2005 Tacoma Athletic Commission Banquet of Champions

BANQUET OF CHAMPIONS

A Salute to Tacoma-Pierce County’s Sports History

May 7th, 2005 • Tacoma Dome Hosted by:

Tacoma Athletic Commission Sponsored by:

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“Tacoma Athletic Commission” Dedicated to Sports & Civic Betterment

Dear Friends, Welcome and thank you for attending this evening’s festivities. The Tacoma Athletic Commission is proud to unveil “Playgrounds to the Pros: An Illustrated History of Sports in Tacoma-Pierce County.”

Also this evening we will be inducting many deserving athletes from the past into the TacomaPierce County Hall of Fame as well as honoring Doris Brown (Heritage), Ben Cheney, and Stan Naccarato for their selection into the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame.

The TAC would also like to congratulate the High School Male & Female Athletes of the Year, the Clay Huntington Sports Communication Scholarship recipient, and finally the Dick Hannula award winner.

The TAC is proud of its sixty-three years of history in our community. During this time we have been able to support athletic endeavors and donate nearly $4 million dollars to sports in Tacoma and Pierce County.

It is our hope that you will consider becoming a member and join our team.

Sports Websites To Keep You Informed Tacoma Athletic Commission www.tacomaathletic.com Shanaman Sports Museum of Tacoma Pierce County www.tacomasportsmuseum.com State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame www.washingtonsportshalloffame.com Tacoma-Pierce County BaseballSoftball Oldtimers Association www.baseballoldtimer.com Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Commission www.tacomasports.com Tacoma Rainiers Baseball Club www.tacomarainiers.com Tacoma Dome www.tacomadome.org

I want to thank the committee that made this wonderful event happen, especially Mr. Marc Blau for his endless energy and commitment to this project as well as Mr. Doug McArthur for his knowledge, expertise and guidance during the past two years.

Please enjoy the evening and thank you again for attending this very memorable event that commemorates the rich sports history in the City of Destiny & Majestic Pierce County.

Sincerely, Tony Anderson Tacoma Athletic Commission President page 2

Banquet Of Champions Program 5:30pm No-host social Entertainment by the Young Ambassadors 6:30pm Dinner National Anthem—Catherine Hessler of Orting Invocation—Jon Kitna, Fellowship of Christian Athletes Former Lincoln Abe and current Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Entertainment by the Totemaires Barbershop Octet 7:45pm Program Announcer – Bill Ogden Master of Ceremonies – Gary Justice TAC Welcome – Tony Anderson (TAC president) Parade of Champions Lincoln High School Marching Band-Wayne Brown, Director Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame Inductees National Champions Ryan Fitzgerald, 11 year-old U.S. Rope Skipping Champion, Pt. Defiance Elementary Frosty Westering, legendary Pacific Lutheran University football coach Presentation of Awards Tacoma-P. C. High School Athlete of the Year (Male) Tacoma-P.C. High School Athlete of the Year (Female) Dick Hannula Award – Amateur Athlete of the Year Music of Champions – Aubrey Shelton (Piano) and Courtney Knippel (Violin)

2005 Sports History Book Project TV Tacoma Cable channel 12 (exclusively in the City of Tacoma) Cable channel 21 on Comcast cable in most areas of Pierce County Monday, May 16 - 2pm Tuesday, May 17 - 11pm Wednesday, May 18 - 9am Thursday, May 19 - 9pm Friday, May 20 - 10pm Saturday, May 21 - 8am Sunday, May 22 - 8pm Monday, May 23 - 2pm Tuesday, May 24 - 11pm Wednesday, May 25 - 9am Thursday, May 26 - 9pm Friday, May 27 - 10pm Saturday, May 28 - 8am Sunday, May 29 - 8pm Monday, May 30 - 2pm Tuesday, May 31 - 11pm

Special Presentation – to Bob Robertson – Chris Schenkel Award Clay Huntington Sports Communication Scholarship Award State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame Recognition Championship Video – featuring the TPC Stars of Yesterday Musical Tribute to Stars Induction Ceremonies – Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame Acknowledgments – special guests, outstanding guests from afar Dedication of the Book & Special Announcement – Marc Blau and guest

Program information line: 573.CITY www.tvtacoma.com Souvenir videos of this event are available for purchase from TV Tacoma. To purchase a VHS tape ($20) or DVD ($40) of tonight’s coverage, send payment to: TV Tacoma 747 Market St/MSC Tacoma, WA 98402 Att: Sports Banquet Videos

Finale—Unveiling & Presentation of “Playgrounds to the Pros” Thank you & Autograph Session page 3

Tacoma Athletic Commission—63 Years And Counting Now in its 63rd year as a civic organization in Tacoma and Pierce County, the TAC originally was formed as the Tacoma War Athletic Commission. Its purpose was to raise funds for athletic opportunities at nearby Fort Lewis and McChord AFB during Word War II. Clay Huntington, fresh out of Lincoln high school, was one of the founders and today he is the last living member of the original organizational committee. The TAC has generated nearly $4-million dollars to assist amateur athletic programs and athletes in Pierce County. Not bad for a group whose first venture was a basketball game between Fort Lewis and the Harlem Globetrotters, played in the Tacoma Armory. Admission was 85 cents.

Dedicated to sports and civic betterment, the TAC has been a leader in preserving the history of sports locally. Tonight’s banquet is a tribute to that effort with the unveiling of its Sports History Book, “Playgrounds to the Pros,” and the biggest Sports Banquet Celebration in the County’s history.

The TAC supports the Shanaman Sports Museum in the Tacoma Dome, recognizes High School Athletes of the Month, donates to worthy schools, teams, boys and girls clubs, and produces special events in the community to raise funds for those programs and causes.

The annual Golden Gloves, now in its 58th year, is the second oldest amateur boxing event in the nation. The upcoming TAC Golf Tournament on July 15th, featuring Ken Still, will raise funds for student scholarships as well as improvements to the Veteran’s Course at American Lake Hospital.

Yes, the TAC is there when it comes to youth athletic programs in our community. If you are interested in a TAC membership and in helping with any of our various activities, applications and information are available here tonight at a special TAC table near the entrance. Or check on-line at www.tacomaathletic.com.

TAC Golf Tournament With Ken Still, July 15 The annual Tacoma Athletic Commission Golf Tournament at Allenmore July 15 will have a new twist. Ken Still will join the field for the first time to stage a clinic and lead the cheers. The event will benefit the TAC’s youth scholarship program and the American Lake Veteran’s Golf Course. With a 12:30 p.m. shotgun start, a scramble format, and an awards dinner and auction afterward, the TAC tourney promises plenty of fun and excitement. Watch for a major announcement in the near future regarding sponsorship and a creative new approach to entry. For entry or sponsorship information, contact TAC President Tony Anderson or Golf Tournament Chairman David Grisaffi at 761-8499 or atony@harbornet.com.

JUST PUBLISHED! OUND AYGTORTHE S L P pros

Playgrounds to the Pros: An Illustrated History of Sports in Tacoma-Pierce County. By Caroline Denyer Gallacci, Marc H. Blau, and Doug McArthur.

An Illustrated History of Sports in Tacoma-Pierce County

Distributed by University of Washington Press Order through local bookstore or call 1-800-441-4115 Order online at www.washington.edu/uwpress Books may also be purchased directly through the Tacoma Athletic Commission for $45.00 which includes shipping.

Send payment to: TAC PO Box 11304 Tacoma, WA 98444

Caroline Gallacci

Marc H. Blau

For credit card payments or additional information contact us at marc@tacomaathletic.com or call 253-848-1360.

Doug McArthur

P R O J E C T O F T H E TA C O M A AT H L E T I C C O M M I S S I O N

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Tacoma-Pierce County High School Athletes Of The Year Sponsored by Columbia Bank The Pierce County High School Athlete of the Year Award is presented to an individual chosen from high school athletes honored by the TAC as Athletes of the Month during the school year. The award follows the TAC tradition of recognizing excellence. Participation and leadership are examples of young athletes learning the rewards of community service and responsibility.

FEMALE – BRIE FELNAGLE, BELLARMINE PREP She may be the best female distance runner in the country. Certainly she ranks with the best. At the Sun Fair Invite she beat the national cross-country champion, Zoe Nelson, with a course record 17.11. At the prestigious Arcadia, CA Invitational she blitzed a field of the nation’s top runners to post the nation’s best time this year, 4 minutes, 48.42 seconds, topping her nearest competition by five seconds. Unbeaten in the state this year, she is a twotime defending track & field champ in both the 880 and 1600 meters, and she is a two-time state cross-country champion. Not bad for a young lady who passed-up both of those sports to play soccer as a freshman and sophomore at Bellarmine!

MALE – BRAD MURI, STEILACOOM A three-time state wrestling champion, Brad completed an undefeated senior season with a 36-0 record in claiming the 2A title at 135 pounds for the Steilacoom Sentinels. Muri won the 125 pound division as a junior and the 112 pound title as a sophomore. His four-year record at Steilacoom was 131-11 with district and regional championship wins all four years. In his trio of championship matches he scored convincing 8-2, 9-0 and 10-3 decisions.

Muri also has participated in cross-country for SHS, has been a volunteer fireman at the Steilacoom Fire Department, President of a Leadership Class at school, and active in the Drug Prevention Program. He’s taking a 3.3 gpa with him to wrestle at Boise State.

Past Recipients Of The TacomaPierce County High School Athlete Of The Year 2004

Megan Rains, Rogers Sean McNaughton, Curtis

2003

Ashley Blake, Lakes Ben Shelton, Lincoln

2002

Amy Frederick, Life Christian Shelton Sampson, Clover Park

2001

Kim Butler, Bellarmine Prep K.C. Walsh, Lincoln Cory Belser, Bethel

2000

Shannon Forslund, Mt. Tahoma Mellanie Tipps, Sumner Drew Miller, Lakes.

1999

Onnie Willis, Wilson Collin Henderson, Puyallup

1998

Alexis Yeater, Steilacoom Travis Brock, Bethel

1997

Dori Christensen, Puyallup Scott Burcar, Bethel Evan Martinac, Wilson

1996

Mary Boerner, Bellarmine Prep Bryan Streleski, Bethel

1995

Alcydia Ladd, Foss Tyce Nasinec, Rogers

1994

Sarna Renfro, Bellarmine Prep Chad Wright, Fife

1993

Sarna Renfro, Bellarmine Prep Jake Guadnola, Bellarmine Prep

THE 16 PUYALLUP NEW CAR DEALERS

are pleased to provide you with free parking at tonight’s Banquet of Champions. The Tacoma Athletic Commission salutes the consistent support given by the Puyallup Auto Dealers to sports and civic betterment, and reminds all of you to remember their phrase: CARS COST LESS IN PUYALLUP.

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Dick Hannula Award— Amateur Athlete of the Year The Hannula Award is presented annually to Pierce County's amateur athlete of the year. The award was established in the name of Dick Hannula whose career as a swim coach is legendary.

Hannula's efforts over the years epitomizes the best qualities of amateur sports.

Two words. Ryan Moore. He might even be the Amateur Athlete of the Century, who knows? Only one other golfer in history, Bobby Jones, compares to the Puyallup native in terms of amateur achievement, and Ryan still has most of his career ahead of him.

This is the second time around for Moore. He was the 2003 Hannula Award winner as a collegiate sophomore, and his record includes the National Public Links Championship (twice), the Western Amateur, the Players Championship and the U.S. Amateur. No one ever has won the Public Links and U.S. Amateur in the same year. No one ever has repeated as Public Links Champion. Except Ryan Moore.

The 22-year-old senior at the University of Nevada Las Vegas hasn’t stopped winning either. He defeated British Amateur Champion Stuart Wilson head-to-head in the Georgia Cup this year and he’s the defending NCAA champion. He’s one of three finalists for the Ben Hogan Award to be given next week at The Colonial with seven collegiate titles to his credit.

He also won the top amateur award at the Masters in Augusta in April when he tied for 13th in the entire field (a $135,333 payday were he a professional), highest amateur finish in 27 years. His scores of 71-71-75-70 were one under for the tournament.

He played alongside the legends of golf in that one without showing an ounce of awe. You might say his performance was awesome!

Past Recipients Of The Dick Hannula Award 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987

Reggie Williams Ryan Moore Dana Boyle Chad Johnson Meaghan Quann Kirk White Karl Lerum Shannon Forslund Dusty Brett Brock Huard Marc Weekly Kate Starbird Sonja Olejar Damon Huard Andy Maris Sonya Brandt Mike Oliphant Jim Martinson

University of Washington University of Nevada at Las Vegas/Cascade Christian Pacific Lutheran University Pacific Lutheran University/Rogers Emerald Ridge Boise State/Curtis Pacific Lutheran University Mt. Tahoma Bellarmine Prep Puyallup Pacific Lutheran University/Rogers Lakes Bellarmine Prep/Stanford University The News Tribune Puyallup Tacoma Public Library White River Shanaman Sports Museum Pacific Lutheran University Pittsburgh Steelers/Mike Fabus University of Puget Sound University of Puget Sound Athletic Department Puyallup Pacific Lutheran University Athletic Department University of Washington Athletic Department

Photo Credits

The Tacoma Athletic Commission wishes to acknowledge the generosity of Fox’s Night Club for providing complimentary meals for all of the Hall of Fame Inductees at tonight’s banquet. Such community involvement is much appreciated and the TAC thanks the ownership at Fox’s for being such a fine supporter of Tacoma-Pierce County sports. page 6

The Clay Huntington Award Clay Huntington may have been the youngest sportswriter and sportscaster in Tacoma's history.

He started while in Lincoln High School, working for the Tacoma Times and KMO radio, and he continued while attending the College of Puget Sound. He was one of the founders of the Tacoma Athletic Commission, the first voice of the Tacoma Tigers when professional baseball returned to Tacoma in 1946 and also broadcast Tacoma Rockets Hockey games from 1946-53.

A former Pierce County Commissioner and founder of the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame, Clay owns radio station KLAY, one of the last stations still covering Tacoma high school and college sports in addition to Tacoma's professional teams.

The Clay Huntington Scholarship Award is a TAC effort, dedicated in Clay's name, to assist worthy local high school students in their pursuit of broadcasting or journalism at the college of their choice.

Spencer Drolette, Peninsula High School He wants to be the next Kevin Callabro or the next Chris Berman, and this Peninsula high senior plans to fulfill that goal at the Washington State University School of Communications. Spencer has been Sports Editor of his school newspaper and a basketball broadcaster for KGHP-FM, the district’s community radio station.

Leland Smith, the station’s General Manager and a teacher at Past Recipients: Peninsula, put his recommendation this way: “If KGHP were a commer2004—Brendon Kepner, cial radio station, I’d hire Spencer Drolette immediately and put him in Spanaway Lake charge of something vital. He’d make me look like a genius.”

2003—Russell Houghtaling, Drolette carries a 3.8 gpa with high SAT scores, has been on the Peninsula Honor Roll for all three years in high school, is a member of the 2002—Chad Potter, National Honor Society, was named All-Seamount League Academic, Gig Harbor plays in the Symphonic/Jazz Band, and has participated in cross 2001—Spencer Snope, country, track and basketball.

Peninsula He was ASB President in middle school and has gone through 2000—Kara Rae Skagg, the ranks to become an Eagle Scout. Callabro and Berman better Peninsula move over. Drolette is on his way.

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Banquet Volunteers Our appreciation goes to these sports fans who have volunteered to serve on the banquet and museum committees.

The Shanaman Sports Museum Of Tacoma-Pierce County Throughout the years, Tacoma-Pierce County has been fortunate to receive recognition and publicity thanks to its national and international caliber athletes, coaches and teams. There has never been one place in which their accomplishments at the high school, college, amateur and professional level could be recognized for the distinction they have brought or will bring to our community. Under the auspices of the Tacoma Athletic Commission, and thanks to a generous contribution by Fred Shanaman, Jr., the museum became a reality with the opening in October of 1994.

The primary focus is to recreate the history of sports through visual displays and complemented with a narrated video highlighting famous moments in our local history. The museum focuses not only on athletes, coaches, and teams, but also on administrators, sponsors, officials, sportswriters and broadcasters, all of whom have contributed to our rich sports heritage.

The staff is currently working to create a web accessible database which will serve as a comprehensive educational resource to the community.

Contributions Sought For Museum The Shanaman Sports Museum appreciates those who are able to provide financial contributions to the organization to continually update and rotate displays, expand the interpretive section of the museum, and enhance the accessibility of the collections through use of the website and other interactive means. Financial support also will allow establishment of regular operating hours so that the public can more easily enjoy the displays.

Artifacts are always being sought which will foster continued preservation of our sports history. Whether it be an old family scrapbook, a uniform, glove, programs, photos, posters, or even an old baseball from the turn of the century, each artifact tells a story and contributes to the folklore that we strive to preserve for generations to come. We must understand the past in order to appreciate the present and unique memorabilia will allow us to accomplish this objective.

The Shanaman Sports Museum of Tacoma-Pierce County is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit status. To make a financial or artifact contribution, discuss estate planning to benefit the museum or for further information, contact Marc Blau, President, Shanaman Sports Museum at 9908-63rd Ave. Ct. E., Puyallup, WA 98373 or (253) 848-1360 or via email at blaumarc@qwest.net.

Larry Bartz Nikki Blevins Becca Boyle LeRoy Booker Diane Butler Andrea Clay Angie Eichholtz Millie Englund Megan Guenther Holly Gunter Carolynn Howard Paula Johnson Kevin Kalal Joe Macaluso Bruce Morris Eugene Morris Charlotte Murphy Greg Murphy Jamie & Jason Novak Kirsten Olsen Diane Pittman Ron Suslick Toni Turnbull Tim Waer Darrell Watkins Karen Westeen John & Jackie Wohn Nelson Wohn Teri Wood Terry Ziegler

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Thanks To The Following Banquet Sponsors For Their Support!!

Gold Sponsors: •Cascade Print Media •MultiCare Health Systems •Puyallup Tribe of Indians •The News Tribune

Free Parking •All 16 Puyallup New Car Auto Dealers Award Plaques— Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame •Dr. Anthony Milan, D.D.S.

Silver Sponsors: •Anonymous •Kellie Ham Type & Graphics •MVP Physical Therapy •Parkside Realty •Premier Industries •The Pepsi Bottling Group •Timberland Bank •TV Tacoma Bronze Table Sponsors: •ABC Legal Express and the Carrigan family •Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound •Brickyard Bar & Grill •Crescent Realty •Domino’s Pizza •Dr. Tony Milan, DDS •Dwyer Pemberton & Coulson, P.C. •Emerald Queen Casino •Fellowship of Christian Athletes •Fox’s Night Club •Franciscan Health System •Fred Shanaman •Gustafson’s Fine Flooring •Heritage Bank •Janet Buchan Elway •Jeff & Leanne Stock •Johnny’s Seafood •Ken Enslow & Interlaaken Real Estate •Merit Company •Mike Dunbar, CFP-Financial and Retirement Planners NW, Inc. •Mr. Mac Ltd •Murray Pacific Corporation •Ockie Eliason family º •Pierce Commercial Bank •Rosen Plumbing Supply •Superior Linen Service •Tacoma Boxing Club •Tacoma-Pierce County Jr. Soccer Association •TAPCO Credit Union •United Parcel Service •Walt Austin Racing •Watson’s Greenhouse

Touchdown Time— To Be Held On September 9-10 The second annual Touchdown Time football celebration will be held in the Tacoma Dome September 9 and 10. There will be six high school games played on Friday night and Saturday and a luncheon honoring Tacoma-Pierce County high school teams from the 1950s. The luncheon is expected to be held Thursday, Sept. 8.

Look for the game schedule to be announced soon with several teams from the various Tacoma-Pierce County leagues hosting teams from elsewhere, including the possibility that one or two out-of-state teams might be among the opponents.

Local teams already included on the schedule include Bellarmine Prep, Lincoln, Orting, Life Christian, Tacoma Baptist and the new Graham-Kapowsin high school of the Bethel school district.

The Tacoma Athletic Commission is one of the organizations combining efforts to bring Pierce County one of the biggest prep football weekends of the year. Proceeds from the event are used to host the state championship playoffs scheduled for the Dome in late November and early December.

For further information or sponsorship opportunities, contact Tony Anderson at 7618499 or Doug McArthur at 759-4621.

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Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall Of Fame The Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame was the brainchild of longtime sportscaster, sports writer, and radio station owner Clay Huntington who encouraged the Tacoma Athletic Commission to recognize the community’s great sports stars for their outstanding athletic achievements over the years.

The first Hall of Fame inductees were recognized in 1957 and additional members were added through 1972 before the organization ceased honoring local athletes.

When the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame Committee members faced the task of catching-up for 33 years of inactivity, they realized the enormity of it all. Starting with a list of over 1500 names, it was obvious that there were plenty of deserving candidates. The committee is proud of the star-studded Class of 2005 but it readily acknowledges plenty of outstanding nominees waiting in the wings for future recognition.

Your input is needed and we encourage you to submit nominations with detailed information about an individual’s athletic accomplishments in the capacity of a participant, coach, administrator, sports writer or broadcaster, official, or any other related category. Hall of Fame members are recognized for their outstanding sports accomplishments and contributions that have brought significant local and regional acclaim to themselves and to the Tacoma-Pierce County area.

Additional criteria includes: 1. Athletes must be retired from active competition. Exception: Individuals in such categories as a coach, administrator, official, broadcaster or sportswriter still active at the age of 70 may be nominated for the HOF. 2. Coaches, administrators, broadcasters, sportswriters, and officials must demonstrate significant accomplishments in their field for an extended length of time.

3. Other categories not listed will be considered on an individual basis by the committee.

To submit a nomination, you may submit your information to marc@tacomaathletic.com or write the Tacoma Athletic Commission, Attn: TPCHOF Committee, P.O. Box 11304, Tacoma, WA, 98411 or submit the nomination on-line by using the following directions: 1. Go to www.tacomasportsmuseum.com 2. Click on Sports Hall of Fames in the menu bar at the top of the page 3. Click on Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame 4. Click on “On-Line Nomination Form” in red 5. Complete information and click submit at bottom or form A committee of local sportswriters, former athletes, and HOF members cast ballots to determine the new inductees who are selected from an impressive list of candidates. Honorees will be recognized at an annual spring function.

