The former Viking star is the leading scorer at NCAA Division III Wisconsin Eau Claire, in the town his father's family is from.
If you are wondering what happened to Cole Rabedeaux, the 6-foot guard who lit up local basketball courts with his high-scoring performances for North Kitsap, we have found him.
Rabedeaux, the second athletic son of Stephanie Kunold – Beau is the oldest – is in his junior year at NCAA Division III Wisconsin Eau Claire and doing quite well for the Blugolds. He’s the starting two-guard, is the team’s leading scorer at 17.1 points and is shooting 45 percent from the three-point line (42-93).
He was named Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) athlete of the week in early January for his impressive performance during the Music City Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. In the Blugolds' two games, Rabedeaux went off for 74 points, scoring 30 in an 80-77 overtime loss to Bridgewater State of Massachusetts and a career-high 44 the next night in an 81-47 victory over Mt. Aloysius of Pennsylvania. Against Mt. Aloysius, Rabedeaux set school records for made three-pointers (11) and attempts (18), making 16 of 25 field goal attempts in 33 minutes of play.
Rabedeaux had an even bigger scoring game in high school, dropping 46 on Jan. 5, 2016, in a 71-54 North Kitsap win over Port Angeles. That is four points from the school record of 50 set by Tim Heins in 1983 against Central Kitsap, and one point from the 47 that Jerry Hogan scored in a 1988 against Olympic.
This is the second year at Eau Claire for Rabedeaux, a 2016 graduate of NK. He spent his first year out of high school at Peninsula College in Port Angeles, where he averaged nearly 15 points a game.
Last year, Rabedeaux moved into the starting lineup after the team’s second game and averaged 6.7 points for the Blugolds, who struggled to a 4-10 record in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) and 12-13 overall. This year the Blugolds are doing much better and are 3-3 in conference and 10-7 overall.
Rabedeaux's late dad, Jason Rabedeaux, was a three-sport star at Eau Claire Memorial High School. He was all-state in basketball and baseball and quarterbacked the football team to the state semifinals his senior year. People around Eau Claire still remember him.
The summer after his first year at Peninsula, Rabedeaux went to Eau Claire to visit his grandmother and uncles Jeff and Jack Rabedeaux. One of his uncles told him the college was holding open gym and that he should go play.
Coach Matt Siverling liked what he saw.
“We connected a little bit and I asked him if he would like to play for us,” said Siverling, who could see that Cole was tenacious on the court, could handle the ball and shoot it and had a passion and work ethic for the game.
So Rabedeaux decided to stay and live with his grandmother. Athletic scholarships are not offered at the D-III level, but Rabedeaux nevertheless has found a place where he fits in.
The WIAC is a very high level of D-III competition. Wisconsin-Stevens Point has won four national D-III championships since 2004, Wisconsin-Whitewater won national crowns in 2012 and 2014 and last year Wisconsin-Oshkosh finished second.
Wisconsin-Eau Claire lost the title game in 2000 and Wisconsin-Platteville won three titles from 1995-1999, including back-to-back in 1998 and '99.
So the competition is good for guys like Rabedeaux, whose work ethic is on full display as he spends much of his time in the gym.
This all started when Rabedeaux was two years old and the family – his mother, brother and sister Riley – moved to Bainbridge to live in his maternal grandmother’s home.
Rabedeaux played other sports until the eighth grade, when he realized basketball was his best sport and decided to focus on that.
Rabedeaux is hoping that if he continues to perform well this year and has a good senior season next year, he can transition into playing professional overseas.
Coaching is in the family. Cole’s dad Jason, after playing at California-Davis (he is in the school’s Hall of Fame), was an assistant coach at Washington State and Oklahoma and head coach at UTEP before going overseas to coach. He died in Saigon in 2014.
Brother Beau played baseball at Jamestown in North Dakota, leading the Jimmies to three national tournaments, and is in his first year as graduate assistant baseball coach at William Penn (Iowa) while studying for his master’s in business leadership.