'Judge's Verdicts' defined sports personalities

Julian Lewis, former editor and publisher of the Tribune, used to spend a lot of time at the old Lynden High School gym, now the Middle School gym. The gym, built in 1939, was replaced by the 3,000-person Jake Maberry Gynasium in 1984.

Sports column was one of the highlights of Julian Lewis's career.
     For almost two decades, Julian Lewis, nicknamed the "Judge," handed down his weekly verdicts on the sports scene.
     Now retired, Julian Lewis was the Tribune's first by-lined sportswriter. From the early 1950s through the late 60s, Julian wrote a weekly "Judge's Verdicts" column devoted mostly to high school sports.
     "I just enjoyed writing them," Julian said. "I just tried to get people's names in the columns."
     Julian Lewis spent 43 years as an editor and publisher of the Tribune. Born in 1926, he started as a young child at the newspaper. After graduating from Lynden in 1944 and the University of Washington, he became a full-time worker with his father Sol Lewis and brother Bill Lewis in 1948. Julian retired in December 1991 after turning the paper over to his son Mike Lewis.
     Julian was responsible for giving sports its own place in the newspaper and for shooting some of the Tribune's first sports photos.
     He took a nine-month hiatus from the paper when he was drafted into the Army at age 26. He received a medical discharge.
     In 1953, after the death of their father, Bill and Julian became co-publishers of the Tribune. Julian wrote news and sports and shot photos.
     Bill and Julian co-published the Tribune for more than 30 years.
     "I think we had only had one fist-fight in the office in the darkroom," Julian said of his close relationship with his brother.
     In 1957, after Bill fell ill, Julian took on much of the advertising duties, and Bill later took on a larger role in editorial writing.
     "I couldn't get anyone to take over advertising," Julian said. "I'd pound the pavement."
     While his brother Bill, who retired in 1984, and father Sol came to be regarded as the wordsmiths of the family, Julian's "Sports Verdicts" have their share of wit and wisdom.
     Julian's earliest sports memories are of Fred Rockey, who taught at Lynden from 1915-1960, excluding a two-year stint overseas during World War I.
     Rockey coached basketball from 1916-1929. Until 1946, he coached baseball and track. The baseball team won county titles in 1932, '33, '34, '40, and '46.
     Julian remembers Rockey's intensity in coaching -- and the way he used to kick the ground beneath the baseball bench.
     "By the time the game was over, there would be a big hole dug in the ground," Julian said. "He was an outstanding coach."
     In 1942, while Julian was still in high school, the Lions finished fourth in the all-classification state basketball tournament. Senior forward Louis Zylstra earned all-state honors and was the tournament's leading scorer.
     "He'd stand out in practice before the games and shoot from the corner," Julian said. "The fans would count up how many he would make."
     One of Julian's first columns in October 1952 was about Hugh Sooter, a Meridian graduate who pitched to a 15-12 record with Shreveport, La., in the Texas League. Julian wrote:
"Lynden district diamond fans will remember Hugh as the star chucker for Meridian High School in the days when Lynden High School's Adrian Jorissen was mowing them down. Whenever Sooter and Jorissen met, the duel attracted big crowds. Hugh will never forget one game when Joris-sen, now coaching at Joyce near Port Angeles, threw one high and wide, beaning him on the noggin.
Not until last year did the ex-Trojan suffer such a blow. That occurred while covering first base. His nose got in the way of the runner's elbow, moving it (his proboscis) permanently to one side and knocking him unconscious."
     In the mid-1950's, Julian covered the career of Ron Bennink, a 1950 Lynden graduate who went on to break basketball career scoring records at Washington State College (now WSU). Bennink totaled 144 points as a sophomore and 274 points as a junior.
     In December 1954 at the start of Bennink's final season, Julian wrote:
There's only two seconds remaining. The Cougars trail Utah State 67-68. Bennink dribbles around his man, shoots and . . . it's in. Washington State wins!' That was the exciting action witnessed by 7,000 fans in Spokane last week and heard over the air by hundreds of listeners. Lynden's Ron Bennink had snatched the victory for his alma mater.
