Tacoma Athletic Commission” Dedicated to Sports & Civic Betterment
Dear Friends,
Welcome to the Banquet of Champions!
The Tacoma Athletic Commission is proud to host this event that recognizes so many that have achieved at the highest levels in sports in our community. Their contributions to the health and vitality of TacomaPierce County and the state of Washington is what we celebrate this evening.
Congratulations to the Tacoma-Pierce County Hall of Fame inductees, the High School Male and Female Athletes Of The Year, the Clay Huntington Sports Communication Scholarship recipient, the Dick Hannula Amateur Athlete of the Year award winners, and the First Family of Sports Award recipients.
I would also like to give a special thanks to all the parents and school administrators for their guidance and support of the student athletes in their charge. You play a significant role in the success of the student athletes.
The Tacoma Athletic Commission is also proud to have played a role in supporting our youth and recognizing athletic achievement in our community. We have done this for 65 years and welcome you to join us in this endeavor.
Finally I would like to thank the Emerald Queen Casino and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians for their hospitality, and Marc Blau and the Banquet of Champions committee for volunteering their time and energy in organizing this event. They made it happen. Thank you for attending and Go “Cougs,” or is it “Huskies” or “Loggers” or “Lutes” or…
Sincerely,
Aaron Pointer President Tacoma Athletic Commission
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 Baseball-Softball Oldtimers Association www.oldtimerbaseball.com
Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Commission www.tacomasports.org
Tacoma Rainiers Baseball Club www.tacomarainiers.com
Tacoma FC www.tacomafc.com
West Central District www.wcd3.org
WIAA www.wiaa.com
photo Credits
PHOTO CREDITS
The News Tribune
The Seattle Times
Eastern Washington State University Department of Athletics
Montana State University Department of Athletics
University of Montana Department of Athletics
Pacific Lutheran University Department of Athletics
Portland State University Department of Athletics
University of Nevada-Las Vegas Department of Athletics
University of Puget Sound Department of Athletics
University of Washington Department of Athletics
Washington State University Department of Athletics
Banquet of Champions program
5:30pm No-host social
Welcome and Introductions - Bill Ogden
6:30pm Dinner
National Anthem – Chanel James, Wilson HS track sprinter
Invocation – Myles Corrigan, Director of Leadership and Stewardship at Life Center
Entertainment – Mike Factory, Former Lincoln HS, UW and UPS football and track athlete
7:30pm Program
Announcer - Bill Ogden
Master of Ceremonies – Gary Justice
TAC Welcome – Aaron Pointer (TAC president)
Entertainment – The McKassons-This Scottish fiddle band composes songs that have the feel of Celtic music blended with the spirit of the folk rock and bluegrass. Featuring Cali, and Ryan McKasson and Matt Jerrell.
Presentation of Awards
Clay Huntington Sports Communication Scholarship - Clay Huntington
Dick Hannula Award – Amateur Athletes of the Year - Dick Hannula
First Family of Sports Award - Doug McArthur
| Presented by Joe Williams
MVP Awards – Presented by Pat Garlock, owner –MVP Physical Therapy
Tacoma-P.C. High School Athlete of the Year (Female) – Angie Eichholtz Athlete of the Year (Female) – John Smith Presented by Terry Mehegan, V.P. Branch Manager-Columbia Bank
Tacoma-P.C. High School Athlete of the Year (Male) – Diane Pittman Presented by Kim Piotrowski, V.P. Employee Development Director-Columbia Bank
Featured Speaker – Brock Huard (Quarterback-Puyallup HS, Univ of Washington, Seattle Seahawks)
8:45pm Banquet of Champions Video – Marc Blau, Banquet Chairman
Entertainment - Chanel James Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood Mississippi Girl by Faith Hill
Induction Ceremonies - Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame Presenters –
Doris Heritage- Former Olympian and five-time world cross country champion, nine time member of U.S. national track and field team, and member of eight halls of fame.
Bob Schloredt-Member of the National Collegiate Football Hall of Fame, the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame and the Husky Hall of Fame. AP All-American in 1960, and Most Valuable Player of the 1960 and 1961 Rose Bowls.
Brock Huard- Puyalllup HS, UW, and Seattle Seahawks quarterback
David Bean-Council member-Puyallup Tribe of Indians
Aaron Pointer-TAC President, former Major League player with Houston Astros, Member of 1969 Tacoma Cubs PCL championship team, Retired NFL football official.
Finale – Gary Justice/Bill Ogden
tacoma athletic Commission—65 Years and Counting
About to begin its 65th 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 $5-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. With the unveiling of the book, “Playgrounds to the Pros” in 2005, the Banquet of Champions is a continuation of the TAC’s commitment to honor individuals and recognize their athletic achievements.
The TAC supports the Shanaman Sports Museum in the Tacoma Dome, recognizes High School Athletes of the Month, gives college scholarships to Athletes of the Year, 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 set for its 60th year, is the second oldest amateur boxing event in the nation. The upcoming TAC Golf Tournament on July 13th, featuring PGA professional Ken Still, will raise funds for student scholarships and equipment for area recreation facilities.
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 online at www.tacomaathletic.com.
CONGRATULATIONS
To All Of The 2007 Honorees & Inductees!
Puyallup Tribe of Indians and Emerald Queen Hotel & Casinos are proud to support the Tacoma Athletic Commission’s recognition of the great accomplishments of our local athletes from yesterday and today. Thanks for your hard work and commitment to excellence!
Gary Justice
A native of Tacoma who was raised in Spanaway, Gary Justice returns for his third straight year as Banquet of Champions emcee.
Gary participated in what was the big three of prep sports – football, basketball and baseball – while a student at Bethel High School. After graduating in 1960, he played baseball at Centralia Community College before graduating in 1962 (he was named the school’s Alumnus of the Year in 1988). He moved on to Washington State University and graduated with honors in 1965.
In the 1970s, Gary’s love of sports had its outworking when he served as a sports broadcaster at KIRO in Seattle. During the first three seasons of the Seattle Seahawks’ existence (1976-78), Gary did the play-by-play of the team’s televised preseason games. During that same time, he served as television color commentator for the Seattle Supersonics. In addition, he served as the color commentator on radio broadcasts of University of Washington football games.
Gary also earned a reputation as one of the Pacific Northwest’s most-trusted public figures after serving for many years as lead anchor of KIRO-TV News in Seattle.
Gary is now a principal of Feek Justice Financial, which among other things is recognized for its long history and expertise in implementing tax-efficient charitable strategies. Gary and the firm’s founder, James R. Feek, have assisted in the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars of private wealth into charitable trusts to eventually endow charitable, educational and other non-profit institutions.
Gary, who served three years in the United States Army, most of it as a commissioned officer with the Army Security Agency, is an active, committed member of his community. His public service is at all levels - hands-on volunteer, organizer, board member, educator, fund-raiser and cheerleader. He has served on several boards of non-profit organizations, he has volunteered in excess of 300 hours of community service each year for the past decade, and he is a regular guest lecturer in schools of all levels.
Brock huard
Brock Huard, born April 15, 1976, played for his father, Mike, at Puyallup High School, as did his older brother Damon and younger brother Luke. Brock earned numerous accolades as a football standout, culminating with his selection as the Gatorade Circle of Champions National Player of the Year. In addition, he earned Parade, Super Prep, Blue Chip Illustrated, ESPN, College Sports and Schutt All-America honors while throwing for 3,857 career yards with 45 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions. He also lettered in basketball, averaging 18 points and 7.5 rebounds as a senior for the Vikings.
While at the University of Washington, Brock erased older brother Damon’s name on several season and career passing records. Brock held 20 school records when he left Washington, including most career passing yards (6,391), touchdown passes (53), 300yard games (4), 200-yard games (14), attempts without an interception (151) and total yards per game (190.4). He also set Husky single-game records against USC with his 33 completions and 62 pass attempts. Huard was a finalist for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award while setting a school record with 23 touchdown tosses.
Seattle drafted Brock in the third round of the 1999 National Football League draft and spent the first three years of his professional career with the Seahawks. In 2000, his second full season, he started four games, completing 49-of87 passes for 540 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. On Nov. 26, 2000, Brock started for the Seahawks against Denver and Damon started for Miami against Indianapolis, marking the first time in NFL history that two brothers started at quarterback on the same day. Seattle traded him to Indianapolis, where Huard served as backup to Peyton Manning. He rejoined the Seahawks in 2004 and ended his career that season.
An outstanding student, Brock maintained a 3.6 grade point average, including a perfect 4.0 in his major, psychology, while at Washington. He and his wife, Molly, have two daughters, Haley and Macey.
Brock can be seen on television (ESPN) and heard on the radio (NFL Europe) doing commentary during the football season. By the way, Damon still plays in the NFL, while Luke coaches at the University of Washington.
the mcKassons
Roy McKasson, All American football player and part of the University of Washington’s Rose Bowl team in the early 60’s, was inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame in 1987. When asked if his then young son would follow in his footsteps he was proud to say Ryan excelled in music instead of football. He was an avid supporter of his children’s musical pursuits and found great pleasure in the music reverberating in the house. Instead of going to football practice and games Roy spent years listening to music practice and recitals. He left a legacy of excellence to Ryan and Cali which they exhibit through their music.
Tacoma-based MCKASSONS aren’t your average fiddle band. One of the genre’s fastest rising talents, the MCKASSONS create evocative soundtracks for adventures in distant lands and stories yet untold, and their latest album, Tripping Maggie, is yet another enchanted effort. The McKassons bring a distinctly American sensibility to traditional Scottish folk, composing songs that have the feel of Celtic music blended with the spirit of folk rock and bluegrass.
United by their affection for Celtic folk, the McKassons are playing to packed houses and festival crowds all over the nation, including the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Featuring Ryan McKasson (fiddle), his sister Cali McKasson (piano), and his brother-in-law Matt Jerrell (drums, percussion), the McKassons are a family with impressive individual achievements. Ryan claimed the National Scottish Junior Fiddle Championship in 1995 and went on to become the youngest National Scottish Fiddle Open Champion in 1996. He has shared the stage with artists Elvis Costello, Beck, Bjork, Gavin Friday, and composer Phillip Glass, among others. Cali has performed with fiddle greats Alasdair Fraser, Andre Brunet and Hanneke Cassel. With their energy, innovation and craftsmanship, as warm as a handshake and boisterous as an Irish pub, The McKassons offer something fresh and unique to both the Emerald City and the landscape of independent music.
mike factory Jr.
As a youngster growing up in Tacoma, Mike was active in a variety of sports, excelling in football, and track and field. His accomplishments included receiving MVP honors in football as a running back at the Eastside Boys Club, Gault Junior High, and Lincoln High School.
As a three-year started at Lincoln, he set a city record for the longest touchdown from scrimmage of 99 yards against Bellarmine Prep. In track and field he defeated the National Jr. Olympic 100 meter champion in the 60-yard dash. He held the state’s fastest time in the 100 yard dash of 9.6 as a high schooler, and was on Lincoln’s state championship track team in 1974, under coach Dan Watson.
As a collegiate athlete, Mike received a full tuition paid scholarship in football to the University of Washington, and the University of Puget Sound, graduating from UPS in 1979.
A student of band and orchestra at all levels of schooling, Mike plays three instruments—piano, alto sax, and bassoon. But, his deepest passion lies in the piano, in which he starting played at the age of four.
Chanel James
Seventeen year-old Chanel James’ passion in life is to entertain the world with her singing and song writing. She began singing at the age of 3 and continued throughout her school years performing at every opportunity. Her first competition was last summer as she won the title of “Tacoma Idol”; this landed her a lead in the theatre production of Dreamgirls as Michelle Morris.
Chanel’s dream and goal is to become the first “Female, African-American” Country Pop Recording Star. She is currently working on her “First CD” which is targeted for completion by the end of August 2007.
Music is not the only talent Chanel possesses - she is also a very gifted athlete. She was undefeated in the 100 meter dash for High School Girls Track & Field in 2006 and was crowned State Champion in this event. Chanel also was the state runner-up in the long jump, with only two months of jumping experience under her belt. When we hear her sing this evening, if she achieves her goal for the 2007 track season we will be listening to the 4A state champion in the 100 and 200 meter dashes and the long jump.
