RANDLE — Basketball coaches will finally get their shot at the officials here Saturday night, but it'll be all in fun and for a good cause.
White Pass High School is hosting a benefit basketball game between area coaches and area officials to benefit Jo Dopiriak.
Dopiriak is a 2002 graduate of White Pass and was a deadly outside shooter for coach Tom Kelly. Dopiriak has battled diabetes her entire life. Complications from the disease currently have her hospitalized, and the medical bills are mounting.
The basketball game is being used as a fund-raiser for Dopiriak and will tip off at 8 p.m. which should give White Pass fans a chance to attend Saturday's Class 1A football quarterfinal between the Panthers and Kalama at South Sound Stadium in Lacey. There is no admission charge, but donations are being accepted.
Area coaches that are scheduled to play include Kelly along with Panther boys coach Shawn Dotson. White Pass assistant coaches Jimmy Redmon and Bryan DeLong will play along with Morton's Tim McCoy and Randy Broussard. Darin Allen, Gary Stamper and Tyler Bigbee from Mossyrock are set to play along with Napavine's Rex Stanley. Casey Dotson, a White Pass alum and current jayvee coach at W.F. West, will also play.
Some of the local officials who will handle the ball instead of calling the game are Kerry Vance, Michael Petrino, Tom Blair, Bob Howard, Doug Ashmore and Steve Cox.
"It should be fun," Kelly said.
The veteran Panther coach can still picture Dopiriak filling it up.
"Man … she could shoot the lights out," Kelly said. "She was quite a player for us."
Dopiriak still holds a share of the State 1A Tournament record with seven 3-pointers made in a 1999 game against White Swan. She was just a freshman.
If anyone would like to send a card to Dopiriak, it can be sent to Virginia Mason Hospital, Level 16 Room #1662, Seattle, Wa., 90101.
