeque as a waitress. She gave him a snack and twenty-five cents. After eating, Eddie went to the movies at the Colonial Theatre across the street. Back then, twenty-five cents got you in and popcorn too. This happened after school almost every school day. The movie was the same for a week or two, so Eddie saw the same one over and over. When Helen was done with work, she and Eddie rode the bus home together.

In 1941 Eddie played his first basketball game

In 1941, during his short time in fourth grade at Broadview Elementary in Seattle, Eddie played his first basketball game and he loved it. The fire was lit. This was also the year Eddie’s half-brother Gary was born.

It was only a few months before the family went off once more on the Magical Elementary Tour.

School in Kentucky was very easy for Eddie. He didn’t have to work hard to get good grades and to be one of the top students in the class, and he found himself getting a bit lazy. (Coach Pepple told me he remembered this and reminded himself this wasn’t how it always was.)

His step Brother Gary was born while they were in Ft. Knox Kentucky, on July 13, 1941. Eddie enjoyed having a little brother. (That is when he wasn’t working, going to school or playing sports.)

Eddie started friendships there with a couple of kids, and though his time was always limited, he learned what friendship meant even in a short-term encounter.

Actually, Eddie made friends at all his schools, even the ones he attended for only a few months. He liked people and they liked him.

In 1942, the family moved from Kentucky to Fort Meade

In 1942, the family moved from Kentucky to Fort Meade, Maryland, where they rented a house. Eddie was in fifth grade. He found amazement there in the ways Maryland’s natural environment differed from Kentucky’s. It was the first time he saw lightning bugs. They fascinated him. He said to me it was the first time he understood how one thing could become another. He had one friend with whom he went exploring on weekends. Eddie found himself a few months later saying goodbye to his friend, as the family moved to Camp Bowie, Brownwood, Texas.

That is where Eddie spent the second part of fifth grade and part of sixth grade.

That part of sixth grade was brief, as they moved to Austin, Texas for a few months before  Eddie’s dad went to war in France for a little over two years.

In Austin, Eddie enjoyed the outdoors and with a few buddies would do a lot of hiking. This is where Eddie first saw armadillos. They were funny to him, yet he learned some of the moves they used in playing, curling up and rolling then opening up.

As most kids do on hot summer days, Eddie and his buddies often headed down to the creek and the swimming hole with the rope to swing out over the water.

Helen told Eddie when he got home one Saturday from an adventure with two friends that they would be soon moving to El Cajon, California to move in with one of her sisters. This would be Eddie’s third elementary school in sixth grade.

It was a whirlwind for Eddie.

After a few months in El Cajon with Helen’s other sister, they moved in with Helen’s other sister in Compton, California. This was now his fourth elementary school in sixth grade. It was hard for Eddie, as it was late in the year and the subject matter was different.

They stayed in Compton for a few months, and then it was on to Wenatchee, Washington to stay with Raymond’s parents. (Coach Pepple explained to me that it was hard for his aunts to house Helen and three kids so they couldn’t stay long.)

Helen and the three kids finally arrived back in Wenatchee and moved in with Raymond’s parents, who lived on Mission Avenue, a quiet, lazy, small town street.  Eddie lived by his grandparent’s rules. One, which was his grandmother’s, was the “Dish Rule.” After each meal, before watching or playing in any baseball games, Eddie had to do the dishes, so he learned how to do them fast and well.

While living with his grandparents, Eddie continued on with sixth grade (his fifth elementary school for sixth grade) at Stevens Elementary.

Before he even knew his way around the school, they moved into another district in Wenatchee and he went to Lincoln Elementary, his sixth school for sixth grade.

At each of the schools, even the ones he attended for a short time Eddie made friends. They were hard to remember from one school to the next. Maybe in subtle ways what they wore was a bit different, or their accent. This didn’t matter to Eddie; they were kids like him.

One of the first times we talked, I asked straight up if he was “sure, sixteen elementary schools, really?” and I will never question him again. “Yes, sixteen elementary schools!”

In the spring of seventh grade in Wenatchee,

In the spring of seventh grade in Wenatchee, Eddie discovered the Wenatchee Chiefs, the local pro baseball team. He was immediately hooked. Every chance he got, Eddie went to the team’s games and sat on the hill or on top of the bleachers, just anyway to watch the games.

Eddie observed how they played and imagined himself, as many young boys did, playing the big-league game. His observations locked as if his mind knew someday, he would be using what he had learned. Coach Pepple mentioned to me that he remembered a way to scoop the ball on a double bouncer from those days and used it in the state championship game for a critical play in junior college.

He started to play baseball in Wenatchee in seventh grade. It was his favorite sport. When he had time, played in neighborhood pickup games.

After being gone for a little over two years, Raymond came back from war to Wenatchee. The family got their own place and began working. He found work at different things, from bartending to picking apricots and other fruits.

Working was also a part of many young boys’ lives in those days

As working was also a part of many young boys’ lives in those days, Eddie worked a few different jobs. To start he worked with Raymond picking apricots. Raymond pushed Eddie hard to the point of exhaustion. Eddie never quit; he worked just harder. On one day in particular, Eddie challenged himself to beat Raymond, so they went at it picking away and Eddie won with a count of twenty-four crates to Raymond’s twenty-two-and-a-half that day. To do that Eddie did not take a break, did not eat lunch; he just picked as hard as he could.

The hardest of all jobs in the orchards was moving 14-foot-tall ladders from tree to tree. Eddie always volunteered to do this job.

Eddie also set pins manually at the local bowling alley for ten cents a setup and sold newspapers on street corners for fifteen cents a paper.

The money he made he got to keep and save.

Eddie got half way through seventh grade in Wenatchee

Eddie got half way through seventh grade in Wenatchee, then poof, he said good bye to his first good friend, Ron McCormick “Cormy.” He said goodbye to Joanne Brown, his first love. Then Raymond moved the family back to Seattle. By this point Coach Pepple told me he felt like the “luckiest nomad in America.”         

When they moved back to Seattle, Raymond went to the University of Washington to finish getting his teaching certificate. This is also when Eddie finished up his Junior high years.

They also bought a small grocery store called Pet’s Grocery with a living unit in back for the family not far from the University of Washington. Helen ran the store with Eddie’s help before and after school and on weekends, while Raymond was getting his teaching certificate, and after that as he became a teacher at Bothell High School.

It was on December 8, 1946 that Eddies step sister Mary was born.

Eddie never was late nor did he ever miss a day at work….except once. One day Eddie got off the bus on the way home from school and saw the corner drug store that day had root beer ice cream floats for fifteen cents–and Eddie just happened to have fifteen cents. Eddie was dropped off each day from school here and it was a long fast walk home to be on time to work in the store. The ice cream float won. He enjoyed it longer than necessary. He was late and couldn’t help his mom. Raymond came home and found out and took Eddie down into the garage and “my stepfather beat the hell out of me.” Eddie said he was sorry and that he was wrong. He never complained and took his punishment. Coach Pepple said to me “It told me something, Don’t get soda’s anymore.” He was never late again. Raymond never touched him again.

Raymond was not normally violent. This was the one time. Raymond never said “I love you” to Eddie, or for that matter to Helen in front of Eddie. There just wasn’t much emotion. On the other hand, Helen told Eddie every chance she could how much she loved him and how much he meant to her, that she was proud of him.

That’s where Eddie started shooting hoops.

The back yard behind the store sloped down to a large tree. One trunk split into three trunk-like branches, just about the right height for a basketball hoop. Eddie got the ends of two apple crates and made a backboard out of some wood he found. It ended up being like a funnel. That’s where Eddie started shooting hoops. He figured out that if you got the ball up to a center point, it would go down through the hoop.

After a while, Eddie could list all the teams and all the players in the pros at that time, then he would set up a schedule for the season and then for a tournament. He played many shooting games against imaginary players who were pro’s then, shooting for both himself and the player, trying his very best both ways. This would go on until there was a winner. Sometimes he won, sometimes George Glamack of the Rochester Royals, or Buddy Jeannette of the Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons won. Eddie played them all, fair and square. Then he would pick the All-Star team

Helen always encouraged Eddie to participate in sports. Raymond took no interest in that. He wasn’t a loving dad. Never warm and fuzzy. They got along.