“playgrounds to the pros: an illustrated history of sports in tacoma-pierce County”
From games played in schoolyards to professional championship teams, sports have occupied an important place in the cultural development of the Tacoma area. Playgrounds to the Pros provides an extensive overview of the sports played in the region during the last 150 years. It is not limited to such crowd favorites as baseball, football, and basketball; it also includes archery and auto racing, bowling and boxing, horseshoes and hydroplanes, marbles and mountaineering, soccer and swimming, and much more.
This history of more than 40 sports acknowledges the many men and women athletes who have contributed to their sports over the years, including Lois Secreto, who epitomized ice skating in the 1940s; pro golfer Ken Still, who competed in six Masters, 13 U.S. Opens, and seven PGA Championships; Ryan Moore, who won the 2004 U.S. Amateur Championship; Doug Stevenson, goalie of the riotous Tacoma Rockets in the late forties and fifties; and Gertrude Wilhelmsen, 1936 Olympic athlete and star shortstop of the Tacoma Tigerettes. It is also a tribute to the colleges, schools, organizations, owners, managers, coaches, referees, umpires, and fans who have helped make sports such a significant part of Tacoma and Pierce County’s community, a place where love of a game, any game, is honored and enjoyed.
HOW TO ORDER PLAYGROUNDS TO THE PROS
Books may be purchased directly through the Tacoma Athletic Commission for $25.00 plus an additional $6 if, shipping is required.
Send payment to: TAC, PO Box 11304, Tacoma, WA 98444
For credit card payments or additional information contact us at marc@tacomaathletic.com or call 253-848-1360.
2007 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.
taC female athletes of the Year
Katrina Drennen and angela Jensen
The competition for the Columbia Bank/TAC Female Athlete of the Year was so keen it proved impossible to name a single winner. Out of 33 Pierce County high schools, any number of outstanding student-athletes could have been selected but Sumner’s Katrina Drennen and Fife’s Angela Jensen were inseparable. They tied for “tops”.
Both are Track & Field stars at their respective schools. Both are excellent students. Both have marks which truly rank among the best in the nation. Let’s try to alphabetize them in order to clearly separate their achievements. Drennen goes first (D before J) and, at this writing, the 2007 state championships had not been completed as yet. So, let’s start with the West Central District results held recently in Tacoma.
Katrina set meet records in both the 1600 and 3200 meters, claiming championships in both. Her runs of 4:58.11 and 10:35.08 topped the old marks of 5:01.1 and 11:03.5. Her best times in those events (4:50.47 and 10:35.08) have led state rankings all season, and she ranks among the top 20 all-time best times in the state. She also has a personal best of 2:14.71 in the 800 meters and has a relay split of 59 seconds on the 4x400 relay team this season. At 1500 meters in the prestigious Lake Washington Invitational, she topped one of the state’s strongest fields by three seconds at 4:34.86. Katrina has been invited to the USA Junior Meet to qualify for the Pan Am Games after qualifying easily in the 1500 and 3000 meter events.
Captain of Sumner’s Track and Cross-Country teams for two years, she has a 3.7 grade point average and was the organizer of a Sumner Relay for Life senior project to benefit the American Cancer Society. In Cross Country, she was Sumner’s #1 runner for two years after winning the 2A state championship as a frosh at nearby Orting high school. In Cross Country she finished 8th out of 78 runners in the Nike Borderclash between Washington and Oregon stars. That won her a top ten finish and the coveted Nike Goddess of Victory award. She will run collegiately at the University of Montana next year.
Washington State University is Angela Jensen’s choice for her college athletic career. The Fife high hurdles star has times this season that rank her in the top 1% in the nation. As a sophomore she won the Seamount League championships in both the 100 and 300 hurdles, and she placed in both events at state with a second-place finish in the 100. As a junior she was state 3A champ in the 100 meters and 2nd in the 100 hurdles behind a two-time champion. She was unbeaten in her league, was first in the prestigious Pasco Invitational, and was named Athlete of the Meet at the Shelton Invitational. At the end of the year she was rated in the top 1% of all juniors in the USA in three events.
This year, as a Senior, she did not lose a single race during the regular season as Fife was moved to 2A competition. She was West Central District 2A leader in 100, 200, 400, 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, and the high jump. Most of the season she had the top marks in the state in the 100 and 300 hurdles for all classifications. She was named the Outstanding Female Athlete at Pasco’s event which attracted the top hurdlers in all state classes. Last week at the West Central District Championships she won the 100 hurdles, the 300 hurdles and the high jump. Her times in the two hurdles were the state’s fastest in any classification at any district event held in the state.
Katrina Drennen
Angela Jensen photos courtesy The News Tribune
Angela also is a three-sport letter winner at Fife, winning all-league honors in Volleyball and becoming a regional qualifier for state in wrestling. An honor student with a 3.5 GPA, Jensen had scholarship offers from North Carolina, West Point, Notre Dame, Michigan, the University of Washington and Oregon. Her choice was WSU. Go Cougs! They’ll be faster with Jensen aboard, for sure.
taC male athlete of the Year
andrew putnam
past Recipients of the tacomapierce County high school athlete of the Year
00
Danika Lawson, Puyallup
Kyle Stanley, Bellarmine
00 Brie Felnagle, Bellarmine
Brad Muri, Steilacoom
00 Megan Rains, Rogers
Sean McNaughton, Curtis
003
Ashley Blake, Lakes
Ben Shelton, Lincoln
00 Amy Frederick, Life Christian Shelton Sampson, Clover Park
00 Kim Butler, Bellarmine Prep
K.C. Walsh, Lincoln
Cory Belser, Bethel
000
Shannon Forslund, Mt. Tahoma
Mellanie Tipps, Sumner
Drew Miller, Lakes.
Onnie Willis, Wilson Collin Henderson, Puyallup
Alexis Yeater, Steilacoom
Travis Brock, Bethel
Dori Christensen, Puyallup
Scott Burcar, Bethel
Evan Martinac, Wilson
Mary Boerner, Bellarmine Prep
Bryan Streleski, Bethel
Alcydia Ladd, Foss
Tyce Nasinec, Rogers
Sarna Renfro, Bellarmine Prep
Chad Wright, Fife
3
Sarna Renfro, Bellarmine Prep
Jake Guadnola, Bellarmine Prep
A championship golfer at every level, Life Christian’s Andrew Putnam is the Columbia Bank/TAC Male Athlete of the Year. With a 3.94 grade point average and a comparable golf scoring average to match, Putnam prevailed among an outstanding array of talented studentathletes who were named Athletes of the Month from Pierce County’s 33 high schools this year. He will be playing his college golf at Pepperdine University next year thanks to his NCAA athletic scholarship. Putnam won state high school individual golf championships in 2004, 2006 and 2007, was runner-up in 2005, and led his team to state titles in three of those four years. He is the West Central District champ this year, with a final round score of 65, and won his third state tournament championship by nine strokes with back-to-back rounds of 70 at Lake Padden in Bellingham last week. His golf honors are many, ranging from State Junior Player of the Year, Pacific Northwest Player of the Year, both in ’06, U.S. Junior Amateur Qualifying Champion, Junior World Qualifying Champion and Semi-Finalist in the USGA Junior Amateur where he narrowly lost to the country’s #1 ranked player and eventual champion. Andrew ranks 23rd in the World and is one of only four players chosen for “Team USA” in the Junior World Cup tournament in Japan this month. In high school he also has been a three-year varsity basketball player, a member of the National Honor Society, Homecoming King, Bible Study Prayer Leader, and two-time winner of the Headmaster’s Award at Life Christian (Most Outstanding” character, student and athlete). Andrew may be appropriately below par on the golf course most of the time but he is consistently way above par as a student and a citizen. Congratulations Andrew Putnam.(Keep hittin’ ‘em straight and well be watching you on the PGA Tour some day with that other Putnam!)
athlete of the Year nominees
Dick hannula amateur athlete of the Year award
The Dick Hannula Award is given to the top male and female amateur athlete in Tacoma-Pierce County for the past year. Hannula, an internationally-known coach and a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, also led his Wilson boys swim teams to 24 straight state titles, and coached numerous world-class swimmers such as Kaye HallGreff, Janet Buchan Elway, Chuck Richards, Dick, David and Dan Hannula, Miriam Smith, Sarah Rudolph and others.
female amateur athlete of the Year megan Jendrick
You may not readily recognize the name Megan Jendrick, but if the name was written this way – Megan (Quann) Jendrick – you would certainly have an “ah ha” moment. Pierce County residents were justifiably proud when the South Hill native and then-Emerald Ridge High student won gold medals in the 100-meter breaststroke and the 400-meter medley relay at the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. After getting married to Nathan Jendrick and taking time to work on a degree from Pacific Lutheran University, she is back in the pool and showing some of the form that led to those Olympic gold medals.
Jendrick, born on Jan. 15, 1984 in Tacoma, made her return to competition in a big way in 2005 when she qualified for the World University Games in Ismir, Turkey where she won three gold medals. The following year she won the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events at the Spring Championships. At the national championships, she won a national title in the 100-meter breaststroke, the same individual event in which she won her Olympic gold, and finished second in the 200. She also earned a silver medal at the Pan-Pacific Championships. In March 2007, she picked up a silver medal in the 200-meter breaststroke at the 12th FINA World Championships. She also won both breaststroke events at the 2007 Washington Speedo Championship series, clocking 59.02 in the 100-yard breaststroke and 2:07.80 in the 200-yard event. The time in the 200 was a lifetime best and a new Pacific Northwest Swimming and Senior Sectional meet record.
Jendrick has set 26 American records and one world record and is a 10-time national champion and 10-time U.S. Open champion.
In May 2006, she won the Henry P. Iba Citizen Athlete Award for her donation of time and spirit to her community. A $10,000 donation in her name was made to the Greatest Needs Fund at The Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle.
Jendrick is balancing school, married life, and competitive swimming with coaching. She is the head coach for the POWER group of King Aquatic Club, working with as many as 40 swimmers from age 13 to 22.
past Recipients
2006—Christal Morrison, University of Washington/Puyallup 2006—Joe Rubin, Portland State University/Foss
2005 —Ryan Moore, University of Nevada at Las Vegas/Cascade Christian 2004—Reggie Williams, University of Washington 2003—Ryan Moore, University of Nevada at Las Vegas/Cascade Christian 2002—Dana Boyle, Pacific Lutheran University 2001—Chad Johnson, Pacific Lutheran University/Rogers 2000—Meaghan Quann, Emerald Ridge
1990—Andy Maris, White River 1989—Sonya Brandt, Pacific Lutheran University
1988—Mike Oliphant, University of Puget Sound
1987 —Jim Martinson, Puyallup
male amateur athlete of the Year Kellen harkness
Kellen Harkness, a 2003 graduate of Cascade Christian High School, capped an outstanding four-year diving career at Ohio State University by earning the silver medal in the 3-meter diving competition at the 2007 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
In addition to placing second in 3-meter event at nationals, he also finished fourth in 1-meter diving. Those finishes accounted for 32 of Ohio State’s 105 team points, netting the Buckeyes their highest national finish since 1983. Harkness won the 3-meter title at the 2007 Big Ten Championships, was named the meet’s top diver, and also earned Big 10 Diver of the Year as a senior.
As a junior in 2006, he placed fifth in the 3-meter at the national championships, that after placing second in the event at the Big Ten meet. Harkness earned All-America honors three times and competed in four NCAA national meets while diving for the Buckeyes.
Following the 2007 season, Harkness became the first diver in Ohio State history to win the coveted Mike Peppe Coaches Award. In both 2006 and 2007, he won the Miller Anderson Award, presented to the Outstanding Diver of the Year for Ohio State.
Harkness, born June 8, 1984 in Tacoma, also earned All-Big Ten Academic honors all four years at OSU. He also received CoSIDA Academic All-America honors with a 3.85 grade point average.
While in high school, Harkness was a four-time prep All-American, a two-time state champion (2000-01), a two-time state runner-up (2002-03), and the first 4A diver to break 500 points (500.05) at the state meet. Competing for the Puyallup High School swim team, he was undefeated in dual meets for four consecutive years.
