[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 20599-20600]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                                 ______
                                 

                      COMMENDING EDDIE LEE PEPPLE

 Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, today I honor Mr. Eddie Lee 
Pepple,

[[Page 20600]]

varsity basketball coach at Mercer Island High School, in retiring 
after 52 years of faithful service to our Nation and our youth. His 
distinguished career has culminated as varsity coach at Mercer Island 
High School where he has taught basketball for 42 years, leading the 
team to win 4 Washington State AAA Championships, and inspiring 
thousands of young students.
  Coach Pepple was born in Denver, CO. He graduated from the University 
of Utah in 1955 with a bachelor of arts degree, and went on to serve in 
the Marine Corps from 1956-1957. He was the captain of the Quantico 
Marine Corps basketball team and Pendleton Marine Corps basketball 
team, winning a Marine Corps Championship with the Quantico Marines in 
1956. He later earned his masters' degree in 1965 at Oregon State 
University.
  He began his coaching career in 1958 as the varsity basketball coach 
at Fife High School in Washington State, where he led the team to a 4th 
place finish in the 1961 State Tournament. After 6 years of dedicated 
service to Fife High School, Coach Pepple went on to be the assistant 
coach at Meadowdale High School from 1964-1966, and then varsity coach 
at Mark Morris High School in 1967.
  In 1968, Coach Ed Pepple began as varsity coach at Mercer Island High 
School, where he has led the team to 23 league championship 
tournaments, 4 final placements as State AAA Champions, and 13 second 
place finishes in the State championship tournament. His overall 
winning record during his tenure at Mercer Island High School is 78.8 
percent after winning 882 of the 1,119 games he has coached.
  During these 52 years of devoted public service, Coach Pepple has 
been recognized by numerous organizations as an outstanding basketball 
coach and is nationally renowned for his inspiration, dedication, and 
success. In 1985, after leading Mercer Island High School to his first 
State AAA championship, Coach Pepple was awarded his first Coach of the 
Year Award by both the Kingco Conference, and the Washington State 
Interscholastic Basketball Association. He has since won the Kingco 
Coach of the year award five more times, and the Washington State 
Interscholastic Basketball Association award again in 1993.
  In 1986, Coach Pepple was nationally celebrated when he received the 
Region 7 Coach of the Year award from the National High School Athletic 
Coaches Association, NHSACA. He received this award once again in 1993 
and 1998. In 1998 Coach Pepple was also recognized by the NHSACA as the 
National Coach of the Year, one of the highest national awards a 
distinguished coach can receive. He has also served as the prestigious 
West Head Coach of the McDonald's All American Game, and served on the 
McDonalds' All American Game Selection Committee for 17 years.
  In 1997 and 1999, the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches 
Association also recognized Coach Pepple as the AAA Coach of the Year. 
He has been the chairman of this organization for the past 26 years. In 
total, Coach Pepple has been awarded 17 Coach of the Year awards and 
has been inaugurated into the Puget Sound Hall of Fame, the Washington 
Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame, the Washington 
Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and most 
recently the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of 
Fame in 2006.
  Upon his retirement Coach Pepple will be inaugurated into the Everett 
Community College Hall of Fame, and honored by the establishment of the 
Ed Pepple Coaches' Service Award by the Washington Interscholastic 
Basketball Coaches Association, as recognition of his service to the 
Washington State basketball community.
  It is through the commitment and sacrifice of Americans such as Eddie 
Lee Pepple that our young adults are able to thrive and succeed. He has 
bettered our communities in Washington State, and touched the lives of 
countless students through his dedication to coaching and teaching. I 
am proud to thank him, his wife Shirley, and children Terry, Jill, 
Jody, and Kyle for his honorable service to our Nation as a coach. I 
congratulate Coach Pepple and give my best wishes as he concludes his 
distinguished career.

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