Helen, on the other hand, cherished her son. Throughout his life, Eddie understood how important she was to him and how much she did for him.

At the start of eighth grade Eddie was being bused to Hamilton Junior High

At the start of eighth grade Eddie was being bused to Hamilton Junior High. Eventually the family moved closer to Hamilton. This was finally a time when Eddie could dribble the ball up to the playfield at Hamilton Junior High. He did this with one hand going there and the other hand coming home. He could endlessly shoot baskets from all angles and then dribble home. This was a happy time for him.

Other than a short stint with baseball in Wenatchee in seventh grade, for the rest of junior high Eddie didn’t play any organized sports. He spent that time working in the family store. Oh, don’t kid yourself though. Every chance he had in his spare time was spent at a basketball court playing, or off finding a baseball game to join. Or just making up games to sharpen his skills.

Alexander Hamilton Junior High, where Eddie was bussed, is also where he met his first real close friend (they quickly became best friends), Elmer Parks. Elmer also was bussed in from another part of Seattle.

Elmer had his locker on the same floor where the cafeteria was, and Eddie’s first class after lunch was near that locker. Before lunch Eddie’s books in Elmer’s locker so they were there easy to get to. (Not up one floor where Eddie’s was) This gave Eddie more time to eat and socialize.

Eighth and ninth grades were when Eddie really improved his basketball skills excel.

Eighth and ninth grades were when Eddie really improved his basketball skills excel. It wasn’t in school, it was every chance he had after school and work, to play basketball on the outside hoops at Hamilton Junior High. The times he had off from work he would start playing right after school; the same with the weekends. Eddie wasn’t a great shooter; his real skill was ball handling. It was clear at this level that he excelled at hustle far beyond the other boys playing even though he was shorter than most of them.

In 1947, Eddie began attending Lincoln High School The family had now lived in the same house for a long period of time. By this time, he had been through so many life experiences and met so many people that self-learning was automatic. So was making friends. This was a time when Eddie didn’t work.

At Lincoln High Eddie wasn’t a dedicated student

At Lincoln High Eddie wasn’t a dedicated student and did just what he had to, to get through to sports. Sports and friends were everything to Eddie. He was popular and always dated attractive girls. He went to a lot of parties and helped make them fun. Eddie never drank alcohol nor smoked cigarettes. He had seen this too much in his family and had decided many years prior to never do either of those things. Interestingly enough, there was a respect for him and he wasn’t pushed on this (even though a number of the kids smoked and drank), nor did he once compromise on his principles.

During his freshman year, when the state tournament was being played at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Eddie and Elmer skipped school to go. During a break between games, Eddie looked up to see his mother coming towards him. Helen was very angry. Coach Pepple told me she took him by the ear and led him out. What a vision that must have been. Elmer followed them out. Helen took them back to school to face the principal. The two boys said they understood what they had done and they served two days of makeup for the day they missed. Eddie never got in trouble again.

Athletics was everything.

Athletics was everything. Eddie played basketball, baseball and tennis at Lincoln. For the first three years High School, life was relatively normal for Eddie. He got by in class to get to his favorite sports. He played them all and was better than average at them all. Helen and Raymond recognized this and let him participate. On many occasions, small and large, bumps, bruises and cuts got their chance to throw him off. Rarely did he let that happen.

One bump

One bump happened in a late afternoon study hall. Another student who was larger than Eddie was constantly hassling him. This went on for months and Eddie ignored it. One day, just before class was to start, this larger guy got up and came back to where Eddie was sitting and asked Eddie to stand up. Eddie did and hit the guy so hard he fell down. As he was getting up, the teacher came in and asked him why he was on the floor. That was the only time that happened in Eddie’s life.

The second bump

The second bump during this time, which turned out to be a big lesson for Eddie, was the short time he hung around with the wrong friends. He was fifteen at the time and didn’t know them well. They said, “Let’s go shopping at Nordstrom-Best.” They wandered the store for a while, and as they were leaving, three security people surrounded them. Eddie found out the boys had things stuffed under their coats. He had no idea. They were all taken to the police station. This was important because after his mother came and got him out, he made the decision to change his friends. It was the biggest choice he had made in his life to that point.

During Eddie’s sophomore year, at the age of fifteen, he was cut from the school’s football and basketball teams. He made the baseball team as a third string catcher. As the team’s third string catcher, he had the skill to be the starter but he just didn’t have the arm), Eddie led the nation that season in batting average. He got up once, got a single and never went up again that year, so his batting average was a thousand.

Note: Seth to Verify……He played basketball for the Wallingford Boys Club his sophomore year. or he played for coach Bill Nolan ( who is now in the state basketball hall of fame.) on the Lincoln sophomore team?

Having been cut due to limited football experience

Having been cut due to limited football experience, Eddie was then told by a teammate that if you played in the intramurals and did well, they would come get you for the high school team. Eddie dominated the intramurals, yet the coaches never watched him, they took the big lineman and that was it. A couple of times, the head football coach came by intramurals and watch him play, but he didn’t think Eddie was good enough for any position on the team. Eddie never did play high school football.

What he did play that fall was football for the Fremont Boys Club

What he did play that fall was football for the Fremont Boys Club. Eddie was the team captain, the quarterback, and the leading pass receiver (they had a second quarterback – “wildcat”). He did all the kicking, returned punts and kickoff returned punts and kickoffs, and played safety, making the most interceptions. On one play on a quarterback sneak, he ran ninety-five yards and didn’t score. The game was against an undefeated and un-scored-on team. Fremont had the ball on their own two-yard line and were just going to run the clock out to halftime. Eddie saw an opening and started running.

It had been raining the day before, and there was a huge puddle for about fifteen yards in the middle of the field. Eddie ran full speed through the puddle for the end zone, but a track kid was playing defensive back ran around the puddle and tackled Eddie on the three-yard line. The clock ran out for halftime.

Eddie’s team won that game 2-0. I asked Coach Pepple what he could have done to finish the score, and he said, “Run faster than the guy who tackled me.”

Eddie played for three years in this league

Eddie played for three years in this league, and was well known around the league for his versatility and hustle. This made it very hard to stop him as they never knew what was coming.

In the spring Eddie played basketball for the Fremont team. He made this a time to learn and seriously work on his basketball skills. Many times, he played above his teammates’ skill levels. His skill made them better. He realized it was just as much fun to pass the ball to them at the right time. He felt tough going to the floor for a loose ball, though no one would have known that; it was just part of the game to him.              

Note for Seth: was this his Sophomore year? see earlier note.

He started playing baseball at the Fremont Boy’s Club

In the summertime after his sophomore year, he started playing baseball at the Fremont Boy’s Club, which had a huge influence on his life. Eddie made tons of friends there and the team traveled  a few times into Canada. At Lower Woodland Park where they played their home games, there was no fence, so Eddie learned to hit the ball between two outfielders. While they were chasing it, he beat them running around the bases. Eddie was a great catcher, fast with good game control. He led the team in home runs and they won the state championship.

That was a big season, and Eddies mom was at every game cheering him on. He played again the next two years, and then decided baseball wasn’t for him.

Eddie’s stepfather Raymond was a teacher at Bothell High School as well as assistant football coach. He kept trying to get Eddie to go there, as he would be able to start on the basketball team. Eddie told him no, that he wanted to make it at Lincoln.

The varsity team his senior year

Eddie made this a time for learning as he knew coming up, to make the varsity team his senior year, he would have to beat out the current year’s starting guard, who was also a Junior. The first game he got into as a Junior had thirty seconds left on the clock. Eddies Lincoln team scored a quick basket. Eddie faked heading up the court and when the opposing teams player passed the ball in Eddie stole it and made a layup as time was running out. His first J.V. points.

Eddie knew that to make the varsity his ssenior year, he would have to beat out last year’s starting guard, who was also a junior. During the tryouts, Eddie guarded that player for three days and kept him from scoring a basket, stealing the ball from him many times. There were already ten seniors who were making the team, and this was the only spot left. Eddie had been told he wouldn’t make the team because he couldn’t shoot, but his name was one of the first posted in the locker room as a varsity team member. Eddie could hustle and play crushing defense! He knew what he could do and he did it.