1957 Bob Johnson Gretchen Kunigk-Fraser Freddie Steele

Baseball Skiing Boxing

1958 Marv Harshman Marv Tommervik Frank Wilson

Basketball/Football Football Basketball/Football

1959 John Heinrick Cliff Olson Joe Salatino Wally Scott Frank Stojack

Basketball/Football (coach) Football Baseball/Football Tennis Football/Wrestling

1960 Charles Congdon Charles D. Hunter Roy Johnson

Golf Golf Baseball

1961 Leo Artoe Herman Brix Paul Strand

Football Track Baseball

1962 Shirley Fopp Jack Fournier John Kennedy Phil Sarboe Ted Tadich

Golf/Skiing Baseball Basketball (coach & referee) Football (coach) Bowling

1963 Jack Connor Frank Gillihan Marcus Nalley Don Paul Jack Walters George Wise

Boxing Football (player & referee) Hunting Baseball/Basketball/Football Golf Baseball/Golf

1964 Cy Neighbors Marv Rickert Al Ruffo Ernie Tanner Frank Tobin

Baseball Baseball Football Baseball/Football/Track Baseball

1965 Myron “Chief” Carr Pat McMurtry

Football/Track (coach) Boxing

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1966 Dill Howell Elliott Metcalf

Baseball Sports Writer

1967 Harold Bird

Boxing

1968 Ben B. Cheney Dan Walton

Baseball Sports Writer

1969 Jesse Baker Lou Balsano Tony Banaszak Sr. Jimmy Claxton Harry Deegan Dick Greco Walt Hagedorn Bob Hager Frank Hermsen Joe Hermsen Chuck Horjes Rick Johnson Harold “Wah” Keller Lee Kierstad Bill Libke Cliff Marker Joey Peterson Frank Ruffo Jack Sonntag Lou Spadafore Carl Sparks Ole Swinland Mike Tucci Bill Vinson Hal Votaw

Baseball Baseball Baseball Baseball Horse Racing Baseball Baseball Athletic Administrator Baseball Baseball Football Baseball/Basketball Athletic Administrator Baseball Baseball Baseball Baseball Baseball Baseball (coach) Baseball Football (coach) Baseball/Basketball Football Basketball/Football (coach) Baseball

1970 NONE 1971 Jess Brooks Gordon Brunswick Eddie Carlson Dug Dyckman Jimmy Ennis Harold “Ox” Hansen Vince Hanson Ocky Haugland Al Hopkins Wes Hudson Everett Jensen Neil Mazza John McCallum Bobby McGuire Max Mika Vern Morris Jimmy Mosolf Andy Nelson Harry Parker Harry Werbisky Gertrude Wilhelmsen Henry “Fat” Williams

Baseball/Football Baseball/Basketball/Football Baseball Football Baseball/Football Football Basketball Baseball Football (coach) Football Football Baseball Sports Writer Baseball/Basketball/Football Basketball/Football Baseball/Basketball/Football Baseball Baseball Archery/Football Baseball/Basketball/Football Track Baseball

1972 Art Berg Frankie “ChiChi” Britt Ed Honeywell Floyd “Lefty” Isekite Vern Pedersen Roy Sandberg Frank Spear

Baseball Boxing Sports Writer Baseball Football/Swimming Football (coach) Football

Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall Of Fame Class Of 2005 Morry Abbott Lanny (Adams) Werner Bruce Alexander John Anderson Neil Andrews Earl Anthony Davey Armstrong Gerry Austin Dan Ayrault Sam Baker Roni (Mejia) Barrios Shirley Baty Ralph Bauman Rod Belcher Mike Benson John Best Ron Billings Lloyd Blanusa Dale Bloom Jack Boyle Frank “Buster” Brouillet

Baseball Roller Skating Basketball (Official) Football (Coach) Hockey Bowling Boxing Football (Coach) Crew Football Gymnastics Golf Football Broadcaster Tennis (Coach) Soccer (Administrator) Football, Basketball (Coach) Fastpitch Softball Baseball Figure Skating Football

Dick Brown Doris (Heritage) Brown Ole Brunstad Janet (Elway) Buchan Ruth (Ward) Canale Luther Carr Andy Carrigan Casey Carrigan Ron Cey Jerry Conine Tom Cross Chuck Curtis Don D’Andrea Jim Daulley Don Duncan Jeff Durgan Ockie Eliason Ed Fallon Jim Fifer Pat (Hansen) Firth Don Flye

Football, Basketball Track, Cross Country Football Swimming Golf Football Football Track Baseball Wrestling Basketball, Official, Athletic Administrator Basketball Football Track (Coach) Swimming (Coach) Soccer Golf Football (Coach) Crew Figure Skating Tennis page 11

Fred Forsberg Football Jerry Fotheringill Figure Skating Judi (Fuller) Fotheringill Figure Skating Vern From Fastpitch Softball Nadine Fulton Bowling Doug Funk Football (Coach) Pat Galbraith Tennis John Garnero Football, Basketball, Track Jerry Geehan Broadcaster Rod Gibbs Basketball Tommy Gilmer Football, Track Evalyn (Schultz) Goldberg Basketball, Volleyball, Fastpitch Vince Goldsmith Football Jeff Gotcher Wrestling Larry Gotcher Wrestling Cy Greenlaw Baseball Jimmy Grogan Figure Skating Kaye Hall-Greff Swimming Patsy (Dillingham) Hamm Figure Skating Dave Hannula Swimming Dick Hannula Sr. Swimming (Coach) John Harbottle Golf Sterling Harshman Track, Football George Henley Hydroplane Racing Garry Hersey Baseball Gordy Hersey Baseball Don Hill Broadcaster Billy Joe Hobert Football Ray Horton Football Mike Huard Football (Coach) Glenn Huffman Football, Basketball, Baseball Bob Hunt Football, Wrestling, Track George Hunt Crew Clay Huntington Broadcaster, Sportswriter Earl Hyder Baseball Dan Inveen Basketball, Administrator Norm Iverson Football Roger Iverson Basketball Bob Jackson Swimming, Football Marjorie (Shanaman) Jeffries Golf Lute Jerstad Mountaineering, Basketball Joey Johns Hockey, Fastpitch Softball Sonny Johns Archery John Johnsen Figure Skating (Coach) Earl Johnson Bowling Jack Johnson Baseball, Official Jim Jones Football, Track Margie(Oleole) Junge Bowling George Karpach Fastpitch Softball Dori Kovanen Soccer Eldon Kyllo Football Pat Lesser-Harbottle Golf Dana LeDuc Track & Field Bob Levinson Football, Track (Coach) Lincoln FB backfield of 1944— Al Malanca, Dean Mellor, Len Kalapus, Bob McGuire Earl Luebker Sports Writer Gene Lundgaard Basketball (Coach, Player) Bob Maguinez Baseball Joan (Allard) Mahon Golf Robert Martin Crew Jeff Mattingly Bowling

Steve Matzen Basketball Norm Mayer Football (Coach) Tommy Mazza Football Louise Mazzuca Fastpitch Softball Doug McArthur Athletic Administrator/Baseball (Coach) Bertha McCormick Bowling Harry McLaughlin Basketball Don McLeod Motorcycle Racing, Auto Racing, Roller Skating Ron Medved Football Lornie Merkle Basketball, Baseball, Football (Official) Jim Meyerhoff Wrestling Dick Milford Hockey Bob Mitchell Football Don Moore Football Yumi Mordre Gymnastics Don Moseid Basketball (Player & Coach) Amy Lou (Young) Murray Golf Jeanne Naccarato Bowling Stan Naccarato Baseball, Athletic Administrator Clint Names Basketball, Golf Dean Nicholson Basketball (Coach) George Nordi Football (Coach) David Olmstead Wrestling Dr. Dave Olson Athletic Administrator Carl Opolsky Football Cap Peterson Baseball Mark Peterson Soccer Joe Peyton Track. Football, Basketball Gordy Pfeifer Handball, Slowpitch Softball Cindy (Willey) Pitzinger Volleyball Earl Platt Football, Basketball, Baseball Leo Randolph Boxing Ahmad Rashad Football Jerry Redmond Football (Coach) Chuck Richards Swimming, Pentathlon Bob Robertson Broadcaster Jim Rondeau Boxing (Referee-Administrator) Mark Ross Football (Coach) Bob Ryan Football (Coach) John Sayre Crew Marv Scott Baseball (Coach) Sugar Ray Seales Boxing Lois (Schoettler) Secreto Figure Skating Sarah (Elliot) Silvernail Volleyball Mark Smith Track Miriam (Greenwood) Smith Swimming Chuck Soper Track Bob Sprague Basketball Stanley’s Shoemen 1956 National Championship Baseball (team) Ken Still Golf Jeff Stock Soccer Wes Stock Baseball Ron Storaasli Baseball, Basketball, Football Joe Stortini Baseball, Football, Slowpitch Vince Strojan Basketball Fred Swendsen Football Dave Trageser Tennis Dave Tuell Jr. Bowling UPS Loggers 1976 National Championship Basketball (team) Jim Van Beek Basketball Gene Walters Football Dan Watson Track (Coach) page 12

Clyde Werner Frosty Westering Laurie Wetzel (Hayward) Tom Whalen Steve Whitaker Mac Wilkins Charlie Williams Dave Williams

Football Football (Coach) Basketball, Volleyball Basketball Baseball Track Basketball Football, Track

Onnie Willis (Rogers) Warren Wood Milt Woodard Armand Yapachino Robert A “RAB” Young John Zamberlin Don Zech

Gymnastics Football Athletic Administrator-Football Hydroplane Racing Race Walking Football Basketball (Coach)

NOTE: Stanley’s Shoemen team includes Stan Naccarato, Morley Brotman, Doug McArthur, Tom Montgomery, Jack Johnson, Dale Bloom, Mike Dillon, Manly Mitchell, Max Braman, Dick Montgomery, Dick Schlosstein, Russ Wilkerson, Gordy Hersey, Jim Gallwas, Bob Maguinez, Earl Hyder, Ron Storaasli, Gordy Grubert. Pat Dillon, Ray Spalding, Monte Geiger, George Grant, and Jim Harney.

University of Puget Sound Loggers team includes Don Zech, Mike Acres, Jim Schuldt, Doug McArthur, Brant Gibler, Rick Walker, Curt Peterson, Tim Evans, Rocky Botts, Mark Wells, A.T. Brown, Mike Hanson, Phil Hiam, Jimmy Stewart, Mike Strand, Matt McCully, Mike Kuntz, Steve Freimuth, and Bill Greenheck.

State Of Washington Sports Hall Of Fame In recognition of the many fine individual contributions to athletics, the Tacoma Athletic Commission established the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame in 1960. Commissioned by then-governor Albert D. Rosellini and originated by Clay Huntington, longtime Northwest sportscaster and radio station owner, the State Hall of Fame inductions are held annually.

These Hall of Fame members are recognized for their outstanding sports accomplishments and contributions that have brought national acclaim to themselves and to the state of Washington. A committee of sportswriters and sportscasters from throughout the state cast ballots to determine the new inductees who are selected from an impressive list of candidates.

Guest speakers over the years read like a who’s who of celebrities and have included the likes of Arnold Palmer, Tom Harmon, Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch, Joe E. Brown, Joe Namath, Pat Boone, Lenny Wilkens, John Hadl, Hugh O’Brien, Leo Durocher, Andy Devine, Frank Leahy, Buddy Rogers, and Willie Mays.

Nominations for future considerations may be submitted in writing to: State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame • c/o Tacoma Athletic Commission • P.O. Box 11304 • Tacoma, WA 98411.

Saluting Our Own 2004 & 2005 State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame Inductees BEN CHENEY—Legendary supporter of youth and adult athletics. His sponsorship of numerous sports teams in the State enabled thousands of individuals to participate in their favorite sport. Baseball was his passion. He was instrumental in bringing back the Pacific Coast League to Tacoma in 1960. Cheney Stadium is named in recognition of his efforts. His other baseball connections include part ownership of the San Francisco Giants of the National League and sponsorship of the Cheney Studs amateur national champions.

DORIS BROWN HERITAGE —One of the premier distance runners in U.S. Track and Field history, her sparkling credentials include national records in the 440 and 880 runs in 1959, a member of the 1968 and 1972 Olympic teams for the 880 and 1500 runs, and a five-time USA and World Cross Country champion from 1967-71. Her coaching record at Seattle Pacific is equally impressive. Her track career established her as one of the state's outstanding female athletes.

STAN NACCARATO—Considered the master of sports promotion, he established a brilliant career in the athletic field. A promising pro prospect as a pitch in the Cincinnati Reds farm system, an arm injury ended his playing days. However, he later excelled as the General Manager of Tacoma's Pacific Coast League team, winning several national honors over two decades of service. His many other athletic accomplishments include his long-time tenure as a State Boxing Commissioner. page 13

Inductees Into The Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall Of Fame Class Of 2005 MORRY ABBOTT—Baseball Morry Abbott played for Tacoma in the Western International League (WIL) from 1939-42, and was one of the league’s top home run hitters and run producers.

An outfielder, Abbott was chosen Most Popular Player for the Tigers in 1939 after leading the league with 37 homers, hitting .295 and driving in 123 runs in 138 games. He again led the WIL in home runs in 1942 with 17, and that same year he drove in 99 runs and hit .300. Abbott’s highest batting average with Tacoma was .306 in 1941, the same year he stroked 19 homers and drove in 71 runs.

The Seattle native and O’Dea High School graduate also had stops in Beaumont of the Texas League and Henderson of the East Texas League. He played for San Diego of the Pacific Coast League from 1943-45, and then finished his professional career with Tacoma in the WIL in 1946.

LANNY (ADAMS) WERNER—Roller Skating Described as a ”very smooth and graceful skater who moved to her music like no other,” Lanette “Lanny” Adams won her first National Roller Skating Freestyle Championship. At eight years old, she was the youngest skater ever to win the title.

Starting in 1950 at the age of six, she placed third at nationals in the juvenile girls freestyle, and each year she improved. In 1951 she placed second, and in 1952 she won the national title. In most of these competitions, she skated against opponents who were generally three years older than her.

In 1954, Lanny placed first in the juvenile girls speed skating competition. At the 1955 national event, Lanny placed third in the 440-yard race and second in the one-sixth mile competition. She wrapped up her national meet career by placing second in the novice ladies freestyle in 1960.

She retired from competitive skating in her mid-teens, graduated from Clover Park High School in 1961 and from Washington State University in 1965. Later, with husband Ted Werner, owned and operated National Skate Distributors in Tacoma.

BRUCE ALEXANDER—Basketball (Official) A two-sport letterman in football and basketball at Franklin Pierce High School, upon graduation in 1957 Bruce Alexander played basketball and was an honorable mention All-America running back at Pacific Lutheran University. As a basketball player, he earned honorable mention all-conference honors as a junior, averaging 13.3 points per game. The following season, he was the team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 12.4 points per game. He later played AAU basketball for the Northwest champion Cheney Studs.

Alexander was a longtime high school and small-college basketball official in the 60s and 70s and ascended to the top level of professional sports, but not as an athlete. Instead, he had a 20-year career as a National Basketball Association referee. In fact, Alexander was the first individual from Tacoma-Pierce County to referee in the NBA, breaking into the NBA ranks in 1980.

Alexander made the call when NBA Hall of Fame star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became the NBA’s all-time leader in personal fouls in a game played March 10, 1987. Alexander called Abdul-Jabbar for charging, the great center’s 4,194th personal foul.

JOHN ANDERSON—Football (Coach) John Anderson coached football at Sumner High School for 23 years, including 16 seasons as the head coach. Under Anderson’s tutelage, Sumner won state championships in 1975 and 1977 and reached the title game in 1974. His 1978 Sumner team reached the AAA quarterfinals. Sumner won five league championships, and Anderson’s record was 114 wins, 49 losses and six ties.

Anderson earned numerous coaching honors, including state Coach of the Year in 1977. Twice he served as the head coach in the all-state football game. Anderson was inducted into the Washington State High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 1988.

Besides coaching, Anderson was a coach and administrator in the Sumner School District. He retired in 1993 after 35 years of service. Anderson was a State Executive Board Member for the WIAA for eight years, and he was inducted into the state’s Athletic Director Hall of Fame in 1996.

Anderson, who graduated from Pacific Lutheran University, was named the school’s Distinguished Alum in Sports in 1988.

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NEIL ANDREWS—Hockey Neil Andrews came to the Tacoma Rockets out of Midland, Ontario, where he was born in 1921.

Andrews began his professional hockey career in the 1945 season with Seattle and New Westminster.

The following season, Andrews joined the Rockets and enjoyed a long career lasting from 1946-51 with the Tacoma team. In 303 games spanning five seasons, he scored 222 points on 110 goals and 112 assists.

Andrews was a clean player who established a league mark in the 1949-50 season for the least number of penalty minutes. He had just two penalty minutes in 69 contests.

While playing for the Rockets, Andrews helped found and coach the Junior Hockey League at Lakewood Ice Arena in the 1960s.

EARL ANTHONY—Bowling Earl Anthony’s smooth left-handed delivery, crew cut and glasses became a fixture on the Pro Bowlers Association tour telecasts in the 1970s and 1980s. It’s no wonder, then, that this Tacoma area product won more national tour titles (41) and major tournament titles (eight) than any other bowler in history.

Those are by no means all of Anthony’s record-setting accomplishments: He reached the top five championship round in a record 144 tournaments; in 1982 he became the first bowler to eclipse the $1 million mark in official PBA earnings (1982); he earned PBA Player of the Year six times (1974-76, 1981-83).

Anthony first joined the PBA Tour in 1963 but didn’t win any money. He returned in 1970 and by 1976 had become the Tour’s all-time winningest player, surpassing Dick Weber with his 27th title.

After retiring from the regular, he joined the senior tour in 1988 and won seven more titles. A commentator on PBA broadcasts in the 1990s, Anthony was voted Bowler of the Decade for the 1970s. He has been inducted into the PBA and American Bowling Congress halls of fame.

DAVEY ARMSTRONG—Boxing Davey Armstrong, a 1974 graduate of Puyallup’s Rogers High School, came out of the Tacoma Boys Club boxing program and represented the United States in two Olympic Games boxing competitions.

As a 17-year-old in 1972, Armstrong scored a technical knockout to win the 106-pound light flyweight division at the U.S. Olympic Trials. The victory earned him a spot—as the youngest member—of the United States team competing at the Summer Olympics in Munich, German. Armstrong lost a decision to a Spaniard but ranked among the top 16 fighters in his weight class in the world.

Following the Olympic Games, Armstrong rounded out an excellent year with a victory at the North American Boxing Championships.

Leading up to the 1976 Olympics, Armstrong won the Amateur Athletic Union national title in Las Vegas and also the Pan American Games title fighting in the Mexico City altitude. Armstrong won several AAU and national Golden Gloves crowns during his career.

Finally, four years and 19 pounds after his first Olympic Games, Armstrong again returned to the big stage, advancing to the quarterfinals before suffering a controversial 3-2 loss in the featherweight division at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

Armstrong had hoped to box in a third Olympics, but that dream ended when the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Games in Moscow.

GERRY AUSTIN—Football (Coach) Gerry Austin’s beginning—he was born aboard a U.S. Navy ship somewhere in the Pacific Ocean in 1923— didn’t guarantee a Hall of Fame life, but he earned that distinction as an outstanding prep football coach.

Austin, a graduate of Kelso High School and inductee into the Kelso Hilander Hall of Fame, earned four letters in football at the University of Washington. He was the starting quarterback and punter on the Huskies’ 1944 Rose Bowl championship team.

Two years after finishing his playing career, he started a 26-year coaching career in the Clover Park School District that saw his teams win 118 games against 53 losses and eight ties.

Austin coached at Clover Park High from 1949-61, then moved over to brand new Lakes High School in 1962, where he coached a total of 14 seasons. At Lakes, he also served as athletic director. After retiring from coaching, he served as the school district’s athletic director until his 1981 retirement.

Austin was inducted into the Washington State Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1986.

A big thanks to the following schools and staff for their involvement in the distribution of "Playgrounds to the Pros" at the Banquet of Champions: Bellarmine and Matt Ellis, Cross Country and Track Coach Lincoln and Dick Zatkovich, Football Coach Peninsula and Curtiss Hall, Athletic Director Steilacoom and Gary Wusterbarth, Boy's Basketball Coach Pacific Lutheran University men’s basketball team—Dave Harshman, coach

Life Christian and Jim Clifton, Athletic Director Orting and Marty Parkhurt, Athletic Director Spanaway Lake and Debbie Bentler, Athletic Director and Fastpitch Coach White River and Mark Brandmire, Athletic Director University of Puget Sound men’s basketball team—Eric Bridgeland, coach

page 15

DAN AYRAULT—Crew Dan Ayrault won two Olympic gold medals in rowing, the first in 1956 and the second in 1960.

Ayrault started rowing at Stanford University as a freshman in 1952. The crew team elected him as captain as a junior. Because the university did not officially sponsor the crew program, Ayrault not only helped raise the money for the team and for a boathouse but spent many hours working on constructing the building.

Ayrault teamed with Conn Findlay and coxswain Kurt Seiffert to win the 1956 Olympic trials, and from there the trio went on to the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, where they won the pair with coxswain gold medal.

After his discharge from the Navy, Ayrault continued rowing for the Lake Washington Rowing Club, which he helped found. In 1960, he was a member of the U.S. four without coxswain team that won the gold medal at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

LORRIS “SAM” BAKER—Football Sam Baker attended Stadium High School and played football as a sophomore, starred as a junior, then graduated from Corvallis (Ore.) high. He played his collegiate football at Oregon State. He was drafted in the 11th round of the 1952 draft by the Los Angeles Rams.

Baker played fullback in professional football, though his career statistics of 49 carries for 234 yards in 195 games belies the fact that he was known primarily for his kicking talents.

As a punter he had a career total of 703 punts for 29,938 yards, an average of 42.6 yards. Playing for Washington, he led the NFL in punt yard average in 1958 with 45.4 yards per attempt.

As a place kicker, Baker led the National Football League with 17 field goals in 1956, and he also had the league’s longest field goal that season at 49 yards. Nicknamed “Sugarfoot.” At the time of his retirement from NFL, was listed among the Top Twenty NFL career scoring leaders.

Baker tied Cleveland fullback Jim Brown for the NFL scoring lead in 1957 with 77 points, and in 1960 and 1961 he led the NFL in points after touchdown and attempts. Playing for Philadelphia, led NFL in 1966 in PAT percentage (.974, 38-of-39) and field goal percentage (.720, 18-of-25).

He also was inducted into the State of Washington and Oregon Sports Hall of Fames.

RONI (BARRIOS) MEJIA—Gymnastics Roni (Barrios) Mejia learned the sports of gymnastics from coaches Brad and Lori Loan at Puget Sound School of Gymnastics. Those lessons carried her to national and international success in the sport.

Barrios, then just 14 years old, first came onto the national scene when she finished second in the allaround competition at the 1978 National Sports Festival in Colorado. Two years later she competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Barrios earned an athletic scholarship to Cal State-Fullerton, where four times she earned All-America honors in both the uneven bars and floor exercise. The same year that she starred at Cal State-Fullerton, Barrios competed for the United States at the World University Games in Edmonton, Canada.

SHIRLEY BATY—Golf Shirley Baty won the state women’s amateur golf championship at Fircrest Golf Club in 1961, but it was her consistent play in the Fircrest women’s tournament that earns her special mention.

Baty dominated the event, winning 20 Fircrest titles, starting with her first in 1955 and getting her last 37 years later in 1992. She won the championship four straight years from 1962-65 and never went more than five years without winning. She was runner-up nine more times.

She won numerous other titles, some several times, including the state tournament and the Kitsap Invitational.

RALPH BAUMAN—Football Ralph Bauman came out of White River High School in 1960 and went on to an outstanding four-year football career at the University of Puget Sound.

While at the Puget Sound from 1960-64, Bauman earned first-team All-America honors as a guard. He also received Little All-Coast and All-Evergreen Conference recognition as an offensive and defensive guard.

Bauman was inducted into the UPS Hall of Fame in 1992.

Bauman was a four-year letter winner in football while in college and earned the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award for sportsmanship, leadership and work ethic. His coach, John Heinrick, once said Bauman was “one of the three best all-around linemen I’ve coached.”

After graduation he worked for Texaco for 16 years and then moved into the petroleum distributorship business in Port Angeles, where he still lives.

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ROD BELCHER—Broadcaster Rod Belcher had a long and storied career as a television and radio sportscaster in the Puget Sound area. He was named the Washington Sportscaster of the Year while at KING TV and radio. Belcher got his start in Tacoma, broadcasting Tacoma Tigers baseball games in 1946, and later did Seattle Rainiers baseball from 1957-58.

From 1946-92, his voice could be heard throughout the region calling various sporting events. He broadcast Washington Husky football, basketball, track and swimming and had the pleasure of doing Seattle University basketball during the era of the O’Brien twins and Elgin Baylor. Boxing, hockey, hydroplane racing and high school football and basketball action throughout the region were for the listening audience by Belcher.

Belcher called San Francisco 49ers football for one year and, in 1964, was the color analyst working with Lindsey Nelson on ABC’s telecast of the Rose Bowl.

MIKE BENSON—Tennis (Coach) In the 30 years that Mike Benson coached the Pacific Lutheran University men’s tennis program, his teams won or shared 24 Northwest Conference championships. Benson’s all-time PLU men’s tennis coaching record was an amazing 400-196. During that same 30-year period his teams compiled an incredible 166-18 dual match record, including a pair of 60-match winning streaks, in the Northwest Conference.

Benson’s teams made the trek to Kansas City for NAIA nationals on 20 occasions and finished as high as eighth place. One of his players, Dave Trageser, reached the national tournament championship match in both singles (1978) and doubles (with Mike Hoeger in 1979).

During Benson’s six years as head coach of the PLU women’s team the Lutes won five conference titles and had a 90-35 overall record. Benson played collegiate tennis at Pacific Lutheran and helped win the 1967 district doubles championship.

He is perhaps best known for helping to coin the term, “It’s a great day to be a Lute,” celebrating the spirit of Pacific Lutheran University athletics.

JOHN BEST—Soccer (Administrator) John Best had a long and storied career in professional soccer, first as a player in Liverpool and later in the North American Soccer League. Following his playing days, Best served as head coach of the Seattle Sounders in 1976 and then joined the Vancouver Whitecaps front office as President and General Manager.

The Whitecaps won the 1979 Soccer Bowl title.

Best came to Tacoma and founded Tacoma Indoor Soccer Inc., the parent company behind the Tacoma Stars of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). As President and Director, Best built the Stars into one of the MISL powerhouses. The team featured such standouts as MISL Player of the Decade Steve Zungul, Preki, Neil Megson and Joe Waters.

Best felt strongly about his players being involved in community activities, and led the way by serving on several boards.

A number of the Stars players stayed in the area following their playing days and are having a major impact on soccer in the area, including Waters, a long-time youth and high school coach.

RON BILLINGS—Football, Basketball, Coach A rare three-sport superstar, Billings lettered for four years in football, basketball and baseball at Pacific Lutheran College in the early 1950’s.

An All-Evergreen Conference athlete in both football and baseball, Billings was named to the Associated Press Little All-American first team as a football defensive back in 1952 and was on the second team squad in 1953. His 12 interceptions in nine games in 1952 set a Pacific Lutheran record that still stands. A versatile player, Billings started the 1953 season at end, but before the year was over had played every position in the backfield. He led the team in pass receiving and kickoff and punt returns, handled the kickoff and extra point kicking duties, and ranked among the leading rushers on the team.

Billings went on to teach and coach basketball at his alma mater, Lincoln High School, where he recorded a 272-84 record in 16 years, coaching the Abes to 11 league titles and seven top-four finishes at the state tournament, including a state championship in 1975. He was named Washington State Coach of the Year in both 1975 and 1976, and in 1976 was selected to coach the U.S. High School All-American team.

From Lincoln, Billings went on to coach at Tacoma Community College, winning NWAACC titles three times in seven years and earning two Coach of the Year awards.

page 17

LLOYD BLANUSA—Fastpitch Softball Lloyd Blanusa is one of the first great fastpitch softball players in Tacoma. He starred in 11 Northwest regional tournaments and two national tournaments. Blanusa is a member of the Northwest Hall of Fame and the Kitsap Hall of Fame. Nearly unhittable, he rarely lost a regular season game, and he earned alltournament and MVP honors time and again.

