Martinez: Coach Butch Blue left a lasting impact at Battle Ground

But another of his former players, Battle Ground assistant principal and athletic director Trevor Person, said the impact Blue made went way beyond wins and championships.

“I tell everybody Butch Blue was Battle Ground,” said Person, who played for Blue during his final two seasons as coach. “He lived here for decades. He raised his family here. He had success, and the accomplishments were phenomenal. But it was him as a human, him as a man, that I think most people respected about him.”

That is what brought so many of his former players to the gym on Friday night.

Among them were the school’s current athletic director (Person), the school’s current head football coach (Woodward) and the school’s current boys basketball coach (James Ensley). And that only scratched the surface of Blue’s impact.

“He just taught me my own toughness and grit,” said Woodard, who played for Blue in 1986-87. “We had a lot of hard-nosed, tough coaches at Battle Ground. Whether it was football, basketball, baseball, it didn’t matter. But he was just the toughest. The horneriest coach I ever played, but I just loved him to death.”

Woodward went to Battle Ground High with Butch Blue’s sons Casey and Travis. Seeing Maggie Blue Pete, Butch Blue’s daughter, watch the game from a seat just behind the Battle Ground bench brought back memories.

“It was a special, special family,” Woodward said. “I can remember Lorna (Butch Blue’s wife) sitting in that same seat that Maggie is sitting in, but at the old gym. They were a basketball family, but so much more.”

A memorial service for Blue will be held at 2 p.m. March 1 at Reign Church in Vancouver. Person said the school plans a larger memorial for Blue and the Blue family next school year.

Friday night’s event was just the start. During the pre-game ceremony, Maggie Pete came out and sat in a chair at midcourt, while the nearly three dozen former Battle Ground players stood behind her.

After making some remarks, Person presented Pete with a small plaque bearing her father’s name that will be placed behind the first chair on the Battle Ground bench.

“It’s the head coach’s chair,” Person said. “The funny thing was that Coach Blue didn’t sit a lot during games. But now that will forever be his seat.”

Friday night was a chance for family, friends and former teammates to come together and share fond memories of a father, a coach, a teacher and administrator who touched many lives.

“Talking to people all this week, there’s just so many lovely stories and memories about the influence he had on the community,” Person said. “He truly left a legacy.”

“Just toughness and grit,” Woodward said. “He was just a legend.”