By Bill Reynolds
La Conner Community News
Swinomish is enjoying the rebirth of vital cultural elements like Canoe Journey, Lushootseed language instruction, and First Salmon and Blessing of the Fleet ceremonies.
And that’s not all.
The local tribal community is investing in yet another of its signature cultural identities — basketball.
Swinomish, which has produced numerous hoops standouts across generations — including several current tribal senators — has begun a major renovation and expansion of its outdoor basketball court off Snee-Oosh Road.
Work began in late September to replace the existing full court, add a half court at the south end of the complex along with a patio and barbecues, plus install a steel canopy with lighting to allow nighttime play.
Swinomish Sen. J.J. Wilbur, who also serves as a La Conner School Board member and Skagit County Fire District 13 commissioner, credited his fellow tribal senator, Greg Edwards, with getting the ball rolling on the project.
“It was Greg’s idea,” Wilbur said. “He was the one who first brought it to the Senate.”
The 11-member Swinomish governing panel approved the proposal and called for construction bids earlier this year.
The job, which is not federally funded, was awarded to Valdez Construction, whose founder, Ryan Valdez, is the son of Ralph Valdez, who formerly owned a fish plant beneath Rainbow Bridge and was a friend of the late Doug Wilbur, a Swinomish and La Conner High basketball star who went on to play at Gonzaga University.
The project manager is Wil James, a grandson of the late Landy James, the legendary Swinomish leader and La Conner teacher-coach who was a stellar athlete at Washington State University and for whom the La Conner High gymnasium is named.
The work is scheduled for completion around the end of the year.
“It’s a 90-day project,” said Swinomish Sen. Bruce James Jr., who noted how basketball has enhanced tribal youth development.
James recalled that he, too, grew up playing hoops at Swinomish, often outdoors during those hours when the tribal gym — which was built in the early 1960s and financed by a tribal bond issue — wasn’t open.
“It’s where we’d play to get ready for tournaments,” James said. “It was our open gym.”
Edwards, a La Conner Middle School basketball coach, said that as a youth he played on an outdoor court located at the present site of the Swinomish Medical Clinic.
“That’s where I played,” he remembered. “The court that’s used now came later.”
The present court is no longer big enough to meet demand. Many spectators gathered there in the August heat, lining the court two and three deep — some in camp chairs, even more standing — to take in the annual Swinomish Days 3-on-3 Tournament. They were drawn by an impressive lineup of Swinomish talent, including Jerome Toby Jr., Dyson Edwards and Sarah Cook.
Toby and Edwards helped lead the Lummi Blackhawks to successive Washington Class 1B titles and were integral parts of the team that won the Native American Basketball Invitational Tournament crown in Phoenix in July. An award-winning multisport athlete at La Conner High and Skagit Valley College, Cook is a top player on the Canadian national champion Vancouver Island University women’s team.
For decades, hardware brought home from tournaments near and far have filled Swinomish trophy cases, in many cases won by players who logged countless hours playing outdoor basketball.
The ongoing court renovation project kicked off with a late September blessing ceremony attended by Swinomish community members, prayer warriors, senators and staff.
Among the main speakers was tribal chair Steve Edwards, himself a former Swinomish and La Conner High hoopster. Inspire Church pastor Doug York and Swinomish senator and Cultural Events Director Aurelia Bailey also spoke.
The reigning Miss Swinomish, Ruby Billy, was given the honor of taking down the court’s old net — symbolically closing one era of community recreation and ushering in the next.
York and Bailey each lauded the project as a means of supporting Swinomish youth and further strengthening community ties.
Greg Edwards, meanwhile, spoke for all: “It will be nice to see the finished product.”
Bill Reynolds is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
The old basketball courts have been demolished to make room for
the new.
