North Idaho Sports

Banquet set for tonight

COEUR d'ALENE - Area high school and college athletes, coaches and teams will be honored tonight at the 51st annual North Idaho Sports Banquet, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Best Western Coeur d'Alene Inn.

Idaho football coach Paul Petrino will be the guest speaker at the banquet, where Eric Yarber, Charles A. "Bud" Ford, Steve Burrato and George (Les) MacDowell will be inducted into the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame, and the 1982 Coeur d'Alene football team will be honored as a "Legends" team.

Tickets are available at the Best Western Coeur d'Alene Inn.

Idaho, WSU, EWU all

plan to scrimmage today

MOSCOW - The Idaho Vandals head into football scrimmage No. 3 this morning at 10 at the Kibbie Dome and first-year coach Paul Petrino is looking for more improvement still.

"Each day we've improved on a few things here and there," he said. "I would like to see some big improvement overall on both sides of the ball - just everybody continue to show toughness and keep improving on being grinders and going hard every day."

Notably so far this spring are running backs Kris Olugbode and Jerrel Brown - both junior college transfers, and the linebacker corps that was depleted but is filling with an infusion of transfers in the form of Eric Tuipulotu, Marc Millan and Juan Martinez.

"We've really improved on running the ball," Petrino said. "I feel real good about that.

"I thought the defense flew around real well last Saturday. I hope they do again this Saturday."

Spring drills conclude next week with practices at 4 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, and the spring game at 6 p.m. Friday.

* Washington State is scheduled to practice/scrimmage today at 10 a.m. at Martin Stadium in Pullman.

* Eastern Washington plans a 30- to 40-play scrimmage today around 11:30 a.m. at Roos Field in Cheney.

Former UW, WSU coach

Harshman dies at 95

SEATTLE (AP) - Marv Harshman, who spent 40 years coaching college basketball in the state of Washington and was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985, died Friday at 95.

The University of Washington, where Harshman concluded his coaching career in 1985, confirmed Harshman's death. Current Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar - who played for Harshman at Washington - said he spoke with Harshman's son, Dave, Friday morning after his former coach passed away.

"We obviously lost a legend. I learned so much from Coach. He is one of the main reasons I'm here at the University of Washington," Romar said in a statement. "I went to Washington expecting to play with a legendary coach; I didn't know I would get the bonus of playing for a legendary person. He will be missed by all of us."

Harshman was a basketball fixture in the state for nearly half a century. He started his coaching career at his alma mater, Pacific Lutheran, where he led the then-NAIA school to a spot in the national championship game in 1959.

From the NAIA level he moved across the state to Pullman, where he coached at Washington State for 13 seasons. He went 155-181 coaching on the Palouse, and then moved to Seattle for his final coaching job at Washington.

Harshman spent 14 seasons on Montlake before retiring in 1985 and had his most success there. He won 20 or more games with the Huskies four times and went to the NCAA tournament three times. He coached Romar from 1978-80, and called Detlef Schrempf the best player he ever coached. Harshman went 246-146 at Washington, the second-most victories all time at the school behind Hec Edmundson. He retired with more than 600 victories at the college level.

Additionally, he served on the U.S. Olympic Committee from 1975-1981 and was the head coach of the U.S. team that won the gold medal at the Pan-Am Games in 1975.

Former Pacific Lutheran

coach dies at 85

TACOMA, Wash. - Frosty Westering, who retired from coaching with 305 career victories and led Pacific Lutheran to four national championships, has died at 85.

Westering died on Friday, according to the school. He was in failing health in recent years and spent his final two months in hospice care.

In 32 seasons at the NAIA and NCAA Division III school, Westering won four titles and finished as a national runner-up four other times. He won more than 78 percent of his games at PLU, going 261-70-5 at the private school. Before coming to PLU, Westering coached at Parsons College in Iowa and Lea College in Minnesota.

Westering retired in 2003 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2005 and is among a select few coaches to have reached the 300-win plateau.