In January, 1966, my Mom picked me up in Bellevue as I spent the first part of my sophomore year there while the family moved to Lilliwaup. As we passed through town, I remember it as being a rainy day (haha) and we stopped across the corner from Sykes, and at the corner of the old Irene S Reed High School. Mom pointed out a big hulking guy standing there in the rain, and told me "I had better make friends with that big guy", and it turned out later to be Dave Gunter. We did become good friends during the years, as I used to write a lot of sports for not only the high school paper, but the Shelton Journal too, and would include him in many of the writeups, as he was a fantastic athlete. I recall him playing football, wrestlng and also throwing the shot put. We had many classes together, and went to the big dances around town; he seemed to know and like everybody in Shelton. (One night we dressed up as bigfoot, and scared the hell out of several unsuspecting high school students, I was on his shoulders) Later, I started taking karate classes in Bremerton, where I attended Olympic for the year, and invited Dave to sign up. I had my orange belt, and told him to buy a cup, which he did not. Yeah, our first practice session I threw a straight high punch which he promptly started to block, and my front kick caught him in the gonads. Just a tap, but enought to put him down, where I begged him to "get up", as the black belt, Jim Hill was watching. "I can't get up he said, gasping for air etc. Anyway, he did go down and buy the cup, but seldom used it later in his career, as he became a black belt and helped to start the Shelton karate school with many karate students over the years. At our last reunion, Dave did not look too healthy, and admitted he had lots of problems, but was so excited to be there. We really had fun talking about the old days, and months later, Jeanette (his sis) called to say that he had passed away. I will never forget his kind demeanor and wonderful sense of humor. Maybe 5 or 6 years after he made black belt I stopped by the karate studio while on vacation, and he stopped the entire class to introduce me as "an honored guest" and then invited me to "spar". Yeah, right; I immediately exited as fast as I could and he laughed for years about that. I know he is laughing now! RIP Dave Gunter
Mike Hays (1967)
In January, 1966, my Mom picked me up in Bellevue as I spent the first part of my sophomore year there while the family moved to Lilliwaup. As we passed through town, I remember it as being a rainy day (haha) and we stopped across the corner from Sykes, and at the corner of the old Irene S Reed High School. Mom pointed out a big hulking guy standing there in the rain, and told me "I had better make friends with that big guy", and it turned out later to be Dave Gunter. We did become good friends during the years, as I used to write a lot of sports for not only the high school paper, but the Shelton Journal too, and would include him in many of the writeups, as he was a fantastic athlete. I recall him playing football, wrestlng and also throwing the shot put. We had many classes together, and went to the big dances around town; he seemed to know and like everybody in Shelton. (One night we dressed up as bigfoot, and scared the hell out of several unsuspecting high school students, I was on his shoulders) Later, I started taking karate classes in Bremerton, where I attended Olympic for the year, and invited Dave to sign up. I had my orange belt, and told him to buy a cup, which he did not. Yeah, our first practice session I threw a straight high punch which he promptly started to block, and my front kick caught him in the gonads. Just a tap, but enought to put him down, where I begged him to "get up", as the black belt, Jim Hill was watching. "I can't get up he said, gasping for air etc. Anyway, he did go down and buy the cup, but seldom used it later in his career, as he became a black belt and helped to start the Shelton karate school with many karate students over the years. At our last reunion, Dave did not look too healthy, and admitted he had lots of problems, but was so excited to be there. We really had fun talking about the old days, and months later, Jeanette (his sis) called to say that he had passed away. I will never forget his kind demeanor and wonderful sense of humor. Maybe 5 or 6 years after he made black belt I stopped by the karate studio while on vacation, and he stopped the entire class to introduce me as "an honored guest" and then invited me to "spar". Yeah, right; I immediately exited as fast as I could and he laughed for years about that. I know he is laughing now! RIP Dave Gunter