If Steve Klees needed a reminder of his impact on girls basketball in the Pacific Northwest, the few hundred attendees at his 75thbirthday party last month probably hammered it home.

Nearly four decades ago, Klees formed the Northwest Blazers, which has grown into one of the top programs in the country, with several area players – including seniors-to-be Cheyenne Hull of Davis and Prosser’s Herbie, members of the 17U squad – being part of the program.

“At the end of the day, if they come back for that, I guess they might have had a good time,” Klees said of the players who returned to celebrate his birthday.

He formed the program in 1988 after years as a Walla Walla business man, and has welcomed many of the region’s top players through its ranks.

Prosser’s Sunny Wright has had three daughters in the program – Halle played for the Blazers before heading to Idaho State, and Herbie is joined by Mickey, a member of the 15U team, on the current teams.

“He is an incredible human,” Sunny Wright said of Klees, who also coaches the 17U team. “He is responsible for so many hoopers getting to college through basketball.”

This year’s 17U team is headed to the Run 4 Roses Classic in Louisville, Ky., where the Blazers will compete against other top teams across the country.

The Blazers will meet the West Virginia Thunder, another squad that considers itself the top club team in the country, at 11 a.m. Saturday from the Kentucky Exposition Center, and the contest will be broadcast on ESPN2.

“What they have done in all honesty is pretty remarkable,” Klees said of his team that also were part of a celebration of Title IX’s anniversary in New York City, and are part of a display at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn.

Hull, the two-time CBBN and 4A state tournament MVP for the state champions, is ranked the 69th best player in the class of 2027 by ESPN, and is choosing from several schools.

Herbie Wright, has won the last two CWAC scoring titles and was voted the conference MVP in part to a Yakima Valley-record 57 points in a league matchup this past winter.

One of the Blazers’ three other Washingtonians should be familiar around Central Washington, as Lynden’s Finley Parcher has left her imprint on the state volleyball and basketball tournaments in the Yakima Valley SunDome.

The 6-foot-1 guard was the 2A player of the year in volleyball as she helped the Lions to the state championship, before repeating as tournament MVP in the winter as Lynden won its third straight state title and ran its winning streak to 75 games.

Parcher is ranked 27th in the class of 2027.

Coeur d’Alene High School point guard Brookslee Colvin is the highest-rated Blazer recruit, coming in at No. 25. Colvin hasn’t committed, but has offers from around the country, including one from Gonzaga in neighboring Spokane.

The team also includes Montana standouts Spencer Laird, a 6-2 wing from Loyola Sacred Heart in Missoula who is ranked 46th in the class and is headed to Stanford, Chester-Joplin-Inverness 6-3 forward Brynn Kammerzell, who is headed Montana State, and Maisie Heggem-Prinkki, a 6-0 combo guard from Billings who has committed to Montana.

Reigning Greater Spokane League MVP Alyah Cornwall, a 5-8 uncommitted point guard from Gonzaga Prep, and Kennedy Catholic’s Jayden Fitzgerald, the lone junior-to-be on the team, round out the roster.

With all but one player coming from rural areas, Klees said his team might have an advantage, with team play more of a focus than moved spawned from one-on-one drills and coaching.

Either way, he said the Blazers will be ready.

“It’s always a debate who has the best AAU team,” he said. “If you can get kids to play together at any level, you can win.”

The Blazers open play Friday against the Wisconsin Lakers, before facing the FBC United We Trust and Thunder on Saturday. After games Sunday against the Nebraska Attack and Florida Girls Basketball, they’ll wrap up the trip Monday against the Western Pennsylvania Bruins.