... Fine shooting, ball handling, passing and general floor play mark him as one of the finest offensive players ever to wear the Crimson and Grey."
     Through most of his early columns, Julian made predictions of high school and college football games. Julian didn't mince words (a potentially life-threatening activity for sports writers):
"Blaine to lump Lynden (have never picked Lions to lose until last week and then they won. Maybe the same will happen this week, we hope). Baker to flatten Ferndale, Nooksack to mesmerize Meridian, Eastern to wedge Western, Bears to batter Washington, Bruins to defeather Ducks ..."
     Julian had many friends in Lynden sports circles. Perhaps his best one was Jake Maberry. Maberry graduated in 1948 from Lynden and went on to earn all-conference honors for three years at the University of Puget Sound. In 1956, he returned to coach Lynden for 27 years. During Maberry's tenure, Lynden compiled a 521-118 record, placed at state 12 times and won the state title four times. Maberry and Julian were friends from their teenage years.
     "He was 13 when he came to Lynden," Julian said. "We started fishing quite a bit together. I used to write about their teams a lot. He was a good coach."
     Fishing and hunting, Julian's loves, filled much of the "Sports Verdicts'" columns. In 1954, a sugar beet processing plant exploded in Eastern Washington, leaving the sugar beets out in the field in the Moses Lake area. A Columbus Day storm left Seattle hunters at home to repair the damage. Julian and Maberry took advantage of the situation.
     "It gave the birds good cover," Julian said. "Jake and I went and we had five dogs in the pickup. We got a lot of birds."
     In 1961 and 1962, Maberry coached the Lions to back-to-back Class A state championships. Julian had put down his pen from 1961-1965 to allow for a hired sports editor.
     "Even during the old days they'd have a busload of fans that would go quite a ways," Julian said. "During 1961-62, they darn near took over a motel down there."
     Howard Heppner, the current Lynden School District superintendent, and Bob Kildall, owner of Bob's Burgers and Brew, were on both teams and were All-State selections.
     "He was an expert at making lay-ins," Julian said of Kildall. "He was very aggressive. You didn't want to get in his way when he was going for the bucket."
     Heppner would go on to play for Seattle Pacific University, where he earned All-American honors in 1966. Julian wrote on Feb. 3, 1966:
"Saturday night the verdict maker watched history being made when Howard Heppner, ex-Lynden All-Stater, led Seattle Pacific to an all-time scoring record.
The Falcons scored 121 points in defeating the University of Redlands. Halftime count was 58-36. With Heppner hitting 22 and his sophomore replacement Dave Homer bagging 20, the Falcons scored freely against the California club.
If Coach Les Habegger had not benched his first five in the second half, the score would most likely have topped the century and one-half mark."
     While the "Sports Verdicts" often rooted for the home team, Julian wasn't afraid to be blunt. In this column from April 1966, Julian shared his lack of enthusiasm for spring sports:
This is the time of year when sport writers, especially in small towns, really have to scrape the barrel for news.
"There is very little spectator interest in high school baseball and track, in these parts at least. Fans here could care less whether Lynden and the Lyncs won or lost in either sport. Lynden High School doesn't even have a track, yet they field a team each year.
As for baseball, all games are played during the day, when only students and the unemployed can watch the action."
     Julian caught his share of complaints from readers.
     "Once in a while, I'd write an editorial and get some people mad," he said.
     With business duties expanding, Julian found he had fewer ideas for columns and less time to write them.
     "It got kind of hard to write about things every week," he said. "I enjoyed writing, but the longer you get away from it, you almost have to relearn it."
     Julian said his biggest role model in writing was his father, Sol Lewis, who wrote a column for the Seattle Times and had a radio show.
     "Being in my dad's footsteps, I knew I wasn't as good a writer as he was," Julian said. "I always had a little bit of inferiority complex. I still really enjoyed writing the column."
     Julian said he couldn't have had as much success as he did without help from his friends and his love of the community.
     "I would like to again thank the many persons who helped me so much during my many years of sportswriting," he said. "And Lynden is still best of all the places that I have visited."