A pitcher, Blanusa had a fastpitch career spanning 22 years, including 17 in Tacoma, three in Seattle and two more in Bremerton. Blanusa later was a teacher and coach in the White River School District and was the Washington Class A Coach of the Year in 1973. His Hornets won the State A basketball championship that year.

JACK BOYLE—Figure Skating Jack Boyle, a 1949 graduate of Stadium High School, came from a family of skaters. His brother Bill and sister Eleanor both skated for the Ice Follies. Jack had a more extensive career as a figure skater.

Boyle won almost every men’s division event in the Northwest and also garnered Pacific Coast senior men’s and senior pairs (with Patsy Hamm) titles. Boyle and Ham also placed third in the National Junior Pairs and fourth in the North American Senior Pairs.

He turned professional in 1949, skating originally with the Ice Follies. After several more stops, he completed his career in 1955 with Casa Carioca in Germany.

Boyle turned his love for ice skating into a 35-year career as a teacher, 30 of those years in Vancouver, B.C. FRANK “BUSTER” BROUILLET—Football Frank “Buster” Brouillet earned accolades as a football standout at Puyallup High School in the mid 1940s. Playing left halfback, Brouillet played a key role in an undefeated and untied season for the 1945 Vikings, who were the Puget Sound League champions. Brouillet earned unanimous first team all-league honors in both 1944 and 1945 and became the first Viking runner in history to gain over 1000 yards. He was also an outstanding prep basketball player, helping PHS to the 1946 league title and a sixth-place finish at state. He earned first team all-league and all-state “First Five” honors.

In addition to his football and basketball exploits, Brouillet served as the track team captain.

DICK BROWN—Football, Basketball Dick Brown was an outstanding athlete at Stadium High School, playing guard for the Stadium High School basketball team for three years and end for the school’s football team. In his senior year, Brown earned All-City and All-Cross State first team honors in both football and basketball.

Brown continued his career at the University of Puget Sound, where he is considered one of the best football and basketball athletes ever to wear the Logger uniform. Inducted into the University of Puget Sound Athletic Hall of Fame, Dick Brown earned second team Little All-America recognition as an end in football and all-conference accord in both football and basketball. In basketball, he helped Puget Sound to the NAIA national championship tournament in Kansas City during the 1949-50 season. It was the first Logger basketball team to advance to nationals. He was also a key defensive performer in Puget Sound’s 4841 upset of the University of Washington, holding UW star Sammy White to a mere seven points.

DORIS (SEVERTSON BROWN) HERITAGE—Track, Cross Country Doris Severtson Brown (Heritage), a graduate of Peninsula High School who competed for the Mic Mac Track Club in Tacoma, was arguably the world’s premier distance runner during the 1960s. She set two American records before graduating from Seattle Pacific University in 1964. Eventually she owned every national and world record from 440 yards up to the mile.

Doris earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in 1968 and 1972, taking fifth in the 800 meters in Mexico City. A last-minute injury prevented her from running the 1500 meters in Munich. She won the 800 meters silver medal at Pan American Games in both 1967 and 1971.

From 1967-71, Doris won an unprecedented five consecutive world cross country championships and raced on nine U.S. world teams in all. During her prime she won 14 national titles, and set a world record in the 440, 800, mile and 3000 meters. Still competing in 1989, she won the U.S. Masters cross country title.

She has remained involved in international sports, serving as an assistant coach on United States teams for the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games and the 1987 and 1990 World Championships.

In 1988, she became the first female to be elected to the prestigious IAAF Cross Country and Road Race Committee.

Doris is currently a member of the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame, the US Distance Running Hall of Fame, and the USA Coaches Hall of Fame.

page 18

OLE BRUNSTAD—Football Ole Brunstad was one of the first great high school football players in Tacoma.

Brunstad played football at Lincoln High School in the early 1930s. He was known for his ferocious defense and prowess as a halfback and quarterback on offense.

As team captain in 1931, Brunstad helped carry the “Railsplitters,” or “Railhewers,” as they were called, to the unofficial state football title. Brunstad accounted for two touchdowns in Lincoln’s 19-0 win over Clarkston at the University of Washington Stadium in Seattle.

Lincoln came back five days later to defeat Stadium, 32-6, to win the Tacoma city championship.

Lincoln finished the season with a 7-0-1 record and Brunstad was named the all-city quarterback.

Brunstad went on to play at College of Puget Sound in 1932 and 1933, helping the Loggers win league titles both seasons.

JANET (BUCHAN) ELWAY—Swimming Janet (Buchan) Elway started swimming at the Tacoma YMCA at age five and joined the Tacoma Swim Club (TSC) four years later. Under the tutelage of Dick Hannula, she became one of the top swimmers in the country.

She won numerous state championships swimming for the TSC and Wilson High School. As a Stanford University freshman, Janet led her team to the 1980 AIAW Division I national swimming championship. She won the 400-yard individual medley in meet record time and also set a record by scoring 81 of her team’s 629 points. Unfortunately, a shoulder injury ended her promising college swimming career following that freshman season.

Janet was named the 1980 Woman of the Year in Sports by The Tacoma News Tribune.

RUTH (WARD) CANALE—Golf Ruth (Canale) Ward got her start in golf quite by accident. One day in the summer of 1932, while waiting three hours in the Steilacoom Lake Golf Course clubhouse for her parents to finish a round of golf, she decided to hit some balls on the practice range.

Club professional Ray Ball saw Ruth on the range and offered to give her free lessons. One year later, at age 13, she won the Washington State Junior girls championship for 14 and under. Her winning score was good enough to have garnered the 15-18 juniors title. She continued to win state junior titles until she was too old to play in that category. At the same time, Ruth was Tacoma Junior Champion.

At age 16, Ruth and friend Joan Mahon battled for the Washington State women’s title with Joan winning.

The next week, Ruth beat her friend in the Tacoma Junior Championship. The two were called the “Brookdale Twins.”

In 1938, she played in the initial Phoenix Open women’s tournament, advancing to the semifinal round.

She won the Tacoma City Championship in 1940 and 1941, then got married and put away her clubs for 10 years from 1942-52. In 1953, she won the Washington State Public Links title, beating Joanne Gunderson, a future LPGA Hall of Famer.

After that, she won several club women’s championship, along the way setting the Meadow Park record with a 72.

She put away her clubs for good in 1980.

LUTHER CARR, JR.—Football Luther “Hit and Run” Carr earned his nickname as a Lincoln High School football player, where he garnered all-city and all-state honors. Carr not only shone on the gridiron, he was an all-league baseball player, a starter in basketball, and the state record holder in the long jump from 1954-59.

Highly recruited out of Lincoln, Carr earned All-Coast honors playing at the University of Washington.

As a sophomore, he scored on a 76-yard touchdown run on his first carry against a California Bears team that would go to the Rose Bowl.

Carr played amateur baseball as a teenager, starring for Seattle’s Cheney Studs as a centerfielder. The 1955 Studs team finished as national runner-up, though they surely missed Carr, who had UW football obligations. His baseball talents drew the interest of Branch Rickey, who offered Carr a pro contract.

ANDY CARRIGAN—Football After starring in football at Orting High School and helping the 1962 team to a No. 2 ranking in the Class B state poll, Andy Carrigan became a gridiron standout at Stanford University.

In November of 1967, Carrigan set a school record for tackles in a game with 27 against Washington in Husky Stadium, earning player of the game honors and helping Stanford to a 14-7 win. The 27 tackles also set a Husky Stadium and Pac-8 record for tackles in a game.

Two game later he set a “Big Game” record for tackles in a single game with 23 when Stanford played California at Stanford Stadium. In a consecutive four-game span bridging the 1967-68 seasons, Carrigan was credited with 72 tackles.

Carrigan played at Stanford from 1964-68, with a redshirt season in 1965. One of his Stanford University teammates was Heisman Trophy winner Jim Plunkett. page 19

CASEY CARRIGAN—Track In 1969, Orting High School’s Casey Carrigan set a Washington prep record that may never be broken.

Carrigan, already the state pole vault record holder with a mark of 17-0, cleared 17-4. It is the oldest state record still on the books.

Carrigan’s climb to the record was no fluke. In ninth grade he won the class B title with a vault of 146 and as a sophomore vaulted 15-8 to win the state and national high school championships. The following year he vaulted 16-8, then a national high school record, and earned a spot at the Olympic Trials. There, he cleared 17-0 to finish third. As a high school junior, he represented the United States at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.

After one year at Stanford University, he took a break from the sport. He returned to vaulting and in 1975 cleared 17-10 to earn the country’s No. 1 ranking. An Achilles tendon injury effectively ended his vaulting career.

RON CEY—Baseball Few players born in Tacoma have enjoyed a more productive major league baseball career than Ron Cey. He enjoyed a 17-year career, most of that spent with the Los Angeles Dodgers, though he also played with the Chicago Cubs and the Oakland Athletics. Cey, a third baseman, and Dodgers teammates Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes and Bill Russell formed the most durable infield in major league baseball history, playing together for more than eight seasons.

Cey, nicknamed “The Penguin,” ranks among the all-time third basemen in home runs with 316, and he also drove in 1,139 runs while compiling a .261 career batting average. He had an outstanding 1977 season with 30 homers and 116 runs batted in, and he had at least 20 homers during 10 seasons. He was outstanding with the glove, in 1979 setting the National League record for fewest errors by a third baseman with nine.

Cey earned major league all-star honors six times, played in four World Series and six league championship series.

He was a World Series Co-Most Valuable Player with Los Angeles Dodgers teammate Steve Garvey. He was picked to the all-time Dodgers team at third base.

Prior to his major league career, Cey was a three-sport star at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma and a superb baseball player at Washington State University. He was selected by the Dodgers in the third round of the 1968 major league draft.

JERRY CONINE—Wrestling Jerry Conine was an undersized seventh grader when he got his start in wrestling, but by the time he was done he had earned a national reputation in the sport.

Conine was captain of the wrestling and football teams during his senior year at Fife High school. He won the state wrestling championship in 1957 at 177 pounds and parlayed that into a wrestling scholarship to Washington State University. At WSU he was a two-year varsity letterman in football and was a four-year letterman in wrestling. Three years in a row, he placed third in the Pacific Coast Championships at 177 pounds.

In 1964, Conine, a virtual unknown without a coach, shocked the country by winning the national championship in his weight class. Along the way he pinned three-time national collegiate heavyweight champion Joe James, who was touted on the cover of Sports Illustrated as the favorite.

The national title earned him a berth at the Olympic Trials, and eventually to the 1964 Olympic Games where Conine finished sixth at 213 pounds in Freestyle. He later won national titles in 1965 in Freestyle and in 1966 in GrecoRoman. He placed sixth in two more world championship tournaments.

Jerry’s son, Jeff, is a major league baseball player with a Florida Marlins’ World Series ring.

TOM CROSS—Basketball, Official, Athletic Administrator When it came to sports, Tacoma native Tom Cross did it all. He played and he refereed and directed sports programs for parks and recreation departments for both Tacoma and Pierce County before retiring after 34 years of service to local residents. A graduate of the College of Puget Sound, he is a member of that school’s Hall of Fame.

By the time he graduated from Stadium High School in 1938, Cross had become an accomplished basketball player, being named a second-team all-state performer his senior year. At the College of Puget Sound, he was the spark and second leading scorer on a team that won the Northwest Conference Championship in 1939-1940.

In 1942, Cross officiated his first high school game for three dollars, and 60 years later he was still associated with officiating. He is considered the “Father of Officiating” in the state of Washington for his involvement in creating official’s organizations to serve high school sports. Tom officiated Pacific 10- Conference basketball from 194864 and football from 1948-73. He worked Rose Bowl games in 1963 and 1973, continued as a PAC-10 observer, and also served as the first official timer for Seattle Seahawks football games.

Cross played softball in the area for many years, organizing the first slowpitch team in Pierce County and the state’s first slowpitch tournament.

page 20

CHUCK CURTIS —Basketball The mainstay of the “Big Three” basketball dynasty in the late 1950s, Chuck Curtis is Pacific Lutheran’s all-time scoring leader, accumulating 2,173 points. His career scoring average of 19.7 is second on the Pacific Lutheran career list.

He led Pacific Lutheran College to the NAIA national tournament four years in a row, culminated by a runner-up finish in 1958-59 and third place performance in 1956-57. He earned NAIA All-America honors in 1957 and 1959, received AP Little All-America recognition in 1957, 1958 and 1959 and UPI All-America accord in 1959. Curtis was named to the NAIA all-tournament team in both 1957 and 1959 and has been inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame.

Besides setting the career scoring record, Curtis also established the single-game scoring record of 44 points against Whitworth College in 1958. His name appears four times on PLU’s top 10 list for individual single-game scoring highs. In his final three seasons, Curtis averaged 14.2 rebounds per game.

Curtis was drafted in 1959 by the Detroit Pistons and eventually landed with the New York Tapers, where he was the number two scorer and top rebounder.

DON D’ANDREA—Football A 6-0, 280 pounder bearing the unlikely nickname of “Bubbles,” Don D’Andrea was a standout among standouts for the Pacific Lutheran College gridiron squad in both the early and late 1940’s.

After earning all-conference honors in 1941, D’Andrea entered the military and served in the Marines from 1942-46. Returning to PLC in 1946, he served as football team captain in 1946 and 1947 and was named to the All-Winco league teams in both years.

In 1947, D’Andrea was honored as a member of the Little All-American squad. Amazingly fast for his size, D’Andrea was described in an Associated Press release as an athlete who “constitutes two men in bulk and three men in player value.” His last game as a Lute came in the Pear Bowl, PLC’s only bowl appearance, in which the Gladiators scored a 27-21 victory over Southern Oregon.

D’Andrea was later drafted by the Los Angeles Rams, and also received offers from the Washington Redskins and Detroit Lions. He was a teacher and principal in Black Diamond and Everett before retiring in 1979.

JIM DAULLEY—Track (Coach) In 1974, Jim Daulley was honored as the Washington High School Assistant Coach of the Year for track.

One year later, as head coach at Wilson High School, Daulley would take WHS to the first of four state championships over a seven-year period.

With Daulley at the helm, Wilson won state AAA championships in 1975, 1978, 1980 and 1981. The school finished second in 1977, third in 1979 and fourth in 1976. During that seven-year run, Wilson compiled a 59-3 dual meet record, including five years in which the team was undefeated in both dual meets and invitationals.

Daulley earned state Coach of the Year honors in 1981, the same year that he was named the Western Region Coach of the Year. He was one of five nominated for the high school track Coach of the Year award in 1981.

Daulley coached five high school All-Americans and one national record holder, and 75 of his athletes earned track scholarships.

Daulley has been inducted in to the Wilson High School Hall of Fame and the Washington Track Coaches Hall of Fame.

DON DUNCAN—Swimming (Coach) Don Duncan coached 434 dual meets in a 37-year career spanning 1957-94 as the head swimming coach at the University of Puget Sound. He was also the Director of the Physical Education department at UPS. His dual meet record was 307 wins and 128 losses with 15 top five finishes at NCAA Division II and NAIA national championships. Duncan coached 23 individual national champions, 84 All-Americans, and was NAIA National Coach of the Year in 1988 and 1993. Duncan was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1991 and the UPS Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.

JEFF DURGAN—Soccer Jeff Durgan was among a trio of outstanding Tacoma prep players who made a successful jump from high school soccer to the professional ranks. Durgan, Mark Peterson and Jeff Stock all had outstanding pro careers.

Durgan honed his soccer skills at Stadium High School, from where he graduated in 1979 and played club ball for Norpoint Royals. As a defender, Durgan earned North American Soccer League Rookie of the Years honors in 1980 with the New York Cosmos. He played for the Cosmos from 1980-82, spent a season with Team America, then came back to the Cosmos for one more season.

In addition to playing in the North American Soccer League, Durgan earned a spot on the United States national and Olympic teams.

He finished his professional career with the Tacoma Stars of the Major Indoor Soccer League.

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OSCAR “OCKIE” ELIASON—Golf Oscar “Ockie” Eliason became a professional golfer in 1947 after winning the 1946 Tacoma City Amateur, and he was one of the Northwest’s best golfers for the better part of two decades. In 1967, he took the job as head golf professional at Allenmore Golf Course in Tacoma, and he stayed there until 1987. He served as an instructor to Ken Still and Doug Campbell, a pair of Tacoma-area players then on the PGA Tour.

Eliason won the Allenmore Open in 1950, then collected back-to-back Northwest Open championships in 1955-56. The following year he won the Oregon Open and placed second in the Northwest Open.

In 1988, he won the Pacific Northwest Senior PGA Match Play championship and eventually was inducted into the PGA Pacific Northwest Section Hall of Fame.

ED FALLON—Football (Coach) Ed Fallon coached prep football in the area for 17 seasons, compiling a record of 104 wins, 36 losses and 6 ties.

Fallon played football and baseball at Spokane’s Gonzaga Prep, from where he graduated in 1950. At Gonzaga University, he played centerfield on the baseball team before graduating in 1957.

Fallon led Orting High School to state football championships in 1964 and in 1965. He then coached at Bellarmine Prep, where he led the Lions to a pair of city league championships in 1971 and 1972. He also served as an assistant coach at the University of Puget Sound during their highly-successful NCAA Division II years and then became the Bellarmine athletic director.

He was inducted into the Bellarmine Hall of Fame in 1991 and into the Washington State Athletic Directors Hall of Fame in 1997.

JIM FIFER—Crew A graduate of Stadium High School in 1948 and Stanford University in 1953, Jim Fifer won a rowing gold medal in pairs without coxswain at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

Fifer graduated from Stadium High School and rowed four years at Stanford, where he was team captain in 1952.

He had his first Olympic experience in 1952, losing in the semifinals of the pair with coxswain competition. Four years later, Fifer and Duvall Hecht won the U.S. Olympic Trials pair without coxswain in an upset, then took home the gold medal in that event in Melbourne.

Fifer’s college alma mater, Stanford, established in 1986 the James T. Fifer Trophy for the winner of the Men’s Event at the Redwood Shores-Stanford Rowing Classic.

PAT (FIRTH) HANSEN—Figure Skating Pat Firth’s family put lots of miles on their car on daily treks from Seattle for lessons at the Lakewood Winter Club ice rink, but those miles paid off in Pat’s numerous championship trophies.

Firth represented Lakewood in regional, national and world competition. She won her first championship in 1951—the Northwest Senior Ladies—and that same year placed third in Junior Ladies at nationals. Firth won the Pacific Coast Senior Ladies title in 1952 and placed second in Junior Ladies at nationals. In 1953 she repeated her Pacific Coast title and then went on to win that year’s national Junior Ladies crown. As a result, she earned a spot on the country’s World Team, placing seventh at the world championships in 1955 in Vienna, Austria.

Firth was particularly adept at figures, which counted for 60 percent of the overall score, and she went on to earn her U.S. and Canadian Gold Test medals in both figures and freestyle.

She also earned a master’s rating as a skating teacher and coach.

DON FLYE—Tennis Don Flye broke onto the national tennis scene as a nationally ranked 14-year-old. He also won the national junior doubles title in 1951.

Flye played one year at Modesto (Calif.) Junior College, winning a national championship, and three more years at the University of Washington. As a Husky, he won three Pacific Coast Conference Northern Division doubles championships and one singles crown.

Flye was a member of the 1953 U.S. Junior Davis Cup team and was a nationally ranked player in 1954. He participated in three U.S. Open singles events and three U.S. Open Doubles championships, in addition to Wimbledon. He reached the semifinals and quarterfinals of several major singles and doubles tour events. He had to his credit victories over Wimbledon champions Ashley Cooper and Sidney Wood.

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FRED FORSBERG—Football A 1962 graduate of Wilson High School, Fred Forsberg was a football standout at the University of Washington from 1962-66.

Forsberg played for the 1964 Rose Bowl championship team and after his senior year participated in the East-West Shrine Game, the Hula Bowl and the Coaches All-American Game.

Forsberg, a linebacker, had a solid National Football League career, spending the majority of his service with the Denver Broncos but also served stints with the San Diego Chargers and the Buffalo Bills. Forsberg was the Broncos’ defensive captain for several seasons.

JERRY AND JUDI FOTHERINGILL—Ice Skating Approximately six months after starting private skating lessons with coach Patsy Hamm, Jerry and Judi Fotheringill entered their first Northwest regional pairs ice skating competition. They finished second—out of two entries. But the skating bug had bit, and less than 10 years later the brother and sister duo would win the first of their two United States Pairs Championships.

The Fotheringills climbed the ladder of success, winning their first U.S. Junior Pairs championship in 1959, but were disheartened by placing fourth—and just missing a spot on the World Team—two years later at the senior national event. They contemplated retirement, but tragedy changed those plans when the entire U.S. team was killed in an airplane crash in Belgium. Their pairs career revived, the Fotheringills won national titles in 1963 and 1964, representing the country at the 1964 Olympic Games.

VERN FROM—Fastpitch Softball Vern From was an outstanding catcher for some of Tacoma’s top men’s fastpitch softball teams throughout the decade of the 1940s.

From played for Todd-Pacific Stores-Machinists for two seasons in the mid 40s, including the 1945 team that placed third at the national tournament in Cleveland. In fact, he was the catcher for Kermit Lynch, a military transplant from California who was regarded as one of the top pitchers in the country. From later played for the Tacoma Elks Club in the late 1940s and the Irwin-Jones Dodgers in 1951.

Teammate Art Lewis stated that From was a good hitter with some power, and that he consistently called an outstanding game for his pitchers.

NADINE FULTON—Bowling When Nadine Fulton was inducted into the Tacoma Women’s Bowling Association Hall of Fame in 1994, she and husband, Larry, became the second husband-wife team to earn their organization’s top honor.

Larry was inducted into the GTBA Hall of Fame in 1984. The first husband-wife inductees were Telli and Jackie Pagni.

She has earned TWBA all-star team accolades 14 years. Fulton started bowling in the 1960s and won the Tacoma WBA tournament singles event in 1984 and 1985, both times with a 685 series. She also played on the championship team three times. Fulton bowled on three state championship teams.

In WWBA A Doubles, Fulton finished first with LuAnn Moore, their 1,361 score a state record. Twice she bowled a high game of 299, one coming during a first place finish in the 1998 WWBA A Doubles event.

Fulton participated in the National Bowling Tournament in 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, and 1990. Her highest series a 789 in league play.

She was the first female from Tacoma-Pierce County to be inducted into the State of Washington Bowling Hall of Fame.

DOUG FUNK—Football (Coach) Doug Funk is a member of a pretty exclusive club—Pierce County high school football coaches with at least 100 wins. Funk coached at White River High School for 27 years, winning 124 games, losing 117 and tying 10.

Funk graduated from North Bend High School in 1944, after enlisting in the Navy in 1943. He attended Washington State College for two years and later played football at what was then Central Washington State College for three years before graduating in 1951.

He served as teacher, coach and athletic director at White River. He led his team to a West Central League crown in 1959 and a Seamount League championship in 1976.

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PAT GALBRAITH—Tennis Pat Galbraith was a dominating tennis player through his high school years, winning three consecutive state boys singles titles and leading Bellarmine Prep to four consecutive Narrows League championships.

His three state crowns tied the record held by Seattle Prep’s Tom Gorman, who one day would play professionally and coach the U.S. Davis Cup team.

Galbraith earned a scholarship to tennis powerhouse UCLA where he was NCAA doubles champion in 1988 and the Pac-10 singles winner in 1989.

Professional tennis was next for Galbraith, who enjoyed a successful 12-year career, primarily in doubles. He and various partners won 36 ATP Tour doubles championships, his doubles team was ranked No. 1 one in the world in 1993, and he ranked No. 1 individually among doubles players during parts of the 1993 and 1994 campaigns.

Galbraith played on two U.S. Open mixed doubles championship teams and twice played in the Wimbledon doubles title match.

JOHN GARNERO—Football, Basketball, Track John Garnero, nicknamed “Jing,” won 11 letters while at College of Puget Sound, including four in football and track and three in baseball. Garnero, who attended Puget Sound from 1926-30, was inducted into that school’s Hall of Fame in 1975. In high school, he was one of Buckley’s all-time athletic greats.

Garnero earned all-conference football honors four years in a row and won the Northwest Conference title four consecutive years in the shot put and discus.

A versatile athlete, Garnero broke track records on a weekly basis while at the same time starring in baseball.

JERRY GEEHAN—Broadcaster Jerry Geehan graduated from Lincoln High School in 1930, and after attending College of Puget Sound for two years, began his illustrious broadcasting career at KVI Radio in 1932.

In 1937, he became the first broadcaster for the Tacoma Tigers of the Western International League. In 1938, he joined KMO Radio as Tacoma’s first play-by-play broadcaster handling WIL baseball and PLU and UPS games. He also had a daily sportscast.

Many of Tacoma’s great sportscasters got their start under Geehan, including Clay Huntington, Rod Belcher, Doug McArthur, Bob Robertson, Don Hill, Art Popham and Bill O’Meara.

Geehan became KMO’s sales manager in 1943, and two years later moved up to the station’s general manager post. In 1952 he served as general manager of Channel 13 TV. He was owner and general manager of KTAC Radio from 1952-69 and was Chairman of the Board of the Washington State Association of Broadcasters.

Geehan also served as President of the Tacoma Athletic Commission.

