Published Jan. 22, 2010
By Keith Leventhal, KEPR TV
While our local hockey and basketball players are pretty good athletes, they’ve got a ways to go before they become professionals.
However, its probably safe to say that at least one or two of them will make it to that level.
Some of the Tri-Cities biggest success stories were back in town Thursday night for CBC’s 4th annual “Follow Your Dreams” banquet.
One of the school’s alums that made it big was former baseball star Ray Washburn.
After leaving CBC, he went on to a 10 year career in the major leagues.
He pitched for both St. Louis and Cincinnati…and he won a World Series ring and threw a no-hitter during his career.
But, even with all that success, he’s always been connected to CBC, including some surprising ties with the Hawks athletic director Scott Rogers and their baseball coach Steve Farrington.
Washburn says, “When I was coaching baseball at Bellevue, Scott was my 1st baseman, so, it kind of, we kind of come around, and I played, coached against Steve Farrington, he was at Lower Columbia at the time, so we always have a lot of head battles, so it was good to see Steve too.”
Washburn wasn’t the only baseball star at Thursday night’s event.
Pasco-native and Detroit Tigers pitcher Jeremy Bonderman was also in the crowd.
And all of those stars helped raise $25,000 for the CBC athletic department.