Ex-NBA guard Jamal Crawford's signature, longtime coach's legacy on display at new Rainier Beach gymnasium

'Jamal Crawford Court' gets change of address while rest of pristine indoor athletic facility named in honor of nine-time WIAA boys basketball championship coach Mike Bethea

Former NBA guard Jamal Crawford, left, and his longtime high school coach in Mike Bethea, were part of blue-ribbon cutting ceremonies Saturday, introducing the new Rainier Beach HS gymnasium to the public. / Photo by Todd Milles

SEATTLE - Retired 20-year NBA veteran Jamal Crawford was unexpectedly emotional. Longtime boys basketball coach Mike Bethea was modest and visibly overjoyed.

The two men whom many associate as the face of Rainier Beach High School basketball were honored in a big way Saturday as the public got its first view of the school's new indoor athletic complex - called the Michael S. Bethea Athletic Complex.

Of course, the gem is the pristine basketball court with many state-of-the-art accessories - still called the Jamal Crawford Basketball Court.

It's all part of the nearly $283 million project to buil a new high school, replacing the old one that has stood since 1960.

"They had a lot of input from Jamal and I on it," Bethea said.

While the old gymnasium had its own charm, what it didn't have were some of the necessities other high schools had. Classrooms were converted to game-night locker rooms. And Bethea's office was essentially a mop closet.

The new athletic facility boasts more of everything - coaches' offices, team classrooms, open-air community meeting spaces, a bigger weight room and plenty more trophy-display cabinets.

Inside the gymnasium, there is a main basketball floor for varsity game - and an upstairs auxiliary court that will give way to grandstands seating on game night.

The new gymnasium will seat close to 2,000 spectators, up from the 1,400 in the old gymnasium. And they will all have a nice view of the new wall-plated jumbotron, which will have video-replay capacity, and baskets that aren't as crowded by baseline walls (almost like the open-air backdrop you'd see in the Tacoma Dome).

Ex-NBA guard Jamal Crawford takes a long look at his signature, which graces the new basketball court of which bears his name at Rainier Beach High School, his alma mater. / Photo by Todd Milles

And the biggest upgrade?

"The locker rooms," Bethea said. "They now have basketball-specific lockers. And we will have pieces of the old floor cut out and placed in the middle of the floor of the locker room."

The court floor itself has interesting features, too - lined by graphics of waves and Viking boats at sea near the baselines.

And, of course, Crawford's name signature accompanies Ihe court naming along each sideline.

"I perfected that when I was a kid, because I hoped to be famous one day," Crawford said. "I had that part down."

One of the unique features that Crawford likes is the set of windows on the east side of the gymnasium that invites natural light.

"It's the only (high school) gym I've seen ... that has windows," Crawford said. "It makes for a different feel. You come in and you are happy. You come in and you don't want to leave."

Whereas Crawford got his first glimpse of the new facility a few month ago when it wasn't finished, Bethea took more frequent visits to monitor progress. His wife, Virginia, oversaw a lot of the project.

"Every time I walked in to look," Bethea said, "it was like walking in the first time."

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