Court to possibly be named after Norman Goldstein

Sam Heikell, Sports Editor
Originally published May 3, 2016

During the Building Leadership Team’s meeting last month, representatives from the BHS Foundation proposed the idea to name the basketball court after Norman Goldstein, a long-time Ballard teacher and boys basketball coach.

Goldstein was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1923, and enlisted in the Navy in 1942, where he served until the end of World War II. In 1950, he graduated from the University of Washington, and later took his own teaching job at BHS to be a Health and Physical Education teacher.

In 1951, Goldstein became the assistant boys basketball coach, and in the fall of 1960, he took over as the head coach. Only a year later, Goldstein led the team to the state championship game where they lost to Garfield 58-51. He went on to win three city titles and was honored by the Washington State Coaches Hall of Fame three times.

Goldstein left BHS in 1967, but during his 17 years of teaching, he touched the lives of the athletes on his basketball teams as well as hundreds of other students. He coached at Edmonds Community College from 1967-1972 before moving on to become the Vice Principal at Mountlake Terrace High School until he retired in 1980.

Today, Goldstein and his wife of 72 years live in Edmonds, Washington, and many of his former students and players come to visit him regularly.

Now that the idea to name the court in his behalf was pitched, Principal Keven Wynkoop has the task of getting the new name approved by the school district. Whenever the opportunity to name a portion of a building is presented, the Superintendent will request the Principal to meet with staff, students, alumni and community residents to discuss the naming opportunity.

The proposal has been officially approved by the BHS Foundation’s board of directors, but it was not yet approved by the Building Leadership Team.

“Some members of the BLT were worried that [Goldstein] might not have enough connection to the students because he was at Ballard so long ago, and that naming the court could be confusing to people because the gym is named after Dick Lee[BHS basketball great] already,” Wynkoop said.

Wynkoop plans to present it to the PTSA board soon, and once more to the BLT. “I’m happy to pursue it, he’s a great guy and I’ve seen the impact that he’s had on students,” Wynkoop said. “I’m all for honoring him and I hope that we can get it done in time for the next school year.”