In Eddie’s senior year, his stepdad Raymond made the decision to re-enlist in the Army.

In Eddie’s senior year, his stepdad Raymond made the decision to re-enlist in the Army. This meant moving from Seattle to Fort Lewis, just south of Tacoma.

By this time, Eddie had established himself at Lincoln High and was about to become a Varsity starter. He had beaten out the team’s starting guard from the year before to start in his first year. Remember, this was a kid told he wouldn’t make the team because he couldn’t shoot. He was also elected team captain in his senior year. There was no way he was leaving, that was and he told his mom and Raymond. It was hard as he always was there for his mother as she was for him.  Helen appreciated his help. Eddie knew she had always relied on him so they could both survive. Yet, Eddie knew this was what he had to do.

They agreed to let him stay in a boarding house above Wright’s Café on 42^nd and Aurora that was owned by a family friend. He had one room upstairs. They packed him a lunch every day and he ate dinner in the Café, but he had no breakfast.

Eddie enjoyed the freedom and used his time wisely

Eddie enjoyed the freedom and used his time wisely, studying, practicing and playing two-on-two with Elmer as his teammate. There was also time to fit in work. He had many friends and learned their value, as they became his family. He handled the responsibility perfectly.

Eddie and Elmer had a few, shall we say, interesting adventures. Given that they didn’t have much money and they really wanted to do teen things like go to the Puyallup Fair or to a good movie, they would hitchhike to the fair and then at the right time walk in backwards. This worked at the movies too. They had the timing down. Shhhhhhhh.

During the summer between his junior and senior year’s, Eddie and Elmer went to Wenatchee to earn money picking fruit.

One day they were in a malt shop when two local girls their age came in, wearing tennis outfits. Eddie and Elmer told them they would buy lunch if the girls could beat them at tennis. Eddie and Elmer played tennis together in Seattle and had brought their rackets with them. They set up the match for the next day. Simply put, the girls won big. Eddie and Elmer bought and Eddie swore he was going to get better at tennis. He did, and he made the Lincoln team that following year.

Eddie’s senior season was special.

Eddie’s senior season was special. Everything clicked. The team had no regular season losses and carried a number one ranking. Now it was tournament time.

Just before a critical tournament game, during a hard practice, Eddie seriously sprained his ankle. This was a new matter for Eddie to deal with. It had never happened before.

He hobbled to the coaches’ room and knocked on the door. Eddie yelled through the door, “Coach I have a badly sprained ankle.” His coach, Bill Nollan, yelled back twice, in a very loud bothered voice, “Tape it, Tape it.” Eddie limped off.

Eddie watched Coach Nollan’s coaching style, and he told me, “It wasn’t soft and fuzzy.” Eddie decided right then, that was a way he would never be.

The game was against a solid opponent, and the team needed his hustle and leadership. Due to his injury, Eddie knew he went from starting point guard to last guy on the bench. It was a serious sprain.

Ironically, as Eddie walked out of the locker room from the team’s only practice at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, two men came walking by. Click Clark introduced himself as the head trainer here at the U.W. “If anyone needs anything I’m here to help.” Eddie grinned and explained what had happened to his ankle. In a flash it was taped as well as anyone could do it. Eddie now had a professional level of ankle support. He didn’t start that first game, but he got in toward the end of the game.

The state championship game

The next week at the state championship game, he had his ankle taped again by Click Clark, which allowed him to have an excellent game. Sadly, the team lost in overtime and settled for second place. The thing that made this loss a bit easier to accept was that the team was tight, they did things together, they dealt with it as one. Families of different team members would have the team together for a pregame meal or a post-game snack. Many of them were friends outside of school as well.

Eddie was on his own for his senior year, but the kid who “couldn’t shoot” led the Lincoln basketball team to an undefeated season going into the championship game, and that game was their only loss in overtime.

His senior year was the first year he realized that he had the ability to see where everyone was on the floor during a game, no matter how fast things were going. This allowed him to be a floor director as well as finding the open man. Coach Nollan was very organized and made sure the team dressed right; he allowed no sloppiness. It was important to him to keep the equipment in great shape. Even though he didn’t like many ways he was coached, Eddie was impressed by these things and made mental notes.

After the season

After the season, the league held a banquet at the Washington Athletic Club. All the schools in the Metro Conference honored the achievements of their teams and players. Helen was there to see Eddie get his awards as Most Inspirational Player and All-State Honorable Mention. He was sitting with her, and next to her on the other side was the Lincoln basketball and football coach, Bill Nollan, who told her, “Too bad Eddie didn’t try out for the high school football team, he would have been a heck of a player. She said to him “Eddie did try out, you told him he wasn’t good enough to play on the team.”

His decision to stay at Lincoln and work hard with no distractions led to winning the teams Inspirational Award and an All-State Honorable Mention.

There was one exception to Eddie’s drive for perfection.

There was one exception to Eddie’s drive for perfection. (This part is said softly.) Some people aren’t dedicated students. Eddies 2.88 grade point average made him one of them. In high school, GPA to Eddie was nothing more than a ticket to play sports. Yet he would become the only member of his senior team to go on to play at a four-year college.

Eddie didn’t know that a class he had signed up for would present the biggest challenge in all his years in school. This caught his interest; it challenged him.

The history teacher announced on first day of class, “I never give A’s.” The word “never” struck Eddie hard. It wasn’t the academics (remember the 2.88), it was the challenge of “never.”

Eddie did great work and got almost all A’s on the tests. It all boiled down to the last project of the class, which was to give a speech on a topic that they had studied. 

The students carefully prepared notes to use during this final speech. Eddie did his speech without notes. This gained him the first “A” given by Creighton B. Hayes, his teacher, who Eddie always felt dressed like the figure on a bottle of whiskey, an English Sophisticate.

It’s interesting that when Eddie faced a difficult situation it motivated him. In high school, he rose up and did what hadn’t been done. The Culture was being seeded. “A winner says, ‘Let’s find out,’ A loser says “Nobody knows.” When Eddie was faced with an obstacle, he took care of business. Getting his only “A” at Lincoln High in Mr. Hayes class, something that no one had ever done, showed the spirit of the future Coach Pepple.

Eddie’s decision to stay at Lincoln

Eddie’s decision to stay at Lincoln and work very hard with no distractions led to winning the team’s Most Inspirational award and an All-State Honorable Mention. He seemed to rise far, far above the challenges at hand, and successfully left them behind, one hundred percent handled.

In all sports, he was the one you could always find helping his teammates on and off the field.

Eddie played on the tennis team that spring, working his way up to the number six player on a team of eighteen.

As a side note, Eddie ran the fastest 100-yard dash in the school while he was at Lincoln.

With no family members in attendance, Eddie Lee Pepple went thru the graduation ceremony and graduated from Lincoln High School.

Eddie’s College Years 1951-1955.

After Eddie graduated from Lincoln High School, Helen and Raymond made the decision to move to Germany. Raymond had a great offer and they felt it would add some life back into their marriage. So, Eddie planned on going to university in Germany. He had been offered a chance to play for Everett Junior College but turned that down as he was moving.

Eddie moved in with his parents at Ft. Lewis and waited  to leave for overseas.

During that summer he got a job with the Bar Power Company as an assistant linesman, handing up tools and assisting the linesman. After two weeks the boss moved him into the office to help the two clerks doing scheduling and payroll. Coach Pepple told me, “They really liked Coca Cola breaks.” After another two weeks Eddie was doing ninety percent of both their work, and they were taking longer soda breaks. Eddie was getting this work done in half the time as well.

On his days off he liked to play golf and ended up playing with people he didn’t know who were much older than he was. On one of these rounds a guy he was playing with, beat him with only his putter.

A few days before the family was to leave for Germany, visa’s and passport’s ready, bags packed, suddenly Eddie’s dad Raymond finds out he is not going to Germany after all, he is going to Korea. This military station would not allow Eddie to go, so Eddie had to scramble at the age of eighteen.