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the Clay huntington sports Communication scholarship 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.
mike Beers
Mike Beers, a cancer survivor who describes himself as a proud father of three boys and two girls, is the winner of the 2007 Clay Huntington Scholarship. Beers is pursuing his AA degree at Pierce College and when he finishes his studies at Pierce he will have two AA degrees. He has taken several video editing and broadcast production classes at Bates and Clover Park technical schools. He is trained in use of studio and field cameras, as a technical and floor director, and in set construction and lighting. He has previous experience with the Banquet of Champions, working in video production and as a volunteer since 2005. He also produced video tributes on Pat McMurtry and Doug McArthur and also worked as a cameraman for TV Tacoma for two Touchdown Time football productions. Among his goals are the creation of a sports show called “Mud, Sweat and Gears” featuring Pacific Northwest athletes and to run a camera at the Olympics.
the shanaman sports museum of tacoma-pierce County
Through out 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.
Visit the museum online at www.tacomasportsmuseum.com
Banquet Volunteers
Our appreciation goes to these sports fans that have volunteered to serve on the Banquet of Champions committee.
Tony Anderson
Colleen Barta
Larry Bartz
Mike Beers
Nikki Blevins
LeRoy Booker
Liz Colleran
Nick Dawson
Angie Eichholtz
Jack Fabulich
Adria Farber
Matt French
Jon Graef
Megan Guenther
Lisa Harrison
Shannon Heinrick
Justin Henderson
Betty Honnold
Carolynn Howard
Nicole Kirkman
Dave Konsa
CJ Johnson
Joanne Maxwell
George Nordi
Arlene McArthur
Doug McArthur
Eugene Morris
Jamie Novak
Diane Pittman
Earl Powell
Jack Price
Jean Ramey
Jerry Ramsey
Elaine Ramsey
Marlowe Roeser
John Smith
Jacki Skaught
Tim Waer
Darrell Watkins
Pat Weber
Karen Westeen
Lydia Wiggs
Jackie Wohn
John Wohn
Teri Wood
Terry Ziegler
Dick Zierman
PRESENTING SPONSORS
Cascade Print Media
Emerald Queen Casino
MVP Physical Therapy
Puyallup Tribe of Indians
Tacoma Public Utilities
The News Tribune
GOLD SPONSORS
Columbia Bank
Dwyer Pemberton & Coulson, PC
MultiCare Health System/Sports Medicine
SILVER SPONSORS
Austin’s Pro/Max
C.J. Johnson’s Bail Bonds
Mike Dunbar-CFP
Franciscan Health System
Joeseppi’s Italiano Ristorante
Merit Company
Anthony J. Milan, D.D.S.
Pierce Commercial Bank
Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Commission
TAPCO Credit Union
BRONZE SPONSORS
Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound
Crescent Realty
Mr. Mac Ltd.
Port of Tacoma
Watson’s Greenhouse
Clayton Bennett
Bob Malley
Earl Powell
Willie Stewart
Video of Champions available for purchase
Copies of the “Video of Champions” that you will enjoy this evening are available for purchase on VHS or DVD for $20 which includes shipping.
To order, send your request, along with payment to the: Tacoma Athletic Commission,Video of Champions, PO Box 11304,Tacoma, WA 98411.
Please allow three weeksfor delivery.
For questions,call 253-848-1360or email at marc@tacomaathletic.com
SPORTSOFFICIALS
Boys Basketball Steve Brown
Girls Basketball Al Perez
Baseball Steve Liptrap
Football Jan Wolcott
Soccer Mike Schmitt
253-405-6977 wwboa@mac.com
253-472-0484 al.perez2@netzero.com
253-589-8519 wwbua@aol.com
253-826-2460 jswol@comcast.net
253-638-2800 schmittm2@comcast.net
Softball Ken Laase 253-539-9575 laasesd@cs.com
Volleyball Marc Blau
Wrestling Ron Isaacson
253-848-1360 blaumarc@qwest.net
253-584-4088 ron.isaacson@weyerhaeuser.com
NOTE: Officiating can be a great parttime job for high school and college students as many assignments are in the afternoon. With proper training, you can officiate two afternoons a week and earn $100. Don’t wait—call us now!!
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As the region’s only municipally owned cable and Internet provider, Click! Network stays ahead of the pack by combining lowcost prices with local, outstanding service.
Our bottom line is our investment in the community
Tacoma Public Utilities has served the people and businesses in Tacoma and Pierce County since 1893. Our investments in our electric, water, rail and telecommunications systems have given us a reputation of excellent service and unmatched reliability.
With an eye on the long-term need for clean water, Tacoma Water has secured resources that will benefit the region for many years to come.
Tacoma Rail remains flexible to rapidly move freight on its 200 miles of track.
most Valuable player award announced by mVp phYsiCaL
theR apY
This award is given to the male and female determined to be the Most Valuable Player in Tacoma-Pierce County to their team during the 2006-07 school year. It is an award that emphasizes teamwork in a true team sport and epitomizes an individual who understands and recognizes the value of integrating his/ her game with that of their teammates.
The award is presented by MVP Physical Therapy, known for offering some of the best sports therapy programs in the community utilizing a team approach. This includes both therapists and certified athletic trainers that focus on your athletic injuries while designing sport-specific and overall athletic rehab and training programs to meet your goals.
alisha Babbit
fastpitch, spanaway Lake high school
Alisha Babbitt, a standout on the softball diamond and at the bowling alley for Spanaway Lake High School is the Most Valuable Female Athlete for the 200607 school year.
Her list of softball accomplishments is both long and impressive. She was named the South Puget Sound League Most Valuable Pitcher in 2007 and earned all-star honors as well. She helped the Sentinels to a first place finish in the SPSL with a 7-0 pitching record, a 1.26 earned run average and a .405 batting average. When she wasn’t pitching she played second base for Spaanaway Lake High. She earned WIAA Athlete of the Week and was a Tacoma Athletic Commission (TAC) Athlete of the Month nominee.
During her junior year at SLHS she earned first team All-SPSL honors as a pitcher after compiling a 0.56 earned run average with 141 strikeouts while at the same time hitting .405. She also received TAC Athlete of the Month recognition.
During her sophomore year she was a second team All-SPSL pitcher with a 0.40 earned run average and a .446 batting average. Competing at the 2004 16A AFA Nationals, she won the Home Run Derby.
In addition to playing for her high school team, Alisha has played on multiple select fastpitch teams including Purple Haze, Bam Legends, Pacific Thunder, and Team Speed.
This past year, she also earned second team All-South Puget Sound League honors for the second straight year as a bowler and competed at districts. She was a state bowling tournament participant as a junior and was the team’s Most Improved Bowler as a sophomore.
In addition to earning top marks in fastpitch and bowling, Alisha also participated in cross country and volleyball.
Alisha, 18, will graduate this year from Spanaway Lake and will attend the University of Washington.
past Winners
2006 Kylie Marshall Volleyball Emerald Ridge HS
Isiah Thomas Basketball Curtis HS
Roman tinitali-pula football, Lincoln high school
Ever since he stepped onto the campus of Lincoln High School back in the Fall of 2003, “Roman has been a special player,” according to head football coach DJ Dobbins. Roman came to Lincoln highly regarded by his peers at the middle school level as well as through the boys club football ranks and although he was intent on playing quarterback, due to needs at running back he was willing to make the conversion.
After his first two seasons, Roman had accumulated over 1950 yards rushing and almost doubled that his junior year with another 1682 yards. Combine that with 19 TD’s, first team All-State, first team All-Area, and Narrows League MVP honors, it was not surprising when he was named Area Player of the Year by The News Tribune.
Roman finished his senior year with 1680 yards rushing and 24 TD’s which earned him first team All-Area and All-State plaudits and another Narrows League MVP title. Coach Dobbins observed that, “There is a burning desire within Roman that is only tapped out on the football field. Once he steps onto the field he steps into his own world. If I had three words to sum up Roman Tinitala-Pula it would be Perseverance, Determination, and Dedication.”
TAC FIRST FAMILY OF SPORTS AWARD
The First Family of Sports Award recognizes the contributions of parents, foster parents or guardians who instill and help maintain athletes’ successes.
From the “Hi Mom” TV wave at a sports event to more formal acknowledgement of family interest in and encouragement of sports from generation to generation, athletic achievement, whether in team or individual sports, is fostered by and also can foster family life.
FIRST FAMILY OF SPORTS AWARD RECIPIENTS
2006 Williams Family—Joe, Cleo, Joe, Jerry, Dave, Susan, and John
Names and their Games, Family Matters
Names are used by writers to identify people and their families but they don’t even come close to telling the whole story about them. We’ll attempt that here, but mere words hardly do justice. Suffice to say, if there is a first family of sports in Tacoma and Pierce County, the Scott Names “18” is enough for a golf course or team rosters in football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, even ice skating.
The Names Family‹Scott, Paula, Clint, Sis, and Tom.
Yes, the Names family name is synonymous with Tacoma sports and it has been since the 1920s, nearly nine decades ago. That family reference includes Scott, Sis, Sid, Paul, Tom, Clint, Paula, Erin, Beth, Monica, Rick, Kappy, Curtis, Kim, Aidan, Patrick, Kim and Trina. Did we leave any of them out?
Well, let’s go figure. You’ll probably get to meet
them all at the Banquet of Champions when they receive the First Family of Sports Award from the Williams family (last year’s initial family award winners). The award promises to be an annual form of recognition at future TAC-produced events like this and, before long, it will become apparent there are many Tacoma area homes where sports are all in the family.
It began with Scott, long before he was a championship player for the 1931 Stadium Tigers who won the state basketball title. As a youngster he was always shooting “hoops” and he never stopped until he was age 68 and his knees needed rest. As a matter of fact, Scott and his sons Tom and Clint played together on the same team in their golden years, combining for 198 years worth. Clint stopped playing when he reached 60 but Tom refused to quit until age 70.
When the Names weren’t on a basketball court they were on a golf course. It is doubtful that any local family ever won more honors in golf than the Names. Mom (nobody calls her anything but “Sis”) was the very first Women’s Senior State Champion. Scott couldn’t match that championship but he was one of Fircrest’s finest players while sons Tom and Clint won more than their share of titles.
Tom was Elks Allenmore Champion in 1959 and Fircrest Club Champion in 1972. He was three-time runner-up at Fircrest, once to brother Clint in the 70s. In 1976 he became President of Fircrest, and one of his big thrills was caddying for Arnold Palmer in the 1960 Carling Open. Clint’s golf career was amazing. He started playing at 11 years of age and claimed the Conference Championship in 1961 at the University of Washington. He won 12 Fircrest Championships, including eight in a row. He holds the competitive course record for an amateur at
Fircrest with a 63. He also won the Fircrest Amateur five times, three times in a row with two-round totals of 139. Pro golfer Ken Still assessed his ability by stating that he was the most natural athlete “I’ve ever been around”. Clint won the Pat Boone Celebrity Classic at Ocean Shores in 1969 and the Tacoma Golf Association Champion of Champions event in 1971.
The Names brothers grabbed even more recognition on the hardwood. Tom was the city scoring record-setter at Stadium before Clint broke that mark. He was a four-year letter winner at the University of Puget Sound. He was an all-Northwest AAU selection after college. Clint was captain and inspirational award winner at the UW where he and George Grant started at guards after doing the same at Stadium. He was a unanimous choice for All-State honors at Stadium where he scored 22 consecutive points for the Tigers in a 64-63 upset win at the state championships over #1 ranked Richland. The Seattle Times called his 39 points (18 for 28) the most outstanding performance in state tournament history at Hec Ed Pavilion.
As a youngster Clint may have been headed for baseball glory but golf and basketball interfered. In one “little league” game he struckout the side on nine pitches and came to bat in the next inning with the bases loaded. You guessed it, a grand slam!
We could go on with story after story but the rest of the family deserves mention here as well. Scott’s brothers, Sid and Paul, once played with Tom, Clint and Scott on a team of Names, all by that name. Scott’s history was highlighted by a 42-point scoring spree for the Tacoma Y which beat Seattle in a Northwest YMCA League game as a youngster.
It came in an era when most teams didn’t score 42 points.