ROD GIBBS—Basketball After transferring from the University of Washington, where he had been starting center as a freshman, Rod Gibbs had an outstanding career at the College of Puget Sound. He led the Loggers in scoring twice and on both occasions earned all-conference honors. With Gibbs carrying the play in the middle, CPS twice advanced to the NAIA national tournament in Kansas City.

Gibbs’ basketball career included a pair of trips to the AAU national tournament in Denver with 38th Street of Tacoma and the powerful Buchan Bakers. He was regarded as the best defensive center in the Northwest in college, and was the game’s leading rebounder when CPS spilled the University of Washington, 48-41, in the Tacoma Armory in 1949.

TOMMY GILMER—Football, Track Tommy Gilmer was a jack-of-all-trades for four Pacific Lutheran College football teams, serving with distinction as quarterback, fullback, safety, punter and kick returner at various times while lettering four straight years.

As a right-handed quarterback, Gilmer completed 142-of-303 passes for 1,907 yards, mostly in his first three seasons when he was the starting signal caller. He completed 51 percent of his passes for 699 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore and a year later had his best season with 714 passing yards, ranking him among the national leaders. Both years he earned first team all-conference, All-Northwest and All-West Coast honors, as well as honorable mention Little All-American accord.

As a senior fullback he led the team in receptions, was the third-leading rusher, and earned his teammates’ selection as the Inspirational Award winner. On the defensive side of the ball, Gilmer had 10 career interceptions, including a single-season best of four during his sophomore season. As a left-footed punter, his 41.6 yards per punt in 1957 is still a Pacific Lutheran single-season record. He also drop kicked points after touchdown.

In addition to his football exploits, Gilmer also had an outstanding Pacific Lutheran track & field career in the hurdles, jumps and relays.

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EVELYN (SCHULTZ) GOLDBERG—Basketball, Volleyball, Fastpitch Evelyn Goldberg is arguably the finest all-around female athlete to ever participate in sports at the University of Puget Sound. Goldberg, who attended UPS from 1972-76, was a four-year letter award winner in volleyball and basketball, and she was a member of the first softball team at UPS. She was the captain and most valuable player of each of these teams.

At the time of her 1988 induction into the University of Puget Sound Athletic Hall of Fame, she was the only woman to win the Ben Cheney Award as outstanding athlete of the year. In addition, Goldberg was the first recipient of the Alice Bond Award.

VINCE GOLDSMITH—Football A top football and track & field performer at Mt. Tahoma High School, Vince Goldsmith went on to a stellar career in the Canadian Football League.

In football, he twice earned all-city honors and was an all-state and All-America pick in 1977 as a defensive lineman. In the shot put, Goldsmith was two-time city, district and state champion (1976-77), the national high school champion in 1977 and a two-time All-American. He set the world 16-year-old age group record in the event with a put of 65-10, and to this day holds the state record of 69’-11.”

Goldsmith was named to the Top 100 Prep Athletes of the 20th Century in the South Puget Sound and to the Washington State High School Football Team of the Century.

At the University of Oregon, he was MVP in 1979 and 1980 and earned second Team All-America honors as a defensive lineman in 1980.

In the professional ranks, Goldsmith won the CFL Rookie of the Year award in 1981, earned All-Western Conference honors four times and All-CFL honors in 1981 and 1983. He was MVP of the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1983 and ranks third all-time in quarterback sacks in the CFL with 130. He played for a Grey Cup championship team in 1989.

Along the way, Goldsmith was inducted into the Hall of Fame of his high school, college and professional teams.

JEFF GOTCHER—Wrestling The Gotcher brothers made their last name famous as wrestlers at Spanaway Lake High School.

Jeff Gotcher completed his high school career with 101 wins and zero losses. He was the first wrestler in state history to accomplish that feat. Among his 101 wins were 71 pins. He won the Class 3A state title at 148 pounds in 1985 and the 4A state championship at 148 pounds in 1986 and 1987. Jeff Gotcher earned 1987 ASICS TIGER All-America honors and was picked as the top prep wrestler in the country.

Jeff and his brother Larry are credited with creating a wrestling move aptly named “The Gotcher.” This brother duo finished their career with the state’s best combined record by brothers, 193 wins (153 by pin), two losses and one tie.

He and his brother were both undefeated state champs in 1985 LARRY GOTCHER—Wrestling Larry Gotcher had 92 wins, two losses and one tie during his prep career at Spanaway Lake High School.

In 1984, the 16-year-old Gotcher was the only prep athlete to win a regional (Rocky Mountain) Olympic Trial. Because the minimum age for competition was 18 years old, Gotcher had to get special permission stating that he was physically capable of wrestling with grown men.

In his senior year, Gotcher won all 25 matches, including 23 pins to open the season. He won his state semifinal match by a 25-2 score and took the final by a 17-1 margin. Those three points were the only ones he allowed all season, and all three came when Gotcher allowed his opponent to get away so that he could record another takedown. He was an ASICS TIGER All-American in 1984-85 and a National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee in 1985.

He won a junior national title in which only one competitor in 12 matches lasted the entire match, including the top seed that Gotcher pinned in 56 seconds. In fact, he was not scored on until winning the final, 19-9.

Gotcher went on to earn All-America and Academic All-America honors at the University of Michigan, where his team ended a 17-year-old, 99-match win streak by Dan Gable’s University of Iowa squad.

CY GREENLAW—Baseball While pitching for the Tacoma Tigers of the Western International League from 1946-48, Cy Greenlaw threw a no-hitter.

Greenlaw, born in Tacoma, played college baseball at St. Mary’s College in California from 1935-39.

During the summer months, he also played for Superior Dairy of the Tacoma City League and for Wenatchee and Vancouver of the Western International League.

The left-hander joined the 1937 Johnson Paint semi-pro team that placed fifth at the National Baseball Congress championship tournament in Wichita, Kansas. It was the first time that a Tacoma team had participated in the event. He earned All-America honors at the tournament.

He went on to play in the Mid-Atlantic League in Ohio and North Carolina from 1939 through 1941.

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JIMMY GROGAN—Figure Skating In the early years, Jimmy Grogan didn’t have his own skates and had to wait until his cousins had taken their turns on the ice. By the time his career was done, he was arguably the finest figure skater to come out of Pierce County.

When he was on the ice, Grogan showed natural ability, and by age 12 had teamed with Lois Secreto to win the 1945 Pacific Coast Junior Pairs championship.

After moving to California, Grogan continued his career under the tutelage of Hans Johnsen, the brother of long-time Lakewood teacher John Johnsen.

Grogan placed third at the 1947 U.S. Senior Men’s championship and was second in the North American competition. At age 16, he earned a spot on the U.S. team competing at the 1948 Olympic Games in France, where he placed sixth in men’s singles. Four years later earned a bronze medal at the 1952 Games in Oslo, Norway.

On four occasions, Grogan placed second at both U.S. and World Championship events. He later went on to a professional career with the Hollywood Ice Revue and the Ice Capades.

KAYE HALL-GREFF—Swimming Kaye Hall-Greff, the first woman to break the one-minute barrier in the 100-yard backstroke, won two Olympic Games women’s swimming gold medals and set two world in 1968. At the time, she was a senior at Wilson High School, swimming for Coach Dick Hannula.

Hall-Greff won the gold medal and set a world record in the 100-meter backstroke, then accomplished the same feats as a member of the gold medal-winning 400-meter medley relay team. She earned a bronze in the 200-meter backstroke.

She was a Pan-American Games silver medalist in 1967, and set three national indoor and four American swimming records.

Hall-Greff, a collegiate All-America, won three gold medals representing the University of Puget Sound at the World University Student Games in Torino, Italy, in 1970.

Hall-Greff is a member of the International Swimming, UPS, and the Washington State Sports Hall of Fame. She was Washington State Athlete of the Year in 1968.

PATSY (HAMM) DILLINGHAM—Figure Skating Patsy Hamm took up ice skating when her family moved from Eatonville to Lakewood in 1942. By 1948, she and her partners won the Northwest and Pacific Coast Junior Pairs and Ladies Pairs events. A year later, she won the Northwest Novice Ladies title and finished fourth in the U.S. North American Team Senior Pairs.

Hamm’s success continued in 1950 with Northwest Junior Ladies and Northwest and Pacific Coast Senior Pairs championships.

She graduated from Clover Park High School in 1951 and started skating professionally. She also started teaching classes at the Lakewood rink, and for 30 years students benefited from her figure skating expertise. Among her top students were Jerry and Judi Fotheringill, two-time national pairs champions.

DAVE HANNULA—Swimming It just figures that Dave Hannula would be a national championship swimmer.

Dave competed for his father, Dick, at Wilson High School and with the Tacoma Swim Club (196077). He was a prep All-American from 1970-72, those same years helping the Rams win state championships.

Besides swimming on state championship relay teams, he won 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke state titles in 1971-72.

Dave earned All-America honors four straight years at the University of Southern California, helping the Trojans win NCAA championships from 1974-76. He won the 400 individual medley at the 1976 Pac-8 meet. Swimming at the national AAU meet in 1975, he took gold in the 400-meter individual medley, then took fourth at the World Championships in Columbia. He ranked third in the world in the event in 1975.

HALL OF FAME PLAQUES COURTESY TONY MILAN The handsome plaques given to the Hall of Fame Inductees, Class of 2005, have been provided by TAC member and local sports booster, Dr. Anthony Milan, D.D.S. Tony practices General Dentistry in Tacoma and wanted to “be involved” in honoring our local sports stars. The TAC salutes Tony Milan for his continued support of the sports community.

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DICK HANNULA, SR.—Swimming (Coach) Dick Hannula is one of the nation’s most successful high school swim coaches, putting together a state championship win streak that may never again be equaled. Hannula coached teams to 26 state championships, two (one a co-championship) at Lincoln High School and 24 consecutive titles at Wilson High School. Hannula coached at Lincoln from 1951-58 and at Wilson from 1958-83.

Not only did he lead teams to 24 straight state titles, his teams also put together an incredible streak of 323 consecutive meet victories, the longest high school unbeaten streak on record.

As the founder (1955) and head coach of the Tacoma Swim Club, Hannula coached four athletes who competed in the Olympic Games. Kaye Hall won two Olympic golds and a bronze and also set a world record. Hall, Dave Hannula and Bob Jackson were all national champion swimmers for Dick Hannula.

In 1980, Hannula earned National High School Coach of the Year honors. He is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, the Washington State Sports Hall of Fame, the WIAA Hall of Fame, the American Swim Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Pacific Northwest Swimming Hall of Fame.

He coached five U.S. teams in international competition and served as U.S. team manager four more times. Her served as president of the American Swim Coaches Association four times, has authored two books on coaching swimming and was co-editor of the Swim Coaches’ Bible.

JOHN HARBOTTLE—Golf John Harbottle won numerous men’s amateur golf championships in the state and the region. He still holds the United States Golf Association (USGA) Senior Amateur Championship stroke play qualifying record with a 36-hole score of 136, that set in 1993.

Harbottle was the USGA Senior Open Low Amateur in 1982, the USGA Senior Amateur runner-up in 1986, and the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA) Master 40-Amateur champion in 1992.

He won the PNGA Senior Men’s Amateur Championship four times and the Washington State Golf Association’s equivalent on five occasions. Harbottle also won the Tacoma City Amateur Championship in 1964 and in 1983.

Harbottle played for the senior amateur Hudson Cup team from 1992-2001 and was inducted into the PNGA Hall of Fame in 1997.

STERLING HARSHMAN—Track, Football Though a four-year letterman in football and a one-year letter winner in basketball, Sterling Harshman is more readily associated with the Pacific Lutheran College track program. As a sprinter and jumper, Harshman set several WINCO league and PLC records. His 100- and 220-yard dash marks of 9.7 and 21.7, set in 1942 on a cinder track, stood until metric distances came into use. Even when converted to be comparable with metric distances, his times were not bettered until 1989. In 1943, as a senior, Harshman served not only as track captain but also as PLU track coach and construction foreman overseeing the production of the first track. In football, he received the team’s inspirational award and earned second-team all-conference honors in 1942. An outstanding student in Biological Sciences, Harshman was selected as a member of Who’s Who in American Universities his senior year and went on to teach, coach and head the Science Department at Puyallup High School for 28 years. Also active in the U.S. Marines and Naval Reserves, Harshman served in World War II and the Korean War and eventually retired as a Naval Captain.

GEORGE HENLEY—Hydroplane Racing George Henley started his boat racing career with outboards back in 1955. By the time he was finished, “Smiling George” had won numerous championships along the way to winning the national championship driving unlimited hydroplanes. He won 12 of 34 hydroplane races he entered from 1970-75, a stellar .353 winning percentage against some of the greatest drivers of the era.

Henley came out of Eatonville High School in 1954 and immediately got into racing. After starting with outboards, he moved to inboards racing the 145 cubic inch Renegade and Sidewinder, and in 1963 he stepped up to the 280 cubic inch Calypso. He won the 1965 Western Regional Championship in the Calypso.

In 1966 he bought the TideAir, the last conventional hull boat built by Ron Jones Sr. Driving the TideAir in the 225 Class, he won the 1967 Western Regional Championship and the 1969 U.S. National Championship.

He eventually moved into unlimited racing in 1970, driving the Burien Lady, the Lincoln Thrift and the Pay ‘n Pak for two years each.

Henley struck gold with the “winged wonder” Pay ‘n Pak, earning both Driver and Boat national titles in 1974 after becoming the first unlimited driver to win seven High Point races in a single season. Following his Presidents Cup victory that year, he and his team met with President Gerald Ford.

Following a brief retirement, Henley returned to the Pay ‘n Pak during the third race of the 1975 season. Despite his late start, Henley again won the national unlimited championship by piloting the boat to five wins in the final seven races to take the title. Both years, he won the Gold Cup in Seattle.

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GARRY HERSEY—Baseball Garry Hersey graduated from Stadium High School in 1947 and from the College of Puget Sound in 1951.

He was a three-sport standout at Stadium, playing quarterback in football, guard in basketball and second base and shortstop in baseball. He played four years of baseball at Stadium and was a member of the state championship football and baseball teams at Stadium in 1946. He was the all-city quarterback in 1945.

At CPS, Hersey was a four-year letter winner in both basketball and baseball. Again, he played guard in basketball and middle infield in baseball.

Hersey went on to play middle infield for City League and Valley League teams such as Sportsmen’s Club, Busch’s Drive-In, 26th & Proctor, Midland and Wood Realty.

DON HILL—Broadcaster Don Hill grew up in Bloomington, Ind., and it was there that he started a stellar broadcasting career.

Combining all of the sports he called, Don Hill kept sports fans on the edge of their seats for some 10,000 broadcasts.

Hill was a Tacoma area broadcaster for 25 years. He handled the regular play-by-play duties for the Tacoma Giants from 1960-65 and the Tacoma Cubs from 1966-71. He had the pleasure of calling the Cubs’ 1969 Pacific Coast League championship season.

During a broadcasting career that spanned some 50 years, Hill was named the outstanding broadcaster in the American Association for 14 seasons.

BILLY JOE HOBERT—Football As a quarterback at Puyallup High School, Billy Joe Hobert earned state player of the year honors and twice was a first team all-state choice. He finished his prep career with a state record 61 touchdown passes and led the Vikings to a state title as a junior.

Hobert went on to star at the University of Washington. He earned Rose Bowl Co-Most Outstanding Player honors while leading the Huskies to a 12-0 record and the 1991 national championship. That year, he completed 59 percent of his passes for 2,463 yards and 24 touchdowns. During his Huskies career, Hobert had 17 starts, completing 57 percent of his passes for 3,220 yards, 29 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

After leaving Washington, Hobert had a five-year National Football League career. He played for Oakland from 1995-96, for Buffalo in 1997 and for New Orleans 1998-99. In 29 career games he completed 52 percent of his passes for 3,371 yards with 23 touchdowns and 25 interceptions. Hobert played in nine games, the most of any during his career in his last season with New Orleans.

RAY HORTON—Football Ray Horton, who came out of Mt. Tahoma High School and the University of Washington, enjoyed a 10-year National Football League career.

At the University of Washington, Horton earned All-America honors as a defensive back. He played on four Husky bowl teams, including the 1980 and 1981 Rose Bowl squads, and two college all-star games.

Horton was a second round pick of the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals, playing for that organization from 1983-88, earning a Super Bowl ring in 1988. He played with the Dallas Cowboys from 1989-93, earning another championship ring in 1993.

Since his retirement, Horton has coached with four NFL teams.

MIKE HUARD—Football (Coach) Mike Huard coached football with great success for 17 seasons at Puyallup High School. Huard led the Vikings to 15 winning seasons, including four undefeated regular season records. His overall record at PHS when he retired was 143 wins and 38 losses.

The Vikings won nine South Puget Sound League championships and the 1987 state title with Huard at the helm. He earned Seattle P-I and Tacoma News Tribune Coach of the Year honors that year. The 1991 and 1992 PHS teams placed second in state and the 1997 squad reached the semifinals. Huard earned SPSL Coach of the Year honors nine times and was the National Football Foundation area high school Coach of the Year three times.

In 1997, the Seattle Seahawks organization named him their Coach of the Year, and that same year he was inducted into the Washington State Football Coaches Hall of Fame.

Three of Huard’s best players over those 17 years were his sons, Damon, Brock and Luke, all of whom played quarterback. Damon and Brock were the first brothers to start a NFL regular season game on the same day.

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GLEN HUFFMAN—Football, Basketball, Baseball A 1953 Pacific Lutheran College graduate, Glen Huffman starred in football, basketball and baseball, starting all four years in each sport. He also starred in all three sports at Tacoma’s Lincoln high.

During his senior year, Huffman led the football team to an Evergreen Conference title from his quarterback position. As an all-conference basketball player, he served as team captain and helped guide that squad to a second-place conference finish and a berth in the NAIA district playoffs. Huffman was also the baseball team’s captain.

Huffman earned post-graduate degrees from the University of Washington and Stanford University and served as engineering manager and chief engineer of the microwave power tube business unit for Varian Associates in Palo Alto, California.

BOB HUNT—Football, Wrestling, Track Bob Hunt was a three-sport standout at University of Puget Sound from 1966-70, earning a total of 11 letters in football, wrestling and track.

He came to UPS out of Stadium High School, where he helped all three teams win City and Capitol League championships. He was twice a state wrestling meet qualifier.

At Puget Sound, he played offensive and defensive tackle for the Loggers football team, earning honorable mention All-Little Northwest honors. He wrestled as a heavyweight, twice advancing to the NCAA Division II national tournament. In track he competed in the shot put and discus throw. He was winner of the 1970 Harry Werbisky Award for scholarship, and was inducted into the UPS Athletic Hall of Fame.

GEORGE HUNT—Crew George Hunt was the first of a number of outstanding area rowers that won Summer Olympic Games gold medals.

Hunt, a 1933 Puyallup High graduate, attended the University of Washington where he was in the six position on the Huskies’ varsity 8 boat. In 1936, Hunt and his Husky teammates represented the United States at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Hunt and the Husky rowers won the gold medal at the Olympic Games made famous by the great Jesse Owens winning four gold medals under the glare of Nazi leader Adolph Hitler.

Hunt went on to a career as a structural engineer. He also raised funds for the UW Big “W” Club and for the local arm of the United States Olympic Committee.

CLAY HUNTINGTON—Broadcaster Clay Huntington’s impact on Pierce County sports goes well beyond his role as a broadcaster of area high school, college and professional sports for nearly five full decades.

He was perhaps best known as the voice of the Tacoma Tigers of the Western International League from 1946-51. He also did radio work on Tacoma Rockets hockey broadcasts in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

His impact went beyond the booth in several significant ways. He founded the Tacoma Athletic Commission, fresh out of Lincoln High School and served twice as the group’s president. He also helped create the Tacoma-Pierce County Hall of Fame in 1957 and the State of Washington Hall of Fame in 1960.

Huntington was also a key figure in bringing Pacific Coast League baseball back to Tacoma in 1960. In addition, he played an important role in the creation of the Heidelberg Park complex and with the Tacoma Dome campaign.

Though no longer a broadcaster, he still has a huge impact on the local sports scene as owner of KLAY radio, the major voice of high school and college athletics in Pierce County.

DAN INVEEN—Basketball, Administrator Dan Inveen was a prep and college athlete locally, but his greatest impact in Tacoma area athletics came as an administrator.

A basketball and track star at Stadium High School, Inveen finished third in the high jump at the state high school meet. After graduating in 1948, he moved on to the College of Puget Sound, where as a senior in 1953 he earned basketball most inspirational honors.

Inveen taught and coached in the Tacoma School District and from 1964-75 was Wilson High School boys’ basketball coach. He also spent part of the 1960s as the school’s track coach.

Inveen eventually served as the district’s athletic director for 10 years until his retirement in 1989. He helped establish Star Track, the state high school track and field meet, was involved in the Tacoma Dome design selection, and was active in the Lincoln Bowl renovation. He was inducted into the Washington State Athletic Directors Hall of Fame in 1990. He has received numerous other honors, among them the WIAA Meritorious Service Award.

His involvement in athletics didn’t stop there, however, as he enjoyed a 34-year career as a football official. He was the back judge for the 1980 Rose Bowl game featuring the USC Trojans against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Inveen considered that the highlight of his 22-year career as a Pacific 10 Conference football official.

page 29

NORM IVERSON—Football At the University of Idaho, the basketball team’s loss was the football team’s gain.

Norm Iverson played basketball and football at Snoqualmie High School and in 1932 enrolled at the University of Idaho to play basketball. During a workout he was spotted by the football coach and convinced to try out.

He played end for the Vandals and in 1935 earned Collier’s Football All-America recognition. He played in the 1936 East-West Shrine game and was offered a professional football contract. After graduating, he played semi-professional football for the Tacoma Heidelbergs. As a Vandal basketball player he twice led the team in scoring.

In 1948, Iverson was the Tacoma Athletic Commission football committee chairman and helped bring Penn State west for a game against the WSU Cougars.

ROGER IVERSON—Basketball At five-feet-nine, Roger Iverson belied the theory that college basketball is only for the tall. As a Pacific Lutheran College guard, Iverson was a four-time All-EvCo selection and was twice a member of the NAIA All-Tournament team. He scored 1,820 points, still second best on the all-time school scoring list, and averaged 15.6 points per game during his outstanding four-year career at PLC. Iverson’s best season came as a senior when he scored 540 points, fourth on the single-season scoring list, and averaged 18.6 points per game.

In the 1959 national tournament, Iverson’s tireless play earned him the event’s “Mr. Hustle” award.

He was named in 1971 to the All-Time NAIA All-Tournament Team, the only player from the Northwest, and the only player under six feet tall, to be so honored. Iverson, a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame, earned NAIA All-America honors in 1958 (third team) and 1959 (second team) and also was an AP Little All-America honorable mention pick as a senior. He was a basketball and baseball star at Lincoln high prior to his great PLC career.

BOB JACKSON—Swimming, Football Bob Jackson was a star lineman in football and set the state record in the 100 breaststroke in 1977 while at Curtis High School. Jackson, who went on to compete at the University of Puget Sound from 197882, is the only NCAA Division II athlete to be named first-team All-American in both football and swimming.

He was inducted into the UPS Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992.

As an All-American football nose guard in 1981, Jackson led the Loggers to the school’s only 10-win season and the NCAA Division II playoffs. In the water he was a 10-time All-American and a seven-time NCAA Division II national champion. Jackson set Division II national records in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events, the latter still a national standard.

Jackson also represented the U.S. in the 1980 World University Games in Rome, and, in 1981, had the third-fastest breaststroke ever recorded. He also was a national AAU champion in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1984.

MARJORIE (JEFFRIES) SHANAMAN—Golf Marjorie (Jeffries) Shanaman was an outstanding golfer in Tacoma in the late 1920s.

Jeffries, who in 1925 was playing to a two-handicap at age 18, won the Tacoma Country and Golf Club women’s club championship in both 1927 and 1928. After winning the club title in August 1927, she made it to the semifinal round of the state women’s championship.

In 1928, she was winner of the Tacoma’s first ever all-city women’s golf championship. She carried that success to the state level, winning the Washington women’s championship in 1928. She defeated Mrs. Guy Riegel, the 1926 Pacific Northwest Golf Association champion, 1 up to win the crown.

LUTE JERSTAD—Mountaineering, Basketball Lute Jerstad, a three-sport athlete at Peninsula High School, was a feisty reserve guard on three Pacific Lutheran College national tournament teams, but he earned his greatest claim to fame as a mountain climber.

He reached the top of the world and became a national hero when he scaled Mount Everest in 1963.

His climbing gear is displayed in the PLU library.

Jerstad, who reached the summit with four other Americans, became the first man to carry a movie camera to the top of Everest. He nearly died on the climb, however, surviving an overnight bivouac at 28,000 feet with no tent, stove or sleeping bag. Jerstad suffered frostbite that caused him a lack of feeling in his fingers and toes that lingered more than 20 years.

The climb earned Jerstad and his companions national fame as the third team to reach the top of the world’s highest mountain.

Jerstad, only 5 feet, 8 inches tall, was known as the “Little Lute.” He helped the basketball team to the NAIA national tournament from 1956-58, and was named the squad’s Most Inspirational Player in 1958. He earned four varsity basketball letters at Pacific Lutheran.

page 30

JOEY JOHNS—Hockey, Fastpitch Softball Joey Johns, a native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, signed a New York Rangers contract and was farmed out to the Seattle Olympics hockey team during the 1939-40 season. His exposure to the Puget Sound area brought him back to the region following service in the Canadian Navy. He was a stalwart defenseman for the Tacoma Rockets from 1946-51 and earned all-star first team honors with the 1948-49 Rockets.

