成人X站

Kirkland has changed a lot since the Seahawks鈥� original headquarters and practice facility opened in 1976 at what鈥檚 now Carillon Point, at the site of the old Lake Washington Shipyard聽in the Houghton neighborhood.

The reason the Seahawks picked Kirkland, rather than Bellevue, was because of one of the team owners, Ned Skinner. Skinner鈥檚 family owned the old 鈥淪kinner & Eddy鈥� shipyards in Seattle, going back to the turn of the 20th century, and had purchased the old Lake Washington Shipyard with the intention of someday developing a marina there.

In 1976, the shipyard property was mostly vacant, with derelict vessels, including , tied up at the decaying pier.

Ample lakeside real estate at the old shipyard meant plenty of room for football practice fields with real grass. Newspaper accounts at the time say that the team also had the option of practicing in the old Kingdome with its artificial grass, but that coaches preferred the real stuff for each week鈥檚 complement of drills and scrimmages.

Voice of the Seahawks Steve Raible was a rookie in that inaugural 1976 season, and the Kentucky native and Georgia Tech standout receiver still has fond memories of the then-sleepy community by the lake.

鈥淜irkland was literally just that little village down there with a few old storefronts,鈥� Raible said, with an old J. C. Penney department store and other retail and restaurants typical of a 1970s suburb. He says it made sense for players to live in Kirkland or nearby in order to be close to work.

鈥淚 got a little apartment in Kirkland, a little one bedroom,鈥� he recalled.

The building is still there, and no, Raible says when asked, there鈥檚 no commemorative plaque.

鈥淚 don’t remember the name of [the apartment complex] now, but I only lived there for five months鈥� during the Seahawks鈥� first season.

In the offseason, Raible鈥檚 early Seahawk years included a part-time job at a local bar and restaurant. The topic of NFL players working in the offseason came up when Joel McHale filled in as Raible鈥檚 co-host for radio coverage of a pre-season game against the Los Angeles Chargers in August.

鈥淲hat was the weirdest job you had in the offseason, because players had to work?鈥� McHale asked.

鈥淲ell, most of us did,鈥� Raible said, 鈥淸Quarterback Jim] Zorn didn鈥檛. [Hall of Fame wide receiver] Largent didn鈥檛. The rest of us did. I was a bartender for a couple years.鈥�

鈥淲here?鈥� said McHale.

鈥淎 place called Hector鈥檚 in Kirkland,鈥� said Raible.

鈥淪till there?鈥� said McHale.

鈥淪till there,鈥� Raible replied.

鈥淚 hope you get free drinks when you go in there,鈥� McHale said.

鈥淭hey don鈥檛 know who I am,鈥� Raible admitted.

Raible says his association with Hector鈥檚 was a big part of his early years in the Seattle area.

鈥淎 lot of us used to eat breakfast at Hector’s all the time, and I got to know the owner, and his name was Vern Conrad,鈥� Raible said. 鈥淰ern and Betty Conrad owned that place and they could not have been nicer folks, and they loved having us [Seahawks] guys down there … not so much during the season, but on our night off, you鈥檇 go down there, maybe have dinner and grab a couple of beers or something. So I got to know those guys really well.鈥�

Vern Conrad eventually offered Steve a job helping build the bar at Hector鈥檚, and clearing an area next to the building to create an outdoor seating area, initially paying him in meals and drinks.

This eventually led to a more formal job tending bar.

鈥淸Vern] said it would be great — the fans would love to come in and just see and talk to you at the bar,鈥� Raible said. 鈥淎nd so I said ‘sure.’ I started tending bar three nights a week during the offseason. Never had tended bar in my life, could not mix a bourbon and water, but I learned quickly.鈥�

Raible says that Hector鈥檚 clientele was more of a beer and margarita crowd, and it wasn鈥檛 a place for exotic cocktails. But sometimes, a customer would order something a little unusual.