Eddie was humble when he made the phone call to Everett Junior College

Eddie was humble when he made the phone call to Everett Junior College, knowing he wasn’t going anywhere now and it was the only option he had. He got hold of the coach, John Milroy, and told him that he appreciated the fact that the coach had contacted him earlier. He explained that at that time he planned on going to Germany with his family and then that fell through when his father was sent to Korea. Eddie asked coach Milroy if the offer was still there. Coach Milroy said yes it was. Eddie was so thankful and off he went to Everett. Those days he had no car and had to walk or hitchhike everywhere.

Eddie’s step aunt and uncle lived just above Memorial Stadium in Everett and they agreed to take him in during his first year at Everett Junior College. They had a daughter named Elaine who was a senior at Everett High School and who became a friend of Eddie’s.

Eddie tried out for football and then decided that wasn’t for him.

Eddie tried out for football and then decided that wasn’t for him. He focused on basketball and baseball. It was helpful in his understanding of different techniques, as he had the same coach for baseball and basketball.

Not long after this, Eddie’s step father Raymond left for the Korean War. Less than a month after getting there, Raymond was hit by a bullet in his neck that severed his spinal cord and made him a paraplegic. He was sent to Long Beach Naval Station Hospital, a heavy care hospital. Helen left her job in Seattle and went there with her two little kids, Gary and Mary, to be with Raymond.

After being there for a few months, they realized it wasn’t working and decided upon a divorce. Raymond had been Eddie’s father from age six until age eighteen. Eddie learned a lot from Raymond. Raymond had inspired Eddie’s interest in teaching.

Eddie was forced to testify in the divorce. This upset his step aunt and uncle where he lived and they made him move out. It was the summer between his first and second year at Everett College. He had no money or place to live. A friend of Eddie’s let him stay on his couch.

This all hit Eddie hard, yet he stayed focused on the decision he had made, that at this point in his life he had to work hard to get good grades, which was something he didn’t do in high school with that 2.88 grade point average. He was determined to take care of business at college, study and be proud of his education, and that’s exactly what happened.

The first class he took was a class called career planning and it was primarily tests for attitude and aptitude, what skills one had and whatever else was needed to place you where you were the strongest. He scored in the ninety-ninth percentile in clerical so they immediately suggested he go into accounting. He spent the rest of his time taking classes with an emphasis on accounting and got straight A’s.

Eddie was always interested in beautiful girls

Eddie was always interested in beautiful girls. On one occasion he asked his cousin Elaine if she could set him up with one of her attractive friends, and she said she had the perfect girl. Eddie said “well fix me up with her.” Elaine fixed him up with Colleen Balou. She was cute and nice and they had fun, but she wasn’t girlfriend material for Eddie.

Eddie noticed a high school senior at Everett High named Shirley Anderson

Eddie noticed a high school senior at Everett High named Shirley Anderson, but she was going out with the senior class president, a handsome guy whose family had money and she seemed happy with him. At the time Eddie didn’t try to get involved at all with Shirley, though that’s who he really wanted to date. Instead, he just spent his spare time getting ready for basketball season.

Eddie’s first basketball season started, and in his first two games he stunk it up, he played horribly. The third game against Weber Junior College (that war ranked sixth in the nation and eventually became Weber State University) was different for him.

Eddie came off the bench in that game and went thirteen for sixteen from the floor, scoring twenty-seven points. The next day he got his picture in the Everett Herald as the “spark plug” who helped the team upset the sixth ranked school in the country.

After that game Eddie figured right now is when to make his move—he was a celebrity! He called Shirley and asked her if she would be interested in going to the next game. Shirley said OK as she was no longer dating the class president. Everett was playing Los Angeles City College, also nationally ranked, who eventually became Los Angeles State University. Eddie had a good, not great, game, though he saved two balls from going out of bounds, sending them back to a teammate.

After the game Eddie took Shirley (“took” meant walked together as Eddie didn’t have a car.) out for a hamburger at  “Top of the Hill Burgers” and then they walked to her house. When they got to her house, Shirley’s brother Gary asked her “how it felt to go out with a celebrity.” There was no hand holding nor a good night kiss that evening. After “goodnights,” Eddie left for the long walk home. Thus, started an amazing love story.

Eddie and Shirley dated from that point on

Eddie and Shirley dated from that point on. Eddie walked the long way to Shirley’s house, then the two of them walked where they were going.

Shirley was the homecoming queen in 1951, on the dance team, and very active at Everett High School.

At Everett Junior College, Eddie averaged eight points a game and was the team’s top defensive player. He also made a point to attend many basketball clinics during his two years at Everett Junior College, even though he only played one year of basketball there.

In the spring of 1951, Eddie played center field for the baseball team at Everett Junior College. The basketball season had just ended and to Eddie’s delight, baseball season was here. He played center field his freshman year for the Everett Varsity baseball team, which won the Washington State Championship that year. That team was the only team in Everett Junior College’s history to win the state championship. (Oh, and Ed’s now in the Everett Community College Hall of Fame. For BASEBALL!)

In 1952, Eddie went to work during his sophomore year because his family “got a divorce “and he had no money. He couldn’t play basketball at Everett Junior College because of his work schedule at Falsted-Nash, where amoungst other things, he swept floors and after two weeks was promoted to the parts department.

While working there he got some good hints from another employee named Jack Nickels, who took a liking to Eddie and taught him about shooting a basketball with lots of encouragement. Jack had been a center for the University of Washington Huskies, then played for the Boston Celtics. After that he became a car salesman at Falsted – Nash. Jack took Eddie to the Elks club during lunch time and they shot baskets. He was one of Eddie’s mentors along the way.

It had been very hard to tell Athletic Director Walt Price, whom he respected and, as Eddie would see later, respected him back, that he was not going to play basketball his sophomore year. Walt Price was upset because he knew what this meant to the team, as Eddie was a key element to the team’s success. That year the basketball program at Everett Junior College went into the tank, with some of the players leaving because they didn’t want to be coached by the football coach who replaced Coach Milroy. Some would also say it was because of Eddie leaving. His smile, his ability to make everyone happy and care about each other, then dig in and show the example of giving everything was an impossible hole to fill.

Eddie couldn’t play basketball at Everett Junior College

Eddie couldn’t play basketball at Everett Junior College due to his job schedule his second year. Because basketball was his driving force,  what did he do? 

He developed his own basketball team to play when he could.

He developed his own basketball team to play when he could. As a nineteen-year-old sophomore, Eddie applied and got the team he had put together, into the Snoqualmie League, a mixed league consisting of many types of teams.

He knew he needed a sponsor to help him get uniforms. He remembered that his friend Larry Paget’s girlfriend’s dad was the owner of a pharmacy called Wahl’s Pharmacy. Eddie set up a meeting with him and asked if he would be interested in sponsoring the team. He agreed to do it and Eddie became a team owner, general manager and captain, as well as the leading scorer, averaging twenty points per game on his Wahl’s Pharmacy team.

The Wahl’s Pharmacy team played all over Whatcom and Snohomish counties. The Snoqualmie League was comprised of teams made up of former college players, older guys who had lots of basketball left, and town teams. This is when Eddie became a fairly good basketball shooter.

One of the games they played was at the Monroe State Reformatory.

One of the games they played was at the Monroe State Reformatory. During the game one of the inmates yelled “Hey Eddie you better win this game because I have 150 cigarettes on your team.” It turned out to be one of the three guys he was with who had stolen that one time, years ago, when he was a teen, from Nordstrom-Best. This confirmed his decision to remove himself from those guys because he didn’t want to be involved with stealing and all that they represented.

During this time at Everett Junior College, Eddie was the sports editor of the school paper and the president of the sophomore class.

Now enter Walt Price who came back into Eddie’s life and became one of his benefactors. Walt was the reason Eddie got a three-year scholarship at the University of Utah. Without him it wouldn’t have happened. This intrigued Eddie as he had quit on the basketball team a year earlier and it had angered Walt Price.

