Jack Vernon deKubber, a Lynden High School basketball standout, and longtime teacher and basketball coach at Snohomish, died on May 25 at 89 years old due to an unfortunate fall a week earlier that resulted in an ultimately fatal brain injury. Up until the injury, Jack was active and had just returned from a trip to Arizona, was putting together his fishing gear for a trip to Rufus Woods, where he fished with his brother Denny often over the last decade (and who passed away 12 days earlier on May 13). And had a scheduled trip to the Badlands and Mount Rushmore in June.
Jack was born on February 26,1936 in Lynden Washington. His father, William deKubber was born in Terneuzen, Netherlands and immigrated in 1907 as a child. His mother, Winnifred Gunst, was born in McCloud, Alberta Canada. He was the third child of four. He attended Lynden High School 1950-1954 during which time he proved to be one of the all-time great basketball players at Lynden. Nicknamed “Jumpin’ Jack deKubber”, he dominated the boards while winning the league scoring title as a Senior. Jack was selected to play on the All-State Basketball Non-Tournament team that year. He also played softball at Lynden and made the all-league team. He played against the barnstorming Eddy Feigner and his Kings Court.
These basketball accolades led to a scholarship offer from the University of Washington. As a Husky, deKubber played for three years as a guard before transferring to Western Washington State College and getting his teaching degree in 1959. He made the traveling squad at the UW playing against Wilt Chamberlain at the University of Kansas, scoring 6 points.
Jack married his high school sweetheart, Peggy Knudsen on July 20, 1957 and the two were married for 66 years, until Peggy’s death in 2023. Jack and Peggy moved to Snohomish in 1963 and raised 4 daughters, Lisa, Lori, Wendy and Teri.
After graduation, Coach deKubber started his career coaching and teaching at Granite Falls High School for the 1959-60 school year. He then got hired to coach and teach at Arlington for two years, during which time he took his team to the state tournament for the first times in that school’s history.
From there Jack moved to Snohomish, where he taught and coached for fifteen years. During his time at Snohomish, Coach deKubber’s teams were Northwest League champs four years (1967, 1968, 1969, 1970) and went to the State Tournament at Hec Ed Pavilion all 4 years. In 1970, Snohomish Panthers squad took home the AAA State Championship Trophy much to the excitement of the Snohomish Community. Panthers again went to the State Tourney in 1977, his final year of coaching high school basketball. After leaving coaching he became a Junior High Vice Principal for ten years until his retirement in1989.
He was inducted into the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2008, the Lynden High School Hall of Fame as an athlete in 2011, the Snohomish High School Hall of Fame in 2015, the Snohomish County Sports Hall of Fame, once as a coach in 2015 (with daughter Lori who was also inducted for playing basketball at WWU) and once with the 1970 championship squad in 2017. He was also Winner of the Northwest legends Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023. Although he had much success with over his 18 years of coaching with 236 wins and 155 losses, Coach deKubber would tell you, his favorite part of coaching was the camaraderie with his players, who he continued to see socially for many years after his retirement.
Jack enjoyed life to the fullest and had many interests. He loved fishing, with his dad as a child, at Lake Ki with longtime camping friends, as well as fishing at Rufus Woods with brother Denny and cousins. He and Peggy also enjoyed taking family/friends vacations on Kauai. He grew potatoes that were originally brought over from the Netherlands with his parents. He was a member of the Lion’s Club. He loved helping out neighbors, friends, and family. He was always dropping in on his daughters to visit or take then to lunch. He was an avid golfer playing one of the first rounds at newly opened Snohomish Golf Course in 1967. He got his earliest hole in one at Cedarcrest Golf Course in 1964 as reported in the Everett Herald at the time. He played his last round in April, in which he again scored better than his age, with an 87. A feat he would achieve over 70 times in his life.
Jack is survived by daughter’s Lisa Schneider (Mark), Lori deKubber (Sarah), Wendy deKubber (Ted), Teri deKubber Danner (Larry) and granddaughter Quinn deKubber (Ryan). And many wonderful cousins, nieces and nephews.
A Celebration of Jack’s Life will be held on Sunday August 17 at 3:00pm at Swans Trail Farms, 7301 Rivershore Road, Snohomish, WA 98290.