Friends remember Columbia Falls baseball coach Bill Sapa

In 1991 Ray Queen was playing baseball for Grand Canyon University. A familiar face was on the mound, staring him down as he stood on the plate. It was longtime friend Bill Sapa, pitching for the University of New Mexico.

Sapa threw Queen two good hard fastballs on the outside of the plate.

“I took two really good swings,” Queen recalled.

He missed them both.

“He comes back with this heater at my knees,” Queen said.

He caught just a little bit of it and hit a dribbler back to a grinning Sapa.

Queen, who was known for his power hitting, jogged down to first base. Easy out.

Over the years Sapa always ribbed Queen about that play.

Sapa died April 17. He was the owner of the Blue Moon and the coach of the Columbia Falls High School baseball team and Queen’s best friend.

Sapa was found unresponsive in his recliner at his home in Columbia Falls by a family member. He was 53.

Sapa’s roots in Columbia Falls ran deep.

He was a standout baseball player for the Glacier Twins under coach Julio Delgado and played for the University of New Mexico in college — the first ever at the time to play Division 1 baseball from Columbia Falls.

Queen met Sapa in the early 1980s. The Whitefish Babe Ruth baseball team had folded and a new Glacier Babe Ruth team was formed, combining players from Whitefish, Columbia Falls and Bigfork.

Queen recalled they went into the first practice hating each other, but they were friends by the second practice.

In 1983 the Glacier All-Stars, as they were called, would make it to the World Series.

In the regionals Sapa, Queen and teammate Andy Mace were part of a pitching trio that combined for a one-hitter against Wheatland, Wyoming, 12-2.

The team went on to beat Idaho Falls, 2-1 to advance to the World Series — just one of nine teams nationwide in the tourney.

Sapa had a sacrifice in the win. His older brother, Jim, was also a key member of the team, hitting better than .400 according to stories in the Hungry Horse News.

That team would go 1-2 in the Series, beating Cranston, Rhode Island 11-10. Queen was the winning pitcher.

But tragedy struck in 1984 — Ray Johnsrud and Jim Sapa were hit by a train at the 12th Avenue Railroad crossing. Both were 16 at the time of the accident.

Bill Sapa would go on to be a standout player for the Glacier Twins under coach Delgado. The team would win its only AA state title in 1986.

Queen recalled Bill Sapa hit right-handed and pitched left-handed. His pitching was wild at times. In college, he was moved from the outfield to pitcher by his coaches at Lower Columbia Junior College. He then transferred to New Mexico, where he had a 90 mph fastball and was 3-2 as a reliever for the Lobos.

He was drafted by the New York Yankees in 1991 but never played professionally, eventually returning home to help run the family farm and business.

In a 1991 story on him, he said he always wanted to be a power hitter, Like Bo Jackson or Jose Canseco, but he grew to like pitching.

“I didn’t know what pitchers went through until I was on the hill pitching,” he said in an interview in the Hungry Horse News. “Pitchers have a lot of control on the game and they have a lot of pressure on them.”

Sapa took on the task of coaching the inaugural season of the Columbia Falls High School baseball team this year. The team was just two games into its first season when he died.

The Sapa family have long been supporters of baseball, sports and a host of other community organizations over the years.

Charlotte and Dick Sapa, Bill’s parents, bought the Blue Moon from Lily Brash in 1972.

The Club was built in 1947, one of many watering holes that sprung up as the Hungry Horse Dam was being built.

When they first took the bar over, the couple worked tirelessly on fixing it up. The front door was a piece of plywood with a padlock on it, Charlotte recalled in a 2019 interview. They lived in a little apartment behind the bar with their three children, Bill, Charlene and Jimmy.

Dick and Charlotte both died in 2021. Their portrait graces the side of the Blue Moon.

Today the bar and its rodeo grounds are an iconic fixture in Columbia Falls. The rodeo draws thousands each Thursday night in the summer months. Bill also ran the family farm, whose open acreage and herd of black angus cows greet people entering Columbia Falls from the west.

Sapa was also an assistant football coach under Jaxon Schweikert for the past 10 years. The two were very close, Schweikert said.

He recalled talking Sapa into coaching. An avid hunter, Sapa was reluctant, as football season is smack dab in the middle of hunting season.

Sapa over the years had shot a Boone and Crockett Kodiak bear, two Boone and Crockett mountain lions and was one sheep away from the grand slam.

The mounts are showcased at the bar, including an alligator that hangs above the bar that he shot with his father on a hunt in Florida.

But Schweikert kept at it and Sapa relented and agreed to help coach the football team.

“He loved people,” Schweikert recalled. “He loved being around the kids.”

Sapa’s sons, Lane and Reggie both played football. They are friends with Schweikert’s son, Cody.

Schweikert recalled Sapa working with Cody and Reggie for hours on hitting balls at the batting cages at Schweikert’s home.

“He had an unbelievable work ethic,” Schweikert said. “He was the fun uncle. He treated Cody like a king.”

Schweikert, in turn, helped out on the Sapa farm. He recalled an incident with an old blow torch that went awry working on a swather.

Schweikert lost a left eyebrow, Sapa a right, as the torch ended up in a bit of a fireball.

“But we got (the swather) fixed,” he laughed. “Eyebrows grow back.”

Queen recalled Bill and Jim playing baseball in the backyard. They loved the Atlanta Braves and would pretend they were players from the team.

The two are in heaven together now, Queen said.

“I know he’s playing catch with Jimmy in the backyard. I know it,” Queen said.

A gathering for viewing and visitation is open for family and friends on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, from 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. at Columbia Mortuary in Columbia Falls. A celebration of Sapa’s life will be held on his birthday at 1 p.m., Saturday, April 29 at the Columbia Falls High School Gymnasium with a reception following at the Blue Moon. Please visit Sapa’s tribute page at www.columbiamortuary.com to share memories and condolences with the family.