Walt Price came to Eddie, after barely speaking to him all winter, and said that his brother was best friends with the coach of the University of Utah and they had a great freshman team, and in those days, freshman couldn’t play varsity. He went on to say that they had no point guard and were looking for a point guard in junior college who would fit the bill.  Walt asked Eddie if he would be interested in talking to the coach of the University of Utah? Eddie responded, “Let me consider my options…YES”.

Walt Price made the call and told Coach Peterson…

Walt Price made the call and told Coach Peterson that “there’s this skinny little dude who has his own team and he might be the guy you need.”  Coach Peterson asked Walt to please set up a meeting with Eddie. The meeting was set up for March.

March of 1952 rolled around and the Final Four that year was in Seattle at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, University of Washington. Walt offered Eddie two tickets to watch the games and talk to Coach Peterson. Eddie thought “what do I have to lose? At the worst I get to go see the Final Four in premier seats.” This was where the meeting was set up so the two could discuss Eddie’s playing for Utah.

The time came and as Eddie walked up to Coach Peterson, the head coach at University of Utah, he said to himself “as soon as he looks at me at 5’9”, 160 pounds he’s gonna laugh and that will be the end of it.” Then he thought so what, I’ll give it my best shot.

The coach walked up to Eddie and as Coach Pepple said many years later, “His looks reminded me of a picture of the guard off the Yale University football team, with a leather helmet, square jaw, cleft in his chin, and built like the great wall of China.”

Coach Peterson asked Eddie straight up, “Would you consider playing for the University of Utah?” Eddie thought once again, “let me consider my options,” and quickly answered “Yes I would like to play for you at Utah.”
 

After talking together for a while, Coach Peterson said he’d have Pete Couch, an assistant coach at Utah, call Eddie and make all the plans with him. Then Eddie went one way and Coach Peterson another.

Eddie was offered a full scholarship without Utah’s head coach

ever seeing him play, never seeing any tape, based solely on Walt Price’s word. Walt Price knew Eddie’s character and skill level, and that’s why he referred him to Utah. Many years later the physical education facility at Everett Junior College was named after Walt Price, and Coach Pepple was part of the committee that put his name on it.

The summer after his sophomore year at Everett, Eddie worked at two jobs, one for Everett Plywood and the other for the Everett Boy’s Club. During this time, he and Shirley dated often. They didn’t have to walk anymore because Eddie had purchased a 1948 two-tone Pontiac hatchback with an automatic transmission for eight hundred and fifty dollars.

Eddie worked at Everett Plywood from 11:30 pm to 7:30 am. Working the graveyard shift included creating plywood, grading lumber and doing any other miscellaneous job he was asked to do. After clocking out for Everett Plywood, he

went to his other job at the Everett Boy’s Club from 11:30 am until 7:30 pm. He would eat and sleep between 7:30 pm and 11:00 pm then head back to work.

He enjoyed working at the Boy’s Club. Most of his time was spent coaching kids. When Eddie coached kids, there was a certain satisfaction he got that came from nowhere else. They made him feel joy and brought his smile out constantly.

The time came for Eddie to go off to college at the University of Utah.

Finally, the time came for Eddie to go off to college at the University of Utah. He sent all the money he had saved to a bank in Salt Lake City and used all the change in his piggy bank to make the trip. Eddie said goodbye to Shirley and his friends, then headed off for California to visit his mother Helen, who had remarried and now lived there. This trip entailed two overnights in the car at golf courses on the way to her house from Everett.

Eddie spent a couple of days with his mother and his new stepfather, then hit the road to visit Raymond Pepple, who lived in Long Beach.

Raymond, confined to a wheel chair from his war wound, had been teaching and was a Boy Scout leader in Long Beach.

After a short, pleasant visit with Raymond he was off to Utah in his 1948 Plymouth Club Coupe with no back seat. (Eddie had decided to sell his other car, as it was an automatic and burned too much gas.)

Another night in the car at a golf course and a long drive saw Eddie arrive in Salt Lake City in the early evening. He had about ten dollars in nickels and dimes out of his piggy bank left. He found a cheap motel. Then, with the three dollars he had left, he went and got a good Chinese meal. (He actually had fifty cents left after that meal.)

Eddie went back to his motel and slept for fourteen hours before checking out and heading to the university.

When he arrived at the University of Utah, he went into the building that coach Couch had directed him to in their last phone call. Eddie introduced himself to the person registering students, “I’m Eddie Pepple and I’m here to register.”

“Welcome, you’re a Ute.”

Eddie had actually only talked to Coach Peterson that one time when they met in Seattle and Coach Pete Couch twice so this was all new. He had received his school packet in the mail and now here he was at twenty ready to go, registered. The gal asked Eddie to wait a minute while they got someone to take him to the dorm.

“Hey, Eddie Pepple.”

As Eddie turned around a tall student came up to him and introduced himself as Bob Fulton, a 6’5” member of the basketball team (he also was a high jumper on the track team). Bob was from Idaho, a Mormon, and a perfect fit for Eddie. Like Eddie, Bob was a happy-go-lucky guy; he took Eddie under his wing and showed him the ropes at the University of Utah. The two became great friends and would spend a lot of time together during college.

They walked to the dorm, which had been an old fort at the base of the mountains. The building had one aisle down the middle and three wings: a freshman football wing, a basketball wing, and a varsity football wing. It had a large cafeteria where all the students from the dorm ate. The social life was perfect for him. The team was a tight group. All of this made Eddie very happy.

Eddie showed up for his first practice, it was actually just open gym

When Eddie showed up for his first practice it was actually just open gym. There were twenty-five guys there and after he played for a bit he thought he’d be lucky to ever get into a game. These guys were really good. Slowly, though, they started falling away and he just kept doing whatever it took to learn his position. From the moment Eddie met the team, there was a bond. As we will see as this story goes on, he had that effect everywhere he went.

That  sophomore season starts, his first at the University of Utah, and Eddie became the backup guard to the two senior guards who were the scorers. They were 6’2” and 6’3”, but neither one could play defense. Coach Vadal Peterson (who is the first coach to win both the NCAA and NIT) had a plan for Eddie. Coach Peterson knew by that time that  Eddie was a vocal leader on the court and the team’s top defensive player. It was just a matter of time before Eddie became an important part of the playing team.

He also was an important part of the fun team and enjoyed, like many other college kids, little pranks like going over to the BYU campus and watching as his teammates painted a “U” in the middle of the BYU sign.

Another time they said to him “come on Eddie it’s OK,” getting him to sneak into the cafeteria and be the watchout as they went into the freezer and grabbed a three-gallon tub of ice cream, bowls and spoons and then back to the dorm rooms for a team ice cream feast.

Utah’s first game that season was against the University of Washington

Utah’s first game that season was against the University of Washington, in Seattle. As they were warming up, Eddie found out that his high school coach was doing the radio analysis for the game.

As Eddie went through the drill and his old coach recognized him, his face went into shock. There was Eddie, the kid he told was the worst shooter he’d ever coached, playing for a great Division One team. Eddie didn’t say anything to him. What was there to say?

During that first game against the University of Washington, the Huskies guard, Joe Cipriano, lighted up both of Utah’s guards and the coach sent Eddie into the game in the first quarter. Eddie shut Cipriano down and stayed in, playing the rest of the game.

The second game also was against the University of Washington, who that year was the sixth best team in the nation. In those days they played two games

against the same team when they went on long trips. Eddie got to start and didn’t play well, so in the middle of the first quarter the coach took him out of the game.

Then the team was off to California and Eddie came in off the bench and played great. He started again the next night and didn’t play well so he was taken out again and didn’t play the rest of the game. Most of the year followed a similar pattern. He would come in off the bench, play great, then start the next game and not play well. This seemed to go on throughout all of his first season.

During one game against the University of New Mexico, he scored seventeen points, which was unusual for Eddie. His forte was defense and assists so it was memorable to have that type of scoring night.

There were many highlight games for Eddie

There were many highlight games for Eddie: one game for diving to the floor four times to make great ball saves, one game stripping the ball from the other team’s scorer three times as he tried to score. Eddie was everywhere, focused, learning. He realized he could not out-rebound the tall guys, so he waited for them to get the rebound and bring it down, then he stole it. Eddie was determined to box guys out so they couldn’t get the ball. His mind locked on, “My guy isn’t getting the ball.”

