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It's more than a father-daughter relationship By Greg Stiles In a perfect world, Jack and Cassie Sharp would�ve spent this week participating in the Class 4A state girls basketball tournament here in Portland. It would have been father and daughter sharing the pinnacle of their coaching and playing careers. Instead, the Klamath Union coach and his only offspring are watching from the Chiles Center�s theater seats as they have for longer than she can remember. Jack has brought teams to the tournament three times � the last in 1996. He was hoping for one more appearance this year with seven seniors on his roster, including Cassie. It would�ve been a fitting ending. But the Pelicans had their tournament hopes derailed in a one-point loss to Gresham in the sub-tourney. A single parent, Jack has raised Cassie since 1989 when Gini, his wife of 11 years, died from cystic fibrosis. "We were married when she was 19 and I was 21," Jack recalls. "She was relatively healthy when we had Cassie (in 1984). Cystic fibrosis clogs up your lungs and all the other organs have to work harder. It�s a degenerative thing and eventually wears you down." Jack and Gini were raised in Klamath Falls. He attended Henley High and then earned his degree at Western Oregon in 1978. They married in 1977, and a year later, he took a teaching position at Mazama. In 1979, Jack was transferred to Klamath Union. In 1987 he crossed over from boys to girls basketball and became the Pelicans� head coach. "I remember when I was 4," says Cassie, "going to games with my little cheerleading skirt and pompoms." Her early memories are murky, and memories of her mom are dim. Time demands on head coaches are heavy, and Jack was ready to quit coaching and devote himself to raising his daughter. But Cassie wasn�t about to let her dad leave the sidelines. Jack was at a crossroads: He knew that he�d be out or in for the long haul. "I mentioned it a couple of times, but Cassie was adamant," Jack says. "I think that she liked being a coach�s daughter. Somewhere in there, she said, �I want to play basketball for you.� "It�s been an absolute great experience. She�s always been a daughter that wants to please her dad. She�s been the same sort of player. She might disagree, but I don�t ever think there�s been a cross word between us in basketball. That�s not to say I haven�t barked at her on the floor. But it�s been easy and quite rewarding." When games and practices were over, coach and player become father and daughter. "His attention has meant a lot to me," Cassie says. "When I was in junior high, I wouldn�t tell him everything. But now I tell him everything. It�s not that big of a deal to share stuff." By age 10, Cassie was going to camps here and there with friends. There were times when Cassie wanted to spend more time pursuing basketball, while Dad suggested piano lessons, swimming and the like. Cassie developed some cooking skills � learned from her grandmothers � that she shared with her dad. "He likes to make the same things over and over," she says. "I had to teach him to cook new things." Jack will decide in the next couple of weeks whether he will continue coaching. Next summer, he�ll get married to fellow math teacher Lisa Hart. "The first couple of years when I was single again, I had some opportunities for serious relationships that might have ended up in marriage," he says. "But the timing wasn�t right." Jack didn�t want to risk putting his daughter through the ringer if she didn�t bond with a new mom. "When she was in junior high," he says, "I made a conscious decision not to pursue a relationship that would end up in marriage until she graduated. It�s totally ironic that I met a person in the last year of her career. I�ll be married and she�ll be leaving for college within a month." Cassie is excited for both her father and his new love. "It would�ve been weird to have someone knew in my life, would�ve changed things," Cassie says. "I love Lisa. Once she started hanging out, I got to know her and she was really nice." The perfect ending, of course, would�ve been for Cassie to charge on to the court at the state tournament when her name was announced during the starting lineups. "I remember when I was about 6 the last time we won the SOC," Cassie says. "It was so much fun coming up with the girls. I�m always going to be bitter about not playing here." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4483, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.