Johns helped organize a Tacoma high school league that lasted from 1948-50. He eventually found his way into hockey officiating, working Western Hockey League matches for 18 seasons from 1952-70.

Hockey wasn’t Johns’ only sports interest, however, as he pitched for several teams, including Tacoma Elks and the Irwin-Jones Dodgers fastpitch teams in the late 1940s and early 1950s. As he had done with hockey, Johns continued his interest in the sport as a highly respected umpire from 1951-70.

SONNY JOHNS—Archery Sonny Johns, whose parents owned Archery Manufacturing and Sales Company in Tacoma, took up archery at an early age and won the national championship at age 13. On the way to the national title, he won the Pacific Northwest junior title by shooting two “perfects,” the first time that feat had ever been accomplished by a junior archer.

In 1938, he was junior American singles, doubles and quadruple champion, and at the time established the National Archery Association’s junior singles and doubles records.

His national success at such a young age earned him national attention and commercial endorsements.

At age 18, he joined the Navy to fight in World War II and his archery exploits came to an end.

JOHN JOHNSEN—Figure Skating (Coaching) The Lakewood Figure Skating Club hired John Johnsen as its first manager and instructor in 1939, and his impact on area skating for more than two decades is unquestioned. With a reputation as one of the top skating instructors in the West Coast, Johnsen may well have been the most important individual in the development of the area’s outstanding figure skating talent in the middle of the 20th century.

Johnsen had a hand in fine-tuning the skating talents of such individual talents as Pat Firth, Jimmy Grogan, Tom Moore and Joan Schenke, as well as the pairs teams of Jerry and Judi Fotheringill, Peter and Karol Kennedy and John Kinney and Betty Lee Bennett. All were national placers, and the latter duo was Johnsen’s first national pairs champion.

Johnsen also turned out a number of skaters who went on to professional shows such as the Ice Follies and the Ice Capades.

EARL JOHNSON—Bowling Earl Johnson was the first of Tacoma’s two celebrated Earls of bowling, both of whom are members of the American Bowling Congress Hall of Fame.

Earl Johnson was a charter member of the Whiz Kids, a teenage team of World War II vintage that was fostered by Stan Hodgson at the old Lincoln Lanes. Johnson started his career in Tacoma as a pinboy and entered league play at age 17. A year late he was averaging 207. By the late 1940s he had won almost every Tacoma title and continued doing so into the early 1950s.

After a stint in the Army during the Korean War, Johnson joined the famed Falstaffs team in Chicago, helping Falstaffs to the 1956 ABC team title. Johnson also bowled in Chicago for the Meister Brau and Hamm’s Beer teams. In 1961, Johnson was selected “King of the Chicago Bowlers.”

Johnson won his first PBA title in 1960 in San Francisco and added three more in 1963 and another in 1965. He capped off an outstanding career with his induction into the American Bowling Congress Hall of Fame in 1987.

JIM JONES—Football, Track At Lincoln High School, Jim Jones was a two-sport standout in football and track. He played fullback and linebacker on the gridiron and ran the 440-yard dash for the track squad. He was also an outstanding student with a 3.5 grade point average.

Jones went on to the University of Washington where he was a roommate and teammate for two years with another Lincoln Abe and fellow inductee, Luther Carr Jr. Jones went on to play defensive back in the National Football League for the Los Angeles Rams in 1958.

He also played for the AFL’s Oakland team in 1961. He completed his professional career with the Canadian Football League’s B.C. Lions.

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MARGIE (JUNGE) OLEOLE—Bowling Margie Junge started her bowling career at Lakewood’s Villa Bowl and made the All-Star team for the first time in 1962 after only four years of bowling. At age 61 she was named to her 21st All-Star team, a span of five decades which is a testament to her consistency and longevity in the sport.

In 1966, just six years after she started bowling, she led the city with a 182 average. She had the high city average three additional years, the latest in 1997 with a 208 average.

In 1982, Junge won the Babe Penowich Memorial Award, emblematic of capturing the all-events title, and she has had the highest game in the city for a year on three separate occasions, the most recent in 2002 when she rolled a 300. In 1984 she fired a 744 series at Lincoln Lanes, the same year she was inducted into the TWBA Hall of Fame.

She is believed to be the only female in Tacoma sports history to have bowled a 300 game (2002 at Tower Lanes) and scored a hole-in-one in golf (1988 at Ft. Lewis). She is just the second female inductee from Tacoma-Pierce County into the State of Washington Bowling Hall of Fame.

Margie was also a good golfer, winning two women’s club championships at the Ft. Lewis course.

GEORGE KARPACH—Fastpitch Softball George Karpach was a fastpitch softball first baseman for five teams starting in 1952 and ending in 1973, a 22-year span. He also starred in baseball and basketball in high school at Bellarmine Prep.

During those 22 years, Karpach played in the Northwest Regional tournament 21 times, earning regional all-star honors in 1955, 1958, 1960, 1963 and 1969. He also played in four ASA national tournaments (Irwin Jones Dodgers in 1952 and Federal Old Line Insurance in 1958, 1960 and 1961).

He was a player-manager for Tacoma Athletics and Clearview Nursing from 1963-67.

Karpach is a Northwest Regional Hall of Fame member and was the national all-star first baseman in 1955.

DORI KOVANEN—Soccer Dori Kovanen got her start in the local Youth Select soccer program. Playing forward and goalkeeper in her early years, she helped the Sweetfoot/Carrera team to numerous state club championships. The program became the foundation for today’s top Tacoma area youth program, FC Royals.

When she graduated from Stadium High School, and when women’s scholarships were limited, Kovanen had 32 scholarship offers for five different sports. She eventually selected the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Kovanen was one of eight freshmen to start—she was a sweeper—on the 1981 team that was the beginning of a college sports dynasty that exists to this day. UNC was the undefeated national champion that year, and since that time the Tar Heels have won 18 NCAA Division I women’s soccer titles.

In her fourth season at UNC, Kovanen was selected to play for the U.S. national team at the world championship, but a practice session knee injury halted that plan. She came back the next year to finish her career, helping the Tar Heels to another national title, the fourth that Kovanen experienced at North Carolina.

In addition to playing for four national title teams, Kovanen earned the following awards: three-time all-conference; regional tournament MVP; first team All-America and second team All-America. Following her playing career, Kovanen coached at Stanford University before pursuing her desired career as a geologist.

ELDON KYLLO—Football Eldon Kyllo played for the Gladiators in 1941-42 and 1946-47 and was named to Cliff Olson’s All-Time Pacific Lutheran College football team as a tackle.

During his first stint with the Gladiators, Kyllo practiced against fellow 1995 Hall of Fame inductee George Anderson, a two-time all-league lineman. The work paid off for him in 1946-47, when he helped anchor an outstanding line. Kyllo earned All-Washington Intercollegiate Conference accord both seasons, including first team honors in 1947. As a senior, Kyllo was also a Little All-America selection and was voted by his teammates as the Inspirational Award winner.

Kyllo served five years of active duty as an airplane navigator during World War II and the Korean War. DANA LeDUC—Track Dana LeDuc won the 1971 Washington state high school shot put title as a Washington high senior, and that catapulted him to national status in the sport. He placed fourth in the event at the All-American Prep Track & Field Meet and finished third at the Golden West Invitational Meet, both major high school competitions.

LeDuc went on to compete at the University of Texas, where he was a four-time All-American in the shot put. The highlight of his career was the national championship he won in the shot put in 1976, that coming two years after placing second in the event. LeDuc also represented the United States in the shot put at the 1973 World University Games where he placed fifth.

He currently serves as the strength and conditioning coach for the St. Louis Rams after a similar stint with the Seattle Seahawks and before that at the University of Miami and at his alma mater, Texas. page 32

PAT (LESSER) HARBOTTLE—Golf Pat Lesser has played golf with Byron Nelson, Patty Berg and Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

Lesser attended Seattle University where she became the first female to play on a college men’s team.

One of her teammates, fellow inductee John Harbottle, became her husband.

In 1948, the 14-year-old Lesser won the first of two consecutive Seattle Women’s City titles, and in 1952 she won Pacific Northwest, Washington Amateur, Oregon Amateur and NCAA titles.

And she kept on winning, taking USGA Open low amateur and PNGA championship honors in 1953.

Twice she competed in Curtis Cup competition, and in 1955 was selected the Post-Intelligencer Sports Person of the Year.

After she was married in 1957, Pat won the PNGA title in 1965 and the Washington State championship in 1974. She was inducted into the PNGA Hall of Fame in 1985 and the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

BOB LEVINSON—Football, Track (Coach) Bob Levinson graduated from Stadium High School in 1930 and split his college time between Pacific Lutheran College and College of Puget Sound, graduating from CPS in 1935.

He began coaching prep sports in 1938 at Bellarmine before returning to his alma mater, Stadium High School, in 1945. He was varsity track coach, sophomore basketball coach, and an assistant football coach initially before taking over as head football coach for John Heinrick, who left for a similar position at CPS. As head football coach, Levinson led his Stadium High team to eight league titles. His 1965 team was unbeaten in nine games. Levinson’s Stadium track team won the 1954 state championship.

Levinson was inducted into the WIAA Hall of Fame in 2004.

EARL LUEBKER—Sports Writer Earl Luebker started as a reporter for the Tacoma Morning News Tribune in 1949 and that “summer replacement” job lasted 37 years. Luebker worked his way through the ranks as a general assignment reporter and sports writer before becoming the associate sports editor and later the sports editor in the 1980s. He retired from the Tacoma News Tribune in 1983.

Luebker covered all levels of Tacoma area sports including high school, college and professional. He earned Washington State Sports Writer of the Year honors in 1974, and was past president of the Football Writers Association of America and the Puget Sound Sportswriters and ‘Casters Association. The All-America Football Foundation named him as a Jim Murray Sports Writer Award winner.

Luebker covered three Olympic Summer Games for the News Tribune and was especially proud of the fact that a Tacoman won a gold medal in each—swimmer Kaye Hall in Mexico City in 1968, boxer Sugar Ray Seales in Munich in 1972 and boxer Leo Randolph in Montreal in 1976.

He was inducted into the Pacific Lutheran University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996 because of outstanding writing that focused local, regional and national attention on the school’s burgeoning athletic program.

GENE LUNDGAARD—Basketball As a player and a coach at Pacific Lutheran University, Gene Lundgaard had the unique opportunity to play a vital role in 18 of PLU’s 25 consecutive winning basketball seasons. He came to PLC from Anacortes High School where he was an All-State basketball performer.

As a player, Lundgaard sparked the Lutes to four straight winning seasons, twice earning all-conference honors. At the end of his playing career, he ranked second on the all-time scoring list with 1,452 points. He still holds the school record with 208 made free throws during the 1950-51 season, and is one of only 11 Lute players to score at least 500 points in a season Lundgaard returned to PLU as head basketball coach in 1958. In that year, Lundgaard directed the Lutes to a 26-3 mark and an NAIA national runner-up finish. He kept the Lutes on the sunny side of the winloss ledger until 1973, retiring as Lute hoop coach in 1975 with a career win-loss record of 280-174 (.617). His teams claimed ten conference titles and eleven playoff appearances, and took part in four national tournaments.

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JOAN (MAHON) ALLARD—Golf Joan Mahan (Allard) was a six-time winner of the Tacoma (City) Women’s Golf Association amateur championship and a three-time winner of the Washington State Women’s Public Links Golf Championship.

In addition, she won the Brookdale club championship 12 times.

Among the highlights of her career are a pair of holes-in-one in competitive play. She had one of her aces in the finals of the City Tournament at Fircrest. The other came in 1971 when she was competing in the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA) tournament at the Tacoma Golf and Country Club. Joan had a hole-in-one on the 6th hole. To her knowledge, she is the only woman in the history of the PNGA to get a hole-in-one in this championship event. She received a silver plate to honor her accomplishment.

She got her start in junior golf through the efforts of Jane Bradley, mentioned in one article as the founder of organized women’s golf in Tacoma. Joan and fellow inductee Ruth Canale (Ward) were affectionately known as the “Brookdale Golfing Twins,” and it was not unusual for them to beat male players on a regular basis with drives exceeding 200 yards.

BOB MARTIN—Crew Bob Martin won a gold medal at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. Martin’s medal came in the fours without coxswain competition.

Martin rowed for the Navy and for the University of Washington prior to his Olympic competition. In 1947, his UW boat placed third at the IRA Regatta on the Hudson River, and a year later the team finished first at the same race.

In 1948, he rowed on the national champion 4-oared boat, leading up to his run to Olympic gold.

That foursome held the 4-oared world record from 1948-61.

Martin is a member of the UW Athletic Hall of Fame and the USA Rowing Hall of Fame.

JEFF MATTINGLY—Bowling Jeff Mattingly, a 1969 graduate of Wilson High School, was a full-time touring professional bowler from 1976-83. He still holds the PBA record for largest winning margin in a tournament of 660 pins, getting the record while winning the Tucson Open in 1978.

Mattingly had the PBA’s second highest per game average in 1978 and earned second team PBA AllStar honors that year. He twice finished among the top 10 professional bowlers on the season earnings list.

His best finish at the Firestone Tournament of Champions was third, and he had more than 20 PBA television appearances.

After retiring from professional bowling, he earned Tacoma All-Star honors in 1985-86, and at the 1985 Tacoma Masters won the title by setting tournament records with a 300 game and 839 series.

STEVE MATZEN—Basketball After several near misses, Lincoln High School finally secured a boys basketball state title in 1975, beating Everett, 63-58, culminating a 25-2 year. All-state star Steve Matzen tallied 22 points in the title game. The following season Cleveland High School of Seattle edged the Abes, 42-41, in the championship affair. It was the only loss of the season for Lincoln, which finished 24-1. Earlier that season, Lincoln ended Cleveland’s 27-game winning streak, 76-64, with Matzen scoring half of his team’s points.

Matzen was a first team All-State selection as a junior and senior. He was named the state’s outstanding player in his senior year, was a second team Parade All-American and played in a prep all-star game in New York. As a senior he averaged 18.2 points per game and led Lincoln in rebounding and assists. He averaged 17.3 points per game as a junior. At 6-4, he was the top rebounder in the 1976 state tournament with 56 in four games, including 11 in the championship game.

Matzen went on to play basketball at the University of Washington, where as a junior and senior he was team captain. He later played for 1981 and 1982 AAU national champion Brewster Packing.

NORM MAYER—Football (Coach) Norm Mayer accepted a scholarship to the University of Washington but transferred to the College of Puget Sound in 1935 where he was an all-conference guard and halfback for four seasons.

Mayer began his teaching career in Grandview, Washington, and then moved on to Pe Ell High School to coach basketball and baseball. Mayer then returned to his alma mater, CPS, where he was an assistant football coach and the head basketball coach.

Mayer later took a position at Stadium High School as an assistant football coach and sophomore basketball coach and also served as the head track coach before moving to Lincoln High School in 1945.

In 23 years at Lincoln, Mayer compiled a 140-50-6 record, making him one of only 12 Tacoma-Pierce County prep football coaches to win at least 100 games. He ranks third on that list. He led the Abes to the city championship, the cross state league title, and the state crown in 1948.

Mayer retired from football coaching to become the school district’s athletic director.

page 34

TOMMY MAZZA—Football Tommy Mazza was a three-sport athlete at Lincoln High School, graduating in 1932. Mazza played second base in baseball, guard in basketball and halfback in football. It was in football that Mazza made his biggest mark. He played a major role in the Abes winning the state high school championship in 1931. He was regarded as one of the best athletes in the city during high school at Lincoln.

Mazza earned all-city team honors that year as a member of an outstanding backfield that included Jess Brooks and Ole Brunstad.

Prior to playing baseball at Lincoln High School, he played second base for the 1929 city champion Stewart Intermediate School squad. He also played baseball for the National Bank of Tacoma team in the Junior League, for the Jack and Jills baseball team in the City League in 1932 and for the Whitesox of the Northwest League.

Mazza went on to a career as a Tacoma firefighter. He won an Award for Valor for rescuing a 14 -year-old boy who had fallen through the ice at Wapato Lake. He also was an baseball and softball umpire in local city and high school leagues from 1949-54.

LOUISE “CHRIS” MAZZUCA—Fastpitch Softball Few would argue that by the time she finished her fastpitch softball career, Louise Mazzuca was the best pitcher to come out of Tacoma.

Even though she was among the top hurlers in the area while pitching for Hollywood Boat & Motor, it took Mazzuca moving to the Portland area for her pitching career to really blossom. After a year with the Forest Grove Meadowlarks, she took her talent to Erv Lind Florists, a nationally ranked team based in Portland.

Mazzuca played for Erv Lind from 1959-61, earning first team All-America honors each season.

As a 19-year-old competing in her first national tournament for Erv Lind, Mazzuca threw a pair of nohitters and a total of three shutouts in leading the Florists to the title game, where a four-hitter over nine innings wasn’t good enough to keep the powerhouse Raybestos Brakettes from beating the Florists, 1-0.

Mazzuca shared the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award.

The two teams battled for the 1960 national title in front of 18,000 fans at Memorial Stadium in Stratford, Conn., and again the Brakettes defeated Mazzuca and the Florists. Mazzuca was again outstanding, striking out 75 batters in 45 innings. For the second straight year she shared MVP honors. The following year the event was held at Normandale Park in Portland, and Mazzuca wowed the crowd by setting a national tournament record with three no-hitters, though Erv Lind Florists did not make the finals.

DOUG McARTHUR—Athletic Administrator, Baseball (Coach) Doug McArthur has had a major impact on Tacoma area sports throughout a storied career.

A graduate of Lincoln High School, he played baseball at the College of Puget Sound. McArthur started his baseball coaching career in the amateur Sunset and Valley leagues. He coached three different teams to league titles, but the highlight had to be guiding the Stanley Shoemen to the 1956 American Amateur Baseball Congress national championship.

As athletic director at the University of Puget Sound from 1969-78, he led that institution to NCAA Division II national prominence while also coaching several sports. He was the first women’s fastpitch coach and his team enjoyed an unbeaten season. He was also head golf coach and assistant men’s baseball coach.

McArthur served as the Puget Sound sports information director and was executive director of the Puget Sound Alumni Association. In addition, he served on the NCAA public relations committee four years and was the radio and television voice for many Logger broadcasts.

He was inducted into the UPS Hall of Fame in 1998. Doug is a former TAC president, was Event Director for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in the Tacoma Dome in 1987, directed the LPGA SAFECO Classic golf tournament for 13 years at Meridian Valley, and served as campaign coordinator for the Tacoma Dome bond issue in 1980.

BERTHA McCORMICK—Bowling Bertha McCormick was called “Tacoma’s Bowling Pioneer” by the News Tribune for good reason.

McCormick bowled in the first Northwest International Bowling Congress (NIBC) tournament in Vancouver, B.C., and was considered one of the founders of the NIBC when it was first a mixed tournament.

There were about 20 teams in the tournament and she bowled all of the events—team, doubles, and singles.

She helped organize the city’s first women’s league in 1932—four teams each with three members.

The league grew from there into its current thriving state.

McCormick started the Northwest Women’s Bowling Association, an arm of the NIBC, and was the organization’s president in 1933. In the 1920s she became the first woman to bowl in men’s leagues in Tacoma’s City League.

Bertha helped organize countless women’s leagues while she was employed at the Broadway Recreation Center during the 1930s. She was instrumental in forming the Tacoma Women’s Bowling Association and was the group’s secretary from 1942-45. McCormick was the first inductee into the TWBA Hall of Fame in 1966 and was given the organization’s first life membership. page 35

HARRY McLAUGHLIN—Basketball Harry McLaughlin, who played from 1946-47 until 1949-50, was arguably the first “great” in Pacific Lutheran College men’s basketball annals. He was a bit of Magic Johnson and the Harlem Globetrotters while on the court, combining excellent ball-handling skills with showmanship to give the audience a real show.

McLaughlin dominated Pacific Northwest small college basketball from 1946-50. He ranks third on the all-time PLU scoring list with 1,783 points. He averaged 17.0 points per game as a freshman, and 15 points per game for his overall career. He twice earned Evergreen Conference All-Star honors.

McLaughlin, who carried the nicknames “High Harry” and “The Court Magician,” was inducted into the PLU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.

DON McLEOD—Motorcycle Racing, Auto Racing, Roller Skating Don McLeod has been successful in many sports ventures, and the common denominator is the ability to go fast.

McLeod started speed skating in 1952 at age 11 and won state, regional and national championships in his division.

In 1965, McLeod started a professional motorcycle racing career. By the end of his first year he was the nation’s top-ranked novice rider. One year later he again led the nation, this time in the amateur division.

Within two years he earned his national number, ranking among the American Motorcycle Association’s top 100 riders. He maintained that standing until his retirement in 1970.

As a sprint car driver, McLeod notched five Washington Racing Association (WRA) circuit titles and 46 main-event victories from 1972-81. In 1974 alone he won 13 times.

Competing in the International Drivers Challenge (IDC), McLeod compiled six main event victories.

After a six-year paralysis-induced layoff from racing, he returned for one more season and won the Northwest Supermodified Racing Association championship. In 2000, he was selected as the outstanding driver in the 44-year history of the Spanaway Speedway.

RON MEDVED—Football Ron Medved came out of Bellarmine Prep in 1962 after earning all-city football honors. He played his collegiate football at the University of Washington, earning three letters as a running back from 1963-66. He played on the 1964 Pac-8 championship and Rose Bowl team and was team captain and an Academic AllAmerican in 1965.

Medved earned a spot in the East-West Shrine Game and the Hula Bowl Game, and also played in the Coaches All-American Game.

Medved played defensive back from 1966-70 for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. He served as the Eagles’ player representative from 1969-70.

LORNIE MERKLE—Basketball, Baseball, Football (Official) Lawrence “Lornie” Merkle had a distinguished career as a baseball umpire and basketball and football official. He was a fine athlete as well, playing three sports at Bellarmine Prep and several seasons of City League amateur baseball and basketball.

Merkle’s talents as a softball arbiter earned him the honor of working all major regional slowpitch and fastpitch tournaments played locally from 1945-79. He served as umpire at national tournament in Florida in 1949 and in Seattle in 1973. As a baseball umpire, Merkle led a group of six umpires who worked all University of Washington home games from 1963-68. He also worked state high school championship games in 1973-74. In all, he worked baseball and softball games for four decades.

JIM MEYERHOFF—Wrestling Jim Meyerhoff was the first University of Puget Sound wrestler to compete in a national championship tournament, advancing to the NCAA Division II event in both 1968 and 1970. He wrestled at Puget Sound from 1966-70 and was inducted into that school’s Hall of Fame in 1990.

A four-year letterman, a three-year captain and twice the team’s Most Inspirational Award winner, Meyerhoff’s collegiate career record of 52-10-1 included an 18-1-0 mark his senior season.

While in high school, Meyerhoff was a three-sport competitor where he earned six letters at Puyallup and was an all-league selection in football. Meyerhoff is a member of the Washington State Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame with an 18-year coaching record of 151 wins, 111 losses and two ties.

He was selected as Wrestling USA’s National Man of the Year in 1984.

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DICK MILFORD—Hockey Dick Milford, a native of Canada’s Prince Edward Island, played for the Seattle Ironmen of the Pacific Coast Hockey League for two season before joining the Tacoma Rockets in 1946.

Milford played center for the Rockets for four seasons and scored 71 points for the team in the 1947-48 season. He scored 64 points in the 1949-50 season, good for 14th in league scoring. In 189 games as a Rocket, Milford tallied 99 goals and 126 assists for 225 points.

He finished his professional hockey career as player-coach in Melville, Sask.

BOB MITCHELL—Football Bob Mitchell earned Associated Press All-America honors as a guard for the 1956 Puget Sound Loggers.

He helped that team to an unbeaten season. In high school, Mitchell earned all-city, all-league and all-state honors as a Stadium senior after playing at Bellarmine as a junior.

His coach at Puget Sound, John Heinrick, considered him one of the best football players to ever play for him. Mitchell was two-way All-Evergreen Conference selection and the first Logger player named first team All-America. Mitchell’s career at Puget Sound spanned 1951-52 and 1956-58. He was inducted into the UPS Hall of Fame in 1967.

Following his collegiate career, Mitchell was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League.

DON MOORE—Football Norm Mayer, the long-time successful football coach at Lincoln High School, called Don Moore the most talented ball carrier he coached in 23 years at the Tacoma school.

Moore, a 1964 Lincoln graduate, rushed for 2,353 yards and 32 touchdowns in three seasons. As a senior, he was named a high school first team All-American after earning second team honors the previous year. In addition to his football prowess, Moore was a three-year varsity performer in wrestling and track & field. He participated in the state track meet three times and competed in the grueling decathlon. Moore was ranked among the nation’s most sought-after high school athletes in the 1964 graduating class.

Moore went on to play football for three seasons at the University of Washington, where he set the freshman rushing record in 1964. He was the Associated Press Back of the Week after gaining 221 yards against Woody Hayes’ Ohio State team in 1966 as well. He then served in the Army.

