Scheyer joins legendary dad in Kitsap Sports Hall of Fame

Rod Scheyer, a standout football and basketball player at East Bremerton High School in the late 1950s, joined his legendary father Dwight in the Kitsap Athletic Roundtable Hall of Fame Feb. 1.

The ceremony for the 2024 class took place at the Suquamish Tribe’s Kiana Lodge near Poulsbo with 12 inductees and one team being recognized.

Rod Scheyer, who ended up being a lineman for the University of Washington in the early ‘60s, reflected on his athletic journey. “It makes you think a lot about the things I did and this [the ceremony] helps refresh my memory on what things were happening,” he said.

Scheyer helped lead East Bremerton hoops to a 19-1 regular-season record in 1958 and a fifth-place finish at state. He emerged as a team captain and honorable mention All-American for the UW Huskies. In his sophomore season in football, UW beat Minnesota to claim the Rose Bowl in 1960. Scheyer’s dad in 2008 was named to the Hall of Fame. An all-coast tackle for Washington State College, he coached the legendary Don Heinrich on the 1947 Bremerton football team that was named Team of the Century.

Tleena Ree Ives, former North Kitsap Viking and a member of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, was also inducted. She played for the Olympic College women’s basketball team that won the Northwest Athletic Conference North and placed sixth in the NWAC championships in 1996. The certified instructor in kickboxing and Kaia Fit has a number of famous races such as the 2016 Boston Marathon and two Ironman triathlons under her belt, and she was also a longtime puller for her tribe’s canoe journey.

“There’s a feeling of definite appreciation and thankfulness for the opportunities that I’ve had to be able to kind of shape me in a way that I hope will create opportunities for others,” Ree Ives said.

Dave Snyder, former NK High School teacher, track and field coach and football defensive coordinator who suddenly passed away in 2024 at the age of 54, was among the inductees. Snyder helped build Kitsap County’s best football team of the past decade, headed a track program that claimed a 2012 state title and produced many individual champions.

Also inducted was NK alum KC Fossum, who made her mark as part of Olympic College’s 2012 co-North Region championship team, which also took second in the NWAC championships.

Bobby Reece III of Kingston High School marked the lone Buccaneer to be inducted. The 2014 graduate is just one of 18 boys in Washington to win four wrestling titles in all four trips to state, managing to do so in a different weight class each year from 140 pounds in 2011, 152 in 2012, 160 in 2013 and 170 in his senior year. Reece ended with a 149-2 record, winning 102 straight prior to that first defeat. He also quarterbacked Kingston’s sole state-qualifying football teams in 2012 and 2013.

NK School District superintendent Rachel Davenport was also honored. She was a three-sport athlete at Central Kitsap High School. She earned all-league honors as a junior and senior in volleyball, basketball and softball, and she took on coaching roles at all three CKSD high schools for those sports and would also play collegiate softball for Ole Miss.

Frank Jackson of West Bremerton was inducted. He is known for his career with the Washington State Cougars as a first baseman. He batted .344 and drove in 38 runs in 42 games his senior year. He was an honorable mention All-American and would also go on to guide Washougal’s baseball program to two of its three state championships in the 1970s.

Jackie Miller, a softball standout for CK who claimed league MVP and led the Cougars to a third-place state finish in 2000, was among the honorees. She played NCAA Division 2 softball for Cal State Stanislaus, then for Cal State Dominquez Hills, where she went 18-4 with a sub-2.0 earned run average to help the Toros win the California Collegiate Athletic Association championship in 2005. Miller tallied a 20-win season in 2006.

Another inductee was Mark Knowles, a 1986 North Mason graduate and eventual PGA golf pro. He was a former All-Pac-10 golfer for WSU and is currently the area director of golf for Columbia Hospitality, the manager of Bremerton’s Gold Mountain Golf Course among seven other Washington courses. Knowles most recently qualified for the Senior Professional PGA Championship in 2021 and won the PNW Senior Players Championship in 2023.

A trio of annual award winners also were recognized.

John Sitton was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his decades of work as an athlete, coach, administrator and broadcaster. Sitton played basketball and baseball at West Bremerton and Olympic College, and went on to coach at Bremerton and CK. He is still a volunteer announcer for West Sound Community Television.

The Rex Brown Distinguished Service Award was awarded to the Tom Myers Family for its dedication to bowling, specifically through the Hi-Joy Bowl in Port Orchard and All-Star Lanes in Silverdale.

The 14th recipient of the Dick Todd Award was longtime track and field official Deanna Dowell, whose services have been utilized in high school, college and senior meets as well as the Olympic Trials and NCAA Championships.

The 2007 North Mason fastpitch 2A state championship team also was recognized.