Ed Pepple would surely approve of the maroon sweatsuit that Scott A. Weiss was proudly sporting on a recent day.

The legendary four-time 3A state championship Mercer Island High School (MIHS) boys basketball head coach fully embraced the maroon attire and Pepple had his players don school-colored blazers while representing the school and city on their hoops journey.

Mercer Island basketball not only resides on the court, but is a major factor in uniting the community. Hoops and city pride for one and all.

“He was able to strike a nerve and create a passion for the sport,” Weiss said about Pepple bringing discipline and structure into the gym and rallying Island residents behind his squads, which won state titles in 1985, 1993, 1997 and 1999.

Pepple retired from MIHS in March 2009 after 42 seasons at the helm and is Washington state’s winningest basketball coach with 952 victories. He passed away from cancer at the age of 88 on Sept. 14, 2020.

In February, Weiss — an Island resident and 1993 MIHS graduate — put his book about Pepple and how he led the 1985 Islanders to notch their first state crown into play, “Tradition: The Quest for a Championship,” on his Headliner Books imprint. The success story, which spotlights the Islanders’ perseverance and drive to overcome myriad obstacles to reach the pinnacle of high school sports, is told through articles from Mercer Island Reporter sportswriters covering the seasons from 1980-85.

Some of Pepple’s paramount core values, according to his players, were hard work, enthusiasm, toughness and determination as noted in a previous Reporter article.

The stellar ‘85 Islanders — which featured superstar Division I recruits Quin Snyder and Brian Schwabe — no doubt dipped into Pepple’s playbook of essential merits when rolling through their magical season and finally hoisting the state trophy.

In describing the book, Weiss said: “It’s about Pepple’s quest to get his first state championship, which he achieved after many many tries in ‘85. So it talks about all the steps leading up to that. So it’s a mini biography of Pepple, but it’s really focused on those five crucial seasons in Mercer Island basketball history.”

A critical step along the road to achieving that first title was when the Islanders lost in the state championship game in 1981 to Shadle Park, 66-65, on a buzzer beater. That loss was shrouded in controversy since initially the shot was ruled as swishing through the hoop after time expired and the scoreboard showed the Islanders winning, 65-64. MIHS lost its appeal to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) and the school was put on probation for one year because of unsportsmanlike conduct following the game.

“So Quin and Brian were eighth-graders, maybe, when they sat and watched Mercer Island win and then lose to Shadle Park. So they saw Pepple’s son climb up the ladder to start cutting down the net. Kyle, point guard on the team, and then have to see the scoreboard show that Mercer Island actually lost, climbed down. And so they were heartbroken,” Weiss said.

“Whether they looked at each other in the eye and were like, ‘We’re going to deliver this title to Mercer Island,’ or it was just like pre-written. There was something about them, I think, in that moment where it’s almost like they took it on their shoulders and were like, ‘We’re going to give Pepple his state championship,’” said Weiss, adding that MIHS came close to winning state the following year, but lost in the final to Roosevelt, 58-52.

Weiss, whose family moved to Mercer Island from southern California in 1988, became an ardent supporter of Islander basketball and watched the squad win the state title his senior year. Later, as a senior at the University of Arizona, Weiss experienced another title when the Wildcats’ men’s basketball squad won the national championship.

He moved back to the Island about eight years ago with his family and remains fully ingrained in the community. His passion for high school basketball is as strong as ever.

And his reverence for Pepple is clearly on display by releasing the book and when he excitedly speaks about the “icon.”

“If you’re an Islander now, regardless of when you moved here or how long you’ve been here, you don’t necessarily have to go out and buy this book, but you need to know this story because it’s a part of your history and it will help you understand part of why things are the way they are here and why there’s such a deep passion for Mercer Island and for the Islanders,” Weiss said.

Pepple connections abound on the Island, whether those involve people who played for him or know someone who did. The book is like a relationship builder, Weiss said, and something everyone can rally around once again.

The book is available at Island Books and can be ordered at: https://www.amazon.com/Tradition-Quest-Championship-Scott-Weiss/dp/0578337002.