Mustn’t leave out daughter Paula. She stayed close to sports in high school as a Wilson high cheerleader, and she has stayed active in slowpitch, volleyball, bicycling and kayaking. Most notable athletic achievement? Try a 19,340 foot climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro and three weeks of cycling the countryside in Vietnam.
What about the Names kids? Erin is a Soccer Mom of four, participating in basketball, baseball and soccer. Beth is an accomplished Ice Skater. Monica played Soccer at Bellarmine Prep and the U. of Portland. Grandpa Tom and wife Meg are mighty proud. So is great Grandma Evelyn (Sis to you).
Clint’s kids are Rick, who was All-City in basketball and golf at Foss high school and played both at Tacoma Community College; Kappy, who earned 9 letters in high school in 6 different sports in three years, and then played Soccer at PLU; Curtis, who played basketball and golf at Bellarmine; Aidan, an All-Conference player in both volleyball and basketball at Life Christian Academy; and Patrick, All-Conference in basketball at Bellarmine and basketball at TCC.
Scott
You might say “it’s all in the family” but the Names certainly rank among the most athletically-involved ever to participate in Tacoma and Pierce County. Athletics have been good to them as well. Scott opened a “hole in the wall” sports supply store in Lakewood in 1959 and it was the first in the nation to retail Nike shoes. That led to meeting Phil Knight when he was a shoe salesman in Portland, and a 1971 investment in a company called Sports Tek, Inc. In 1980 those shares were converted to common stock
Clint
Tom Scott, Paula, Tom and Clint
in a company which went public. That company was Nike. In 1983 the Names Family Foundation donated $1,074,675 to Bellarmine Prep for Names Gymnasium. A year later it donated $450,000 to help finance the Names Physical Education Center at PLU. The Names have continued to “give back” to the community with contributions to the YMCA, UPS, and the Boys and Girls Clubs. Second and third-generation family members are now involved in the foundation, and contributions are certain to continue long into the future.
Name names in sports here and, if you do, be sure to capitalize the N. The Names we’re talking about are special indeed.
First Family of Sports Award Selection Criteria
Selection Criteria:
1. Parents or guardians must have supported the efforts of their children in school and community activities.
2. Child/children must have made significant contributions at the local, state, regional or national sports scene.
3. Child/children should be able to demonstrate achievements or contributions designed to help improve the quality of life in the community they lived in.
4. All family members should be in good standing as members of the community.
5. Only members of immediate family are eligible for consideration. Extended family members through marriage, birth etc will not be considered as part of an immediate family (i.e. Mother, Father, and their children)
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DO YOU KNOW A FAMILY DESERVING OF THIS AWARD? Send in your nomination with a detailed explanation of why you think the family deserves to receive this honor. Include background information on both the parents and their children and be specific as to their community and school involvement. Please elaborate on how the parents supported their children in their school, sports and extra-curricular endeavors and any additional information that will support this nomination..
Submit nominations to: Tacoma Athletic Commission: PO Box 11304, Tacoma, WA 98411 or Email to: marc@tacomaathletic.com
Clint, Sis, Paula, and Tom
Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall Of Fame
Hall of Fame inductees 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, officials and support personnel (photographer, trainer, scorekeeper, groundskeeper etc) must demonstrate significant accomplishments/ contributions in their field for an extended length of time.
3. Individuals to be considered must be born and raised in Tacoma-Pierce County or must have maintained significant long-term residence in the community. Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the TPCHOF committee.
4. Other categories not listed will be considered on an individual basis by the committee. Nominations for future considerations, which should include a detailed description of the individual’s athletic career, are encouraged from the general public.
To submit a nomination, you may submit your information to marc@tacomaathletic.com or write to 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, Tacoma Athletic Commission members, and current HOF inductees will cast ballots to determine the new inductees who will be selected from an impressive list of candidates. Honorees will be recognized at an annual spring function.
2007 INDUCTEES FOR TACOMA-PIERCE COUNTY SPORTS HALL OF FAME
AUTO RACING
Pat Austin
Dick and Wanda Boness, Adminstrator
BASEBALL
Mike Blowers
Ed Hardenbrook, Coach
Vern Kohout
John Pregenzer
Pete Sabutis
BASKETBALL-MEN’S
Rich Hammermaster, Coach/Athlete
Jerry Clyde, Coach
Ron Crowe
BASKETBALLWOMEN’S
Jim Angelel, coach
Jerry DeLaurenti, coach
Chelle (Flamoe) Miller
Donya Monroe
BOWLING
Larry Fulton
Jerry Ledbetter
LuAnn Moore
BOXING
Johnny Bumphus
BROADCASTERS/ SPORTSWRITERS
Don Davison, Sportswriter
Dick Kunkle, Sportswriter
FIGURE SKATING
Al & Iria Beeler, Administrator/ Judge
Kathy Casey, Coach
FOOTBALL
Mike Baldassin
Pat Hoonan, Coach
Mike Levenseller
Roy McKasson
Ed Niehl, Coach
GOLF
Bob Johnson
GYMNASTICS
Tiffani (White) Rowland
MOTORCYCLE RACING
Bob Malley
OFFICIALS/UMPIRES
Wayne Gardner, Volleyball
Chuck Gilmur, Football/ Basketball Athlete
Ray Highsmith, Football
Dave Kerrone, Baseball, Football, Softball
RACQUETBALL
Sid Williams
SNOW SKIING
Joe LaPorte
SOAP BOX DERBY
David Krussow
Greg Schumacher
SOCCER
Brent Goulet
Colleen Hacker, Coach
Frank Hall, Coach/ Administrator
SOFTBALL—FASTPITCH
Jay Beach
Betty (Hart) Bland
SWIMMING
Sarah (Rudolph) Cole
Mike Stauffer, Coach/ Athlete
Dan Wolfrom, Coach
TRACK & FIELD
Donna Dennis
Keith Tinner
VOLLEYBALL
Karen Goff-Downs
Carla (Reyes) Redhair
WRESTLING
Vic Eshpeter
Ellsworth Finlayson
1982 CLOVER PARK
HIGH SCHOOL GIRL’S
BASKETBALL STATE CHAMPIONS
Jim Angelel (head coach)
Joel Parker (assistant coach)
Ruth (Rufener) Allen
Becky (Davis) Buchanan
Rhonda Chachere
Mary Ann Johnson
Michelle (Clark) Jones
Karen (Turner) Lee
Alison Lotspeich
Netra McGrew
Donya Monroe
Fifi Robidoux
Kathleen Schumock
Darlene Seeman
Kathy (Taylor) Shelby
TACOMA-PIERCE COUNTY SPORTS HALL OF FAME BY SPORT
ARCHERY
Harry Parker 1971 Archery/Football
Sonny Johns 2005
AUTO RACING
Tom Carstens 2006 Leo Dobry 2006 Pete Lovely 2006
BASEBALL
Bob Johnson 1957
Roy Johnson 1960
Paul Strand 1961
Jack Fournier 1962
George Wise 1963 Baseball/Golf
Cy Neighbors 1964
Marv Rickert 1964
Frank Tobin 1964
Dill Howell 1966
Ben B. Cheney (sponsor) 1968
Jesse Baker 1969
Lou Balsano 1969
Tony Banaszak Sr. 1969
Jimmy Claxton 1969
Dick Greco 1969
Walt Hagedorn 1969
Frank Hermsen 1969
Joe Hermsen 1969
Rick Johnson 1969 Baseball/Basketball
Lee Kierstad 1969
Bill Libke 1969
Cliff Marker 1969
Joey Peterson 1969
Frank Ruffo 1969
Jack Sonntag (coach) 1969
Lou Spadafore 1969
Ole Swinland 1969 Baseball/Basketball
Hal Votaw 1969
Jess Brooks 1971 Baseball/Football
Gordon Brunswick 1971 Baseball/Basketball/Football
Eddie Carlson 1971
Jimmy Ennis 1971 Baseball/Football
Ocky Haugland 1971
Neil Mazza 1971
Bobby McGuire 1971 Baseball/Basketball/Football
Vern Morris 1971 Baseball/Basketball/Football
Jimmy Mosolf 1971
Andy Nelson
Henry “Fat” Williams 1971
Art Berg
Floyd “Lefty” Isekite
Morry Abbott
Cey
Cy Greenlaw
Garry Hersey
Gordy Hersey
Jack Johnson
Bob Maguinez
Lornie Merkle
Cap Peterson
FB & BB Official
Marv Scott (coach) 2005
Wes Stock 2005
Ron Storaasli 2005 Baseball/Basketball/Football
Joe Stortini 2005 Baseball/Football/Slowpitch Softball
Steve Whitaker 2005
1956 Stanley Shoemen team 2005
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.
Rick Austin 2006
Earl Birnel 2006
Dale Bloom 2006
Dick Colombini 2006
Mike Dillon 2006
George Grant 2006
Earl Hyder 2006
Arley Kangas 2006
Earl Kuper 2006
Al Libke Jr. 2006
Bob Lightfoot (coach) 2006
Bill Mullen (coach) 2006
Harry Nygard 2006
Doug Sisk 2006
BASKETBALL
Marv Harshman 1958 Basketball/Football
Frank Wilson 1958
John Kennedy (coach/ref) 1962
Bill Vinson (coach) 1969 Basketball/Football
Vince Hanson 1971
Max Mika 1971 Basketball/Football
Harry Werbisky 1971 Basketball/Baseball/Football
Don Moseid (player/coach) 2005
Clint Names 2005 Basketball/Golf
Bruce Alexander (player/ref) 2005
Ron Billings (player/coach) 2005 Basketball/Football
Dan Inveen 2005 Basketball/Athletic Administrator/ FB & BB Official
Roger Iverson 2005
Gene Lundgaard (player/coach) 2005
Steve Matzen 2005
Harry McLaughlin 2005
Dean Nicholson (coach) 2005
Bob Sprague 2005
Vince Strojan 2005
Jim Van Beek 2005
Tom Whalen 2005
Charlie Williams 2005
Don Zech (coach) 2005
1976 UPS BB Team 2005
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.