There were also a few highlight moments off the court. One time on a stopover at the train station in Boise, before they played the University of Montana, an older lady saw them, walked over and said “Are you boys a team?” One of Eddie’s teammates said “We are a rowing crew.” He then pointed to Eddie and said “He’s our coxswain.”

Eddie decided he wanted to coach kids’ basketball

Eddie decided he wanted to coach kids’ basketball in the fall quarter of his sophomore year at Utah. He found a book about coaching as a practical experience and reading it really set the hook. He changed his major to education, though he was told by a counselor he needed to teach Physical Education. He also drove the campus bus during his junior and senior years at Utah to earn money.

Six weeks each summer between his sophomore and junior years and his junior and senior years, Eddie went to Marine boot camp at Quantico. Being a Marine was an obvious choice. They were the best. You had to be physically tough and mentally strong to be a Marine. They challenged a man in a whole new manner, there was no nice. If you screwed up it was brutal. Eddie didn’t want them to know his name, he just wanted to blend in and get the job done right.

When bootcamp was over, Eddie headed back to Seattle where he would date Shirley and work the rest of the summer. He played semi-pro baseball for the Cheney Studs in the summer too. At the end of summer, he headed back to Utah for college studies and basketball. It was interesting that he played in college against some of his future teammates on the Marine team.

Ritually Eddie and Shirley broke up when he was off at school and then got back together in the summer. They were apart from December 1953 until July of 1954, during which time they didn’t communicate at all. Shirley sent Eddie a birthday card that July and things were back to normal between the two.

An article in the Everett, Washington paper about Eddie

During his junior year, in January of 1954, there was an article in the Everett, Washington paper about Eddie. It said, “From Salt Lake City comes word that former Everett Junior College athlete Eddie Pepple is having a great season with the University of Utah.” It went on to say, “A small player with a giant’s desire and pep, had taken on the nickname “Pepper Pepple” because of his abundance of hustle and drive (his teammates at Utah called him “the little bear”).

The article continued, “A speed merchant performing with fiery determination, Pepple is right at home under Utah coach Jack Gardner’s fast break style of play.” “He stands only 5’6” (Eddie was actually 5’9”) not very big for a major college basketball performer.” “What Eddie lacks in size he makes up for with his hustle, blistering speed and shooting ability.” Eddie was considered one of the top ranking “ball hawks” in the conference. This led to Coach Gardner assigning him to guard the “speed demons” on the other teams. Eddie Pepple was the team’s top defender and scored a few points too.

Bucky Buckwalter told me that Eddie learned from his junior and senior year coach at Utah how to organize practices and game plans. “Coach Gardener (a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame) was one of the most organized men in athletics, every minute of every practice was jotted down. He knew exactly what he was going to say and what they were going to do and how much time they would spend on each drill. And while Eddie was organized in this way, I’m sure that he learned an awful lot from this organization.”

At the end of the year, Coach Gardner came out with a yearbook that included almost every word that was spoken, every game broken down, all the statistics that were important to the success of the tea.  According to Coach Gardner, that was so people can look at it and tell exactly how the season had gone.  “Eddie incorporated an awful lot of that stuff.”

Eddie did this in a meticulous manner. For some reason, this particular part of his college experience was something Eddie took note of and stored away well.

Coach Gardner drew four or five solid transfers to the University of Utah during Eddie’s junior year, which made the competition tougher. Eddie did his thing and started, as well as being chosen captain.

Eddie was the smallest player on the Utah team.

Eddie was the smallest player on the Utah team. He was the smallest player on all the teams they played his junior year. On February 3, 1954, it was at a game against the University of Hawaii, during warmups, when Eddie looked over, did a double take, then went over to say hello and have his picture taken with Hawaii’s two guards. His teammates chuckled and Eddie had the biggest grin on his face as both the Hawaii guards were shorter than he was.

It was always smiles, happy times and hard work with Eddie. He managed his classes and did well academically. His mind during these days was focused on three things: Shirley, basketball and in the summers add the Marines for those six weeks.

Eddie headed for Quantico to finish basic training between his junior and senior years at Utah.

The last week of basic training, the summer before his senior year, Eddie faced the toughest challenge he ever had. They call it the crucible. It was fifty-four hours of combat training, food and sleep deprivation, with a need to be a team. Each Marine provided encouragement for their brother Marines. Eddie was good at this.

As soon as it was over, Eddie went back to Everett to see Shirley and work for the rest of the summer. That summer Eddie worked for the Everett Paving Company paving the road from Everett to Lynnwood. The rest of Eddie’s summer flew by. He worked hard and spent wonderful, joyous time with Shirley. 

September came fast and it was time for Eddie to go back to school. As before, it was hard leaving Shirley. This time, his senior year had enough draw to distract him a bit.

Eddie was to go home and see Shirley

A month later, October of 1954, the draw for Eddie was to go home and see Shirley. He was finally sure it was the right time. Coach Pepple told me “he knew it was going to happen.” Eddie was waiting for when, and when was now he decided.

Eddie had sold his car as he really didn’t need it at school. He borrowed a friend’s car and drove home to Seattle (Yes, sleeping at golf courses in his car).

Once he arrived in Seattle on October 23, he immediately headed down to Pier 91 on the Seattle waterfront, where Shirley was working for the Navy. Eddie picked her up and they went to dinner at Spud’s Fish and Chips near Green Lake. Afterwards they drove to the south parking lot of the Woodland Park Zoo around 10:00 pm to talk.

Eddie asked Shirley to marry him

Eddie asked Shirley to marry him and then spend the next four hours convincing her.

One big sticking point was religion. Shirley had been raised a Catholic and her family was very focused that way. Eddie explained to her how he was amiable to accepting that religion and that it shouldn’t be a problem. Eddie worked on convincing Shirley that she should marry him and finally she said yes.

They decided to tell their parents, right then at 2:30 am. She woke them up and told them she was going to get married, and according to Coach Pepple her dad rolled over and asked to whom? She said “Eddie,” then she looked at Eddie and smiled.

It was quiet for a second and Shirley said “Eddie and I are getting married.” And that was that. They were totally shocked, but they didn’t say no.

Shirley’s parents  knew what Eddie had gone through and how hard he had worked. Eddie had been a perfect example of what they wanted as a husband for Shirley. On the negative side, he wasn’t a Catholic. On the positive side, Eddie was always respectful to them.

Shirley’s dad worked forty-seven years as a foreman for Weyerhaeuser. He was a meat-and-potatoes, down-to-earth blue-collar worker. Shirley’s mother was petite, Italian and according to Coach Pepple “just the sweetest gal ever, just like Shirley.”

They decided to get married after his senior year basketball season ended

During Eddie’s senior year the University of Utah team won the conference championship with a 24-4 record and went on to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in Corvallis, Oregon.  Ironically, his last game was against Seattle University with Utah winning 108 – 85, at that time an NCAA scoring record.

At the sweet sixteen in Corvallis, Oregon, Utah lost to a University of San Francisco team featuring Future Hall of Famers Bill Russell and Casey Jones, who went on to win the NCAA Championship that year. The final rankings after the NCAA had Utah ranked at number six.

At the end of the season Eddie was an all-conference second team player and a three-year letterman. He was also given the team Most Inspirational Award. That year, the kid who “couldn’t shoot” led the basketball team to an undefeated season going into the championship, which they won, advancing to the NCAA Tournament.

The following part of Eddie’s story, the part about what he was like as a teammate and friend is best told by Coach Bucky Buckwalter, his teammate and close friend at the University of Utah and later his best man. Eddie was a junior and Bucky was a freshman.

Coach Bucky Buckwalter (as he is called today) went on to reach amazing heights in basketball. He led the University of Utah to two NCAA tournaments. Then he served as an assistant coach at Utah before becoming  the head coach at Seattle University. After that Coach Buckwalter joined the staff of the Seattle Super Sonics NBA team and the next year when the coach was fired became the interim head coach of the team. In 1978 he became an assistant coach and scout for Jack Ramsey with the Portland Trailblazers of the NBA. He was considered the architect of the fast-breaking Portland teams, finding the players that fit that profile. He helped them to the NBA finals in 1990 and 1992, then rose from assistant coach to Vice President for Basketball Operations. He was named the NBA’s executive of the year by the Sporting News.

