Tammy Tibbles was one of the most dominant guards in Washington high school basketball history. Playing for Creston High School, she led the Comets to a 74-10 record between her sophomore and senior seasons, winning State Championships in 1982 and 1984 and finishing as runner-up in 1983. A prolific scorer, Tammy averaged 15 points per game as a freshman, 21 as a sophomore, 27 as a junior, and an astonishing 35 points as a senior, finishing her career with 2,569 points. Despite playing before the introduction of the three-point line, her career scoring total still ranked as the third highest in Washington history, cementing her reputation as one of the greatest “B” players to ever grace the State Tournament.

One of her most legendary performances came in her senior season when Creston, a small Class B school, faced powerhouse AAA Lewis and Clark of Spokane. The Comets controlled the game from start to finish, winning 81-43, with Tammy scoring 44 points—outscoring the entire Lewis and Clark team by herself. The performance drew national attention, earning her recognition in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” on March 5, 1984.

Tammy continued her career at Gonzaga University from 1984 to 1988, playing during a pivotal era as the program transitioned from the NAIA to NCAA Division I. She helped the Bulldogs nearly reach the NAIA Nationals her sophomore year, and in their first NCAA season, Gonzaga stunned the West Coast Conference by winning the league. Over her four-year career, Tammy scored 2,011 points in 111 games—an average of 18.1 per game—while shooting 46 percent from the field and 75 percent from the free-throw line. She scored 30 or more points eight times, including a career-high 35 against Oregon. For 22 years she held Gonzaga’s career scoring record, which was later surpassed only by Courtney Vandersloot and Heather Bowman. At the time of her graduation, she ranked third in career scoring, fourth in steals (205), sixth in free throws made (316), and second in field goals made (828). She also owned one of the best single seasons in school history, scoring 597 points in 1984-85 while shooting 54 percent from the field.

After her playing days, Tammy continued to make an impact in new arenas. In 1988, she joined the Spokane Fire Department, where she served as a firefighter for 22 years. During that time, she also worked as the head girls basketball coach at North Central High School from 1994 to 1996 and operated her own business for 13 years, contracting with the Department of Natural Resources to provide fire trucks and personnel for wildfire response.

For her extraordinary accomplishments on the court and her contributions beyond it, Tammy was inducted into the Inland Northwest Hall of Fame on October 25, 2011.