Chuck Thurman was a Prairie Falcon “right up until the end,” his grandson said.
The night before Chuck died, he had a conversation with Travis Drake, Prairie’s principal and former athletic director.
The previous day, Prairie boys basketball coach Kyle Brooks and three team captains visited Chuck to give him a game ball, to hold his hand, to tell him how much he meant to the Falcons.
Chuck Thurman and Prairie athletics, after all, had been together for decades.
Chuck died at the age of 93 last week. His service, open to the public, is at 2 p.m. Saturday at Vancouver Funeral Chapel.
It would have been just as fitting to hold a service at the Prairie tennis courts. Or the gym. For in this goodbye to Chuck from the sports world, we’re all wearing Prairie crimson, gold and white.
He was the longtime volunteer assistant coach for the tennis teams. He also was the superfan at boys and girls basketball games, with the players all giving him a high-five on the way to the court.
Last Friday, the first game after learning of Chuck’s death, Brooks set up the chair, along with a sign, noting the seat was reserved in Chuck’s memory.
“Very touching. Very nice,” Scott Thurman said of the gesture.
Chuck Thurman taught his grandson how to play tennis. Scott Thurman would eventually become the No. 1 player at Prairie High School in the early 1990s. The two of them were attending Prairie sporting events as early as the 1980s.
But when Scott graduated in 1994, Chuck was suddenly without a family connection to the school.
“Now what am I going to do?”
That was Chuck’s question to Prairie tennis coach Chris Linquist. She had a quick reply.
“Come coach with me,” she said.
From that moment on, Prairie and Chuck Thurman were family.
“He meant I could have a no-cut program. He meant that every kid who turned out could get personal attention,” Linquist said.
Thurman worked with all newcomers.
“He allowed me to have the best-coached beginners in Clark County,” Linquist said. “Because of Chuck girls tennis specifically in Clark County became huge.”
Chuck also always had a love for basketball.
“He had his own spot in the bleachers for years by the pep band,” Scott Thurman said. “When it came tough for him to walk up the bleachers, they brought a player chair (on the floor.)”
That was his spot for years, right in the corner, near the baseline, where no one could stand in front of him.
He was not just a fan, though. He was a one-man support group, a grandfather figure. He offered advice, and just as importantly, listened to the teenagers. They adored him.
“They go through high school, college, graduate, they go on with their lives, but then they come back in town and get in touch with him,” Scott Thurman said. “It transcended just the sport. It became something more, and something lasting.
“He probably has more Facebook friends than I do.”
The family embraced his passion for Prairie.
“There are more pictures of Ashley (Corral) in our house than anybody else in our immediate family,” Scott Thurman said with a laugh, referring to one of the most decorated athletes in Clark County history.
“I don’t think Chuck had to go clothes shopping the last 20 years of his life,” Linquist said, referring to all the Prairie swag that coaches, players, and parents purchased for him. “He wore Prairie stuff all the time.”
Drake, the principal, said he will always remember one particular call he got from Chuck.
“I really appreciate being able to call you a friend.” Drake recalled Chuck saying. That was the only reason he called that day.
The Falcons had someone behind them no matter what happened in competition.
“He always wanted to know how the kids were, regardless if they won or lost,” Brooks said. “The next day, Chuck was there. Still my best friend. He’d pick me up and tell me to get them ready for the next game. He was unconditional about Prairie High School and Prairie athletics. That resonated the most for me as a coach, and I learned from him.”
On a personal note: I first met Chuck in 2001 when I played a round of golf with him at the old Bowyer’s course. I was writing a story on him not as a super fan of Prairie, but the golfer who at the time had 58 holes-in-one at the par-3 course. (He would end up with 61.) He did not get an ace that day, but from that day on, we considered each other friends.
I loved seeing him at all the games. And I enjoyed the fact that every year, new athletes would come to Prairie, which meant Chuck had new friends to meet. The athletes loved him. He loved them. A perfect relationship.
Thanks Chuck, the Ace of Aces, and a Passion for Prairie.
Paul Valencia covers high school sports for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4557 or e-mail at paul.valencia@columbian.com. Follow him on Twitter: @360paulv
