WOW …. Just WOW!!!!  CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!  
BACK TO BACK STATE CHAMPIONS!!!
First off, I would like to take this opportunity to SHOUT OUT a great big THANK YOU and WAY TO GO to the Prairie Boys’ Basketball team on another great season!! This includes the greatest coaches ever: Teel Bruner, Kevin Chaffee, Scot Schlader, and Pat Holthaus.  
All of you let me be part of these wonderful experiences, and now, the memories; I will always be thankful that I got to be part of it. 
I don’t think anyone could ever find a better bunch of young men, beginning with the Junior Varsity players, all the way through the Varsity. I love all of you, and all of you will be part of my life from now on. Sorry… there’s no way you won’t be! I have memories of all of you, and those memories have a spot close to my heart. I don’t know of many 60 and older women who have been serenaded Happy Birthday on the team bus while on the way to a basketball game! That is a memory that I cherish and hold in my heart! 
I hope the town of Cottonwood and all the surrounding communities realize what a great bunch of young men we have had the privilege to know and watch play basketball. The Junior Varsity team lost only one game this year, the first one of the season to a bigger Moscow JV team.  The Varsity team lost 3, two to much larger schools outside the state of Idaho. Only 4 losess over the last two years on the varsity level!! We have lots to look forward to in the up coming years!  
My hat is off to all these young men’s families. I am a firm believer that it all starts at home, and all of you have a done a truly marvelous job of raising polite, generous, unassuming young men. My thanks go out to all of the parents. It is truly an honor to say I am from Cottonwood, Idaho. A big Thank you to Greg Wherry, the best newspaperman around, and to Jim Church, Greg Stone, Melinda Hall and everyone associated with KORT in Grangeville for broadcasting the games. Also, a huge thank you to all those businesses who sponsored the games so those unable to make it to them in person could listen on the radio. 
Also, a huge debt of gratitude goes out to those four men who led the way. Teel, Kevin, Scot and Pat; thanks for including me in this great journey! I feel truly blessed…. Thanks Travis Mader who asked me those many years ago if I would be interested in doing the boys’ scorebook. What an honor it has been! Here’s to next year!!  
Marie Lerandeau, Cottonwood
GO PIRATES!!
 

Home

Classified Ads