Wayne Dalesky (coach) 2006
Bob Fincham (athlete/coach) 2006
Jim McKean 2006
Clarence Ramsey 2006
BOWLING
Ted Tadich 1962
Earl Anthony 2005
Nadine Fulton 2005
Earl Johnson 2005
Jeff Mattingly 2005
Bertha McCormick 2005
Jeanne Naccarato 2005
Margie (Junge) Oleole 2005
Dave Tuell Jr. 2005
Stella “Babe” Penowich 2006
Jim Stevenson 2006
BOXING
Freddie Steele 1957
Jack Connor 1963
Pat McMurtry 1965
Harold Bird 1967
Frankie “Chi-Chi” Britt 1972
Jim Rondeau 2005 Boxing (referee)/Athletic Administrator
Davey Armstrong 2005
Leo Randolph 2005
Sugar Ray Seales 2005
Joe Clough (coach) 2006
Mike McMurtry 2006
Davey Ward 2006
CREW
Dan Ayrault 2005
Jim Fifer 2005
George Hunt 2005
Bob Martin 2005
John Sayre 2005
FIGURE SKATING
Jack Boyle 2005
Patsy (Hamm) Dillingham 2005
Jerry Fotheringill 2005
Judi (Fotheringill) Fuller 2005
Jimmy Grogan 2005
Pat (Firth) Hansen 2005
John Johnsen (coach) 2005
Lois (Secreto) Schoettler 2005
FOOTBALL
Marv Tommervik (player/ref) 1958 Football/Baseball
John Heinrick (coach) 1959 Football/Basketball
Cliff Olson (coach) 1959 Basketball/Administrator
Joe Salatino 1959 Football/Baseball
Leo Artoe 1961
Phil Sarboe (coach) 1962
Frank Gillihan (athlete/ref) 1963
Don Paul 1963
Al Ruffo 1964
Football/Baseball/Basketball
Ernie Tanner 1964 Football/Baseball/Track
Myron “Chief” Carr (coach) 1965 Football/Track
Chuck Horjes 1969
Carl Sparks (coach) 1969
Mike Tucci Sr. (coach) 1969
Dug Dyckman 1971
Harold “Ox” Hansen 1971
Al Hopkins (coach) 1971
Wes Hudson 1971
Everett Jensen 1971
Vern Pedersen 1972 Football/Swimming
Roy Sandberg (coach) 1972
Frank Spear 1972
John Anderson (coach) 2005
Gerry Austin (coach) 2005
Sam Baker 2005
Ralph Bauman 2005
Frank “Buster” Brouillet 2005 Football/Basketball
Dick Brown 2005 Football/Basketball
Ole Brunstad 2005
Luther Carr 2005 Football/Baseball
Andy Carrigan 2005
Don D’Andrea 2005
Ed Fallon (coach) 2005
Fred Forsberg 2005
Doug Funk (coach) 2005
John Garnero 2005 Football/Track/Basketball
Tommy Gilmer 2005 Football/Track
Vince Goldsmith 2005 Football/Track
Billy Joe Hobert 2005 Football/Baseball
Ray Horton 2005
Mike Huard (coach) 2005
Glenn Huffman 2005 Football/Basketball/Baseball
Norm Iverson 2005
Jim Jones 2005 Football/Track
Eldon Kyllo 2005
Bob Levinson (coach) 2005 Football/Track
Norm Mayer (coach) 2005
Tommy Mazza 2005
Ron Medved 2005
Bob Mitchell 2005
Don Moore 2005
George Nordi (coach) 2005
Carl Opolsky 2005
Joe Peyton 2005 Football/Basketball/Track
Earl Platt 2005 Football/Basketball/Baseball
Ahmad Rashad 2005 Football/Basketball/Track
Jerry Redmond (coach) 2005
Mark Ross (athlete/coach) 2005
Bob Ryan (coach) 2005
Fred Swendsen 2005
Gene Walters 2005
Clyde Werner 2005
Frosty Westering (coach) 2005
Dave Williams 2005 Football/Track
Warren Wood 2005
John Zamberlin 2005
1944 Lincoln backfield 2005 Backfield includes Al Malanca, Dean Mellor, Len Kalapus, and Bob McGuire.
Gail Bruce 2006
Phil Carter 2006
Rod Giske 2006
Robert Iverson Sr. 2006
Tim McDonough 2006
Tom Merritt 2006
Jack Newhart 2006
Jerry Thacker 2006
Billy Sewell 2006
Paul Skansi 2006
Jim Vest 2006
ArtViafore 2006
Jerry Williams 2006
1980 PLU Football Team 2006
Mike Agostini, Tom Amos, Eric Anderson, John Bley, Paul Berghuis, Ken Bush, Eric Carlson, Jeff Chandler, Scott Davis, Todd Davis, Dean DeMulling, Eric Dooley, Mike Durrett, Travis Eckert, Guy Ellison, Jim Erickson, Donn Falconer, Greg Farley, John Feldmann, Jay Freisheim, Chris Fritsch, Don Gale, Don Garoutte, Jay Halle, Dan Harkins, Rob Haskin, Dale Holland, Phil Jerde, Joel Johnson, Scott Kessler, Steve Kirk, Dave Knight, Mark Lester, Tim Lusk, Dennis McDonough, Scott McKay, Chris Miller, Eric Monson, Neal Otto, Martin Parkhurst, Mike Peterson, Dave Reep, Brian Rockey, Curt Rodin, Glen Rohr, Greg Rohr, Jeff Rohr, Rocky Ruddy, Jeff Shumake, Kevin Skogen, Rob Speer, Barry Spomer, Dave Turner, Chris Utt, Rich Vjranes, Tim Wahl, Tom Wahl, Kirk Walker, Jeff Walton, Garth Warren, Mark Warren, Mike Warsinske, Chris Weber, Scott Westering, Mike Westmiller, Craig Wright, Frosty Westering (head coach), Paul Hoseth (coach), Mark Clinton (coach), Larry Green (coach), Steve Kienberger (coach), Reid Katzung (coach), and Gary Nicholson( trainer).
GOLF
Charles Congdon 1960
Charles D. Hunter 1960
Shirley (McDonald) Fopp 1962 Golf/Skiing
Jack Walters 1963
Shirley Baty 2005
Ockie Eliason 2005
John Harbottle 2005
Pat Lesser-Harbottle 2005
Joan (Allard) Mahon 2005
Marjorie (Jeffries) Shanaman 2005
Ken Still 2005
Ruth (Canale) Ward 2005
Amy Lou (Murray) Young 2005
Al Feldman 2006
GYMNASTICS
Roni (Barrios)Mejia 2005
Yumi Mordre 2005
Onnie (Willis) Rogers 2005
HANDBALL
Gordy Pfeifer 2005 Handball/Slowpitch Softball
HOCKEY
Neil Andrews 2005
Joey Johns 2005 Hockey/Fastpitch Softball
Dick Milford 2005 Hockey
HORSE RACING
Harry Deegan 1969
HUNTING
Marcus Nalley 1963
HYDROPLANE RACING
George Henley 2005
Armand Yapachino 2005
MOTORCYCLE RACING
Don McLeod 2005 Motorcycle Racing/Auto Racing/Roller Skating
MOUNTAINEERING
Lute Jerstad 2005 Mountaineering/Basketball
Lou Whittaker 2006
Dee Molenaar 2006
OFFICIAL
Marty Erdahl 2006
Merle Hagbo 2006
Jerry Snarski 2006
ROLLER SKATING
Lanny (Adams) Werner 2005
Tom Peterson 2006
Lin Peterson 2006
SOCCER
John Best (coach/admin) 2005
Jeff Durgan 2005
Dori Kovanen 2005
Mark Peterson 2005
Jeff Stock 2005
Dan Swain (coach) 2006
SOFTBALL
Lloyd Blanusa 2005 Fastpitch
Vern From 2005 Fastpitch
George Karpach 2005 Fastpitch
Louise Mazzuca 2005 Fastpitch
Jack Hermsen 2006 Fastpitch
Art Lewis 2006 Fastpitch
Vern Martineau 2006 Fastpitch
Kathy Hemion 2006 Slowpitch/Basketball/Volleyball
SNOW SKIING
Gretchen Kunigk-Fraser 1957
SWIMMING
Don Duncan (coach) 2005
Janet (Buchan) Elway 2005
Kaye Hall-Greff 2005
Dave Hannula 2005
Dick Hannula Sr. (coach) 2005
Bob Jackson 2005 Swimming/Football
Chuck Richards 2005 Swimming/ Pentathlon
Miriam (Smith) Greenwood 2005
Dick Hannula, Jr. 2006
Dan Hannula 2006
Dan Seelye 2006
TENNIS
Wally Scott 1959
Mike Benson (coach) 2005
Don Flye 2005
Pat Galbraith 2005
Dave Trageser 2005
Sonja Olejar 2006
TRACK & FIELD
Herman Brix 1961 Shot Put
Gertrude Wilhelmsen 1971 Javelin, Discus
Doris (Severtson) Brown Heritage 2005 Running
Casey Carrigan 2005 Pole Vault
Jim Daulley (coach) 2005
Sterling Harshman 2005 Track/Football
Dana LeDuc 2005 Shot Put
Mark Smith 2005 Discus
Chuck Soper 2005 Javelin/Discus
Dan Watson (coach) 2005
Mac Wilkins 2005 Shot Put, Discus
Robert A. “RAB” Young 2005 Race Walking
Mitch Angelel (coach) 2006
Hal Berndt 2006
Bob Ehrenheim (coach) 2006
Jack Fabulich 2006
Ericka Harris 2006
Sam Ring 2006
Darrell Robinson 2006
Rob Webster 2006
VOLLEYBALL
Lauri (Wetzel) Hayward 2005 Volleyball/Basketball
Sarah (Silvernail) Elliott 2005
Cindy (Pitzinger) Willey 2005
Lisa Beauchene 2006
Lorrie Post Hodge 2006
WRESTLING
Frank Stojack 1959 Wrestling/Football
Jerry Conine 2005 Wrestling/Football
Bob Hunt 2005 Wrestling/Football/Track
Jim Meyerhoff 2005
David Olmstead 2005
Jeff Gotcher 2005
Larry Gotcher 2005
Ron Ellis 2006
Bill Stout (athlete/coach) 2006
SPORTS WRITERS/BROADCASTERS
Elliott Metcalf 1966
Dan Walton 1968
John McCallum 1971
Ed Honeywell 1972
Rod Belcher 2005
Jerry Geehan 2005 Don Hill 2005
Clay Huntington 2005 Sportswriter/Broadcaster
Earl Luebker 2005
Bob Robertson 2005
ADMINISTRATORS
Bob Hager 1969
Harold “Wah” Keller 1969
Tom Cross 2005 Athletic Administrator/Basketball/BB & FB Official
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
For more information contact Clay Huntington, Executive Director at KLAY1180@blarg.net or at 253-581-0324 or Marc Blau, Assistant Executive Director, at 253-848-1360 or marc@tacomaathletic.com.
VISIT THE STATE HALL OF FAME AT WWW.WASHINGTONSPORTSHALLOFFAME.COM
STATE OF WASHINGTON SPORTS HALL OF FAME ROSTER
1960-2006
BASKETBALL
BASEBALL
Earl Averill 1964
Mike Blowers 2005
Ed Brandt 1989
George Burns 1974
Ron Cey 1994
Harlond Clift 1977
Ira Flagstead 2003
Jack Fournier 1979
Vean Gregg 1963
Jeff Heath 1974
Fred Hutchinson 1962
Woody Jensen 1989
Bob Johnson 1964
Earl Johnson 1983
Roy Johnson 1978
Hubert “Hub” Kittle 2003
Amos Rusie 1986
Ryne Sandberg 2003
Ron Santo 1983
Gerry Staley 1977
Wes Stock 1994
Mel Stottlemyre 1989
Earl Torgeson 1969
Edo Vanni 2005
George “Rube” Walberg 1978
Ray Washburn 1979
Joyner “JoJo” White 1980
Sammy White 1980
Elgin Baylor 1962
Gale Bishop 1968
Frank Burgess 2004
Gene Conley 1979
Bobby Galer 1979
Marv Harshman 1994
Steve Hawes 2004
Bob Houbregs 1969
Hal Lee 1974
Paul Lindeman 1994
Bill Morris 1983
Jack Nichols 1965
Eddie O’Brien 1967
Johnny O’Brien 1967
Doug Smart 1994
Fred Brown 1997
Jack Sikma 1998
BOAT RACING
Bill Muncey 1986
Stan Sayres 1996
Billy Schumacher 1979
BOWLING
Earl Anthony 1994
BOXING
Al Hostak 1965
Freddie Steele 1961
Pat McMurtry 2006
FOOTBALL
Chuck Allen 1983
Morris “Red” Badgro 1967
Sam Baker 1977
Jimmie Cain 1997
Hugh Campbell* 1994
Tony Canadeo 1974
Chuck Carroll 1965
Gail Cogdill 1989
Turk Edwards 1968
Ray Flaherty 1963
Ray Frankowski 1994
Ed Goddard 1983
Mel Hein 1961
Don Heinrich 1974
Steve Largent 1999
Keith Lincoln 1980
Vic Markov 1977
Ray Mansfield 1997
Hugh McElhenny 1963
Butch Meeker 1964
Terry Metcalf 2004
Don Paul 1978
Ahmad Rashad 1996
Rick Redman 1994
George Reed 1983
Bob Schloredt 1996
Paul Schwegler 1986
Ernie Steele 1977
Harland Svare 1969
LaVern Torgeson* 1994
Arnie Weinmeister 1970
Jerry Williams* 1994
George Wilson 1960
*denotes outstanding coaching qualifications as well..
