Theirs To Keep

WAITSBURG - When a high school sports team wins a state championship, the trophy to mark that accomplishment only gets to stay at the team's school as long as the team holds the title. This is where Waitsburg's Brian Segraves comes in.

Segraves, who owns Coy- ote Custom Cabinets in Waitsburg, makes replicas of these state trophies so the schools can hold onto a memento of the victory forever.

WP won two state cham- pionships in 2011 - state football and state soccer. Head WP football coach Jeff Bartlow said he asked Segraves to replicate both trophies.

Waitsburg also has anoth- er issue Segraves is helping with - the high school is out of trophy space in its current display cases.

"We have a nice problem" Bartlow said. "The current trophy case is too small to house our new replicated football championship trophy. There are numerous trophies that are not even displayed as a result hellip; They are currently piled up in (Principal Stephanie Wood- erchak's) office."

Bartlow has asked Seg- raves to build a new trophy case in the link at the high school that will cost $7,000. It will be paid for through a senior class donation, through the Associated Stu- dent Body, ASB football, the Quarterback Club and money from the current football schedule magnets fundraiser.

The soccer state trophy is housed in the Prescott school because that's where the WP home soccer field is located.

Segraves said he plans on donating a replica soccer tro- phy to Prescott as well.

"We think that would be a wonderful donation," said Prescott Superintendent Dr. Bill Jordan.

Each trophy replica would cost about $175, but he is giving the trophies to the Prescott and Waitsburg school districts for free.

The trophies are relatively simple in construction, Segraves said. The base is made out of plywood with hardwood materials for the platforms.

The structure looks a bit like a cake with two tiers, he said. Tony's Glass provides the plexiglass for the tro- phies to protect team photos that will adorn the base.

The school district will need to pay for the top foot- ball and soccer ball and the engraving, Bartlow said.

Segraves started making replica trophies for other schools when he lived in Alabama, where he's from originally.

In 2011 when Walla Wal- la High School won the softball state championship, Segraves built the school a new trophy case and crafted the team's replica trophy - also for free.

"With that trophy, it wasn't very much," he said.

Segraves said it was easy to donate the materials and time because he knew the coach and some of the players.

Walla Walla High School's softball coach Jerry Humphreys said Segraves had built the cabinets in his home kitchen and the quality craftsmanship was apparent.

"He did a beautiful job on that stuff," Humphreys said.

The Walla Walla state softball replica trophy now sits in a case at the entryway to the main gym at the high school.

Humphreys said he was thrilled when Segraves made a frame for the home plate holder, housing the home plate from the historic game.

"He did a beautiful job and we sure appreciated it," Humphreys said. "He did little extras too and that re- ally made it special."

To make the WP state trophies for free, it was an easy decision. Segraves' son Jimmy Crawford, a 2004 Waitsburg High School graduate, had played foot- ball and participated in track and field on Bartlow's teams.

He is currently working on the soccer and football state trophies for WP and expects to have them com- pleted before the start of the school year.

However, because the trophy case for Waitsburg High School is a much larger project, that won't be done before the school year.

"One thing at a time," Segraves said.