Washington Walk of Fame gains two more members
Published 7:34 pm Wednesday, October 31, 2018
WASHINGTON — Two more members of the Pam Pack family will be immortalized as part of the Washington High School Walk of Fame tonight, as the inductees, Victor Chavez and Jeff Mault, will be recognized at halftime of the Pam Pack football game against West Craven.
Jim Kozuch, Washington’s assistant athletic director and liaison to the Walk of Fame’s selection committee, said it was a “pretty easy” choice and “pretty much an unanimous vote” to select, Chavez, who ended his high school soccer career as Washington’s all-time leading scorer without playing his senior year, and Mault, who’s served as Washington’s athletic trainer since 1994.
“He (Chavez) was an awesome player and now he’s just an upstanding member of the community. He’s coaching for every possible league that you coach for in youth soccer,” Kozuch said. “Mr. Mault is just phenomenal. He’s been the athletic trainer at Washington High School forever. He raises all of his own money, so he supports his own program. Every game for every sport, he’s out there. Everybody knows him from the community. If you’ve ever been to a game, you’ve seen him on the sideline.”
Chavez, who played as a forward under then head coach Ben Brand from 2002-03, was delighted when he heard he was chosen to join the Walk of Fame, especially because it makes him a bit of a trailblazer.
“I was so happy about it. I was so excited because I’m going to be the first Latino over there,” Chavez said with a laugh.
Mault, who taught science at Washington from 1994-2013 before retiring as an educator, said he wasn’t sure he deserved to be selected, as he never attended Washington. But the selection committee didn’t agree, judging the work Mault has done on the sidelines for Pam Pack athletics the past 24 years merited his inclusion.
“The support of the people here in Washington is really great. It’s been that way ever since I’ve been here. They’re very supportive of all the coaches and the staff,” Mault said. “It’s very humbling for people to recognize you. Sometimes, when you work a lot and it’s a behind the scenes thing, you’re not on the field where everybody sees you, sometimes you get the idea that people don’t know that you’re there, or they don’t know what you’re doing. So, it’s a great honor to be recognized by these people.”