Moore, a muscular 5-9, 210-pounder, returned to the gridiron in 1969, getting a preseason shot with the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League. He also played for the Seattle Rangers in 1970 and eventually had a contract with the Los Angeles Rams.

YUMI MORDRE—Gymnastics Yumi Mordre grew up in the gym, learning her sport from Gymnastics Incorporated, National Academy of Artistic Gymnastics and Puget Sound School of Gymnastics.

Mordre earned numerous honors for her outstanding performance in gymnastics. She was Tacoma News Tribune Female Athlete of the Year in 1984, University of Washington Female Athlete of the Year 1987 and the American Athletic Incorporated National Senior Gymnast of the Year 1989. While at the UW, she was an All-Pac-10 Conference honoree in 1989 and was inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame in 1995.

Mordre was a member of the United States national team from 1981-84 and competed in several international competitions. She started that run with the Pan American Games and World Championships in 1983 and was an alternate member of the U.S. team in the 1984 Olympic Games. She also participated in the World University games in 1987.

At the 1983 Pan Am Games, she earned the gold medal in the floor exercise, the silver in the all-around and helped the U.S. team win gold. She was a five-time Pac-10 champion, including winning the all-around title in 1987. She earned All-America honors seven times and was NCAA champion on the vault and balance beam in 1987. She was solid in the classroom as well, earning Academic All-America honors in 1989.

DON MOSEID—Basketball (Player and Coach) Don Moseid starred on the basketball court at Stadium High School and later at the College of Puget Sound, and he would go on to become an outstanding hoops coach in the area.

Moseid played guard for Stadium from 1952-54, earning all-state honors and helping the Tigers finish third in the state tournament. After two years at Seattle U., Moseid transferred to Puget Sound where he earned all-conference honors by averaging 16.3 points per game, then a school record for highest scoring average in a season. He continued with AAU basketball for six years, playing for four league title teams, including the two-time Northwest AAU champion Cheney Studs.

Moseid coached at Mount Tahoma High School from 1961-66, leading the 1965 team to a 20-0 regular season record. At Tacoma Community College he won two state championships and five league or regional titles. His overall record at TCC was 188-71 including six straight seasons with 20-or-more wins.

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AMY LOU (MURRAY) YOUNG—Golf Amy Lou (Murray) Young was a three-time winner and three-time runner-up of the Tacoma Women’s Golf Association (TWGA) championship. In July of 1953, she won her second TWGA title at Fircrest, and the following year in June defeated Shirley Baty, 6 and 5, for her third Tacoma Women’s Golf Association championship.

In July of 1957, 37-year-old Amy Lou Young competed in the 56th annual Pacific Northwest Women’s amateur Golf Tournament in Hayden Lake, Idaho. Amy Lou, granddaughter of the first tournament champion in 1899, Amelia Bailey, lost in the finals in Spokane.

In 1970, she placed third in the United States Golf Association Senior Women’s Championship in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

She recorded her sixth hole-in-one at the age of 80 in Palm Desert, California.

JEANNE NACCARATO—Bowling Jeanne Naccarato has had a stellar bowling career, winning nine national and five regional Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour titles. She holds WIBC records for six-game total (1,639 pins), nine-game total (2,353), and 18game total (4,452). Naccarato held the record for a three-game series of 864 for nine years (as of 1999). She also holds the records for 300 games by a right-handed woman (23) and consecutive strikes (40). She was the first female bowler in Tacoma history to roll an 800 series—she rolled an 820 at Tower Lanes in 2002.

STAN NACCARATO—Baseball, Athletic Administrator By the time Stan Naccarato graduated from Clover Park High School in 1946, he had played four years of semi-pro baseball for a team sponsored by Western State Hospital. He signed with the Cincinnati Reds and compiled a 33-10 record in three minor league seasons—including a 19-5 rookie year—until a shoulder injury ended his career.

Though his pitching career was over, his involvement in sports, particularly in his hometown, was just budding. He has been called “Mr. Tacoma” by The News Tribune.

He has played a significant role in this city’s sports history, from sponsoring the 1956 amateur baseball national champion Stanley’s Shoemen, to helping the successful campaign to build the Tacoma Dome.

He played a major role in saving minor league baseball for Tacoma, and for 20 years served as an award-winning president and general manager of the Tacoma Tigers. In 1975, he earned General Manager of the Year honors among 205 minor league teams.

Naccarato has chaired numerous Tacoma and Pierce County sports programs, including the Tacoma Athletic Commission and Golden Gloves, and has served five governors over a 25-year period as the state’s athletic commissioner and chairman governing professional boxing and wrestling.

Inducted into the Washington Sports Hall of Fame in 2004, Naccarato remains a vital part in Tacoma’s sports heartbeat.

CLINT NAMES—Basketball, Golf Clint Names, equally at home on the golf course or the basketball court, may have staged the most spectacular shooting display in state high school basketball tournament history. He scored 39 points against the state’s No. 1-ranked team, Richland, in a 64-63 Stadium High School win. With Stadium leading 7-6, Names made 22 consecutive points for the Tigers on 10 field goals and two free throws. It remains a state tournament record. An all-state selection, Names finished with an 18-for-28 shooting night.

In all, Names earned three letters in both golf and basketball while at Stadium High in the mid 1950s.

Names went on to play both basketball and golf from 1957-61 at the University of Washington. On the course, he won the conference title, finishing ahead of eventual professional Dave Stockton from Southern Cal, and he earned second team All-America honors in 1961. In basketball, he was an all-conference honoree in 1961.

He made an indelible mark on the area golf scene. In fact, Names stamped his name on the Fircrest Golf Club men’s championship 12 times, including eight in a row. He also won the Fircrest Amateur five times, three times in a row with a 139 score. By the time he was 15 he had posted a 67 at Fircrest, and he still holds that course’s amateur record with a 63. Names also won the Pat Boone Celebrity Open title.

He wasn’t done with basketball after college, playing for NABA national championship teams in 1971 and 1973, earning tournament MVP honors while playing for Tacoma Plywood in 1973.

DEAN NICHOLSON—Basketball (Coach) Dean Nicholson started his illustrious coaching career at Puyallup High School, where he served from 1950-64. He led the Vikings to four league championships.

Nicholson took the head coaching job at Central Washington University and became a legend there, compiling a 609-202 record. Under his direction, the Wildcats won 22 NAIA District 1 titles and reached the Final Four six times at the NAIA national tournament.

Nicholson also coached the Yakima Sun Kings of the Continental Basketball Association for two years and ended his career as head coach at Yakima Valley College, winning two region titles in three seasons. page 38

GEORGE NORDI—Football (Coach) Mt. Tahoma High School athletics were synonymous with the name George Nordi from 1961 through 1996, when Nordi stepped down after 15 years as the school’s athletic director.

Nordi earned AAA Football Coach of the Year honors in 1979 and 1980 after leading Mt. Tahoma High School to consecutive state championships. Mt. Tahoma became the first AAA team to win back-to-back Washington prep championships, and both were unbeaten in 12 games.

In seven seasons as head coach, Nordi guided his teams to 51 wins and 15 losses, three outright conference titles and two co-conference championships. He led the West team to victory in the 1980 Washington State All-Star Football Game.

He took over the post in 1975 after serving as sophomore team coach and assistant varsity coach. In addition to coaching football, Nordi was boy’s tennis coach, wrestling coach and boys swimming assistant coach.

Nordi was twice President of the Tacoma Athletic Commission and six-time past President of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame.

DAVID OLMSTEAD—Wrestling David Olmstead is one of a select number of Pierce County athletes who earned the title of world champion.

Olmstead accomplished the feat in the 132-pound classification at the 1983 Junior World GrecoRoman Championships. Sandwiched around that title were national high school Greco-Roman crowns in 1982 (123 pounds) and 1984 (132 pounds). He earned first team All-America honors as selected by Scholastic Coach magazine, Pittsburg Press and USA Wrestling magazine.

Olmstead, a 1984 graduate of Sumner High School, was a three-time state high school wrestling champion. He won the 1982 and 1983 titles at 129 pounds, then moved up a weight to 135 pounds and won in 1984.

The Seattle Times named Olmstead to the Washington Wrestlers of the Century Team, and the Tacoma News Tribune selected him to its all-time list of the area’s top 100 prep athletes.

He competed one season each at the University of Northern Iowa and Pacific Lutheran University. Olmstead has since returned to Sumner High School as an assistant wrestling coach.

Dr. DAVID OLSON—Athletic Director Dr. David Olson built Pacific Lutheran University athletics into one of the premiere small college programs in the United States during his 28 years at the school. In 1996 and with Olson as athletic director, PLU won the first Sears Directors Cup for NAIA institutions, honoring the nation’s top college athletic programs.

Dr. Olson served as athletic director and dean of the School of Physical Education from 1968-96.

During Olson’s tenure, PLU athletic teams won nine National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championships, including three each in football and women’s soccer, two in softball and one in women’s cross-country. At the same time, PLU garnered 167 conference titles and 25 conference all-sports awards, while increasing from 12 to a combined 19 men’s and women’s intercollegiate sports.

He was president of the NAIA from 1985-86, president of the NAIA Athletic Directors Association from 1991-92, and chairman of the NAIA Council of Athletic Administrators from 1992-94. He was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1989.

Dr. Olson represented the United States as an administrator at the World University Games in Sofia, Bulgaria (1989), Sapporo, Japan (1991), Zakopane, Poland (1993) and Jaca, Spain (1995). In 1984, he was one of only five U.S. educators invited to the International Olympic Academy in Greece.

CARL OPOLSKY—Football Carl Opolsky was a prep football standout at Stadium High School in the mid 1930s. He earned allcity honors as a sophomore in 1935.

He climaxed his three-year high school football career by leading the conference in scoring with 66 points and earning a spot on the cross-state all-star team He scored three touchdowns, one on an 80-yard run, in his final game in 1937, the annual Thanksgiving Day game with the Lincoln Abes.

Opolsky enrolled at the University of Washington but contracted typhoid fever in 1939, ending his grid career.

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CHARLES “CAP” PETERSON—Baseball Charles “Cap” Peterson, not to be confused with the old Western International League player and coach of the same name, played major league baseball for eight seasons.

A 1960 graduate of Clover Park High School, Peterson first signed with the San Francisco Giants organization. In 1962, he was MVP of the minor league El Paso Sun Kings, earning a four-game “cup of coffee” with the San Francisco Giants. Over a five-year period ending in 1966, he played 244 games for the Giants. He went to the Washington Senators in 1967, having his best major league season with 17 doubles, eight homers, 46 runs batted in and a .240 batting average. After another season at Washington, he finished his major league career with Cleveland in 1969.

Peterson finished his professional career with minor league teams in Wichita and his hometown of Tacoma. He played for the Tacoma Twins in 1972, the first year of Tacoma’s affiliation with Minnesota.

MARK PETERSON—Soccer Mark Peterson was one of a handful of young Tacoma area players who made a big impact in the North American Soccer League (NASL).

A 1978 graduate of Wilson High School, Peterson earned accolades as one of the nation’s top young players. In fact, he came straight out of the high school ranks to a successful professional career as a forward.

That career started with a bang when Peterson competed for NASL Rookie of the Year honors by scoring 30 points on 14 goals and two assists in 29 regular season matches for the Seattle Sounders. That same year, Peterson added four goals and an assist in five playoff games.

Peterson played four seasons with the Sounders, three of which ended in playoff appearances. After a four-goal output in his second year, Peterson’s most productive campaign came in 1982 when he had career highs of 39 points, 17 goals and five assists. He tied for eighth on the NASL scoring list that year. The following season, splitting time between Seattle and Team America, he totaled 14 goals and five assists.

Playing 106 career NASL matches, Peterson accumulated 113 points on 49 goals and 15 assists. In 15 career playoff games he notched seven goals and two assists.

He earned North American Player of the Year honors in 1982, and wrapped up his pro career by playing for the Tacoma Stars from 1983-86.

JOE PEYTON—Track, Football, Basketball Joe Peyton came to the University of Puget Sound in 1963 as a student-athlete and stayed at the school through his retirement from coaching in 1997. He holds the unusual distinction of being inducted into the UPS Hall of Fame as both an athlete (1973) and as a coach (1998).

Peyton won a total of 11 letters in football, basketball and track while at Puget Sound, and only an injury prevented him from earning his 12th letter. As an end in football, Peyton earned Associated Press AllAmerica honors as one of the greatest pass receivers in Logger history.

He was an All-Evergreen Conference pick in all three sports, team captain and inspirational award winner. In track & field, Peyton won the Pacific Coast high jump championship.

During his 29 years as the Loggers’ track and field head coach, he guided more than 50 student athletes to All-America honors and helped to produce dozens of Academic All-Americans. Peyton was honored by the NAIA in 1996 as a member of its National Hall of Fame.

GORDY PFEIFER—Handball, Slowpitch Softball Gordy Pfeifer, a 1990 inductee into the University of Puget Sound Hall of Fame, was an outstanding athlete for the Loggers in basketball, baseball and golf. In fact, he was offered a baseball tryout with the Seattle Pilots in 1969. He is honored here as an accomplished handball and slowpitch softball player. Pfeifer won 15 world, national or professional handball titles, including consecutive United States Handball Singles Championships in 1971-72. Pfeifer was selected as Pierce County Athlete of the Year in 1971 and was a Seattle Post-Intelligencer Man of the Year nominee in 1972. In 1984, he was inducted in the Northwest Softball Hall of Fame. In slowpitch softball, Pfeifer compiled a 627-79 record as player-coach for Heidelberg from 1965-71. Heidelberg won five straight regional titles and played at nationals seven consecutive years.

He was named to the World All-Star team in 1968 after hitting .833 with four homers at the national tournament. In 1969, he earned national all-star team recognition, and the following year he was the Northwest regional tournament MVP. In 1984, he was the first slowpitch player inducted into the Northwest Softball Hall of Fame.

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CINDY (PITZINGER) WILLEY—Volleyball It takes fortitude to get to the top, and Cindy Pitzinger showed that at an early age. She was cut from her junior high teams in 7th and 8th grades, rode the bench in the 9th grade, and by the 10th grade was a varsity starter at Rogers High School.

Cindy went on to play at the University of Montana where, as a four-year starter from 1984-87, she set several career volleyball records. By the end of her Lady Griz career, she was Montana’s all-time blocking leader with 578 despite, at 5 feet, 8 inches, being the shortest middle blocker in the NCAA. She made up for her lack of height with an amazing 35-inch vertical jump. Besides her blocking ability, Cindy ranked second in hitting percentage (.263), third in kills (1,343) and eighth in digs (1.024).

She earned American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Northwest Region honors as a senior, and was an all-conference pick three times.

Cindy was a 1988 National and Olympic team member and later earned a spot on the roster of the Portland Spikers of the Professional Volleyball Association just prior to the league folding.

EARL PLATT —Football, Basketball, Baseball A tremendous football player, Earl Platt was one of Pacific Lutheran College’s first Little All-Americans, earning the honor in 1940.

A member of the outstanding Gladiators teams in the years preceding World War II, Platt was an all-star both offensively and defensively, playing end for the Lutes. He went on to play in the Coast Pro League after World War II. Besides being a great football player, Platt was also an all-conference player for the Lute basketball squad and was a member of the team that won PLC’s first Winco League championship. Platt’s third sport was baseball, where he was a starting first baseman.

He was inducted in the PLU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991.

LEO RANDOLPH—Boxing Leo Randolph earned a boxing gold medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. He was the first of five U.S. fighters to win their weight class in that Olympics.

At 18 years of age, Randolph was the youngest U.S. team member. Randolph scored a 3-2 decision of Cuba’s Ramon Duvalon in the gold-medal match of the flyweight division. His mother was in the stands, thanks to fund raising by the Tacoma Boys Club, as was his coach, Joe Clough, who hitchhiked all the way to Montreal.

Four years later, Randolph won the World Boxing Association junior featherweight championship by a 15-round TKO. He held the title for three months, at which time he retired from professional boxing.

AHMAD RASHAD—Football As Bobby Moore, he thrilled prep football fans as a star at Mt. Tahoma High School before establishing a record-setting career at the University of Oregon. After his name change, Rashad then enjoyed an outstanding 10-year National Football League career.

He was drafted in the first round of the 1972 NFL draft by the St. Louis Cardinals where he played for two seasons as a wide receiver. He spent one year with the Buffalo Bills, then settled into a Pro Bowl career for seven seasons (1976-82) with the Minnesota Vikings.

Rashad earned Pro Bowl status four straight years from 1978-81. Five times he finished in the top 10 in receptions in the NFL, including placing second with 80 catches in 1979. Twice he ranked among the league’s top 10 in receiving yards, his best season of 1,156 yards in 1979 placing him third among his peers. Twice he placed in the top 10 in receiving touchdowns, his best season a tie for fifth with nine TD grabs in that same 1979 season.

At Mt. Tahoma, Moore finished with 202 points (2nd all-time in Tacoma) and led the T-birds to 14 straight wins and back-to-back league titles. He was a three-sport All-Star at Mt. Tahoma.

JERRY REDMOND—Football (Coach) After a college career as a quarterback at the University of Washington, Jerry Redmond immediately went into high school coaching.

He coached at White River and South Kitsap high schools before moving on to Puyallup High, where he directed the Vikings program for 20 years. His teams won 105 games while losing 85 and tying seven.

Puyallup High won two South Puget Sound League titles under Redmond, who also coached in the 1971 and 1972 Shrine football games.

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CHUCK RICHARDS—Swimming, Pentathlon Chuck Richards was an accomplished swimmer at Stadium High School, earning All-America recognition from 1961-63. During that time he won six state titles and was a state and national record holder.

After graduating from Stadium, Richards went to Indiana University where he was an All-America swimmer in 1965-66 and a national finalist.

Following his college career, Richards turned his attention to the modern pentathlon. He won national championships three straight years starting in 1970 and helped the U.S. team to a bronze medal at the 1971 world championships. He also competed for the United States at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, placing ninth as an individual and winning the swim portion, and helping the team place fourth.

Richards is the World and Olympic record holder in the pentathlon swim event and is a three-time world military pentathlon champion.

Richards currently serves as President for the State of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.

BOB ROBERTSON—Broadcaster Bob Robertson always closes his sports broadcasts with the phrase, “Always be a good sport. Be a good sport, all ways.” And so we’ll open this biography with some of the words that make him famous.

Robertson, 12 times voted as the Washington Sportscaster of the Year, has been doing sports play-byplay for more than one-half century. In 1949, he was signed by Portland to play in the Pacific Coast League after playing semi-pro ball in Bellingham and Wenatchee. Instead of pursuing baseball, Robertson accepted a radio broadcasting job with the Western International League’s Wenatchee Chiefs.

In the intervening years, he has been all across the country as a sports broadcaster. From 1958-68 he was the television voice for the Seattle Rainiers, Tacoma Giants and Tacoma Cubs. For 22 years he was the sports anchor for Channel 11 television, and he even handled the play-by-play duties for University of Notre Dame football and basketball. Robertson has shown his versatility as a sportscaster calling Seattle Totems hockey games and Seattle Sounders, Tacoma Stars and Portland Timbers soccer. He’s also been in the booth for Goodwill Games baseball and basketball and the world softball championships.

Robertson sandwiched three years of calling University of Washington football games (1969-71) in between 38 years as the voice of Washington State University football (1964-68, 1972-present). Last year’s Apple Cup between the Cougars and Huskies was the 41st in a row that he has called. In addition, from 1972-94 he was the voice of Cougar basketball.

From 1982-98 he was the play-by-play announcer for the Tacoma Tigers and Rainiers baseball teams, and since 1999 has traveled across the state during the summer to handle the radio duties for the Spokane Indians. He has also been the voice of PLU Lutes women’s and men’s basketball for the past five seasons.

Robertson has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, WSU Hall of Fame, Inland Northwest Hall of Fame, and State Coaches Hall of Fame.

JIM RONDEAU—Boxing (Referee-Administrator) Jim Rondeau’s dad, a former professional fighter, steered his son away from the ring—as a fighter. He did encourage his son to referee, however, and from 1946-68 Rondeau worked every scheduled Golden Gloves tournament in Tacoma, Seattle, and Portland. He also officiated local fights featuring several top heavyweights, including Pat McMurtry, Boone Kirkman and Jerry Quarry.

Rondeau was in the ring in 1961 when Harold Johnson beat Eddie Cotton for the NBA LightHeavyweight title at Sick’s Stadium. The bout stands out in Rondeau’s mind because Johnson cut Cotton’s eye in the 10th round but chose to leave it alone and throw body punches the rest of the way. Rondeau officiated a nationally televised fight in the Tacoma Armory on August 18, 1962 featuring Emile Griffith against Portland’s Denny Moyer.

In 1970, he started a 16-year term on the State of Washington Boxing Commission. From 1970-74, he was appointed to referee four title bouts in Japan, and then got an invitation to be the third man in the ring for George Foreman’s fight against Ken Norton in Caracas, Venezuela. Venezuelan officials at first balked at Rondeau’s participation, but he entered the ring three minutes before the start of Foreman’s two-round defeat of Norton.

Rondeau was elected Vice President of the International Boxing Federation in 1966 and served as Supervisor of Officials for 15 years. He has been inducted in the Washington State Boxing Hall of Fame and Pacific Northwest Boxing Hall of Fame.

MARK ROSS—Football (Coach) Mark Ross learned the game of football from White River High School’s Doug Funk, one of the area’s top coaches. It’s not surprising, then, that Ross himself would join Funk on a short list of area prep coaches who have compiled at least 100 career victories.

Ross started his football coaching career at the middle school level, and then went on to direct the program at Steilacoom High School for 20 years. By the time of his retirement from coaching, his Steilacoom teams had won 119 games while losing 75. Ross was also one of the area’s top slowpitch softball players in his spare time. In football, Ross was one of White River’s all-time stars, and a standout at the University of Puget Sound. page 42

BOB RYAN—Football (Coach) Bob Ryan played quarterback at the College of Puget Sound from 1947-49 and was a member of two Evergreen Conference championship teams. After coaching in the high school ranks at Montesano, North Kitsap and Puyallup, Ryan returned to his alma mater to become football coach and athletic director.

Ryan served in that position from 1965-72, and he led the Loggers to a 43-28-3 record during that time.

Ryan was an assistant coach at several NCAA Division I schools and also served in that role with the Canadian Football League’s B.C. Lions.

Ryan, a member of the UPS Sports Hall of Fame, has been a scout for the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills since 1979. He was also a standout high school athlete at the original Gig Harbor high school.

JOHN SAYRE—Crew John Sayre graduated from Clover Park High School in 1954 and from the University of Washington in 1958, where he honed the rowing skills that would earn him an Olympic Games gold medal.

Sayre competed for the UW crew from 1955-58, handling the role of stroke on the varsity 8 boat. He was part of a 1958 squad, which rowed—and won—in the Soviet Union, the first U.S. athletes to compete in that nation. That 1958 eight-oared boat was inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame.

After graduating from Washington, Sayre competed for Lake Washington Rowing Club in 1959 and 1960. He rowed in the 1959 Pan American Games and won a gold medal.

At the 1960 Olympics, Sayre rowed with another area product, Dan Ayrault, on the gold medal fours without coxswain boat. The team went from last place to the gold medal over the final 500 meters. Sayre, the stroke, picked up the rowing pace to 41 strokes per minute as the U.S. held off the Italians by one-half boat length.

From 1964-68, Sayre served as an advisor to the U.S. Olympic Committee, and he was a consultant to the Japanese and Mexican Olympic committees.

MARV SCOTT—Baseball (Coach) Marv Scott had a solid season for the 1946 Tacoma Tigers of the Western International League, hitting .283 with 23 doubles and 52 RBI in 109 games. His calling, however, was teaching and coaching, and it was as a baseball coach that he made his biggest mark on Tacoma.

Scott served as head coach at his alma mater, Stadium High School, from 1947-57, and then moved to Wilson High School when it opened in 1958. He remained at Wilson until 1967 and claimed several league titles during his tenure. Scott then served as a New York Mets scout for 25 years and three times earned the organization’s Scout of the Year award. He received World Series rings for Mets victories in 1969 and 1986.

Scott also coached amateur baseball in the Tacoma area for many years, the highlight coming when Scott led the Woodworth Contractor’s team to within one run of the 1958 American Amateur Baseball Congress national crown.

In 2004, the Tacoma-Pierce County Baseball-Softball Oldtimers Association created the Marv Scott Coaches Award to be presented annually to top baseball coaches in the community. Scott was the first recipient of this award.

SUGAR RAY SEALES—Boxing Sugar Ray Seales honed his boxing talents under the tutelage of Joe Clough at the Downtown Tacoma Boys Club, and that skill would lead him to the United States’ only gold medal at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.

Seales, a southpaw, saw plenty of action as an amateur, winning 338 times while losing only 12 times.

He won numerous Junior Golden Gloves championships and collected 14 Senior Golden Glove titles.

Following his welterweight gold medal, Seales turned professional, taking an eight-round win in Tacoma.

Seales won his first 21 fights until losing a close decision to “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler in Boston. He then fought Hagler in a rematch, holding him to a draw, before losing a final time to the world champ. Seales was the only man to step into the ring three times with Hagler. In 80 fights over 10 years he won 70 matches (46 by knockout), lost seven and drew three.

In a 1980 fight with Jaime Thomas, Seales was thumbed in the eye, tearing a retina and, gradually, he went blind.

He retired from professional boxing in 1983.