GOLF
Joanne Gunderson Carner 1994
Chuck Congdon 1978
Rod Funseth 1999
Harry Givan 1970
Pat Lesser-Harbottle 1999
Anne Quast Sander 1997
Ken Still 1994
Marvin “Bud” Ward 1963
Jack Westland 1983
HANDBALL
Gordy Pfeifer 1994
HOCKEY
Frank Foyston 1986
HORSE RACING
Basil James 1967
SHOOTING
Arnold Reigger 1964
SKIING
Gretchen Kunigk-Fraser 1960
Phil Mahre 1996
Steve Mahre 1996
Olav Ulland 1966
SWIMMING
Kaye Hall Greff 1983
Dick Hannula 1994
Helene Madison 1960
Jack Medica 1962
TENNIS
Tom Gorman 1997
Janet Hopps-Adkisson 1998
“Trish” Bostrom 2006
TRACK & FIELD
Herman Brix
Gerry Lindgren
Mac Wilkins
Brian Sternberg
Doris Severtsen Brown
SPORTSWRITERS & BROADCASTERS
Rod Belcher 1999
Bob Blackburn 2001
Royal Brougham 1968
Clay Huntington 1999
Les Keiter 2001
Leo Lassen
John McCallum
Georg Meyers
Harry Missildine
Dave Niehaus
Vince O’Keefe
Milt Woodard 1989
COACHES
& ADMINISTRATORS
Enoch Bagshaw, Football Coach 1983
Buck Bailey, Baseball Coach 1966
Fred “Doc” Bohler, Athletic Director and Football and Track Coach 1986
Vincent “Nig” Borleske, Football, Basketball, and Baseball Coach 1960
Rusty Callow, Crew Coach 1964
John Chaplin, Track & Field Coach 2005
Ben B. Cheney, Philanthrophy-Baseball 2004
John Cherberg, Football Coach 2006
Hiram Conibear, Crew Coach 1960
Harry Deegan, Administrator-Horse Breeding 1970
Gil Dobie, Football Coach 1961
Clarence “Hec” Edmundson, Basketball and Track Coach 1966
Jack Friel, Basketball Coach 1978
Joe Gottstein, Administrator—Horse Racing 1977
John Heinrick, Football, Basketball, and Baseball Coach 1969
Babe Hollingbery, Football Coach 1962
Don James, Football Coach 1998
Stan Naccarato, Promoter-General Manager 2004
Bill Nollan, Football, Baseball, Basketball and Track Coach 1978
Jim Owens, Football Coach 1989
Jimmy Phelan, Football Coach 1970
Torchy Torrance, Administrator—Baseball 1989
Al Ulbrickson, Crew Coach 1963
Hall Of Fame Rings Now Available To Honorees
The Tacoma Athletic Commission and Jostens, the largest supplier of Honor Rings and Championship Rings in the industry, have teamed up to create an Honor Ring to commemorate induction into the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame.
The TAC has worked with Jostens to secure a promotional cost for these rings of only $150.00 for a White Lustrium Metal ring. These rings are the same quality as Super Bowl or World Series Championship rings.
Each inductee has the opportunity to order an Honor Ring and all past inductees will also have a chance to order one of these unique rings as well. For further information or a brochure contact Marc Blau at 253-848-1360 or at marc@tacomaathletic.oom. For orders, call Peter Bauernfeind at 509-468-1608 or at jostenspete@gmail.com.
The TAC supports sports and the youth of Pierce County, And the TAC Needs You
If supporting youth and sports in Tacoma-Pierce County is appealing to you, joining the Tacoma Athletic Commission should be a “no-brainer”. No other sports-oriented organization in Pierce County ever has done more for our kids and their sports, and the TAC is about to begin its 65th year of doing just that
Nearly $5 million has been donated to schools, recreation departments, boys and girls clubs, deserving teams and individual athletes during that time thanks to TAC dues and special events staged by Commission members.
Among the fund-raisers which the TAC supports or sponsors are this Banquet of Champions, the Shanaman Sports Museum of Tacoma-Pierce County, the annual Golden Gloves amateur boxing show, a TAC Golf Tournament, and Touchdown Time, a gathering of local high school football teams each September.
In terms of honors and awards, the TAC conducts the High School Athlete of the Month Award ceremonies three times a year, selects both a male and female Athlete of the Year from those ranks (each receive TAC college scholarships) and awards the Clay Huntington Sports Communication Scholarship. The Dick Hannula Award is another TAC honor, given to the Amateur Athlete of the Year in Pierce County. Tonight’s induction of new members into the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame is another TAC tribute to sports in our community
If the TAC is destined to continue its efforts of support, it needs the help of civic-minded, sportsminded citizens like you. A TAC individual membership or a TAC Corporate/Business Membership is the ideal way to assist this worthwhile cause. An application below will enable you to join now. Or you may locate an application form on line at www.tacomaathletic.com. For information, contact TAC membership chairman Doug McArthur at 253-759-1124 or via email at dougmc@nventure.com
Individual Membership - $100, Corporate Contributions - $250, $500, $1000, $2500, $5000. Enclose check. Mail to: Tacoma Athletic Commission, Box 11304, Tacoma, WA 98411
Morris McCullum Owner
Inductees Into The Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall Of Fame Class Of 2007
Jim Angelel
Jim Angelel was born with a love for athletics, and coaching was in his family line – his father, Mitch, was one of the Pierce County’s greatest high school track & field coaches. Jim was born on Aug. 16, 1939 in Seattle, and by the time he was at Tacoma’s Stadium High School he was an accomplished guard in basketball and high jumper in track & field. He competed in track at the University of Washington, from where he graduated in 1961, and immediately settled into teaching and coaching.
Jim worked as a teacher and coach in the Shoreline School District for two years, then made the move to the Clover Park School District, where he worked as a science teacher, coach and athletic administrator for the next 31 years.
During his tenure at Clover Park, her served as an assistant coach for football, boys basketball and boys track and was a head coach for boys track (16 years), girls basketball (four years) and cross country (one year). In addition, he served as the school’s athletic director from 1981 until his retirement in 1996.
As a basketball player at Stadium he had experienced success, helping the Tigers to a third-place finish at the 1957 state tournament. He also enjoyed success as a coach: he was an assistant coach for the 1968 boys track team that won the state title, and his 1974 and 1978 track teams placed second at state. His track squads won 10 South Puget Sound League championships and two West Central District titles. He produced many state individual and relay champions during his tenure at Clover Park High.
And then there was girls basketball. It probably came as no great surprise that the 1981-82 Clover Park girls team won the AAA state title while compiling a 24-1 record. The previous year, Angelel’s team placed fifth at the state tournament after winning the regional title. What was surprising is that the 1982 squad won the state title after placing third at the regional tournament as a result of a loss to Bellevue. Following the 1982 season, Angelel was named South Puget Sound League Girls Basketball Coach of the Year, the News Tribune Girls Basketball Coach of the Year, and the Pepsi/State Coaches Association Girls Coach of the Year, an award that covered all girls sports.
Pat Austin
A Tacoma native born on Nov. 12, 1964, Pat Austin was an outstanding athlete at Franklin Pierce High School, twice winning the state shot put championship. That’s not, however, what he is best known for. Austin is one of the most accomplished drag racers in the sport’s history, earning distinction from the National Hot Rod Association as the 13th best driver in the organization’s first 50 years of existence. The NHRA labels him as “the most successful drag racer born after the 1940s and the best driver of his generation.” Austin is a fourtime NHRA world champion, and with 75 NHRA national event titles he ranks fourth on the organization’s all-time victory list.
After unprecedented success in regional competition – he won 90 percent of the races he entered in the Northwest – Pat picked up his first national win in 1986 and his first national championship in 1987. From 1987 to 1991, Austin appeared in 57 national event finals and won 43. He was the first driver to win eliminator titles in two classes (Top Fuel and Alcohol Funny Car) in the same event, a feat he accomplished in Topeka, Kan., and Phoenix. Austin was the first driver to clock a 250-mile per hour run in an Alcohol Funny Car and also the first to put down a run in the 5.50-second range. Before retiring, he competed in the Federal-Mogul Funny Car category and was a 16-time world record holder.
Mike Baldassin
Mike Baldassin, born on July 26, 1955 in Tacoma, went on to a professional football career before becoming a successful high school football coach in his hometown.
At Wilson High, Baldassin was team captain, Most Valuable Player, Most Inspirational and earned first team All-City honors as a football linebacker. He also played in the 1973 East-West Shrine All-Star Game. On the baseball field, he was a three-year letter winner, All-City third baseman in 1973 and a Pierce County All-Star Game participant. He is a member of the Wilson High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Baldassin played football at the University of Washington where he was a team captain, Most Improved, Most Inspirational, earned four letters, and as a senior led the nation with 200 tackles. He currently ranks third in UW football history for tackles in a season and is sixth with 360 career tackles. He went on to play for the National Football League’s San Francisco 49ers from 1977-79 and was the special teams captain during the first two years.
After his playing career ended, Baldassin was a police officer in both Oakland and Seattle before becoming a teacher and coach. He has taught and coached football at Bellarmine Prep since 1992. As Bellarmine’s head coach from 1996-2002, he earned awards including 1996 National Football Foundation Coach of the Year for Pierce County, 2000 Tacoma News Tribune All-Area Coach of the Year, and 1997, 2000 and 2002 Narrows League Coach of the Year.
Jay Beach
Jay Beach, who was born March 30, 1935 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, graduated from Stadium High School, where he was a baseball infielder, in 1953.
He made his name in the Tacoma sports scene as a fastpitch softball standout, starting in 1958 with the Dugout Drive-In. Over the years he played for numerous other teams including Ray Roberts VFW, Puget Sound Bank, West End Tavern, Rohr Aviation, Ruth Realty and Pay’n Pak. From 1972-75 he played for Manke & Sons, providing talent and veteran experience to the team that won the 1974 Pacific Northwest Regional Championship played in Spokane. The victory qualified the team for the national fastpitch tournament in Clearwater, Fla., where Beach hit .333 for Manke & Sons. In addition to the team success, Beach earned all-star honors in numerous tournaments in Washington and Oregon. Beach concluded his fastpitch career in 1979 with B&I Sports. An excellent golfer, he served as the assistant pro at Lake Spanaway Golf Course for nine years and is currently at Elk Run Golf Course in Maple Valley.
Al & Iria Beeler
Al and Iria were the driving force that kept the Lakewood Winter Club and the Lakewood Ice Arena together from 1960-1982. They started going to the ice arena in 1953 when their daughter, Marianne, started skating. Iria started working at the rink as a bookkeeper in 1954 and became the manager in 1968, a job she held until the rink closed in 1982. Al became very active in the club and was president for eight years. He also held other offices such as treasurer and test chairman, and he served on the Board of Directors for more than 25 years. He became interested in judging and earned his Gold judge credentials, which qualified him to judge Gold figure and freestyle tests, the highest possible level. He was also very involved in the annual ice shows and spent countless hours building props. He also worked tirelessly when the LWC hosted the 1987 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Tacoma. When the Lakewood Ice Arena collapsed in 1982, Al worked hard to forge a relationship with Pierce County Parks & Recreation Department, allowing the LWC to transfer its operation to Sprinker Recreation Center. Sprinker has been the LWC’s home for the past 25 years. The Beeler Award, named for Al and Iria, is given to the skater judged to present the most artistic performance within the club.
Betty Hart Rowan Bland
Born Aug. 31, 1923 in Tacoma, Betty (Hart Rowan) Bland graduated from Stadium High School in 1941. At the age of 19, Betty started playing fastpitch softball beginning as a rightfielder with Lincoln Electric in 1942. She played a big role in the team winning a state championship in 1945, a feat that the squad duplicated in 1946.
Lincoln Electric won the local league championship before going on to take the state titles under the guidance of coach Bob Huegel. Tony Riconiscuito, owner of Lincoln Electric and brother of team member Marian Ricono, agreed to sponsor the team. Practices and home games were played at Jefferson Playfield and generally drew a good crowd. Road games often meant trips to Seattle, Canada or Bremerton, the latter of which they reached by ferry. Lincoln Electric played 1944 national champion Lind-Pomeroy from Portland and ace pitcher Betty Evans for the right to go to nationals, but the local squad managed just one hit and two total base runners in two games.
The 1946 state tournament championship, played at the Sumner High School athletic field, featured a battle between league rivals Lincoln Electric and Sumner AC “Maids.” The “Electrics” piled up 34 runs in three games to advance to the title contest, while Sumner, in only its second season, lost its opener to Spokane B.O.F. and was forced to win three straight to get a shot at Lincoln Electric. The Maids held down the Electrics in winning the first game, 8-4, but the Electrics regained their offensive prowess with a 15-8 decision in the finale.
