By John Leggett

The Courier-Herald

Enumclaw High School coaching legend Frank Osborne said receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Washington State Baseball Coaches Association was significant beyond compare.

The former Hornet skipper, who has had the EHS diamond named in his honor, was featured Saturday during the association’s 23rd annual luncheon at Safeco Field in Seattle.

“It was important enough that I flew all the way back here from my winter home in Arizona,” Osborne said. “Anyone would be moved by accepting a wonderful accolade such as this one, because it reflects the fact that he is being recognized by his peers in a lasting way.”

During the presentation, Osborne fielded a couple of queries from the 250-strong assemblage.

A young man, who obviously wanted to furnish Osborne with the opportunity to reflect on his storied career, inquired, “In your illustrious tenure as coach of the Hornets, which spanned nearly three decades, what was the one most memorable moment in your opinion?”

Without hesitation, Osborne, who has long been a member of the WSBCA’s Hall Of Fame and wears the ring to prove it, said it came in 1977, when EHS won the state championship behind the pitching of Mark Peterson. “Petie fanned 17 batters in that blanking of East Valley on that sunny afternoon in June and none of their players even reached second base,” said the proud skipper as though it had happened just the day before.

Asked what he like most about the time-honored, “thinking man’s game,” Osborne, who was a collegiate pitcher for both Pacific Lutheran University and Central Washington University exclaimed, “If one is devoted enough to his position and is willing to put in the training, the sport is not limited by one’s physical stature. Anyone, any size, can play the game.”