During one conversation with Coach Buckwalter I asked him what Eddie was like as a friend.

“Eddie was very evenhanded; he was a little bit older and we thought wiser than us, with a great sense of humor and everyone liked being around him. He had one of the greatest laughs.”

“We’d go out and everyone would be laughing at the stories he would tell; Eddie was a great joke teller. He was a good teammate too; during that time freshman weren’t eligible to play on the varsity. He was on the varsity and I was on the freshman team.”

“The freshman would have practice first and then watch the varsity. It was always interesting to watch the rest of the varsity players, many of whom didn’t know Eddie.”

“After a while they would gather around him and listen to him. He would listen to the other players and learn; Eddie wasn’t the guy that would get in your face right away. If it was time it happened. Once he figured out what the team needed and what the rest of the personalities were, he became a great leader and a guy that the rest of them wanted to come to listen to.”

“It was interesting to watch that leadership develop the six weeks of practice time before the season started. By the time the games started he had become the focal guy on the court as well as the bench. Eddie was an important part of the team.”

Coach Buckwalter, how was Eddie in the locker room as a teammate?

“He was a very competitive guy and is still, that’s why he made a good Marine, very competitive and when it was time to be serious, he was very serious but when it was time to kid around afterwards, he was the leader of it.”

“Eddie wanted to win and he was willing to do what it took to learn to play his position and to help out in order to make the team better, to help it win.”

“He took losses hard and yet learned from them; I think that’s a first step in his coaching from then on. It’s not good to lose but worse to not learn from a loss. Ed always thought that to analyze the game, after the game was an important part of game day.”

“After the game you would always sit down with Eddie and analyze and look at what was done right and what to do to improve and he was always very insightful about it and very even handed about it. Eddie was insightful and he was supportive of the other players and yet any criticism would be in order to help the player become a better player.”

“He had decided he wanted to be a coach and I could see him learning as he practiced and played.”

When I mentioned Coach Pepple’s culture to Bucky he responded without hesitation.

“That’s interesting that you mentioned the term culture, before it became a buzzword. Eddie recognized that, and would verbalize attitude about the team with the team and attitude about it. And what he was really talking about was “a culture.” It was an important thing to him. And you talked about it, and you created the culture by discussing it in detail, you know, when you’re a college student, or even high school student, everything is questioned, but you run through it. That wasn’t Eddie; he wanted to run through it and make sure you understood what he was saying and what was important.

And that took time to develop that kind of a culture around the University of Utah basketball team, but he found that time, and was effective at doing that. I can see it that carried over to his future coaching.”

This Ute team was a very easy-going team, relaxed and confident. When it was game time, however, this team was serious. That year Utah was ranked sixth in nation. Utah beat Lasalle at Madison Square Garden when Lasalle was number one in the nation; three days later they lost to Kentucky who at that time was ranked number one in the nation.

Eddie Lee Pepple married Shirley Beth Anderson.

On March 23, 1955, a Wednesday in the spring of Eddie’s senior year at Utah, Eddie Lee Pepple married Shirley Beth Anderson. Eddie had just finished playing in the NCAA’s. Shirley had to pay for the marriage license as Eddie didn’t have the money.

They spent their honeymoon night at the Siesta Motel on Aurora Avenue in Seattle, the second night in Factoria, near Bellevue, then off in a friend’s car that Eddie borrowed, packed with all her things, including forty-two pairs of shoes and their wedding gifts, on the drive to Salt Lake City, Utah. They arrived on Sunday and rented an apartment Monday near the Mormon Tabernacle.

Eddie finished the last few months of his senior year at Utah and received his degree with a high-grade point average. Shirley got a government job and supported them until he graduated after his final quarter and was commissioned into the Marine Corps.

With a car given as a present from his new stepfather (Helen’s third husband), Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Pepple headed off for Quantico and his OCS in the Marines. Oh, they found out when they got there that they had to make the car payments.

Going into the Marines was something  Eddie was excited to do.

Going into the Marines was something  Eddie was excited to do.He knew that they were the ultimate team and he wanted some of the challenges it brought.

Eddie had decided that the best way through the Marines was to have no screw ups, to not be gung-ho, and most importantly to have no one know his name (this was Eddie’s theme). The one failure he had in the Marines was to have no one know his name. Most of them did because they saw a Marine brother who worked harder than hard, who never quit, who had their backs as well as making them a bit happier when it was the time for that. Oh, and an all-Marine Corps National Basketball Championship team leader.

In July of 1955, after his graduation from the University of Utah, in a car given to them as a wedding present (they learned later that they were responsible for the payments) Eddie and Shirley Pepple headed off for Quantico in June of 1956.

Eddie would become a commissioned as an officer into the United States Marine Corp: chest out proud.

They drove on I-90 to Chicago, then to Milwaukie and Detroit on the way to Quantico. After Detroit they had their official honeymoon in Niagara Falls before Eddie reported for duty to Marine Officer Training School at Quantico.

Officer Training School lasted for six weeks. There Eddie and his fellow Marines worked on physical training. They learned small unit leadership skills, basic infantry tactics, along with all the physical skills needed to be a Marine officer. He also went through significant academic instruction, including an advanced course of indoctrination. This all rolled at a faster rate and with more instructor-induced stress than boot camp.

When it was over, he was Second Lieutenant Eddie Pepple.

He spent the balance of his first year of service there. Shirley and Eddie lived in a one room apartment above a drugstore to start, then moved to Woodbridge, Virginia and finally Fredericksburg, Virginia, before that year on the East coast was done. On February 6, 1956, Shirley and Eddie had their first child, Terry.

Eddie’s first assignment at Quantico

Eddie’s first assignment at Quantico was to manage the mess hall. He did this well, yet he never took his focus off of the basketball he found there.

The basketball life at Quantico was special.

The basketball life at Quantico was special. The team there was made up of university graduate and some very good basketball players. The team was comprised of all officers. Eddie tried out for the team and made it. The team had two All-American guards that were starting guards and Eddie was the third/fourth guard. A buddy of Eddie’s from Utah State and he rotated as the third and  fourth guards. The team’s best player, Richie Gerund, played for the NBA Atlanta Hawks.

The team did really well, but Eddie wasn’t playing that much, so he  went to the coach and said, “Major, I’m not playing much so is there anything I can do to help you and learn from you?” He said yes, you can be my advance scout.

Eddie went to every venue and watched the Marine team’s next opponent and then gave the coach a scouting report. Then when the team got there to play, Eddie got more solid minutes playing, as he knew the other team from his scouting. He traveled to scout in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, North Carolina, Washington D.C. and South Carolina. After becoming a scout, his mess hall duties were reduced.

Eddie’s Quantico team was so good that after they won the All-Marine Corps Championship the team was broken up and no more than two players could go to any base. Oh, by the way, the year they won the Championship they made Eddie team captain at the start of the season.

After that Marine season was over in 1956, they had the United States Olympic tryouts. Four players off that Championship team were sent to try out for the Olympic team.

National AAU Tournament was bigger than the NBA.

In those days the National AAU Tournament was bigger than the NBA. So, all the diverse teams that made up the AAU wanted to be in the Championship Tournament and win the AAU National Championship.

An all-Marine Corps team was formed to play in the national AAU League and hopefully the National Tournament. Eddie was the captain of that team. After league play and making it to the National Tournament, Eddie’s all-Marine Corp team did OK there but were ultimately eliminated. On that team Eddie’s teammate Art Bunty, who was an All-American, decided to make a career out of playing AAU basketball; that’s how big it was at the time. Eddie had a good time in AAU league play and at the National Tournament. He had a better time with his AAU experience than the guys who went to the Olympic tryouts. None of the four guys from Quantico made the Olympic team and that was it for them.

The year came to an end at Quantico and after fulfilling his Marine duties there in the motor transport group, in June of 1956, he was transferred to Camp Pendleton, California with another player off the Championship team at Quantico.

