Kristie Hickok and Courtney Jenkins will always be connected by their place in sports history as members of the first Bellingham High School girls basketball team to reach the state tournament.
And now, 36 years later, the two friends are again connected — by having sons who are teammates and two of the best basketball players in the Northwest Conference.
“It’s a really cool story for our boys … I get emotional thinking about it,” said Hickok.
Having children who play the same sport as their parents is not unusual. Having former high school teammates have children who are on the same team is rare, even in Whatcom County. But having parents who played together have children who are teammates at a different school is, well …
“It is a strange coincidence,” Jenkins admitted.

Making it even crazier is that the children — Jaeger Fyfe and Talon Jenkins — are not just teammates; they are good friends who have already led the Meridian boys basketball team to state once and are hoping to do it again in this, their senior season.
“It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was in high school, and now I have a senior,” said Jenkins, who was Courtney Kennedy in her high school days.
The story began four decades ago when Kristie, then a junior, and Courtney, a sophomore, played on the Red Raiders team that finally reached state. The two of them were both successful in other sports — Kristie in softball and Courtney in soccer and track — but became friends on the court.
“I loved her family … I’ve known them forever,” said Courtney. “Her Uncle Bob and Dad would come to all the games.”
Kristie recalled how, after Bellingham lost its first two games at the 1989 Class 2A state tournament, Courtney stayed overnight with Kristie and her aunt’s family in Tacoma.
“My family loved her and I loved her family,” said Kristie.
As happens, though, the two went their separate ways after each graduated.
Kristie turned down scholarships — “to buy a house,” she said — and played recreation basketball and softball, where she eventually met partner Jimmy Fyfe. He was from Oak Harbor, where he played basketball for eventual Hall of Famer Dave Dickson — yes, legendary Squalicum coach Dave Dickson.

Courtney, meanwhile, played soccer at Western Washington University for four years and then moved to Seattle, where she played semiprofessionally. She met and married Pat Jenkins, an Alaskan snowboarder, who played soccer at Central before becoming a trainer at the University of Washington.
For two decades the lives of the two high school friends didn’t intersect again until Courtney moved back to Whatcom County when Talon was in fifth grade and his brother Rylan was in second grade.
By that time, both mothers knew the paths their sons would be on.
“We’re a pretty competitive family, so from an early age he was pretty competitive,” said Kristie. “He would come to my games, so he got it at an early age. In kindergarten, he played with the second graders.”
Meridian coach Shane Stacy said, “I have pictures of Jaeger as a kindergartner in our camp. I’ve only known Talon since he came (in fifth grade).”
But by then, the new kid in school had already decided his future.
“At age 9, he said to me, ‘I just want to play basketball,’” said Courtney.
And when Courtney Jenkins was checking out select teams, the connection between old friends was reestablished.
“I was the coordinator for AAU,” said Kristie. “Shane said that a mom had moved from Seattle and reached out to him. I said, ‘That’s my friend Courtney!’ I had no idea she was moving back. I remember thinking how cool it was that that her kid came here.”
Although Talon would go on to play for a Bellingham AAU team, instead of being competitors, Jaeger and Talon became fast friends at school. Jaeger was the one who showed Talon around and the two could always be found playing hoops together at lunch time.

Not that the two boys were alike. Jaeger was the more studious of the two, a 3.9 student who concentrated on academics just as much as athletics. Talon was the outgoing one, who used his Christian faith to mentor younger kids.
“I’m quiet and he’s talking to everyone,” Jaeger said of Talon. “I’m a quiet leader, and he’s more energetic.”
Their differences could be seen in the athletic arena too. Jaeger was a three-sport star, making the varsity even as a freshman shortstop, quarterback, and shooting guard although he would drop baseball to concentrate on the other two sports. Talon, meanwhile, focused on hoops and it wasn’t until he was a sophomore that he made the varsity squad.
And it is on the basketball court that their talents meshed despite their differences.
Jaeger is a 6-foot-3 athlete who can shoot from outside, drive to the hoop, make every pass, and play sticky defense. He averages 16.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.7 steals a game.
“We do similar things, but he’s a lot better at getting downhill … making plays for himself and others,” said Talon. “That’s when he’s really dangerous.”
Talon is a 6-foot-7 shooter, who is among the league’s top scorers (19.2 points a game on 47 percent shooting) and rebounders (8.0 boards a game). He leads the team in 3-point shooting, blocks, and is tied with Jaeger in steals.
“They complement each other well,” said their coach. “If those guys were separated, they might average 25 points on other teams. They want each other to succeed, and they know how important it is to work together and benefit each other.”

Actually, they almost were separated. When Courtney moved with the boys from the Laurel area to Bellingham, Rylan enrolled at Squalicum and Talon had the choice of doing likewise. One of his good friends and former select teammates is current Storm star Marcus Nixon. But Talon decided to stay a Trojan.
“He was loyal,” said his mother. “He couldn’t leave Meridian. He loved his team and coach Stacy.”
And after last season, when the Trojans returned to state for the first time since 2020, there was no way the two senior friends would separate.
“We’ve talked about this every day that we’ve known each other — ‘when we’re seniors …’” said Talon. “We’ve been putting the work in. We’re super excited.”
Their success has also been exciting for their biggest fans.
“It’s fun to see him be a better athlete than I was,” said Courtney. “It’s been awesome.”
The Trojans, who are 10-6 overall and tied for sixth in the NWC, currently are the second seed among the league’s 1A teams. They will join Lynden Christian, Nooksack Valley, Mount Baker, and Blaine in the district tournament that starts Feb. 10.
