Frank Workman: High School Players Can Be Role Models, Too

Frank Workman calling a game
at Shorecrest c. 2011

By Frank Workman

Just as today’s local high schoolers watch the actions of their heroes, from Julio and Big Dumper, to Geno, Rapinoe, and Bird (and their classroom teachers, too), so do grade-schoolers watch with rapt attention the exploits of those same high schoolers as they play (be it athletically, musically, or dramatically).

It fuels their dreams.

The impact these high schoolers can have upon those coming after them can be profound, even life changing.

I met the late Henry Akin through our love of Shorecrest girls basketball. (Henry was on the very first Sonics team, and raised his three daughters in LFP. He was the consummate ‘girl-dad’.)

Jocelyn Riordan c. 2011
Photo courtesy UPS Athletics

One of our favorite Scots was Jocelyn Riordan (SC ’08). She amassed over 1,000 points in her high school days. She went to college, and played at University of Puget Sound (UPS). 

A couple times each season for those four years, Henry and I would drive down to watch her play in their grand old gym/fieldhouse, the kind they don’t make anymore.

Usually it was just the two of us riding together, but one Saturday Henry brought his oldest granddaughter, Lauren, along. 

She was a middle-schooler then, smart as a whip, opinionated, and had long before overcome her fear of not talking enough. Lauren had high aspirations to play basketball in college (which never materialized due to knee ligaments that betrayed her on more than one occasion).

All the way down I-5 Lauren shared with us, nonstop, her dream of playing in college, and she had narrowed it down to two schools. She would play for either Stanford or UCLA. 

In those days, Stanford was the top women’s team on the West Coast, if not the nation. UCLA wasn’t far behind. Stanford and UCLA. UCLA and Stanford. That’s all she talked about.

We saw a great Division-3 game that evening. Jocelyn, who is still on the Top-Ten career scoring list for the Loggers, had her usual stellar game in leading her team to victory.

As we waited after the game to greet her, dinner plans were hatched with Jocelyn’s parents, Frank and Maxine.

Jocelyn brought along her backcourt running mate, Kelsey from southern Oregon. The two had combined for upwards of 50 points that night.

The four adults sat on one side of the table, with Lauren sitting between the two players on the other side. 

Thrilled with their win, Jocelyn and Kelsey relived for us every key moment of the game. Lauren, for maybe the only time I’ve seen her like this, was….quiet. 

Her head turned back and forth, like a tennis fan at mid-court watching a match, as she gave her attention to whichever player was speaking. And her eyes kept getting bigger and bigger.

Dinner over, we said our goodbyes in the parking lot. I helped Henry weave his way from the Tacoma waterfront onto I-5, heading home. It was quiet for a while until we reached Wild Waves, when I could sense a stirring in the back seat. Lauren had moved forward, positioning herself so we could hear what she was about to say.

“I’ve narrowed my college choices to three schools. Stanford, UCLA, and ….. UPS.”

It doesn’t matter if you play baseball or basketball, football or soccer; if you play the trumpet or trombone, tuba or the triangle; or if you play Hamlet or Lady MacBeth, Romeo or Juliet.

You never know whose young eyes will be watching, and what impact it can have on their lives.

And what dreams can come from them.