Eddie drove to California while Shirley and Terry flew there. Along the way in Peoria, Illinois, Eddie was tired of driving so he stopped and played a round of golf, where he shot a seventy-nine. He had never broken ninety before.

Shirley and Terry arrived in California and stayed with Eddie’s mom Helen in San Diego until he got there. The three Pepples moved to an apartment in San Clemente, California.

He got to Pendleton and as soon as he got there, he was assigned to the fifth Marine Corps battalion, an engineering battalion, as a motor transport officer.

The Pepple family got an apartment in San Clemente close to Camp Pelayo, a part of the Camp Pendleton complex, where his duty was.

Eddie found out there was no basketball team at Pendleton

Eddie found out there was no basketball team at Pendleton, and yet it was one of the Marine Corps’ biggest bases. He drove to Oceanside to talk to an officer in special services. He told him he had played on the All-Marine Corps championship team and they sent them here so they couldn’t compete with Quantico (He knew there was no proof, but a coincidence, hmmmmm).

Eddie said that every other base had a team. The special services officer told him that this base didn’t have a facility, so Eddie asked if he could find a facility could he put a team together for the base. The officer said yes to him. Eddie went to the Oceanside Parks and Recs Department, which had a beautiful gym fifty yards from the beach. He negotiated with them and they agreed to let him use the gym for the team.  So, he and the base had a team.

The team was half officers and half enlisted. He was the coach, captain and the general manager and did all the scheduling for the games. They went to play in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Northern Arizona, freshman teams at the University of Utah, at Viola and Chapman College. Everything went perfectly. During one game for the Pendleton team, he took himself out as he had scored twenty points in the first quarter. He felt he was too dominating and wanted his teammates to get some too. They had a very successful year and it worked out great for all the players and the base.

Being in charge of basketball as he was allowed Eddie to spent more time with his family, which was his priority in life.

Once the season was over, he was sent back to Camp Pelayo

Once the season was over, he was sent back to Camp Pelayo. That was in late March and that’s when the family moved to Oceanside.

Now that basketball was over, Eddie’s thinking baseball, but there is no baseball diamond for a team to play on, so he goes back to special services and asks about having a baseball team.

The officer he is talking to tells him that they don’t have a baseball diamond. Eddie tells the special services officer that they are an engineering battalion, and that without a whole lot of effort they can make one. He said “Go ahead” and they did. Eddie was the captain and the coach and center fielder of the Pendleton baseball team.

This was the end of the days Eddie played organized team sports. In all the years he played, on all the teams he played on, Eddie Lee Pepple was either the Captain or the team’s Most Inspirational Player.

After Marines thru Fife High School (1957 – 1963)

Eddie was at Pendleton until June of 1957, when he completed his tour of duty, which included invading the coast of California in a major amphibious training exercise with the Navy.

He and Shirley were ready to get back to Washington. So, they left the Marines behind and Eddie, Shirley and Terry drove north to Seattle excited to get back and set up a home with Terry.

Eddie had applied at two schools for the head basketball coaching job.

Eddie had applied at two schools for the head basketball coaching job. Fife High School and Montesano High School. Eddie wanted to be a teacher as well as a head coach, the schools also wanted a teacher who could be the head coach.

Monsanto High School needed a history teacher, so Eddie told them that summer he was going to get his credentials finished off that summer at the University of Washington in History so he could teach it.

Fife High School needed an English teacher so Eddie said he was going to get his credentials finished off that summer at the University of Washington in English so he could teach it.

Eddie took the Fife job

Eddie took the Fife job at 11:00am and the same day at 1:34 Montesano called and offered him the job. Eddie had to tell them he was going to Fife High School. It was the spring of 1957.

So that’s where he started out. And the way he started out was teaching English, being the cheerleader advisor, the freshman class advisor. Ed coached tennis because they knew he played tennis in High School. Coach Pepple’s contract for basketball was $500. The teaching contract was $5,000 for the year and for coaching tennis from March until June, $75. Coaching junior varsity in the morning, and varsity in the afternoon, plus all the traveling games.

This is when Eddie Pepple became Ed Pepple.

This is when Eddie Pepple became Ed Pepple. He also became Coach Pepple and to his great pride as a teacher, Mr. Pepple.

Mr. Pepple, as a teacher, was a good one. His students loved him. We all had a teacher like that. A teacher whose class was one students looked forward to going to. Talked about with their friend who wished they taken his class.

One Friday during class Mr. Pepple gave a very difficult assignment for the students to do over the weekend. There was a collective moan from the class. Mr.

Pepple with at first a serious look, slowly turning into a smile said. “Now if we win the game tonight, no assignment.”

There was never a reason given to me for this, Coach Pepple told me this when I asked him when people started calling him Ed. So it is.

Summer of 1958 Ed went to work for the Mayor of Fife

“Summer of 1958 Ed went to work for the Mayor of Fife, Joe Vraves. He was a special person in Ed’s life He epitomized the use of common sense, service to the community and how to treat people. Joe Vraves was a mentor and a friend”

Fife Pre Game Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup.   Then got sick.

AT FIFE HIGH SCHOOL ED PLAYED MUSIC DURING PRACTICE THAT WAS CONTEMPORARY.

Jill May 29,1958 and Jody 12/11 1960 born while there.

“Fife High School basketball hadn’t been to the state Tournament since 1931 and they were something like 1-19 the previous year to Coach Pepple’s start. The team he inherited didn’t have much talent. That did not matter, Ed was young and bright eyed and bushy tailed, fresh out of the Marines.”

That first season, as he expected was Ed’s toughest. It was his first time coaching a High School team. The team was small and had a lot of injuries. Coach Pepple was a disciplinarian and the team wasn’t used to that, they had spent a lot of time messing around. “Finally, the team starting buying into the idea that we can do okay. That it’s tough when the coach is not going to accept losing. That everything       was a learning experience. Coach asked the team after a loss, “So were you happy with that?” “Okay, now, what do we have to do?” He always involved them in the decision making.

With many of the starters hurt, coach Pepple had a chance to play many of the younger players who were hungry to play. This gave him a chance to see what the next season would bring. That first season ended 6-15, yet even though the record was six and 15, they understood what had to be done to win.

Coach Pepple taught the team that just because a team was rated number one or two or three in the league, that did not mean Fife couldn’t play with them.

At the same time the Pepple’s had a new baby with health problems.

The tennis team had some excellent and coachable ladies but no guys interested in it. So, he went out and recruited enough guys to play so he could enter tournaments and league play. Fife won many meets thanks to the girls team.

Oh, the guys who did turn out lost a bunch. Yet you know what? They had the best time, traveling to meets. Practicing with Coach Pepple. Learning how to work hard and support your team. Laughing at his humor. (Oh, and they got to be around girls) These young athletes had a chance to be one of the first group to have their lives changed by Coach Pepple.

Ed got a police escort from a game at Yelm, which he had to leave at halftime, rushing to Tacoma General with the fear his baby, Jody, would not live.ospitalassas

That year the team had five more wins than the previous season and each season the Fife High School team got better under Coach Pepple. They got to the state tournament the third year and finished fourth there.

Ed’s record at Fife High School looked like this:

1958               6-15

1959               6-13

1960               11-10

1961               14-8*

1962               14-5

1963               15-3              

*Fourth in the State and the first State Tournament appearance for Fife High School since 1931.

After a few years at Fife Ed decided that there was “no prototype for a successful basketball coach. They came in all sizes, shapes and forms.” He decided as he told me that there are two types of coaches. “A coach who counts the teams wins and losses and a coach who creates a basketball culture where the goal is to make the basketball experience about having fun, competing at the highest level, and emphasizing life experiences and life skills.”

Very early in Ed’s career he rejected the first option and chose the second. His goal was to have a positive impact on the young athletes by providing a basketball program that emphasized basketball skills and performances, character improvement, and life experiences for success and life skills.

That year Eddie attended the University of Washington (summer school) and worked at the university and  also at the YMCA for ninety-nine cents an hour. Eddie also delivered bundles of the P.I. newspaper to carriers. Whatever it took, get it done.

More to be added:

Mark Morris – Meadowdale.

Mercer Island