Sports Realm

Hoquiam City has a very active high school athletics program for its residents and has a very long and proud history of winning state championships and or placing in a number of sporting events that Hoquiam High school can field players to. The City is very satisfied and proud of its basketball team, the Crimson and Gray of Hoquiam High School, who in 2004 completed a sweep of 28 games to no loses and subsequently won the 2A championship.

The long standing rivalry between Aberdeen and Hoquiam Grizzlies and what a rivalry it is, 100 years in total excluding this one the 101st became possible in 2006 when the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) altered the enrollment limit for the 2A categorization permitting Aberdeen to drop to 2A along with other school s and creating another league. On October 14, 2006 the Grizzlies defeated with class the Aberdeen team 20 to 6 in classic tradition of football greatness.

The town is also a staunch competitor in track and field athletics, with the proud and competitive city hosting the annual Grizzly Alumni Cross Country Invitational since 1981. This is the biggest long distance running event held on the Washington coast, with over thirty five academic institutions and more than a thousand participants joining the event held every month of October. The competitors do not only get the chance to take part in such a prestigious event but get to experience their hospitality and the beauty of its location and nature.

The city offers a plethora of other sporting meets that give aficionados a variety of interesting events to choose from. It has its world famous Logger’s Playday an annual event that happens every September, same month as the volleyball tourney and of course the Alumni wrestling matches carried out during the start of the year in January. These collection of competitive events keep alive the spirit of sportsmanship and sense community belonging for the people of the city in the so called Olympic Peninsula.

The residents from here and incidentally Aberdeen do not only expend their energy and time in proving their sports prowess through athletic meets, but also utilize much effort and service for the more needy of their communities, this is made possible by the annual “Food Ball” that is conducted to raise food supplies for distribution to the much more low-income families in the area. This demonstrates the actual reason why Hoquiam City and Aberdeen is so keen in sports, to foster friendship and community service.

The city also became the base for the Western Baseball League’s Grays Harbor Gulls from the year 1995 to 1997. The games they played were held at the Olympic Stadium, which is listed at the National Registry of Historic Places. In place of the baseball team the stadium is now the proud home of the Grays Harbor Bearcats a team under development for the North American Football League or NAFL.

Listing town’s menagerie of athletic events for the entire year, they have the much awaited and ancient event of glorious football rivalry between the Hoquiam team and those of the city in the east Aberdeen, which lost to Hoquiam in 2006 by 14 points, just so to remind them and the biggest and amazing cross country race, the Grizzly Alumni Cross Country event, they also have the Alumni Wrestling Tournament held in January and the September special’s such as the Lumberjack’s competitions and the volleyball tournament and the basketball league and state championships.

The city has a very colorful and eventful roster of wins and championships in both local and state sporting events; 2007 – Girls Wrestling, 2006 – Girls Fast pitch, 2004 – Boys Basketball, 1988 – Boys Wrestling, 1983 – Boys Track & Field, 1980 – Boys Baseball, 1942 – Boys Basketball, 1939 – Boys Basketball.

Learn more about Wade Entezar and Hoquiam, WA school sports games.