Kamiakin High and Tri-Cities lose a legendary ‘straight shooter’ coach and educator

It’s been over 10 days since Randy Dolven passed away, and this still isn’t easy to write.

The retired Kamiakin High School teacher, coach and administrator died on March 13 in Arizona, after suffering several strokes at the age of 74.

He was my coach. He was my neighbor. He was my friend.

Apparently a lot of people feel this way.

“The love and support from the entire community has been overwhelming,” said his son, Heath Dolven.

Randy’s youngest son, Chad Dolven, lives in Orlando with his family.

“I couldn’t have wanted for anything as his son,” he said. “You knew what was right and what was wrong with him. He was the kind of guy who said do as I do, not do as I say.”

Randy Dolven could be gregarious, social. Give him a microphone at a speaking engagement and good luck getting it back. He was always interested in what you were doing. He never beat around the bush, attacking problems head on.

But he was also fiercely private.

You could ask him about himself, and he’d give you some short answer. But ask one too many questions and he’d change the subject, turn it around on you and ask how your wife or kids were doing, what you’d been doing.

I felt I knew him, but at the same time, I didn’t.

So Heath sent me a story that was written about him in the Kamiakin High newspaper in the late 1970s — an article that Chad had never seen before. Chad said he learned things about his dad he never knew, because his dad didn’t talk about himself.

I also Googled him and did some online research.

And I talked to a number of hall of fame coaches who worked for him.

A lot of things I knew about him. A lot I didn’t.

Two-sport star athlete

Dolven was a two-sport star athlete at Eastern Oregon State College (now Eastern Oregon University), playing baseball and basketball, and he was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame in 1989.

That induction says it was for baseball.

The Pittsburgh Pirates wanted to sign Dolven as a free agent after his sophomore year in college, but the big, 6-foot-4 first baseman didn’t want to lose his remaining college eligibility. So he said no.

But basketball was where he really excelled.

To this day, Dolven is still the school’s all-time leading career scorer with 1,790 points from the 1963-67 seasons. He’s also the school’s career rebounding leader, with 1,108. That’s 216 rebounds ahead of the No. 2 rebounder.

In one game, on Jan. 27, 1967, he grabbed 30 rebounds against George Fox University. It’s still a single-game school record for rebounds. His 340 rebounds in the 1966-67 season is No. 2 on the school’s all-time, single-season marks.

He was an NAIA honorable mention All-American.

In 1967, he traveled with a college all-star squad throughout Europe, playing exhibition games.

He married his college sweetheart, Cheeta, in 1968 then coached EOSC’s junior varsity basketball team for two seasons from 1968-70.

In 1970, he was hired to teach history and start a boys basketball program at a first-year high school called Kamiakin in Kennewick. He was 25 at the time.

“As a basketball coach, starting a program at a new school is not an easy task,” said Don Schumacher, who was hired by Dolven to replace him as head coach in 1979, and who would also eventually replace Dolven as athletic director.

Dolven coached his Braves to the state tournament in 1974. At the same time he was coaching basketball, he was also the school’s athletic director, overseeing all athletic teams for eight years. Rarely did someone coach their own sport and be a working AD at the same time.

When Dolven turned the basketball program over to Schumacher in 1979, it was in great hands.

Schumacher is considered the school’s best basketball coach in its history, and was inducted into the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association hall of fame.

Kamiakin High School

Meanwhile, Dolven really excelled as AD, and not just at Kamiakin. He was respected in the district and around the state. He was a member of the executive board for the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association — the state’s governing board for athletics and activities — for years.

“Everyone has a boss,” said former Kamiakin football coach Craig Beverlin. “He was the kind of boss who told you the truth, and was still the biggest advocate for you. He was the first person to school every day, and he was the last to leave.”

Beverlin was a successful football coach in Illinois. But a bad economy in the late 1980s forced factories around town to close, and he felt it was time for a change.

He applied for four head coach openings: one in Illinois in another part of the state, one in Colorado, and two in Washington state (including Kamiakin).

“I was offered all four jobs, but I took Kamiakin’s job, even though it was the least paying among all four jobs,” said Beverlin. “I took the job for one reason: Randy Dolven. It was the right move all the way.

“I asked him to tell me what was wrong with the job. He said the sophomore team just got beat 60-0 by Richland; and we’re probably the smallest school in the conference. He was real about things.”

Beverlin said he had found a loophole in the WIAA’s bylaws one year, and thought he could have spring football practice in pads.

“I brought it to Randy, who read it, and agreed with me,” said Beverlin. “We were the first school to have spring football in pads, and he backed me up on that. How many AD’s would do that? He wasn’t like a dad to me. I’m 72 and he was 74. But he was like a big brother to me.”

Rex Easley, Kamiakin’s retired baseball coach who is a member of the state baseball coaches hall of fame, said Dolven was a coach’s biggest backer.

“He was just a devoted supporter of Kamiakin athletics, and he wanted you to do well,” Easley said. “He was a straight shooter. If you screwed up, he’d tell you. And he should have.”

Integrity, confidence and strength

A few people in separate interviews used the word integrity when they thought of Dolven, including Easley.

But Easley also said Dolven wasn’t the most fashion conscious, sometimes wearing Kamiakin’s school colors of scarlet and gold.

“He had those red pants he’d wear, and that old gold Braves jacket,” said Easley, chuckling.

