The Richland Bombers are one of the most storied basketball teams in state history. With their mushroom cloud logo and striped warm- up pants, the team from the Atomic City was a fixture at the state tournament for decades, winning titles in 1958, 1972 and 1979.
So it’s no surprise that the list of Bomber greats who contributed to the program’s success over the years is a long one. It includes legendary coach Art Dawald, all-state players Gene Conley, Chuck
Curtis, John Meyers, Norris Brown, C.W. Brown, Ray Stein, Theartis Wallace, Mike Neill and many, many more. One name that certainly belongs on that list is Jim Castleberry, whose association with Bomber basketball began in the 1950s. He was a starting guard for the school’s fi rst-ever state championship team in 1958 and a longtime Bombers assistant coach alongside close friend Phil Neill.
It’s fitting that Castleberry and Neill are being inducted into Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in the same class. Because together is how, for nearly two decades, they guided one of the most respected programs in state basketball history.
Neill and Castleberry were a perfect combination. They both played for Dawald and were co-captains of their respected teams, so they were well schooled in the Bomber philosophy of playing fast-paced, disciplined basketball. They also played off each other. Bomber great Bob Kennedy, a key member of Richland’s 1978-79 state title team, once described them as good cop, bad cop, Neill brought the intensity, while Castleberry offered a calming influence.
On the court, Neill calls Castleberry the best he has ever seen at coaching fundamentals, no matter if he were instructing grade school kids in summer camp or varsity-level athletes. His specialty at Richland was tutoring big men on big post moves, passing, rebounding and defense.
Castleberry’s work paid off soon after taking the lead assistant/junior varsity job before the 1977-78 season. The Bombers, with a talented junior-laden team, won the Big Nine Conference title and brought home a fourth-place trophy from the state tournament in Seattle.
The sting of the falling short in 1978–Richland’s only loss at state was by two points to Shadle Park–was erased the following season in a big way. The 1978-79 squad overpowered opponents by an average of 26 points en route to 26-1 season that culminated with the school’s second state championship. The Bombers were big, fast and determined. Castleberry, like most, calls them the best team in school history.
Maybe so, but no Richland team was more special than the 1957-58 state champs. After a pair of non-conference losses in Spokane to start the season – the Bombers were actually playing too fast for Dawald’s liking – Richland ended the season with 23 straight victories and defeated Lewis and Clark of Spokane 58-52 in the title game at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. Two days earlier, the Bombers beat two- time defending state champion Lincoln of Seattle, halting the Lynx’s 38-game win streak.
The 1957-58 Bombers were a balanced team led by their big horse, John Meyers, who went on to play football at the University of Washington. They also featured four other multi-dimensional players in starters C.W. Brown, Pat Crook, Bob Frick and Castleberry.
Anybody who knows Jim Castleberry will tell you he is a humble man who is more comfortable praising his former teammates, players and coaches, than he is talking about himself. But as Crook once said, “Jim was a player. He was smart, he had a great all-around game and he was clutch. He always seemed to be at his best when the pressure was on.” Castleberry played two seasons at Central Washington University before transferring to Pacific Lutheran University for his final two seasons.
Castleberry remained on Richland’s staff for three seasons following after Neill’s retirement in 1999. He then rejoined his old friend Neill at Carmichael Middle School in Richland, where he coached an additional nine seasons. Castleberry, of course, was a natural at the middle-school level. His teaching of fundamentals provided a strong foundation for dozens of kids who moved on to Richland and carried on the Bomber tradition.
Castleberry taught at Jason Lee Elementary in Richland for 29 years. His son, Jimmie, was a standout football player at Hanford High School, and his daughters, Jeanette and Polly, graduated from Richland.
These days, Castleberry attends high school games on occasion and keeps a close eye on his beloved Washington Huskies (he’s been a season ticket-holder for decades). But his favorite topic is, undoubtedly, Richland basketball. And again, he’s always willing to talk about his former coaches, teammates and players. After all, Jim Castleberry is Mr. Bomber.
*A special thanks to Mark McKenna for this biographical sketch.