鈥淚 remember vividly a very nice elderly couple came in, and I remember them sitting up by the window,鈥� Raible said. 鈥淎nd so I went over and put a couple of little coasters down and I said, 鈥榃hat can I get for you guys?鈥欌��

鈥淸The man] said, 鈥榃e’d like a couple of grasshoppers,鈥� and I said, 鈥業 beg your pardon? and [then] I said, 鈥極kay, I’ll be right back.鈥欌��

鈥淣ow, my mom didn’t raise any fools,鈥� Raible said. 鈥淪o I had a mixed-drink book behind the bar.鈥�

Raible says he looked up 鈥楪rasshopper鈥� and thought 鈥淥K, well that doesn’t look as complicated as it sounded.鈥� I think it was something like Creme de Menthe and Creme de Cacao, on and over, blended,鈥� Raible said.

Later, the couple told Raible that the drinks he鈥檇 made for them were the best Grasshoppers they had ever had.

鈥淭hat’s because [the drinks] were probably too strong and [the man and woman] were very, very nice,鈥� Raible said.

Steve Raible worked at Hector鈥檚 for a couple of years, until sometime around 1979. That was around the time when he started doing fill-in work on 成人X站 Radio鈥檚 long-running old Sportsline evening talk show, before ultimately transitioning to 成人X站 TV after his final season with the Seahawks in 1981.

Seahawks in Kirkland

Meanwhile, time keeps moving on in Kirkland. The Seahawks moved from the old shipyard to the campus of Northwest College in 1986, and then to the Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton, to another former industrial site along Lake Washington in 2008.

Hector鈥檚 is still there and still in business, but the restaurant has changed hands over the years. And the d茅cor has changed a bit, too, with some Seahawk photos of Steve and his teammates no longer on display.

鈥淚 think the last time I was in there — I had met somebody down there for lunch or something — and I noticed they took the pictures down,鈥� Raible said. 鈥淚 asked, 鈥楬ey, whatever happened to those [pictures], and the waitperson there at the time, she said, 鈥極h, gosh. I have no idea. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen them.鈥欌��

Does Raible think the classic old Seahawk images from Hector鈥檚 were saved and are maybe now on display in the den or rumpus room of some dedicated 12?

鈥淭hey probably ended up in the dumpster somewhere,鈥� Raible said, matter-of-factly, clearly not perturbed that the bar didn鈥檛 become a shrine.

A quick check at Hector鈥檚 earlier this week confirms that there are indeed no Seahawks photos on display. And, Raible鈥檚 comment made during that August game that the bar’s current ownership doesn’t know who he is might be at least partially true.

A Hector鈥檚 staff person appeared to have a vague idea of the restaurant鈥檚 connection to those early Seahawks Kirkland years, but wasn鈥檛 much interested in talking about what significance that connection might have now from a historical standpoint.

Meanwhile, several blocks south at Carillon Point, a knowledgeable 50-something barista was thrilled to recall that particular piece of real estate鈥檚 ties to the early Seahawks. She also speculated that maybe only one in 10 of her customers has any idea that the team鈥檚 headquarters were once there.

On a railing overlooking the marina, there is an interpretive panel describing shipyard history, but the Seahawks part of the story does not appear to be commemorated anywhere.

Kirkland has obviously changed, and Steve Raible says many things have also changed for NFL players since he first suited up more than 40 years ago. Salaries are such that offseason jobs aren鈥檛 a necessity, and social media has affected the nature of the relationships between players and fans, especially in the communities where players live and work.

In the late 1970s, Raible and the other Seahawks were able to live in and around Kirkland and do their (admittedly very specialized) work there, without getting hassled.

鈥淲e鈥檇 run from the Kirkland facility during those years of training and offseason and stuff, and we take off and go run all the way down from the facility all the way to Juanita and back some days,鈥� Raible said. 鈥淗ere鈥檚 a line of five or six guys in, in those days, the old short-shorts and high white socks and t-shirts, having just gotten done lifting weights. And here we all go, running down the street, just to go out for a long run, and sometimes people would go by and they鈥檇 beep their horn.鈥�

And though the photos and the reverence for the Seahawks may be gone from the walls of Hector鈥檚, the great memories remain for Steve Raible.

鈥淭o a person, everybody was great,鈥� Raible said. 鈥淎nd we felt a real home in Kirkland.鈥�

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