Matt Rexus was in his first year of teaching full-time at Kamiakin in 1987-88.

“In 1988, he was probably desperate, but he asked me to run the cross country program,” said Rexus, who had gotten to know Dolven a little better by playing some city league basketball with him. “I didn’t know anything about cross country. But he knew, being around me, that I liked sports. I told him I’d give it at least a year.”

Thirty-three years later and Rexus is still coaching, is considered one of the best cross country coaches in the state, and was recently named state cross country coach of the year.

“He took a chance on me. He knew my personality,” said Rexus. “The thing I remember about Randy is he had this firm handshake, he stood up tall with this great posture, and he had this deep voice. It could be heard everywhere.”

I remember that too.

The first time my wife ever met him was the day after our wedding. We were sleeping in our little house in Pasco when a big booming knock hit our front door.

Dolven was out of town on our wedding day, and he’d come by to give us a wedding present.

“He was so big,” my wife said. “Then he had this big voice, and it scared me.”

She got used to it over the years.

“He exuded confidence and strength at all times,” Rexus said. “When he talked, everyone was listening, like those old EF Hutton TV commercials, if anybody remembers them. I always felt, no matter what he did, it was gonna be good.”

By 2000, Dolven felt it was time to retire as the athletic director.

“He lost his dad at the age of 54,” said Heath Dolven. “My dad was 55 in 2000. He wanted to retire.”

Heath said that a downturn in the economy at the time, combined with an offer from the Kennewick School District to oversee the Kamiakin High remodel, convinced Randy to stay on as a consultant.

“It freed up the principal,” said Heath. “He cut a deal with the district to work for them September through December, but he took off January and February to go to Arizona. Then he’d come back for the remainder of the school year.”

Dolven also handled discipline in the school district, treating students fairly and with respect. In all, he stayed on for five years.

Schumacher had taken over for Randy as AD. And he was smart enough to use the phone.

“When I took over as AD, I called him quite a few times. ‘Randy, what do I do here? What do I do in this situation?’” said Schumacher. “I really appreciated all of his help. He was Kamiakin.”

Stayed in shape

One thing about Randy Dolven was he was always in great shape.

As a senior, I came to basketball practice a little early one day, to see him taking on our best player, Steve White, in a game of one-on-one. Except it was full court, and neither could get by the other for an easy layup.

I would tell people he was indestructible. Former Pasco High athletic director Anne Hayden — who was inducted into the Washington State Secondary Athletic Administrators Association hall of fame with Dolven in 2003 — told me recently she saw him as invincible.

Heath got the rare opportunity to play basketball with his father.

“He played basketball until he was 60. I couldn’t last as long as he did,” said Heath. “We played together in city league. He’s in his 60s, I’m in my 30s.”

“We’d go play pickup games. He’d have a few guys his age, some of my friends, and play pickup games. We’d run that court the entire time. A bunch of crafty, old guys beating guys just out of high school. It was fun. We never wanted to lose.”

When Randy felt it was time, he switched from basketball to golf.

In the last four years, Heath — who lives in the Tri-Cities — took a vacation day every Friday, from March through August, to play golf with his dad.

“It was my time with my dad,” said Heath. “He loved the Gangsome group at Canyon Lakes. He loved to compete, even if it was for just $1 on the front nine. Something had to be on the line.”

The hardest part, said Heath, was that he had been so healthy. So active. Every morning in Arizona, he’d go for a run, run up and down stairs. Play golf.

“Six weeks ago he was the strongest 74-year-old in the Tri-Cities,” said Heath.

Back in Arizona, things continued for the worse. Heath said doctors told him he had six different strokes, the last one happening on March 13.

“He couldn’t win. He was fighting, trying to come back,” said Heath. “He has a living will. We knew what his last wishes were. He lost 70 percent of his brain function on the last stroke.”

The family said their goodbyes that day, and he later passed away.

Heath said that while Randy was in the hospital, a nurse asked him about baseball and basketball. He said he liked baseball, “but basketball was my life.”

Celebration of life

Randy Dolven told his family he didn’t want a funeral or a service.

But sometimes those are more for the people left behind.

“We wanted to have a celebration of his life, but then the COVID-19 outbreak happened,” said Heath. “We’d like to have it later this year at the Kamiakin High gym.”

That would make sense. If it happens, Cheeta and the family have asked in lieu of flowers, to donate to the Kamiakin Booster Club scholarship fund, which helps two athletes every year with college scholarship money.

People can go to the link on the website, or mail a check to Kamiakin Booster Club, 600 N. Arthur St., Kennewick, WA 99336. Please note “scholarship fund” on your check.

I would love to see something, such as that gym, which had only a dirt floor in it when the school opened in 1970 (his teams would have to practice at Highlands Middle School until the hardwood was put in), named after him.

Or that he would be put into the school’s hall of fame, which right now is only for athletes.

People who have been around Kamiakin the past 20 years probably have no idea who Randy Dolven was.

But he was the guy who was the glue for the school, for at least the first 30 years of the school’s existence.

To this day, he was the guy I would never want to disappoint. His opinion meant a lot to me.

Right before he was to retire in 2000, I had a conversation with Anne Hayden.

“Randy Dolven is my hero,” she said.

Heath agreed.

“He did that for a lot of people,” said Heath. “He was my hero. He was my best friend. My mom, too. The difference was I’d see him every day.”

I didn’t see him every day.

But he was my hero too.

This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 2:15 PM.