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LOIS (SECRETO) SCHOETTLER—Figure Skating Lois Secreto started skating at age eight at the Lakewood Ice Arena, and won her first competition, the Northwest Juvenile Girls, in 1942. She later teamed with Jimmy Grogan to win the Pacific Coast Juniors Pairs in 1945.

In 1946, Lois won the Northwest Novice Ladies crown, and a year later she took the Northwest Senior Ladies title. She qualified for nationals in 1950 after placing second in the Pacific Coast Senior Ladies singles event. While placing fifth at nationals, she tied for first in the freestyle skating event with champion Tenley Albright.

It was also in 1950 that Lois became the first ice skater in Tacoma to pass her eighth Gold Medal test for school figures. That same year, she graduated from Stadium High School and joined Shipstad’s and Johnson’s Ice Follies, for whom she was a featured skater.

She came back to Tacoma in 1952, got married, and taught ice skating until 1955.

SARAH (SILVERNAIL) ELLIOT—Volleyball Sarah Silvernail is the most honored player in Washington State University volleyball history, but locally she first made headlines by helping Fife High School to the 1992 state title, the first of four it would win in an eight-year period.

At Washington State, Silvernail was a two-time All-American, earning second team honors in 1995 and first team selection in 1996. Silvernail was named Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year in 1996, was a three-time All-District VIII selection, and earned Pac-10 Player of the Week honors six times during her Cougar career.

An outside hitter, Silvernail still holds the WSU records for career kills (1,848), single season kills (649), and most kills in a match (39). She was selected 1996 Female Athlete of the Year by both the Greater Spokane Sports Association and the Tacoma News Tribune, in addition to being a finalist for the Seattle P-I’s Star Award.

She started playing professionally with the United States Professional Volleyball League in Chicago (1999-2000) and then played on a pro team in Switzerland. She was inducted into the Washington State University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.

MARK SMITH—Track Mark Smith capped off an outstanding collegiate track and field career at Pacific Lutheran by winning the 1975 NAIA discus championship with a throw of 177-1. His 1974 throw of 186-6 is still a PLU school record, and he is also on the school’s top 10 list in the shot put. He accomplished these feats despite being considered undersized for the weight events.

Smith was a three-time All-American for the Lutes, placing third in his specialty in 1973 and second in 1974. While wearing the Pacific Lutheran singlet, he won three Northwest Conference discus titles and one shot put crown. He was twice the district discus champion, and was both captain and most valuable performer for the 1974-75 Pacific Lutheran track and field teams. As a prepster, Smith was a football and track standout at PLU’s neighboring Washington high school. He is the head football coach at Tacoma Baptist High School.

MIRIAM (SMITH) GREENWOOD—Swimming Miriam Smith was an outstanding swimmer for Dick Hannula at Wilson High School in the 1970s and also with the Tacoma Swim Club from 1972-80, and then went on to star at the University of Southern California.

During her prep career, Smith earned All-America honors in the 100 backstroke in both 1975 and 1976. She was the Washington state champion four straight years in the 100 backstroke and was a national high school finalist from 1973-76 in both the 100 backstroke and the 200 backstroke. That helped her earn a full athletic scholarship to USC. Smith was a three-time All-American at USC, earning the recognition in 1977, 1978 and 1980. She was the 1977 AIAW champion in the 100 backstroke, and she also competed in the 200 backstroke and 200 medley relay in earning her All-American status.

Smith represented the United States at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, placing 13th in the 200 backstroke.

She was a U.S. team member in both 1976 and 1977.

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CHUCK SOPER—Track Chuck Soper may have been the first Pierce County athlete to lead the nation.

Soper, a javelin thrower at Stadium High School, won his second straight Washington prep championship in 1934 with a throw of 190’ 62 inches. At the time, the mark was a national interscholastic record.

Soper went on to track stardom at Southern California, lettering from 1936-38 and helping the Trojans win the NCAA title each year. He placed fifth in the javelin at the 1937 NCAA meet and finished second at the 1937 AAU. The following year he took first place. He earned All-America honors and represented the country in Europe during the summer of 1938.

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BOB SPRAGUE—Basketball Bob Sprague had an accomplished prep career at Wilson High School, helping that school to its first state tournament appearance, and he continued with the same kind of success at the University of Puget Sound. His intimidating size (6-9, 260 pounds) and talent earned him many UPS school records and also earned him a spot in the 1964 Olympic Trials.

Before missing his senior season due to mononucleosis, Sprague set numerous Puget Sound records, including rebounds in one game (32), field goals in one season (215), scoring average in one season (21.5) and rebounds in a career (758). He set the still-standing school record for rebounds in one game with 32.

Sprague, who competed at Puget Sound from 1961-64, was inducted into that school’s Hall of Fame in 2000.

KEN STILL—Golf Ken Still compiled an outstanding career in 23 years on the Professional Golfer’s Association (PGA) Tour, but has fond thoughts of many rounds played at his home course, Fircrest.

Still, who joined the tour on a full-time basis in 1960, won three PGA Tour events—the Florida Citrus Open and the Greater Milwaukee Open in 1969 and the Kaiser Open in 1970. He and partner Gene Littler won the CBS Golf Classic in 1970.

His best finish in a major came in the 1970 U.S. Open when he placed fifth, and he had three finishes in the top 25 in that event. He made the cut five times in nine U.S. Open attempts. The Masters, perhaps the best known of the Grand Slam events, saw Still charge into contention on the final day of the 1971 tournament.

He finished with his best of four rounds, a 69, to tie for sixth place. In all, Still played in six Masters, 13 U.S. Opens and seven PGA Championships.

Still played for the U.S. Ryder Cup team with Dave Hill and Lee Trevino as partners.

He finished his professional career on the senior PGA circuit, where he played for 11 seasons.

JEFF STOCK—Soccer Growing up, Jeff Stock was an outstanding baseball and soccer player. He played baseball at Stadium High School and groomed his soccer skills on the FC Royals fields. Though he could have gone to UCLA on a combined baseball and soccer scholarship, he instead signed a professional contract with the Seattle Sounders of the North American Soccer League (NASL) right out of high school in 1978.

He played with the Sounders from 1978-83 and with the Tacoma Stars of the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1985-86. Stock started his professional career with Seattle at the same time as another Tacoma prep standout, Mark Peterson.

Stock, a left fullback for most of his career, was the Sounders’ 1981 MVP as well a member of the NASL’s All-North American All-Star team in 1982. Stock played in the NASL’s championship game, the “Soccer Bowl,” in 1982 where the Sounders lost to the New York Cosmos 1-0. Three Tacoma prep products—Stock, Peterson and New York’s Jeff Durgan—played in that game.

Stock represented his country with the U-19 national team and the U.S. Pan-American Games squad. He was a member of the national U.S. team that boycotted the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.

He played for San Jose and Vancouver of the NASL and the Tacoma Stars of the Major Indoor Soccer League to close out his professional career.

WES STOCK—Baseball Wes Stock pitched for eight years in the major leagues, starting with the Baltimore Orioles in 1959 and then with the Kansas City Athletics under the colorful ownership of Charlie Finley. He made his mark in the majors, however, as a pitching coach. He has World Series rings from the New York Mets in 1969, and the Oakland A’s in 1973-74 and again in 1989.

Stock was the Director of Minor League pitching for the New York Mets when Nolan Ryan was a Mets farmhand. Ryan, of course, went on to set the Major League strikeout record and earn a spot in the Hall of fame.

Stock, a Pacific Northwest native, was set to come back to Washington in 1970 as the Seattle Pilots pitching coach, but the club was moved to Milwaukee six days before the beginning of spring training. He remained with the Brewers for three years.

He spent six years with the Oakland A’s and finally made his way back to Seattle as the Mariners’ pitching coach 1977-81. Stock spent two years as a television color commentator, then completed his 37-year major league baseball career as Oakland’s Director of Minor League pitching, a position he held for 10 seasons.

The best player he ever saw? Mickey Mantle.

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JOE STORTINI—Baseball, Football, Slowpitch Softball Joe Stortini was a two-sport standout from 1951-55 at the University of Puget Sound and later went on to fame as an outstanding softball player—among other interests—in the local area. He was also a standout performer in both sports at Lincoln high.

Stortini helped lead the Loggers to 26-6 football record in four seasons and earned all-conference honors as quarterback and defensive halfback during his junior and senior seasons. He was a four-year starter on defense and his five interceptions in a single game remains a school record. In addition, Stortini twice earned all-conference recognition as a shortstop for the Loggers baseball team. The school honored him with induction into the Hall of Fame in 1990.

Stortini continued to play baseball for several Tacoma amateur teams, including Stanley’s Shoemen, Cheney Studs, Woodworth Contractors, Western State Hospital and Portland Avenue. As a slowpitch softball player in 1998, Stortini’s Emerald City 65s won the world age group championship. He was selected as the tournament’s most valuable offensive player and the team finished with a 90-20 record.

Stortini has coached a number of high school football (Mount Tahoma High School in 1974) and baseball championship teams and also served the Tacoma community as state senator, county commissioner, county council member and county executive.

VINCE STROJAN—Basketball Vince Strojan first earned accolades at the prep level, earning all-state, all-league and Seamount League MVP honors as one of the state’s top scorers at Fife High School.

By the time Strojan ended his collegiate basketball career at St. Martin’s College, he had established himself as the leading scorer (1,735 points) and rebounder (897) in school history. Strojan earned NAIA AllAmerica status, and those accomplishments also garnered him a spot in the school’s athletic Hall of Fame.

Strojan caught the eye of professional scouts from two sports. He was drafted by the Dallas Chaparrals of the American Basketball Association and by the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League.

His dream, however, was to earn a spot with the fledgling Seattle Supersonics of the National Basketball Association. Strojan got his tryout but was the last player cut.

FRED SWENDSEN—Football Fred Swendsen helped Fife High School win the 1968 Class A state football championship with a 10-0 record. He earned a full-ride scholarship to the University of Notre Dame, where for three years he was a starter at defensive end.

Swendsen played for the Fighting Irish in the 1970 Cotton Bowl game, marking Notre Dame’s first visit to the New Year’s Day bowl game in 50 years. The Irish made the trip the next year, defeating Texas and with it the national championship.

Swendsen played in the 1972 East-West Shrine Game in San Francisco and was selected in the third round by the Buffalo Bills. He was unable to play professional football because of medical reasons.

Swendsen also was a track and field standout while in high school, leading Fife to the state championship and winning both the shot put and discus.

DAVE TRAGESER—Tennis Tennis standout Dave Trageser, an NAIA All-American from 1977 to 1979, qualified for the NAIA national tournament each of his four years at Pacific Lutheran University.

He reached the round of 16 as a freshman and the quarterfinals as a sophomore. As a junior in 1978, he was named the outstanding player at the national tournament after advancing to the singles finals and doubles semifinals. He finished that season with a 34-1 record in singles play, losing only in the national championship match. The following year, Trageser advanced to the national singles semifinals and national doubles finals. His singles record as a senior was 34-2.

He dominated his conference and district competition, four times winning singles titles and three times winning doubles crowns in each level. He finished his Pacific Lutheran career with an overall singles record of 125-12. He also earned NAIA Academic All-American honors in 1979; the first year the award was given.

Kellie Ham 253-843-9436

email: khgraphics@aol.com

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DAVE TUELL, JR.—Bowling Dave Tuell, Jr., began bowling at the age of 11 and rolled his first 300 game less than one month shy of his 17th birthday. Competing for the University of Washington bowling team, he helped the Huskies win the 1955 and 1956 collegiate championships.

In 1963, Tuell founded the Tacoma All-Star Travel League and continued to bowl in that league until his death in 2003. The league has been renamed the Dave Tuell All-Star Travel League in his honor. In 1974, he defeated Jeff Mattingly to win the Tacoma Masters Championship. Tuell received induction into the Greater Tacoma Bowling (GTB) Hall of Fame in 1981, the same year that he played on the state team champion.

In 1990, Tuell joined the PBA’s Senior Tour, three times making the televised final. Tuell had a memorable 1995, winning the following titles: Tacoma Senior Masters, PBA regional, Western Washington Senior Bowling Association and Northwest Seniors. On Sept. 16 of that year, he was inducted into the Washington State Bowling Hall of Fame.

He was a GTB board member for 28 years, twice serving as president, and was Past Director of the American Bowling Congress. Away from the lanes, he was a Tacoma School Board member for 18 years.

JIM VAN BEEK —Basketball Jim Van Beek came out of Franklin Pierce High School and went down the road to Pacific Lutheran College, where he joined with an outstanding group of players to create a legend.

Van Beek was one of the “Big Three” stars (along with Chuck Curtis and Roger Iverson) during the glory years of PLC men’s basketball. During Van Beek’s career, the Lutes won 37 straight games against Evergreen Conference rivals and represented District I at the NAIA national tournament four straight years. Van Beek was a three-time All-EvCo pick and a 1959 NAIA All-Tournament selection. In the 1959 championship game loss to Tennessee State, Van Beek led the Lutes with a team-high 24 points. To this day, he remains on the top 20 scoring list at the NAIA national tournament.

He was PLC’s leading field goal percentage shooter and averaged 12.7 points per contest during the 1956-57 season. Van Beek averaged a career-best 16.8 points per game as a senior and finished his four seasons at Pacific Lutheran with 1,207 points, averaging 11.1 per contest.

He is a member of the Pacific Lutheran Athletic Hall of Fame.

GENE WALTERS—Football Gene Walters starred in football and track at Stadium High, graduating from that school in 1939.

Walters went on to play halfback for the University of Washington football team.

Walters lettered in 1940-42 as a Husky and was known for his speed. During his sophomore year he used that talent on scoring runs of 61 yards against Oregon State and 57 yards against Idaho. That speed helped him as a sprinter on the track team, and he earned a letter in that sport in 1942. Showing his versatility, Walters also participated in baseball and wrestling.

Following his UW playing days, Walters played halfback for the Tacoma Indians semi-professional football team in Tacoma. In their only year, the Indians played in the league championship game in Hawaii.

DAN WATSON—Track (Coach) Dan Watson had an outstanding career as a cross-country and track and field coach at Lincoln High School.

He started the cross-country program at Lincoln in 1965 and coached the sport until 1985, the Abes winning more than 75 percent of their dual meets. He coached a state cross-country champion in Paul DuCharme in 1975.

As the track and field coach from 1965-85, Watson directed the Abes to 25 invitational meet titles and to victories in approximately 145 out of 160 dual meets. During Watson’s tenure, Lincoln won six state track and field championships, placed second twice and finished fourth two more times, and 32 athletes won individual state titles.

He is a member of the Washington State Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame.

CLYDE WERNER—Football Clyde Werner came out of Wilson High School in 1966 and ended up playing in the National Football League from 1970-77.

Werner earned all-city and all-state honors and was selected as the state’s “Most Valuable Back” in 1966 at Wilson High. Werner was also a state record holder in the shot put and discus.

At the University of Washington, Werner earned three letters and as a senior received All-America honors as well as a spot in the NFL vs. College All-Star Shrine Game. He still shares the school single-game record with 23 tackles.

A second round draft choice in 1970 by Kansas City, Werner spent eight years with the Chiefs and played with Hall of Fame players including Jim Lynch, Willie Lanier and Bobby Bell.

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FROSTY WESTERING—Football (Coach) In his 32-year tenure at Pacific Lutheran University, Frosty Westering compiled a 261-70-5 win-loss record and no PLU team under his guidance suffered a losing season. His teams won three NAIA Division II national titles and one NCAA Division III national championship in 19 post-season appearances.

Frosty is the winningest coach in NAIA history with 256 wins, and is the ninth winningest coach in college football history with 305 victories. Recently elected into the College Football Hall of Fame, he was named the NCAA Division III national coach of the year in 1999 by the American Football Coaches Association, Football Gazette magazine and Shutt Sports, and was the NAIA Division II national coach of the year in 1983 and 1993. Frosty was named Northwest Small College Coach of the Year five times. He coached 26 NAIA and NCAA first team All-Americans.

His awards also includes the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Lifetime Achievement Award, the Athletes for a Better World Lifetime Achievement Award, the Tacoma News Tribune Man of the Year in Sports (twice) and the Seattle PostIntelligencer’s Publisher’s Award. He is a member of the Puget Sound Sports Hall of Fame and the Iowa Collegiate Coaching Hall of Fame.

His teams have also been well-known for their community service work, and in 2003 received an award from the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators for the Lutes PHD (Pride, Heart and Determination) program, which was started in 1980 and the Post-Intelligencer’s Publisher’s Award.

LAURIE (WETZEL) HAYWARD—Basketball, Volleyball Laurie Wetzel dominated the South Puget Sound League in volleyball and basketball during the 1980s while at Puyallup High School.

Wetzel took her volleyball skills from the PHS hardwood all the way to Europe, where she played professionally.

Wetzel helped Puyallup win South Puget Sound League volleyball titles from 1982-84, earning first team all-league honors in 1983-84 and league MVP honors in 1984. The Vikings finished fifth at the 1983 state tournament. As in volleyball, Puyallup High won three straight SPSL basketball crowns with Wetzel on the floor, and all of those teams placed at state. She earned all-league honors twice and was the MVP in 1985.

While at the University of Washington, Wetzel earned all-conference honors in 1987-88 and three times was picked to the all-region squad. She received NCAA first team All-America accolades in 1988 while leading the Huskies to fifth place at the national tournament.

Wetzel was the first round draft choice of the New York Liberties of the MLVP in 1989 and was a United States Volleyball Association All-American in 1989. She went on to play professional volleyball for Bellinzona in Switzerland in 1994-95.

TOM WHALEN—Basketball Tom Whalen, a 1960s men’s basketball standout, holds the Pacific Lutheran University single-season scoring record with 656 points and a 24.2 scoring average during the 1963-64 season.

He is one of only two Pacific Lutheran players to score at least 600 points in a season, and with 537 points and a 19.2 average during the 1962-63 campaign, is one of only nine to score at least 500 points in a year. With 1,193 career points in only two years, he ranks in the top 15 on the school’s career scoring list.

Whalen scored 41 points in a game as a senior, second on the single-game scoring list. The lanky 65 center, known for a sweeping hook shot, earned numerous honors while playing at Pacific Lutheran College, including the following: two-time first team All-Evergreen Conference; two-time NAIA District I Player of the Year; NAIA second team All-America; honorable mention United Press International All-Coast; and honorable mention Associated Press All-America.

STEVE WHITAKER—Baseball Steve Whitaker, a 1962 football and baseball star at Lincoln High, played major league baseball for five seasons, including three with the New York Yankees and one each with Seattle and San Francisco. In all, he enjoyed a 13-year professional career with four organizations.

Whitaker signed with the Yankees organization out of Lincoln High School in 1962. By 1966, he had a short but memorable introduction with the Bronx Bombers, hitting seven home runs, including a grand slam and an inside-the-park homer, in his first 16 games. The following season he played 122 games with the Yankees, hitting .243 while collecting 12 doubles, 11 homers and 50 runs batted in. He led the American League in outfield assists and double plays that season and batted in front of Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.

In 1969, Whitaker played 69 games for Seattle Pilots, hitting .250 with six homers in 116 at bats. He saw his final major league action with the Giants the following season, and he eventually finished his professional career with Hawaii of the Pacific Coast League in 1974.

He coached for the Chicago White Sox for four seasons and owned the Florida Yankee Baseball School from 1980-87.

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MAC WILKINS—Track Mac Wilkins track & field career spanned 23 years in which he qualified for four U.S. Olympic teams and established four world records. It can be argued that he is the greatest thrower in track history.

Wilkins placed sixth in the discus to help Clover Park High School win the 1968 state track and field championship. Some might remember him as a starting receiver on the CP football team as a sophomore.

Wilkins moved to Oregon, where he was state discus champion at Beaverton High School, and he burst onto the national scene at the University of Oregon, graduating from that school in 1973. At Oregon, Wilkins won NCAA discus championships in 1972 and 1973 and he was also a 1973 All-American in the shot put.

He holds the world record in the track and field throwing events with the following lifetime bests: 232-10 in the discus, 69-1 in the shot put, 208-10 in the hammer throw and 257-4 in the javelin. Wilkins was nationally ranked in the first three events but made his biggest mark in the discus. He set the world discus record four times and the America record five times in that event. In 1976, Wilkins broke the discus world record on three consecutive throws.

At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, he won the gold medal in the discus, setting an Olympic record of 2240 in the preliminary round. He also earned the silver medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and placed fifth in the event at the 1988 Olympics.

He was the world’s top-ranked discus thrower in 1976 and 1980 and won eight national championships in the event, including six straight from 1976-82. He was voted by the USA Track & Field team to carry the flag at the 1983 World Championships and at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea.

Most recently Wilkins accepted the position of throwing coach at Concordia University in Portland.

CHARLIE WILLIAMS—Basketball Stadium High School finished the season with a 21-3 record and won the 1959 state basketball championship thanks in part to the smooth floor play and scoring of sophomore “Sweet” Charlie Williams.

He would become the first Tacoma prep player to score 1,000 career points.

Williams went on to star at Seattle University, then a Division I NCAA power, from 1961-64, and played AAU basketball in Seattle where, averaging 33 points per game in 1966, he broke the scoring record held by the great Elgin Baylor.

Williams earned himself a shot in the American Basketball Association where he helped the Pittsburgh Pipers win the first-ever ABA championship in 1968. Williams averaged 21 points per game that season to earn first team All-Pro honors, and he played in the 1969 and 1970 ABA All-Star games.

Playing six seasons in the ABA, Williams averaged 17 points per game.

DAVE WILLIAMS—Football, Track A graduate of Lincoln High School in 1963, Dave Williams earned 12 letters for the Abes in football, basketball and track and was the state high hurdles champion in 1963. As a senior, he earned All-America honors in football and also won the school’s sportsmanship award.

Williams went on to earn three letters each in track and football and was an All-American in both sports at the University of Washington. He had four top-six finishes for the Huskies at the NCAA national meet.

NCAA rules at the time prohibited college freshman from competing in any sports, so Williams waited until the end of the season to enter his first-ever decathlon in 1964. Amazingly, he qualified for the Olympic Trials and placed 12th. During his decathlon career, his competitors included Taiwanese Olympic Gold medalist C.K. Yang and American champions Bill Toomey and Russ Hodge.

The St. Louis Cardinals made Williams the 17th pick of the 1967 National Football League draft. He played seven years in the NFL with the St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Chargers, and Pittsburgh Steelers, and added two years with the World Football League’s Southern California Sun. He had 435 career receptions, including 53 touchdowns.

Williams was the first player signed by the fledgling Seattle Seahawks, but a knee injury forced his retirement. He turned over his No. 80 Seattle jersey to a new Seahawks player—Steve Largent.

ONNIE (WILLIS) ROGERS—Gymnastics Onnie Willis began gymnastics at age three and one year later began training at the Puget Sound School of Gymnastics. She continued to train there for the next 14 years until earning an athletic scholarship to UCLA, where she earned the Honda Award as the nation’s top collegiate gymnast.

Willis led UCLA to national team championships in 2000, 2001 and 2003. She won the NCAA individual all-around title in 2001, becoming UCLA’s first all-around champion. She earned All-America honors 16 times at NCAA national competition and earned seven perfect 10 scores in her career. Willis earned Pac-10 Gymnast of the Year accord in 2003 and won the conference individual all-around title in 2002. Her career high score in the all-around was 39.80 out of a possible 40.00. She was an excellent student as well, earning NCAA Academic All-America honors four times.

Prior to her collegiate career, Willis won Junior Olympic national championships in the all-around, vault and balance beam. She was also an outstanding track and field athlete at Wilson High School, winning the 1999 state title in the triple jump and setting the school record in that event. She also placed third in the long jump at the 1999 state meet.

A 1999 graduate of Wilson High School, Willis earned Tacoma Athletic Commission Athlete of the Year honors that year. page 49

WARREN WOOD—Football Like many men of his era, Warren Wood joined the U.S. Armed Forces following his graduation from Sumner High School in 1942. After a stint with the Navy, Wood enrolled at College of Puget Sound, and he became one of that institution’s greatest football players.

While at Puget Sound, Wood earned all-conference, All-Northwest, All-Coast and All-America honors.

Wood started his career as a fullback, earning all-conference honors as a freshman and starting at that position each of his first two seasons. Because of a lack of good linemen, coach John Heinrick moved Wood to guard the next season, and the 230-pounder flourished at the position.

As a senior in 1949, Wood was a unanimous All-Evergreen Conference honoree, and he made several postseason all-star lists. After finishing his CPS football career, Warren Wood became the first—and only— Logger to perform in the East-West Shrine football game, that at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve. He was a blocking star for the victorious Western team and named one of the top three players in the game.

He was inducted into the UPS Hall of Fame in 1966.

MILT WOODARD—Athletic Administrator – Football A 1930 graduate of Stadium High School, Milt Woodard had a significant impact on professional sports in this country.

An original founder of the American Football League (AFL), Woodard was the AFL assistant commissioner from 1960-66 and AFL president from 1966-70. He was the AFL president in 1968 when the New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, and he received a Super Bowl ring from the Jets. Along with NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, Woodard helped shape the first Super Bowl, along with the AFL-NFL regular season schedules.

Prior to his work in professional football, Woodard was a sportswriter in Chicago and later the executive vice president of the Western Golf Association.

