Zapper grew up on Orcas Island, born into a baseball family just in time for spring training. Surrounded by ball playing family and friends, he was passionate about the game at a young age. He loved the challenge of catching fly balls in the cow pasture (“back! back! back! Look out for the electric fence!”) and swinging his bat at flying termites in the dusk of a summer night. On the island, youth baseball consisted of constant practice and occasional games. With the small population, they’d have to take 9-year-old Zapper to the 12-year-old tournament to make a team but the players were prepared to compete.
Zapper attended Sehome High School and won numerous baseball awards and honors while there. He played for the Washington Wranglers, the first American high school team to play baseball in Cuba. After completing high school, Zapper played college baseball for the Lower Columbia Red Devils and the Washington State Cougars. He also played three seasons with the Bellingham Bells.
Zapper has been coaching baseball for most of his adult life, including Bellingham Bells summer camps, Post 7 Youth Baseball, and Squalicum High School. He has been a coach for the Cascade Crush Baseball Club and is the founding coach for the Cascade Crush Fastpitch Club where he has been the 18U girls’ head coach for the past two seasons. Zapper teaches private lessons at Inside Pitch, where his positive energy and enthusiasm are contagious.
Zapper lives in Bellingham with his wife Laura and their two kids, Sylvia and Cosmo.