The Vashon High School athletic department is seeking public input regarding its proposal to name the VHS softball field “Munger Field” in honor of longtime teacher and coach Rochelle Munger, who died last July.
The district’s athletic director Andy Sears said school board policy requires feedback from VHS alumni to change the name of an athletic facility. He has already received a lot of positive comments about this idea, but is seeking others before an alumni forum on Feb. 26. He said he plans to submit the proposal to the board on March 14. With approval, Sears said he expects to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the field later this year.
“Rochelle was such a positive person and was so humble. She coached softball for a long time and really promoted the growth of the sport,” he said. “She was always someone who would do anything for the betterment of the sport and team, and this seems like a fitting tribute.”
Munger was well known in the community. She was a popular physical education teacher at Chautauqua, a coach at McMurray, a respected five-string banjo player who played outside the school doors to greet students and a key member of several bands. She was also an excellent softball player. She was so talented she was once recruited to pitch for a men’s team — and often played in multiple leagues, frequently earning the MVP award.
Her mother Sharon Munger described Rochelle as a “sport-aholic,” a Mariners’ ballgirl at the former Kingdome and a teen who participated in every sport she could: soccer, basketball, softball and track. In her senior year at Vashon High School in 1982, she was named the school’s best female athlete.
Vashon’s David Hoffmann played softball with Munger on a team in Kent and in Hoffmann’s Heroes on Vashon, which he sponsors. With her help, he said, the team placed first in its league each year for all of its seven-year history.
People who would like to take part in the field naming process are invited to attend an alumni forum at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, in the VHS commons. For more information or to provide input on the naming proposal, email Sears at asears@vashonsd.org.
