Every summer, two honorees are chosen to ride toward the start of the West Seattle Grand Parade – the Grand Marshal (as announced earlier this week, Lora Swift) and the winner of the Orville Rummel Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Community. This year’s Orville Rummel Trophy recipient has just been announced: Velko Vitalich, best known as West Seattle High School‘s baseball coach for 31 years – a run that just ended a year ago.
Coach Velko’s retirement didn’t start then, though – he stayed on at WSHS (his alma mater, Class of 1973) to coach golf this past season. He’ll be formally presented with the trophy at next Tuesday’s West Seattle Big Band Concert in the Park (co-sponsored by WSB), 7 pm July 17th on the east lawn at Hiawatha Community Center, and then you can cheer for him as he rides down the parade route four days later, on Saturday, July 21st (starting at 11 am, southbound on California SW from SW Lander in Admiral to SW Edmunds in The Junction). The parade is presented by the West Seattle Rotary Service Foundation and coordinated by local volunteers.
ABOUT THE ORVILLE RUMMEL AWARD: It’s named after the man who founded the West Seattle parade in 1934, Orville Rummel – lots of background in the story we published the year we were honored with the trophy, in 2010. The award was first presented in 1984. Here’s the full list of recipients along the way:
1984: Charles and Ann Gage
1985: RB Chris Crisler Jr.
1986: Morgan and Carol McBride
1987: Margaret Miaullis
1988: Charles Jung
1989: Aurlo Bonney
1990: Katie Thorburn
1991: Dorothy Poplawski
1992: Dan Wiseman
1993: Virgil Sheppard
1994: Dorene Smith
1995: Doris Richards
1996: John Kelly
1997: Dick Kennedy
1998: Jim Edwards and Barbara Edwards
1999: Lt. David E. Cass
2000: Husky Deli/Miller Family
2001: Stephanie Haskins
2002: Forest Lawn
2003: Sue Lindblom
2004: Edgar and Ann Phipps
2005: Karen Sisson
2006: Walt DeLong
2007: David and Doreen Vague
2008: Tim St. Clair
2009: Morey Skaret
2010: West Seattle Blog
2011: Cindi Barker
2012: Shirley Vradenburgh
2013: Judy Pickens
2014: Earl Cruzen
2015: Donn Weaver
2016: Clay Eals
2017: Keith Hughes
2018: Velko Vitalich
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