Alumni Spotlight - Reggie Limar

Looking back at the last 20 years of EHS basketball, there’s a laundry list of backcourt players that impacted the program. But surely love has to be given to the front court players that put in work and were key cogs to the team’s success.

Since 6’10” David Vik led his team to a 3rd place finish in the 1990 State Tournament, there’s been a number of traditional/non-traditional bigs that forged a strong imprint on the teams they played on. Chad Holliston was a crafy 6’4” post that wasn’t afraid to dunk on would be defenders for the ’93 team. 6’4” Mike Pederson had an array of post moves, and completely outplayed Lake Washington’s 7’1” David Stirring in a 1994 district tourney game again Donald Watts’ LW squad. Tom Niva has an inside-out game (ok, mostly outJ) that helped the ’95 team place 5th in state. 6’6 Adam Moore was an All-State caliber performer for the ’03 team. 6’7 Andy Blacker and 7’1 David Safstrom patrolled the lane for the ’05 and ’06 squads, with Saffy taking his talents to Division-I Lehigh University. And then there was Reggie Limar…

At 6’4” and the build of a D-I linebacker, Limar possessed athleticism, strength, and all-around game that made him the ideal high school power forward. His build allowed him for physically dominate opposing post players, but it was his highly developed post game that allowed him to truly stand out. As an assistant coach to the varsity team at the time, I recall the beauty of the ball rotating around on offense to allow Reggie to pin his man out in the post. Without fail, he would hold his man off outside the key, and have a clear path of about 6 feet to the basket, which more times than not resulted in a rim-rattling dunk. He epitomized automatic low-post offense.

I think what I had forgotten about Reggie is what a stat sheet monster he was. When I went to the Seattle Times archives search to find info on him and his squad, the search result previews from articles show stat lines like “28 points and 14 rebounds”, “16 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 5 steals”, “19 points and 14 rebounds”. These would be career outings for most players, but this is what Reggie did EVERY NIGHT. The results translated to team triumphs: Along with his brother Steve, Josh Daniels and John Richer, Limar was a part of two state tournament teams, with the 2000 team placed 7th in state. Reggie parlayed that success into 3 appearances on the All-WesCo team, and selection to the 2001 3A All-State game.

Reggie was happy to share his experiences playing at Everett with the blog: below are his thoughts:

---------

EHS Alumni Basketball – What years did you participate in the Seagull basketball program?
Reggie Limar –From 1998-2001.

EHS AB – Before you were in high school, what events led to you knowing you wanted to play ball at Everett?

RL – To be honest I thought we (me and my brother) were going to playing at Mariner High School but as my freshmen year approached we moved to North Everett and that’s when I learned I would be a Seagull!

EHS AB – Tell us a little bit about the group of guys you grew up playing with.

RL – I grew up playing with and against some of the best guys in the state! Played locally for a the same coach for almost 10 years and he lead me to an AAU team that traveled all over the US playing with the likes of Nate Robinson of UW, Will Conroy of UW, The Stewart twins of USC, Roydale Smiley of USC, Anthony Washington of UW, and Randy Green of WSU!

EHS AB – What are some of your most unforgettable moments you recall from your playing days?

RL – Playing at State is probably one of the best things you can be a part of when you high school ball!

EHS AB – What was the best team you were a part of during your time at Everett High?
RL – The best team that I was a part of was my junior year with the class of 2000! I think it all started with Coach Olsen… Some people didn’t like his high energy and passion for the game but for us (me especially) he fueled the fire and got us all on the same page and expected the best out of us! We made each other better… and gave everything we had every game! We had some of the best guys in the state on our team that year and took 7th that year!

EHS AB – What opposing team do you recall having extraordinary battles with? How did you guys fare in those battles?

RL – Man, I think we had more intense battles with Stanwood then any other team in my years at Everett. I can remember every game being sold out and down to the wire. Weather it was a regular season game or the playoffs to go to state I think we got the best of them in 99 and 00.

EHS AB – Who was the best player you recall going toe-to-toe with?

RL – I remember battling with Josh Ellington of Stanwood the most, he was one of the only guys that liked the physical contact like I did and we went back and forth every game but we played against a lot of great players but the best were probably: Jamaal Crawford, Nate Robinson, Ryan Appleby, The whole Mount Vernon Squad, Teyo Johnson, and Amon Gordon!

EHS AB – Who was the teammate you enjoyed playing with the most? How did that individual bring the best out of everyone else?

RL – There’s no way I could name just one teammate, I played with such a great group of guys every year! They all brought something different to the squad.

EHS AB – Can you recall the most memorable game you played in as a Seagull? What makes that game stand out?

RL – For me personally it was the game against Evergreen High School because I dropped 38 points, 14 rebounds, and had 6 dunks! The all around battle was would have to be the Stanwood games my junior year, I can remember being physically and emotionally exhausted after every game!

EHS AB – Looking back on your experience, what traits were you able to take with you to help forge the person you’ve become?

RL – Teamwork and commitment me more to me now because of Seagull basketball! I took away lifelong friendships and memories!

EHS AB – If you could give the current group of Seagull basketball players any advice, what would you tell them?

RL – Seize the moment! Don’t take one day for granted…put school and your grades first, if you put in as much time and effort in your school work as you do ball or sports period you will accomplish true success! Practice, practice, practice! There wasn’t one day that went by that I wasn’t in the gym working on my game!