Hockinson's Canon Racanelli, the all-region boys athlete of the year, is pictured at The Columbian on Friday, June 1, 2018. (Alisha Jucevic/The Columbian) Photo Gallery
It’s no secret: Canon Racanelli lives for football.
His name will forever be linked to quarterbacking Hockinson’s 2017 state title-winning football team, but there’s more to the senior than football.
Or sports, for that matter.
“I want to be remembered as a part of something bigger than just the achievements that I did on the field,” he said. “For the person I am.”
Who Racanelli is goes beyond a three-sport athlete as a starting quarterback in football, a starting point guard in basketball and a starting center fielder in baseball. He’s also an avid outdoorsman with a knack for night photography and plays a big role in the school’s associated student body.
But back to the sports.
Besides the football, basketball and baseball games themselves — and there’s quite a few memorable ones in Racanelli’s career — the personal relationships built on the team’s he’s played for is what he relishes.
At a place like Hockinson, Racanelli said, where defeating Tumwater 35-22 in the state championship game with teammates he calls family tops his list.
“You build bonds with people you’ll never forget,” he said. “At Hockinson, in general, the whole school and community is a family feel and I’d never trade that for anything.”
Racanelli, The Columbian’s All-Region multi-sport athlete of the year, believes the importance of a multi-sport athlete does equal good for the school as it does for the athlete. He earned 10 varsity letters between football, basketball, baseball and wrestling. In four years of high school, Racanelli never took a season off.
And he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Especially coming from a small school,” he said, “I feel like it’s my duty and everyone else’s duty to elevate their school as much as they can. If I didn’t play, I’d be doing myself no good and I would be doing the school no good, too.”
Racanelli did plenty of good for the Hawks. The undefeated season in football quarterbacking the Hawks to the program’s first state title still tops his list of accomplishments, but he knows he wouldn’t be where he is without his teammates.
Just like in basketball as a defensive-minded, pass-first starting point guard and an all-league center fielder in baseball, whose pop of power helped the Hawks get within one game of state.
“You have to have everyone on the team to be able to drive your whole team forward,” Racanelli said.
In February, two months after ending his prep football career by surpassing 10,000 passing yards, Racanelli signed to play football at Central Washington University. But before he heads to Ellensburg in early August, he’ll shine on the Clark County turf one last time at the annual Freedom Bowl Classic July 14, a game that highlights the area’s top seniors.
Then, it’s off to Ellensburg to begin what he hopes is as productive and rewarding of a college career as his time was at Hockinson.
“I’m excited to put the cleats and a helmet back on again,” he said.
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