A rightfielder by trade, Betty also played for another top club, the Sumner Athletic Club. She didn’t limit her athletic participation to fastpitch, however, also playing city league basketball for Big Six Service Station as well as the Red Streaks and Blue Streaks basketball teams as well.
Betty’s recollections of wearing flannel uniforms for softball and satin shorts and tops for basketball are as vivid as playing basketball games at the Tacoma Armory and baseball games at Jefferson Playfield, where spectators were plentiful in the 1940’s as television had yet to be an option. Road games included teams in Seattle and Canada and an occasional ferry ride to Bremerton since the Narrows Bridge didn’t exist. By 1952, Betty was answering to three children and her glove, cleats and uniform went into retirement.
Mike Blowers
Mike Blowers, born April 24, 1965 in Wurzburg, German, enjoyed an 11-year major league baseball career, including three stints with the team he grew up watching and following, the Seattle Mariners.
At Bethel High School, Blowers earned All-South Puget Sound League first team honors as a junior and senior, and he was the league’s MVP as a senior after hitting .411 and belting seven homers. An outstanding athlete, Blowers also lettered in basketball and golf at Bethel.
Blowers played two seasons at Tacoma CC, receiving first team all-league and all-state honors in 1985 after hitting .389 with seven homers. In his one season at Washington, 1986, Blowers earned first team AllPac-10 Northern Division honors as a shortstop. Starting each of the Huskies’ 48 games, he led the division in all of the “triple crown” categories: batting average (.383), home runs (16) and RBI (59). The home run and RBI totals were school records that lasted 13 and seven years, respectively.
Blowers was drafted three times – including Seattle in the 1984 free agent draft – before signing as a shortstop with the Montreal Expos in the 10th round of the 1986 draft, Converted to third base a year later, Blowers was eventually traded to the New York Yankees and made his major league debut on Sept. 1, 1989, against the Angels. The Mariners made a deal for Blowers in 1991, and after spending most of the ’92 season at Calgary in the Pacific Coast League, he made the 1993 Mariners squad out of spring training as a non-roster invitee.
Blowers set career highs in hits (113), doubles (24), home runs (23) and runs batted in (96) during the Mariners’ magical 1995 run to a division title and a spot in the American League Championship series. That year, he hit three grand slams and drove in 33 runs during August, matching the feat he first accomplished in 1993.
He later played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, again with the Mariners, and finally with the Oakland Athletics before retiring from Major League Baseball.
Dick And Wanda Boness
In the 1956, Dick Boness and his brother, Fred, Jr., convinced their parents, Fred and Nina, that the family dairy farm would be a good site for a race track. The family’s farm was located on the site of Mile B Speedway and despite the fact that that track had been closed for years; the outline was still visible in the pasture land. Dick prevailed and opened a ½ mile dirt track that fall. After being shortened to ¼ mile and paved, Spanaway Speedway became the longest lived racing facility in Pierce County.
In the 40+ years that Dick and Wanda operated Spanaway Speedway, the facility hosted nearly every form of motor sport. National organizations like NASCAR and USAC conducted events at Spanaway as did virtually every other local racing association. The track not only provided a consistent home for family oriented entertainment but also served as the proving ground for many racers on their way to national prominence. Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope raced at Spanaway before moving to the south, USAC Silver Crown and NASCAR Truck Champion Mike Bliss raced both midgets and supermodifieds at Spanaway. Seven time Indy 500 driver Davey Hamilton raced in the midgets and Indy 500 winner Tom Sneva ran supermodifieds before moving to the mid-west. West Coast stock car legend Ron Eaton has said he learned how to race at Spanaway and NASCAR drivers Randy Tolsma (who also raced USAC open wheel cars), Chad Little and Dirk Stephens all tested the tight bull ring early in their careers. Local stars Don McLeod and Ken Longley were named the top drivers in Spanaway Speedway history with Jackie Kuper also in the top five. Other top local competitors included Dennis Kitts, three generations of the Sauls family and Rick Moss. Anyone who raced in the northwest eventually raced Spanaway.
Dick and Wanda also built Olympia Tenino Speedway (now South Sound Speedway) near Tenino and operated both Ephrata (WA) and Stateline (ID) Speedways during their long association with local auto racing. Dick and Wanda sold the track, which is now a housing development, in 2003 and retired to their Eatonville home. Very few people have had the impact on any local sport that Dick and Wanda Boness had on Tacoma/Pierce County auto racing.
Johnny Bumphus
Johnny “Bump City” Bumphus, born in Tacoma on Aug. 17, 1960, had one of the finest professional boxing careers of any fighter to come out of Tacoma.
A southpaw who fought in the light welterweight division, Bumphus won 29 fights, including 20 by knockout, while losing only two in a 31-bout professional career. That career started on Nov. 8, 1980, with a technical knockout (TKO) of Mike Michaud. He won his first 22 professional fights, including five straight wins either by knockout or TKO.
While the seeds of his road to “world champion” were planted when Bumphus started fighting at age eight in the Tacoma Boys Club, it was when he signed with manager Lou Duva that Bumphus rose from good fighter to a world champion. Bumphus became the first Duva-managed fighter to earn a world title when he won a 15round unanimous decision over Lorenzo Garcia for Aaron Pryor1s vacant WBA light welterweight title on Jan. 22, 1984. Bumphus was also the first of four fighters out of Tacoma who went on to win professional titles.
Bumphus lost the title – his first defeat as a professional – in his next outing against Gene Hatcher, who won by TKO in the 11th round of a scheduled 15-round bout. Bumphus won his next seven contests before losing to Lloyd Honeyghan in his final pro fight for the WBC and IBF welterweight titles.
Prior to going professional, Bumphus compiled a remarkable 341-16 record as an amateur fighter. He won the 1977 national AAU featherweight championship, the 1979 National Golden Gloves title at 132 pounds, and the national AAU title in 1980. He also earned a spot on the 1980 Olympic team at 139 pounds, but the U.S. team did not compete because of a boycott. Later that year he entered the professional ranks.
Kathy Casey
Kathy Casey started figure skating at age 12 in her hometown of Great Falls, Montana. She fell in love with the sport and competed successfully in regional and sectional competitions, but never at nationals. That passion for skating, however, turned into a long and illustrious career as one of the country’s top figure skating coaches. She got her coaching start at the Lakewood Winter Club in 1962, determined to keep alive a tradition of outstanding skaters coming out of the LWC. During Casey’s 28-year stay in Pierce County, including eight years coaching at Sprinker Recreation Center, she coached Jill Sawyer of Lakewood, the 1978 Junior World champion. Casey was school figures coach for Seattle’s Rosalynn Sumners, a three-time U.S. Senior Ladies champion, 1983 world champion and 1984 Olympic silver medalist at Sarajevo. Casey enjoyed coaching success with other skaters such as Donna Albert, Staci Loop, Jim White, Marcy Sulenes, Scott Williams, Scott Kurttila and Scott Davis. When Casey departed in 1990 to become skating director at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo., Davis followed her, eventually winning U.S. men’s titles in 1993 and 1994 and finishing sixth at the 1993 World Championships. In addition to coaching at three Olympic Games, World Championships, Junior World Championships, and other international and national competitions, she was President of the Professional Skaters Association for six years and served a term on the Olympic Coaches Committee. Casey was awarded the 2005 Sports Science Coach of the Year by the US Olympic Committee and currently conducts Kathy Casey Seminars around the world for figure skaters and coaches.
Jerry Clyde
Jerry Clyde, born Aug. 29, 1939 in Auburn, was a prep basketball and baseball standout who later went on to become one of the finest high school basketball coaches in Pierce County sports history. After graduating in 1964 from Seattle Pacific, where he started on the basketball team as a freshman, Clyde ended up in Orting where he started his teaching and coaching career. As a junior varsity coach for three years, he led his teams to a cumulative 54-6 record. During a 26-year tenure as the Orting High School boy’s basketball coach, he compiled an incredible 390-192 record. He led the Cardinals to 13 league championships and five titles in 20 district playoff appearances. Orting reached the state tournament 12 times under Clyde’s tutelage, winning the state championship in 1983. From 1982-85, Clyde’s Orting teams compiled an 80-18 record. Throw in his three seasons at the JV level, and Clyde enjoyed an outstanding 444-198 combined record. Clyde earned numerous league and district coaching honors throughout his career, and twice was named state Coach of the Year. He received the state’s top recognition with his induction into the Washington State Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1997.
Ron Crowe
An all-state basketball player who later went on to play at the University of Washington and Western Washington University, Ron Crowe was born May 11, 1938 in Tacoma. He earned all-state honors in both 1955 and 1956 at Puyallup High School, averaging 18.5 points per game during a senior season in which led the Vikings to a fifth-place state finish. He played freshman basketball at UW and participated on the Huskies varsity team for two years, serving a role as the team’s “sixth man” in 1958.
After transferring to Western Washington for his final collegiate season, Crowe led the Vikings to their firstever NAIA national tournament appearance in 1960. He earned honorable mention All-America, Washington state all-star and All-Evergreen conference honors that season, setting school records for most points in a game and a season (he averaged 20.7 points per game) and also for most free throws made in a season, a mark that stood for 46 years. He also established a new Evergreen Conference scoring record. He is a member of the WWU Athletic Hall of Fame and was voted to the school’s All-Century Men’s Basketball Team.
Owner of the Ron Crowe Insurance Agency and Puyallup’s only three-term mayor (1984-90), he has stayed involved in the local sports scene for more than 20 years as a radio color commentator.
Don Davison
Don Davison states that his claim to sports “fame” is serving as the manager for Renton High School’s boys basketball state championship team – the first of four won by the school – in 1953.
For Davison, who was born May 29, 1936 in Quincy, Ill., there obviously is a much more significant reason that he enters the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame. As part of the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association’s centennial observance, Davison conducted long hours of research on state tournament team and individual results dating back to the start of each of the organization’s 24 sports, encompassing as many as 100 enrollment classifications annually. For example, his research took him back to the 1923 boys basketball season and to 1924 for boys track. The data that he compiled became the basis for the history portion of the WIAA website.
The work continues as Davison is now researching and compiling statewide football and basketball standings from the last 50 years. He also supports the WIAA by posting scores and schedules for its postseason football and basketball internet sites, as well as results and statistics for the state football and track & field championships.
For this work, Davison became the first recipient of the Curt and Chee Chee Bruskland Service Award, presented by the WIAA to “individuals who exemplify the ultimate in service to the WIAA.” He also received the John Cherberg Award from the PEMCO Northwest All-Sports Clinic “for dedicated service to high school athletes in the state of Washington.”
For 40 years until Davison retired in 2001, the sports community in Pierce County also benefited from his efforts as a sports reporter and copy editor for the Tacoma News Tribune. In 1996, he earned the newspaper’s Employee of the Year award.
Jerry DeLaurenti
During a girls basketball coaching career at Puyallup High School spanning from 1968-94, Jerry DeLaurenti put together an enviable record that included more than 450 victories, including 77 in a row. DeLaurenti was born Oct. 29, 1942 in Seattle, played on the Clark Coal and Oil team that won the 1960 Connie Mack World Series, and later graduated from the University of Washington. He came to Puyallup High School to teach and coach, and in addition to leading the girls basketball program also coached football and baseball. It was in girls basketball, however, that he made his coaching mark. During his tenure at PHS, the Vikings won six South Puget Sound League titles, four West Central District championships, and placed at the state tournament on five occasions. During one 12-year stretch, his teams advanced to the state basketball tournament 11 times. DeLaurenti earned league Coach of the Year honors four times and All-Area Coach of the Year two other occasions. He was voted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as one of the Top 10 coaches of the past century. After leaving Puyallup High, DeLaurenti coaches boys basketball at Orting High School from 1994-98, earning Nisqually League Coach of the Year honors for the 1994-95 season. He continues to coach baseball and football at Orting High School.