Woodard, who attended the College of Puget Sound before graduating from the University of Minnesota, was a major financial donor to Puget Sound and was inducted into the UPS Hall of Fame in 1993.

ARMAND YAPACHINO—Hydroplane Racing A 1944 Stadium High graduate, Armand Yapachino was a three-year varsity wrestler and two of those years served as the student coach. He also won a state championship in wrestling in 1943 in the 145-lb division and he enjoyed giving Ju-jitsu exhibitions at halftime of the school’s basketball games. It’s no surprise that the enterprising Yapachino would go on to an outstanding career in athletics, in this case, limited hydroplane racing.

Yapachino is the last surviving charter member of the 45-year-old Tacoma Inboard Racing Association (TIRA), an organization that has been a driving force in Pierce County boat racing. He has served as the group’s Commodore and as a board member many several times each.

Yapachino started his inboard racing career back in 1960 when he built and raced his first boat. He started in the 145 class, now known as the 2.5 Litre class. He later moved into the 280 class, now known as the 5 Litre class.

His boat, the E-136 “Joya-Mia,” earned national high point recognition in 1979, and from 1976-79 it accumulated high point honors in Region 10. For the last couple of years, boats under Yapachino’s guidance have ranked among the top three in the nation and first in Region 10, which includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

As a boat builder and racer and an engine builder, and now a boat owner, Yapachino has earned accolades as one of the nation’s best in the limited hydroplane racing field.

ROBERT A. YOUNG—Race Walking Robert Allen Young was a Tacoma area athlete who, at the turn of the century, literally walked into the record books.

More commonly known as “heel and toe” walking, race walking was Young’s forte, and he was credited with breaking five world records during one afternoon of competition in 1896. He helped teach brothers Isaac and William the sport, and both were successful walkers like their brother.

Robert Young became a bookkeeper for the Tacoma Daily Ledger, and then started his own printing company called RAB Young Press, which was well known locally. That company published the K Street Shopper and the Sixth Avenue Shopper.

JOHN ZAMBERLIN—Football John Zamberlin, an all-city linebacker at Wilson, is one of the few Pacific Lutheran University football players to enjoy a professional football career, playing four years with the New England Patriots and two years with the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League.

The Lute linebacker was a ferocious hitter who earned first team NAIA All-America and Associated Press Little All-America honors as a senior in 1978. During an outstanding four-year career, Zamberlin compiled 184 unassisted tackles among his nearly 300 total stops, and also had 10 interceptions and six quarterback sacks. Three times he earned all-conference and all-district honors.

His number 56 is the only retired PLU football jersey. He is the head football coach at Central Washington University. page 50

Lincoln High School Football Backfield-1944 When Lincoln high school won the state football championship in 1944, Coach Phil Sorboe called his backfield “the best he’d ever coached or seen.” They were called “the three Ms and a K” and they ran wild in an undefeated season, scoring 242 points to just 13 in the powerful Cross-State League.

The Abes were led by Bobby “Twinkletoes” McGuire, and Sorboe’s change to a t-formation suited him and the other Lincoln backs to a tee. Al Malanca converted from halfback to quarterback where he excelled. McGuire and Dean Mellor manned the halfback slots and both of them posed pass-run threats, Mellor from the southpaw side. Len Kalapus was a powerful choice at fullback.

The Abes went through the schedule undefeated, trouncing Bremerton 46-0, Everett 20-0, Bellarmine 33-0, Vancouver 35-0, Kelso 39-0, Bellingham, 24-7, and Seattle Prep 38-6 prior to a huge Thanksgiving Day battle with Stadium, also unbeaten and even unscored upon.

When the Abes prevailed 7-0 in a sea of mud at Stadium Bowl, there was no argument about the state championship.

Lincoln was accorded the honor without dissent.

LEN KALAPUS was selected to the all-state football team. He graduated from Lincoln in 1945 and went on to earn all-conference honors for the College of Puget Sound in 1948-49. He graduated from CPS in 1951.

Prior to his prep days, Kalapus was a soccer and softball city champion in 1938-39 at Rogers Elementary, and Al Malanca was one of his teammates on those teams. At Lincoln, Kalapus was the basketball team’s most inspirational player in 1943, and he was a first-team state all-star during the championship football season of 1944. He also starred in baseball. He coached football and baseball at Baker Junior High from 1955-58 and football at Jason Lee from 1961-63.

Leadership came naturally for AL MALANCA who not only quarterbacked what many considered the best backfield in Tacoma high school football history but Al also was the Lincoln student body president and valedictorian with the highest grade point average in his class. It was no surprise when Malanca was named among the “Best Lawyers in America” every year since 1987.

Malanca was a three-sport athlete at Lincoln and starred in both football and baseball, playing on Cross-State League championship teams in both sports. The 1944 Abes beat Stadium, 7-0, on Thanksgiving Day. Stadium had been unbeaten and unscored upon but a Malanca lateral to Dean Mellor and his touchdown pass to Len Kalapus sealed the deal for Lincoln.

Malanca attended UPS and WSU before graduation from the UW Law School. He returned to Tacoma to become a partner in the city’s leading law firm of Gordon, Thomas, Honeywell, Malanca, Peterson & Daheim. He played City League baseball and coached several championship Cheney Stud youth football teams. He also was a founding member of the Pierce County Boys Club Council.

BOB MCGUIRE, who graduated in 1945, lettered in five sports at Lincoln—football, basketball, baseball, golf and track. As a senior he scored 19 touchdowns and was an all-state selection in both football and basketball.

A 1950 graduate of Washington State, he played football (halfback) and baseball for four seasons. In baseball, he played third base and outfield and served as captain of the 1950 team that finished as national runner-up.

That same season, he earned All-Coast honors.

During the summer months, McGuire played baseball for Cammarano Brothers and for the Mount Vernon Milkmaids and earned all-star honors at the 1948 semi-pro tournament in Wichita. He continued his baseball career in the Western International League, playing for five seasons.

McGuire went on to a 32-year career in coaching and athletic administration at Pullman, Yakima and Bothell high schools. He also served as an official in Yakima, the Northwest and the Pacific-10 Conference for a total of 17 years.

DEAN MELLOR, also a 1945 graduate, was a three-sport athlete at Lincoln High School, playing basketball and baseball in addition to being a football standout. He tossed the winning touchdown pass against Stadium to clinch the state championship.

He played football and baseball for one year at the Montana School of Mines. After graduating from the University of Puget Sound in 1957, he went on to a career in education. From 1961-72, Mellor was baseball head coach at Mount Tahoma High School, and from 1973-88 he was athletic director and assistant principal at Foss High School.

In all, Mellor had a 30-year career in the Tacoma School District.

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Stanley Shoemen-1956 AABC National Baseball Champions A Tacoma team became the first West Coast nine ever to win a national baseball championship when Stanley’s Shoemen captured the 1956 American Amateur Baseball Congress World Series in Battle Creek, Michigan.

The Shoemen completed their season with a record of 50-11 by winning the final 13 games on their schedule, claiming state, regional and national titles in three different states during a 3,688 mile journey.

Back-to-back victories over the Cheney Studs in Tacoma by scores of 9-4 and 17-3 sent the Shoemen to Watertown, South Dakota for the Northwest regionals. There they defeated state champions from Iowa (twice), California, and Oregon (twice) to advance to Michigan.

In Battle Creek, Mike Dillon pitched the Tacomans to a 4-1 win over the host team, Monte Geiger held off the defending national champions from Houston, Texas, 7-6, and Dale Bloom shutout East Chicago, Indiana 10-0 in the championship game. Bloom was the winning hurler in all three title tussles.

Shoemen starters were catcher Jack Johnson (MVP of the regionals), first baseman Dick Schlosstein, second baseman Jim Harney, shortstop George Grant and third-baseman Jim Gallwas. In the outfield the “Shoes” featured Bob Maguinez in left, Earl Hyder in center, and Ron Storaasli (state MVP) in right field.

Grant and Harney were replacement players for infielders Russ Wilkerson and Gordy Hersey who could not go east because of employment obligations. Geiger was an added pitcher allowed under tournament rules. All three were Cheney Stud stars.

Other Shoemen regulars included pitchers Max Braman, Manly Mitchell and Dick Montgomery, infielder Pat Dillon and outfielders Gordy Grubert and Ray Spalding. The Shoemen were coached by Doug McArthur and sponsored by Stan Naccarato and Morley Brotman.

DALE BLOOM— Dale Bloom came out of Lincoln High School, where he was among a handful of outstanding hurlers, to pitch in the Detroit Tigers farm system.

Bloom then made his way back to Tacoma and helped lead the Stanley Shoemen to the American Amateur Baseball Congress national championship in 1956. He also played on the 1958 Woodworth Contractor’s team that finished second at the AABC tournament.

The Lincoln High teams of 1948 and 1949 were loaded with outstanding talent, among them Bloom.

Those two Lincoln teams appeared in unofficial state championship games but lost both times to Yakima.

After high school, he played for Tacoma City League champions South Tacoma in 1950 and then did his stint as a Tigers minor leaguer from 1951-53. He played in Jamestown, N.Y., Davenport, Iowa, and Wausau, Wisconsin before spending three years as a member of the Tri-City Braves of the Western International League. He then earned accolades for his work with the national champion Stanley Shoemen when he pitched deciding victories in the state, regional, and national title games.

Bloom played for the Cheney Studs from 1957-59, and he finished his competitive baseball career as pitcher and manager of the Criswell’s city league title-winning team in 1960.

GORDY HERSEY— After his 1952 graduation from Stadium High School, Gordy Hersey played in a college baseball’s World Series and helped earn a national championship in amateur baseball.

Hersey played varsity baseball for three seasons and varsity basketball two years at Stadium. After playing one year at the University of Oregon, Hersey transferred to Washington State University, where he had an outstanding baseball career. He earned Pac-8 All-Northern Division honors as a second baseman and helped the Cougars reach the 1956 College World Series.

After graduating from WSU, Hersey joined the Stanley Shoemen, who won the national title that summer.

Hersey was also an accomplished golfer, winning the Fircrest Golf Club men’s title in 1969.

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EARL HYDER—Earl Hyder started making headlines as an all-city and all-state football player and an allstate baseball player at Lincoln High School.

He continued playing amateur baseball in the area’s City, Sunset and Valley leagues for more than a dozen years. Two of those teams won American Amateur Baseball Congress national championships and another placed second.

Hyder was an outfielder on the 1956 Stanley Shoemen team that became the first club west of the Mississippi River to take the title. In 1960, his two-run homer against Detroit in the title game helped the Cheney Studs take home the trophy. He had 11 hits in 20 at-bats during the series, a .550 average, and he earned All-America honors that year. Sandwiched in between the title years was a second-place finish with the Woodworth Contractor’s in 1958.

JACK JOHNSON—Jack Johnson was a three-sport athlete at Everett High School who later starred in baseball, football and basketball at Pacific Lutheran College. He signed a professional baseball contract while still in college and advanced to the Pacific Coast League with the Seattle Rainiers.

Once his professional baseball career was done, Johnson played catcher for the 1956 national amateur champion Stanley’s Shoemen baseball team. He was named the Most Valuable Player for the Shoemen, hitting .512 in the Northwest Regional tournament at Watertown, South Dakota.

Johnson also made his mark as a football official, working National Football League games from 1976-91.

The first NFL official to come out of Tacoma, Johnson worked many AFC and NFC championship games as a line judge. After retiring from the NFL, he became an evaluator and recruiter of officials for the league.

Johnson served as athletic director at Green River Community College from 1968-85.

BOB MAGUINEZ—Bob Maguinez was a gifted baseball player who began playing with veterans in the Tacoma City League as a 16 year-old high school student. He starred at Stadium high and the College of Puget Sound where he was a three-sport athlete. He was All-Evergreen Conference in baseball. He became a hitting star for Stanley’s Shoemen, first West Coast team to win the national amateur championship in 1956. Maguinez hit over .400 for the Shoemen, and played all nine positions in one inning each in a Tacoma City League 7-2 victory. He also starred for the 1960 Cheney Studs, the second team from the west to win that crown.

Maguinez was instrumental in the creation of a high school baseball exchange program between Pierce County and Japan, a program that still exists. Maguinez was a long-time athletic supervisor for the Metropolitan Parks District in Tacoma and one of the city’s best umpires. In 1999, Maguinez was honored for his contribution to baseball by the Washington State Baseball Coaches Association.

RON STORAASLI—Ron Storaasli was an all-city basketball player at Lincoln High School in 1952, from where he graduated in 1952. He attended Pacific Lutheran College, where he was the outstanding freshman in football and an outfielder in baseball. He finished his education at Western Washington, where he also played baseball. Storaasli went on to play for Criswell’s and the 1956 national championship Stanley Shoemen.

Storaasli was the leading hitter on the national title team, and in one game that summer hit for the cycle just after returning from his honeymoon. He earned MVP honors at the state tournament.

Storaasli coached at Lakes High School for 10 years, leading seven teams to league championships.

MAX BRAMAN—a former Puyallup High and Valley League moundsman, Braman possessed a near-unhittable knuckle-ball when he was “on.” He pitched solidly for the Shoemen during their 1956 title-winning season and turned back the Cheney Studs with a 9-4 verdict in the final round of the state tournament.

MIKE DILLON—a sensational high school pitcher at Stadium, Dillon pitched two no-hit, no-run games in the prep ranks and won nine straight games in his first year as a professional. He was selected to be the starting pitcher in the State vs.

Seattle game in 1949. Severely injured by a line-drive while pitching in the pros, Dillon retired and regained his amateur status. He tossed two three-hitters in regional and national tournaments as the Stanley’s Shoemen won the AABC World Series in 1956.

PAT DILLON—the brother of pitcher Mike, Pat also starred at Stadium High School where he was a three-sport athlete and a solid baseball prospect. Mr. Versatile, Dillon was equally at home in the Shoemen outfield or infield. He consistently performed at a championship level throughout the season, no matter what position he was called on to play.

JIM GALLWAS—a graduate of Bellarmine Prep where he played both basketball and baseball, Gallwas took his baseball talents to Seattle University. He played third base for the Shoemen and contributed at bat and in the field during the championship campaign. He hit over .300 during state regional and national competition. “Cowboy” also could pitch and later, with the Woodworth Contractors, he tossed a no-hit, no-run game against Fort Lewis.

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MONTE GEIGER—a standout hurler at Bremerton High School, the University of Washington, and the Seattle-based Cheney Studs, Geiger joined the Stanley’s Shoemen for their title run to Battle Creek. He had beaten the Shoes 3-1 in the state tourney opener but the Tacomans came back to down Geiger and the Studs in the title game. He was unbeaten at the regionals and nationals, defeating the defending champions from Houston, Texas, in a key semi-final game.

GEORGE GRANT—a two-sport star at Stadium High and the University of Washington, Grant was a classic shortstop in baseball. He was all-state in high school and All-Conference in college, and played in six national amateur tournaments.

Only 19 when he joined the Shoemen, pro scouts raved about his fielding at regional and national tournaments. He spent three years in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization but decided on a coaching career instead. He was baseball coach at Mt. Rainier High school from 1964-68. No slouch at basketball, Grant was a member of the Plywood Tacoma national championship team.

GORDY GRUBERT—a starting outfielder much of the season, Grubert broke his foot prior to state, regional and national play. He accompanied the team east but could not suit up to compete. One of the City League’s top hitters with Midland, the former Lincoln High star was in his first year with the Shoemen and performed at a high level.

JIM HARNEY—another two-sport athlete, Harney starred at Seattle Prep and Seattle University. He was captain of SU’s 1958 NCAA finalists which lost to Kentucky and was an honorable mention All-America hoopster. Harney and George Grant were flawless double-play partners for the Cheney Studs and proved invaluable in the Shoemen’s title trek. He coached basketball for 40 years at Seattle Prep and North Kitsap High Schools and at UPS, and he was named to the state coaches Hall of Fame in 2002.

MANLY MITCHELL—he was a standout pitcher for Lincoln High School. A left-hander with a “sinker,” Manly was a starter in the Shoemen rotation during the regular season and pitched a crucial game in the state tournament against the City League Champion Woodworth Contractors, a 7-2 decision sending the Shoemen into the championship game.

DICK MONTGOMERY—he was Mr. Versatile on the Shoemen squad. A left-handed pitching ace at Clover Park High School, he added first base and outfield duties to his hurling chores and proved to be one of the key ingredients on a championship team. Brother Tom was the team’s good luck charm and official scorer.

DICK SCHLOSSTEIN—a first-baseman with a marvelous glove and steady bat, Dick and championships came natural.

He was a three-sport star at Stadium High and played on 17 championship teams in his career beginning in junior high.

As a prep star, he was all-league in football, basketball and baseball. In 1952 he was named to the all-state baseball team.

At the University of Oregon he was given All-Conference recognition three years in a row and the Ducks won the northern division of the Pacific Coast Conference and advanced to the College World Series. He was one of the top hitters on the Shoemen and was named to the all-star team at the AABC World Series.

RAY SPALDING—one of the most talented athletes ever to play at Stadium High and the College of Puget Sound, Spalding excelled in baseball and football. He was an all-league halfback in both high school and college and a standout centerfielder in baseball. After several seasons of amateur baseball and softball, and a stint in the service, Spalding joined the Shoemen and provided a real spark in their championship effort.

RUSS WILKERSON—a regular throughout the season, employment obligations (his first year of coaching at Goldendale High School) kept Russ from playing in the regionals and national finals. The former Lincoln High and College of Puget Sound basketball and baseball star did damage in the state tournament, however. When the Shoemen came through the loser’s bracket to down the Cheney Studs twice, Wilkerson triggered the effort with a first-pitch triple off the centerfield wall, 435 feet, to ignite a two-game sweep for the title.

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University Of Puget Sound Loggers-1976 NCAA National Champions Coach Don Zech predicted a national championship before the season began, and the University of Puget Sound cagers delivered, winning 13 consecutive games to end the 1976 season.

With 27 wins, most in school history, the Loggers downed the University of Tennessee Chattanooga 8374 for the NCAA Division II Championship at Evansville, Indiana. In the semi-finals UPS tripped defending champion Old Dominion 83-78.

The Loggers were greeted with cheers of “Puny Sound” when they took the floor in Evansville but there wasn’t anything puny about a UPS lineup which included the 7-foot tournament MVP, Curt Peterson, and a starting lineup of 68 Brant Gibler, 6-5 Rick Walker, 6-6 Tim Evans, and 6-5 Rocky Botts.

Enroute to their title, the Puget Sounders played one of the most exciting games in Tacoma history at the UPS Fieldhouse. North Dakota was the Logger opponent in a quarter-final NCAA matchup and the Fighting Sioux came to play. A full Fieldhouse erupted when North Dakota’s final shot with two seconds remaining fell off the rim into the hands of Rick Walker and he was fouled.

Walker made both charity tosses to ice the game, 80-77, and send the Loggers on to the final four. Earlier UPS had won the West Regional with a 75-65 decision over Bakersfield State and a win over Cal Poly, Pomona, 80-65.

Of seven Logger losses, six were to Division I NCAA opponents. With a 22-1 record against Division II teams (the Loggers split a series with Central Washington), UPS proved its ability to step-up with five victories over Division I teams.

It was the greatest basketball season in Puget Sound history, and the Loggers were the first West Coast team to win the NCAA Division II crown. Every member of the team was inducted into the UPS Athletic Hall of Fame.

DON ZECH—Basketball (Coach) He became the most successful basketball coach in Puget Sound history in 21 years in the Fieldhouse.

Zech amassed an impressive record of 405 wins and 196 losses (.674 winning percentage) with 11 seasons of 20 wins or more, 11 post-season appearances and two Great Northwest Conference titles.

Ten of his players were drafted by NBA teams and he was four-time West Coast Coach of the Year. He also was a two-time GNC Coach of the Year. When his Loggers won the 1976 NCAA Division II Championship he was named National Coach of the Year. His very first UPS team had a 24-3 record in 1969, and he just missed winning it all in 1970 when the Loggers lost by one-point in the nationals, playing without their leading scorer due to injury. Zech was a three-sport star at Sumner High, graduated from Notre Dame, and coached Blanchet to an unbeaten season and the state championship prior to a coaching opportunity at the University of Washington. After coaching the Husky frosh, UPS beckoned and the Z-man fashioned a nationally-recognized program. He was inducted into the UPS Hall of Fame in 1991.

CURT PETERSON—tallest timber in Logger history, the seven-footer was MVP of the NCAA Final Four and set a singleseason scoring record of 712 points. He finished his four-year career at UPS with 1620 points and 853 rebounds, tops in school history at the time. He was all-state and all-league at Seattle’s Hale High, and was drafted in the 7th round by the Detroit Pistons of the NBA. UPS jersey retired.

RICK WALKER—one of the top scorers for the Loggers, Walker was MVP of the NCAA regionals in ’76. A four-year starter, he finished his career with 1946 points and set a single-season free throw shooting percentage mark at 87.8%. Twice a winner of the coveted Tim McDonough award at UPS. He was an all-state prep performer at East High in Bremerton. UPS jersey retired.

TIM EVANS—another outstanding four-year starter, Evans averaged 15.1 points per game during the title season. Evans was named to the first team Little All-Northwest All-Star squad and led the Loggers with 124 assists. He was an all-state selection in high school, starring for Blaine in the state A tournament at the UPS Fieldhouse. UPS jersey retired.

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BRANT GIBLER—the unsung starter for UPS averaged 8.8 points per game during the regular season but was named to alltournament teams in both regional and national tourneys. Gibler tallied 22 to lead the scorers in the national championship game. Like Walker, he starred at East High in Bremerton. A rugged rebounder, he captured 235 during the season.

ROCKY BOTTS—Botts had been a big scorer in high school at Tacoma’s Wilson where he was an all-league selection, but he concentrated on defense and playmaking among the Loggers high-powered scorers. He shot 43.3% when called upon, however, and hit five long range field goals in the national semi-final game against Old Dominion.

MARK WELLS— the last UPS athlete to win nine letters in three sports, Wells was a key sixth man on the title team. His ball-handling performances in the final two games were key factors in the Logger victories. He also hit nine crucial free throws in 11 tries, and finished with a career 84.7% ft record. Wells was a four-time all-state athlete at Curtis High, earning first team all-league honors two years in a row in all three sports. Father Bert was a PLU hoop star, and twin daughters Andrea (PLU) and Kayla (UPS) have been softball rivals in college.

PHIL HIAM—only a freshman, Hiam performed like a veteran when called upon during the championship season. He spelled Peterson in the title tilt and went one-for-one from the floor and he was 2-for-2 with a free throw against Old Dominion in the semi-final game. Hiam appeared in 20 games as a frosh. He also had a 1-for-1 performance against North Dakota in quarter-final action. The 6-7 yearling prepped at White River High where he earned 10 letters in three sports. He sparked the Hornets to a state title in 1973, and led all tournament scorers in 1975, tallying 31 points and grabbing 18 rebounds in his final game. He was named the tournament MVP. A.T. BROWN—a solid reserve at forward for the Loggers, A.T. did not play as a high school senior at Compton, California, but he was the leading frosh scorer at UPS. An excellent shooter, he had a 53.8% field goal percentage as a junior.

JIMMY STEWART— in high school in Las Vegas, Stewart was Co-Player of the Year at Western, and he averaged 18 points per game as a Mesa Community College star before transferring to UPS. Quickness and defensive tenacity were his strengths and he consistently challenged the leading scorers among UPS foes.

MATT MCCULLY—an inspirational player, McCully provided a spark whenever he played as a Logger reserve. He was an outstanding high school athlete at Thomas Jefferson in the Federal Way district where he was the first South Puget Sound League athlete to be named first-team all-conference in football, basketball and baseball.

MIKE KUNTZ—solid defensively, Mike Kuntz moved up to varsity after playing well on the UPS JV team. He was a graduate of Wenatchee High School where he was a regular on the powerful Panther football team and a starter in basketball.

MIKE STRAND—a smooth ball-handler, Strand emerged from the JV team as well. He played his high school basketball at Shoreline in Seattle and saw action in 12 UPS games during the ’76 season.

MIKE HANSON—an aggressive rebounder and another graduate of the UPS JV program, Hanson moved-up to provide depth on the Logger front line. He was a standout high school player, leading Wilson to a 21-3 record in his senior year and leading the team in rebounds.

STEVE FREIMUTH—the leading scorer on the UPS JV squad the year before, “Omak” suffered an injury which limited his opportunities in ’76. He was an All-State high school star in both A and AA ranks as Omak High competed in state tournaments at UPS his junior and senior seasons.

BILL GREENHECK—he missed his junior season because of a knee injury but he was the JV’s top performer as a frosh and saw varsity action as a sophomore. One of the best of the Logger leapers, Greenheck was an all-league choice in high school at Lake Washington in Kirkland.

ASST. COACH MIKE ACRES—a former head coach at Kennedy High in Seattle, Acres joined Zech’s staff after assisting Bucky Buckwalter at Seattle University, his alma mater. He starred in both basketball and baseball at SU. Acres played for Zech in high school where he was captain of Blanchet’s unbeaten 1963 state champions.

TRAINER – JIM SCHULDT—many called him the MVP of the Logger team. The UPS cagers had few disabling injuries during the ’76 campaign and “Zeke” (the only name he’s called on the Logger campus) was credited for much of that.

Now in his 34th year at UPS, he came to the Fieldhouse with Colfax High School for a state A tournament and decided to become a Logger for life.

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