This week, our community has seen an outpouring of mourning for longtime W.F. West tennis coach Jack State, who died Saturday after suffering a serious medical event. He turned 80 during his week in the hospital.
Over five decades as the head coach in Chehalis, State introduced the game of tennis to thousands of students, helping them grow in the sport and in life.
I was one of those students, and probably one of the least talented he ever coached.
Still, I loved the game. He saw that and honored it. Despite my truly remarkable lack of skill (in four years I never managed to reach varsity level, despite playing all summer for years with my buddy Dave and taking lessons), State was always kind and thoughtful in his feedback to me.
It’s been 30 years since I was on his team. As my own children entered high school during the COVID-19 era, State and his faithful assistant coach, Denise Boulac, were a wonderfully familiar pair of faces at the old school.
I enjoyed watching State coach from my perspective as a parent. He had a bit of a harder time getting around, but he still would move from court to court and watch each game carefully. At breaks in the sets, he would give specific feedback to each player, authoritatively analyzing their game, giving them feedback on what they were doing well, and specific tips on what they could improve.
He was serious about the game, but his droll sense of humor often emerged.
One example comes to mind from when I was a teenager. He urged me to take lessons (not knowing at the time how impervious I was to improvement) and I eagerly agreed. Several students and I would ride up in his van with him to Lacey for lessons. During one trip back home, I was sitting in the front seat and drifted off to sleep with my elbow on the armrest and my head balanced on my palm.
My head kept falling off my hand. Sleepily, I’d rebalance myself and drift off. Again I’d fall. Finally I noticed a slight wobble in our route down the road that was knocking me off of my balance.
I looked over at State to see him grinning broadly as he gave the steering wheel just the slightest turn each time I’d get comfy. I had to laugh, too.
He had the right balance of gravity and levity, maintaining the relationship of teacher and coach while creating a closeness that went beyond the classroom or the tennis court.
Speaking to The Chronicle’s Isabel Vander Stoep in 2021, State said, “Over those 47 years the Bearcat tennis family has continued to grow and my former players are now friends. While it was basketball that brought me to Lewis County, it seems that tennis will be my legacy there.”
I’m so pleased that the many tennis alumni and enthusiasts in the area honored his legacy several years ago by hosting the Jack State Invitational Tennis Tournament. My oldest son and I took part in it two years ago. Between my son’s skill and my enthusiasm, we managed to do fairly well.
Despite doing his best all those years ago, State’s coaching didn’t manage to make me a great tennis player, but they added the great sport of tennis to my life, and that’s lingered much longer than the memory of my win-loss record. (Which, if memory were to serve, would be heavy to enthusiasm and short on wins.) He gave me a gift that has lasted.
There is currently an effort afoot to build a covered tennis facility next-door to the old Olympic School in Chehalis. If “Six-Eight” Jack State’s influence looms large in your life, you might consider making a donation to the project. Learn more at www.lewiscountytennis.com.
When that grand new tennis facility is finished, I hope they consider naming it after Jack State. That would be a fitting tribute to a man whose legacy on the court and off it it will last in the hearts of the decades of students who learned to love-love the game thanks to his mentorship.
Brian Mittge can be reached at brianmittge@hotmail.com.
