Moscow has lost a legend.
Kim Goetz, who led Moscow High School to three straight state berths and was later drafted into the NBA, passed away Monday night of an apparent heart attack. He was 50.
Everyone who knew Goetz described him in a different way - a leader, a joker and just an all around likeable guy. The one thing they all agreed on was that Goetz was the greatest player that ever came out of Moscow High.
"For me its always been a source of pride to have played along side Kim," said Jon Sanchez, Goetz' teammate during the 1975 season. "He was just one of those guys that had just that raw, natural talent all of us that were a little less gifted admired and looked up to.
"I coached for about 12 years and you don't see talent like that come along very often."
Goetz led Moscow to three straight state berths from 1973-75. He joined the Bears' varsity roster early in his sophomore year and earned a starting roll late in the season.
Goetz became quite an attraction at Bear Den, regularly scoring around 30 points a night while grabbing somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 rebounds.
"There were times that we'd outdraw the University of Idaho and they came out specifically to watch Kim," Goetz' former Moscow coach Tim Cummings said. "He was electrifying, just a fantastic player."
Goetz was the youngest of four basketball-playing brothers. Dave, Greg and Kevin, who led Moscow to a state title in 1972, all played hoops for the Bears and excelled at the sport.
Mark Miller, the lone junior on the '72 title team, was teammates with Kim during the 1973 season. He remembers many days spent playing basketball on the Goetz' under-sized backyard patio.
"He'd climb on the walls and do all kinds of crazy things on that little court," said Miller, a staff member at the University of Idaho. "He was a great guy. The Goetz boys are all characters and he certainly was one."
Goetz was a standout at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls for two seasons once his days at MHS were complete. From CSI it was off to San Diego State where Goetz' basketball career really took off.
He was a star at SDSU during the 1978 and '79 seasons, earning induction into the Aztec Hall of Fame in December of 2006.
"The Long Ranger" as Goetz came to be known with the Aztecs, led the team in scoring in each of his two seasons with the team and finished his two-year career with 1,005 points.
Goetz' greatest season came in 1979 when he earned an All-Western Athletic Conference selection by averaging more than 20 points per game and shooting a school-record 90.2 percent from the free throw line. He poured in a career-high 44 points versus Utah that same season.
Goetz still holds the school record for career free throw percentage (85.4), ranks second in career scoring average (18.6 ppg) and is eighth in career field goal attempts (852).
Goetz is also responsible for three of the top 10 single game scoring outputs in program history.
When his Atzec days were done, Goetz's was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft as the 34th selection overall by the New York Knicks. He was one of the last players cut by the Knicks that season.
Goetz possessed an ability on the court that doesn't come around very often. His personality off the court was even rarer.
"As great a player as he was, he was an even greater person," Cummings said, "and I'm telling you he was a great player.
"I just feel very blessed to have been around him."
Funeral Services will be held on Tuesday at 1 p.m. at St. Michael Catholic Church at 15546 Pomerado Road in Poway, Calif.
Aaron Wasser can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 231, or by e-mail at sports@dnews.com.
