The dynamic duo of Centralia boys basketball coach Ron Brown and scorekeeper Ray MacDermott is no more.
Don’t panic. It’s not gone altogether. Brown is still in the midst of his 50th year at the helm of the Tiger hoopsters and shows no signs of slowing down, but MacDermott, many of you may have noticed, is no longer at the scorer’s table.
Again, don’t panic. Ray is alive and well. It’s just that after 46 years of being the lead statistics man for the Tigers, MacDermott has given up his post and moved into the much-less stressful role of full time fan.
MacDermott started this season at the scorer’s table, but a few moderate health problems hastened his departure into full time retirement after just two games.
Now Ray is transitioning into a solo role as a fan, but not before the Tigers send him off with Ray MacDermott Night Friday on Ron Brown Court, just before the team’s home game with Aberdeen. The brief ceremony is slated to begin about 7 p.m.
I worked closely with MacDermott during 31 years of covering the Tigers and he was invaluable to me. We compared stats after each game we worked to make sure everything added up. Besides being a top-notch stat man, you won’t find a better person ... always even-keeled and upbeat.
Many say MacDermott and Brown worked well together so long because they’re cut out of the same emotional mold — both are cool as cucumbers whether it’s in the presence or absence of pressure, and both simply love the game.
I spoke to a very upbeat MacDermott earlier this week and he’s excited about his next phase in life.
“Number 1, I’m a huge fan of the Tigers and I love basketball,” he said. “A lot of people don’t realize how hard that can be on a scorekeeper. It was really tough for me to be quiet all those years, especially in really exciting games, when I wanted to stand up and scream with all the rest of the fans.
“As it was, sometimes I got so excited I forgot what I was doing for a moment. Sometimes I was just as bad as the players. On game days I was always excited and couldn’t wait for the game to start.”
Most stat-keepers are the unsung heroes of hoops programs.
In his 46 years of score-keeping, MacDermott did it for most of that time, about 40 years, as an unpaid volunteer. And when he did get paid, it wasn’t because he asked for it. Many felt he deserved something for the long hours and basically pushed the small salary on him.
“What a tremendous gesture of unselfishness,” said Centralia College Athletic Director Bob Peters, a former Tiger who was on one of MacDermott’s all-time favorite teams: the state AA champion squad of 1979, along with Bob Wollan, Todd Wilmovsky, Paul Coty, Greg LeDuc and Ted McCarty to name a few.
“For him to do it all that time as a volunteer just tells me how much he loved what he was doing and how he loved the people he was with. I mean, look at this: Ray and Ron were together 46 years as coach and scorekeeper. That’s a partnership that won’t be touched ever. In this day and age, it’d be a miracle if two guys had a partnership like that for 30 years.”
Chris Fast is a 1989 graduate of Centralia. He was astounded when he heard how long MacDermott performed his duties voluntarily.
“Man, that is someone incredibly committed to Tiger basketball,” he said. “It speaks volumes about the kind of program coach Brown has run for so many years. He’s been surrounded by people who are loyal and committed. And that type of continuity showed up in the number of very good teams there have been at Centralia.”
I’ve only known Ray as this easy-going, always-cordial man who has been a mainstay at the scoring table. Turns out he isn’t the saint I always knew.
“We were scared to death of him in middle school,” smiled Trevor Westlund, a 1988 graduate who is now in his third year as an assistant coach.
After growing up in Pennsylvania, MacDermott came to Centralia after serving a stint in the Air Force during the Korean War.
He graduated from Western Washington Teacher’s College and took a job as a teacher at Centralia Middle School in 1960, about two years after it opened. He spent all 32 years of his teaching career there.
“He was stern and old-school,” said Westlund. “He was the enforcer in junior high and the one guy we were all scared of.”
Fast concurred.
“He was the hammer,” Fast chuckled. “He was the English teacher who sat behind the desk and put the fear of God in us all. But he did it in a good way. He just didn’t take any guff. He ran a tight ship.”
MacDermott laughed when he heard those remarks.
“I guess I was a strict teacher,” he said. “I didn’t put up with what a lot of teachers put up with today.”
But some people could see right through Ray.
“I had one female student come up to me a few years after she got out of school and she told me she knew I was just a blowhard,” he laughed. “I guess I was.”
MacDermott got into scorekeeping just after he got to Centralia. The late, great Mort Gronseth was athletic director at the high school at the time and needed a fill-in one night. Little did Gronseth know that fill-in would last 46 years.
The job of keeping a home book is not easy. Many stat-keepers just keep scoring numbers and track of timeouts. But at Centralia, Ray had the difficult job of keeping track of all shots, both attempts and misses. He also kept a running tally, as well as timeouts. Then came the 3-pointer, which added to an already-full slate of duties.
Combine that with the pace of the game speeding up dramatically over the past several years, and it was not easy keeping stats.
“In the old days the game was slow enough where you could discuss shots before the next shot was taken,” MacDermott said. “It’s amazing how fast the game has gotten. And it could be a nightmare to scorekeepers. Someone scores and by the time you write it down, someone has already scored at the other end.
“It stopped being a one-man job several year ago.”
It was stressful on a scorekeeper because the home book is the official book.
“You had to be right on the money,” MacDermott said.
“It’s not easy keeping the home book,” Peters added. “You may not get yelled at, but you’re the official book and if you erred, it was on you.”
MacDermott said although he misses sitting in the “best seat in the house,” and being part of the game, it’s much more fun as a fan.
“It’s a lot of fun to watch the game and not worry about getting it all down on paper,” he said.
In the early years, Ray also helped coach the Tiger summer team and still may help out in the summer.
Needless to say, the guy who will miss Ray most is his good friend Ron Brown.
“I wouldn’t want to do what he did,” said Brown with a smile. “I always told Ray that keeping the book was harder than coaching. It’s a very hard thing to do properly. And Ray was meticulous. It got tougher for Ray the last few years, but I really was blessed to have him for as long as I did.
“We became friends and our families became friends. He was totally devoted to our program. He loves Centralia basketball and he has been, and always will be, a key part of this program. He loved his relationship with the players and the coaches and he put in so much time.
“Right now it’s not the same before, during or after the games. I still haven’t got used to looking over at the scorer’s table and not seeing him there. After 46 years with the same partner, it’s hard to not see them there.”
“It just isn’t the same,” said Westlund, who has cherished his relationship with MacDermott as coach-to-coach. “When you see Ray, you think of Centralia basketball. We have great people who can do the book ... but they’re not Ray.”
Notes: MacDermott has what must be a national record for high school scorekeepers: keeping the book for 46 years for one team and never writing down a “T” in the book for a technical foul on his head coach. “What a great man,” said MacDermott. “I’m really glad he decided to stay all these years. I’m sure that played a key role in why I stayed so long. And it isn’t just Ron. I loved all the coaches we had like Larry (Mollerstuen), Ed Rothlin, Tim Gilmore, Trevor ... all of them. And that includes great AD’s like Mort and Josh Lowe. In the end, how much you love a job is because of the people around you, and I was lucky enough to have a ton of great people in that program.”