Donna Dennis
A 1982 Clover Park High School graduate, Donna Dennis remains to this day the greatest female sprinter to come out of the State of Washington. In 1982, she won the U.S. Junior Track & Field Championships in the 100 meters (11.52 seconds) and 200 meters (23.39 seconds). That same year, she won both events at the Pan American Junior Championships in Barquisimito, Venezuela. Dennis came to Clover Park High School as a multievent track champion at Woodbrook Junior High. She didn’t miss a beat at Clover Park, winning state 200-meter titles from 1980-82. She also won the state 100-meter championships in 1981-82, and anchored Clover Park’s state champion 400-meter relay team in 1981. Her 200 mark of 24.13 seconds in 1982 still stands as the Class 4A state meet record, and her 23.39 in the 200 is still the fastest ever run by a Washington high school female. At the University of Washington she was a three-time NorPac champion in both the 100 and 200, and she was an NCAA finalist in both sprints. Dennis ran a 23.40 in the 200-meter dash in 1983, still the fastest 200 ever run by a woman at UW, and she ranks second on the 100-meter list, clocking an 11.53 in 1983. Dennis also ran a leg on the UW’s fastest 400-meter relay team – 44.74 set in 1985. She ran in the 1984 Olympic Trials and was a finalist in the 200, qualifying as an alternate on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team in Los Angeles.
Vic Eshpeter
Born in Tacoma on July 20, 1935, Vic Eshpeter became one of the first two-time state high school wrestling champions when he won consecutive state titles in 1953 and 1954. As a junior at Lincoln High School, Eshpeter won his first championship, beating Ken Price of state champion Sedro-Woolley for the 120pound title, considered the first state tournament though it was actually an invitational held at Washington State College in Pullman. A year later, Eshpeter won his second state championship while also earning the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler award. After graduating from Lincoln High, Eshpeter attended Washington State where he wrestled for three years for Hall of Fame coach Dr. William Tomaras. From 1957-95, a total of 39 years, Eshpeter stayed active in his sport as a wrestling official. A charter member of the Western Washington Wrestling Officials Association, Eshpeter worked his first state tournament in 1957 and officiated in more than 25 state tournaments at all levels. He also worked numerous collegiate matches in the Pacific Northwest. He was named the 1987 Puget Sound Official of the Year and was presented the WIAA/WOA Meritorious Service Award to the youth of the State of Washington as a Wrestling Official. Vic was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2005 for his “Lifetime Service to the Sport of Wrestling.”
Elsworth Finlayson
Though wrestling had been around in the state of Washington for a number of years, there weren’t many schools that participated in the sport. When the first official state tournament – actually an invitational – was held in 1953, Fife High School sent eight wrestlers to Washington State College in Pullman. One of those wrestlers was Elsworth Finlayson, and as a junior he won the 138-pound title with a pin at 1:20 of the second round. One year later he served as the Fife High School team captain and won another state title. Finlayson had this to say about the first State Tournament in 1953: “It was a great experience to give your best and represent your school at the first State Tournament.” In addition to his wrestling exploits, Finlayson was a football standout, playing guard and fullback, and serving one year as the team’s captain. He received the school’s Harry Sorenson Inspirational Award.
Chelle (Flamoe) Miller
Chelle Flamoe is arguably one of the greatest girls high school basketball players to come out of this state. Born March 13, 1967 in Spokane, Flamoe set numerous scoring records while at Bellarmine Prep from 1982-85, and later at Oregon State University, where she played from 1985-89.
At Bellarmine Prep, Flamoe earned All-Narrows League honors three separate years, including her senior season when she led all high school girls in scoring with an average of 26 points per game. For 10 years, she held the league single-game scoring record of 39 points. She was similarly accomplished in soccer, volleyball and softball but chose to focus her attention on basketball.
During her four-year collegiate career at Oregon State, Flamoe started each of the team’s 112 games. As a freshman she earned the team’s Most Valuable Player award and also received Pac-10 All-Freshman accolades. During her junior and senior years she earned All-Pac-10 honors and led the team in scoring with 20 points per game. She remains number 3 on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,851 points. She was equally successful in the classroom, earning Academic All-America and Division I Player of the Year honors while maintaining a 4.0 grade point average.
Eight years after her playing career, she participated on the practice squad for the Seattle Reign of women’s professional basketball, and she also served as radio and television analyst for both the Reign and the Seattle Storm.
Larry Fulton
Tacoma has produced many outstanding bowlers throughout the decades. A name that belongs among the top tier of Tacoma-area bowlers is Larry Fulton. Born in Tacoma on April 18, 1943, Fulton has been a member of the Greater Tacoma Bowling Association for more than 40 years. A graduate of Bellarmine Prep and Seattle University, he has won numerous local and state championships, in addition to finishing among the top seven in two national events. Among his many local accomplishments, he earned Tacoma All-Star Team recognition 24 times between 1966-94, is a two-time Tacoma Masters winner (1976 and ‘78), a three-time city scratch allevent champ (1970, ‘76 and ’79) and an eight-time All-Star Travel League average winner. He won the 1975 state all-event championship and the 1990 and 1992 Washington State Amateur titles. At national competitions, he placed seventh in the team event in 1974 and fifth in doubles (with Mike Moore) in 1977. He has a PBA regional doubles title (with Dave Hanson) to his credit, and has won eight NWBA singles and one NWBA doubles titles.
Wayne Gardner
Look for the word “longevity” in the encyclopedia and you’ll see a picture of Wayne Gardner next to the definition. Born on Oct. 10, 1910 in Fremont, Neb., Gardner started officiating volleyball matches at age 14, and he retired at age 92 in 2003.
Sports have always been a big part of Gardner’s life. He participated in football, basketball, softball, track and volleyball while growing up in Fremont, while at now defunct Cotner College in Lincoln, and later at Midland Lutheran College in his hometown.
At age 14, he officiated his first match, a tussle between Lincoln YMCA and Fremont YMCA. His last match came some 78 years later at the Puget Sound Junior Regional in Olympia in 1993. In between, Gardner won numerous awards, including the U.S. Volleyball Association “Leader in Volleyball” award in 1981 and the “Doc” Booth Award in 1985. Locally, the Tacoma-Pierce County Volleyball Officials Board presented him with the Match Point Honor Award in 1988.
Volleyball has taken Gardner around the world, from the community centers of Pierce County to Fort Lewis and to Korea as a civilian recreation supervisor until 1973. Although he retired in 1977, he continued to develop sports programs on the base.
As a state-rated official for more than 20 years, he officiated at six high school state championships, the last when he was 79.
He has been inducted into the Midland Warrior Athletic Hall of Fame, the Washington Officials Association Hall of Fame, the National YMCA Volleyball Hall of Fame, and now the Tacoma-Pierce County Athletic Hall of Fame. He is also the first referee inducted into the Washington Interscholastic Athletics Association Hall of Fame, and the Wayne Gardner Inspirational Award is presented annually at the Puget Sound Regional Championships.
As the first civilian sports director at Fort Lewis, Gardner organized the Fort Lewis Athletic Officials Association. He was a member of the Western Washington Officials Association for both basketball and football and is a lifetime member of the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials (IAABO).
Chuck Gilmur
Gilmur, who was born on Aug. 13, 1922 in Seattle, grew up in the Emerald City where he graduated from Lincoln High and the University of Washington. As was required in his day, Gilmur played one year of freshman ball, then played on the Husky varsity from 1940-43, earning All-Pacific Coast Conference honors as a center. He went on to a professional basketball career playing for coach Red Auerbach with the Washington Capitols and also with the Chicago Stags.
Following his pro career, he taught PE at Tacoma’s Lincoln High School from 1951-65 and was the head basketball coach while assisting in football and track. His 1953 basketball team went to the state tournament and lost their first game 45-44 to eventual state champion Renton. Chuck was also involved with the beginning of slowpitch softball in Tacoma as a member of Howell’s Sporting Goods. That team included a Who’s Who of the Tacoma sports scene with Gilmur joining such luminaries as Frank Gillihan, John Heinrick, Marv Harshman, Marv Tommervik, George Wise, Sonny Bailey, Tom Cross, Lornie Merkle, Steve Orfanos and Al Maul.
For many years, Gilmur was a football official who handled numerous area high school games, in addition to many Pac-8 and Pac-10 Conference contests. In addition, he served Pierce County Parks from 1959-79 as a starter at track meets.
Karen (Goff) Downs
Karen (Goff) Downs, born on Nov. 17, 1972 in Tacoma, made her initial mark on the Pierce County sports scene as a three-sport standout from 1988-91 at Puyallup High School. She played three seasons of varsity volleyball and basketball and two years of varsity softball, earning her the school’s Silver Award for winning eight varsity letters. During her senior season at PHS, she led the Vikings to a third-place finish at the state tournament while earning South Puget Sound League co-MVP honors. Karen received several other honors that season, including Bethel Tournament MVP, WSVCA/Mizuno All-State Team and Puyallup High School Athlete of the Year.
During the four years that Karen played at Montana, the Grizzlies compiled an 89-34 record, won three Big Sky championships and made two NCAA tournament appearances. Goff-Downs was a senior when Montana won for the only time (versus Arkansas State) in the NCAA postseason.
Goff-Downs earned Big Sky Conference first team honors in 1992, 1993 and again in 1994 and was a Big Sky Conference all-tournament selection in 1993 and 1994. She also received player of the week recognition four times and was selected to nine all-tournament teams, including two Big Sky tournaments, during her career. The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) named her second team All-Northwest Region honors in 1992 and AVCA first team in 1993 and 1994.
She holds a number of University of Montana volleyball records: single-match hitting percentage (.826) and total blocks (16); season kills (490) and total blocks (184); and career attack percentage (.294). She also ranks second in career blocks (530), fifth in kills (1,255) and eighth in digs. She ranks eighth in Big Sky Conference history with her career block total.
She graduated from Montana in 1996 with a degree in sociology.
Brent Goulet
Brent Goulet may have been born in Cavalier, but his approach to soccer was hardly that.
Goulet, one of the finest soccer players to come out of Pierce County, was born June 19, 1964 in Cavalier, N.D. He grew up in Tacoma where his skill development was shaped by club coaches Bill Allison and Frank Hall. A graduate of Foss High School, Goulet was named by the Seattle Times to its all-time, all-state boy’s high school soccer team.
Goulet went on to a prolific career at little Warner Pacific College in Portland. A four-time NAIA AllAmerican, he shattered several NAIA scoring records with 108 goals in four years while helping his team to a remarkable of 70-0-2 regular season record over a three-year period. During the late 1980s, Goulet was the top goal-scoring striker in the country, and as a result was named U.S. Soccer Player of the Year in 1987.
As an amateur playing for professional team FC Portland in 1986, he led the league with nine goals. The next season he was the league’s MVP. After that followed a period with FC Seattle and English clubs AFC Bournemouth and Crewe Alexandra FC. He led the U.S. into the 1988 Seoul Olympics, scoring six goals in six qualifiers, and he tallied one of the Americans’ three goals in the final. Goulet returned the Pacific Northwest to play for the Seattle Storm and for a brief time with the indoor soccer Tacoma Stars, but after being passed over for a spot on the 1990 U.S. World Cup team, Goulet became one of the first Americans invited to play in Europe.
After a short stint in England, Goulet settled in Germany where he scored 31 goals for Bonner SC one season, the most by a player at any level in Germany that year. He played 10 seasons for Third Division teams in Bonn, Berlin, Oberhausen, Wuppertal, and Elversberg. His playing career ended after he suffered a broken leg on Nov. 11, 2000. After three years as an assistant coach, he was promoted to head coach of SV Elversberg in April 2004, becoming the first American-born player to coach a top-level club in Germany.
Colleen M. Hacker, Ph.D
Colleen Hacker originally coached field hockey at PLU, but in 1981, even though she had not played or coached soccer, Dr. Hacker became the head coach of the new team. The rest is history. In a 15-year span that ended with the 1995 season, Hacker’s teams compiled a 233-59-18 record, won the Northwest Conference title 10 times, won five straight NAIA District 1 and NAIA West Region crowns, and played for the NAIA national championship five consecutive years. The Lutes won the national title in 1988, 1989 and 1991, and finished as the runner-up in 1990 and 1992. She was named the conference Coach of the Year five times, the NAIA District 1 Coach of the Year seven times, NAIA/NSCAA West Region Coach of the Year four times and NAIA/NSCAA National Coach of the Year three times. Dr. Hacker joined the coaching staff of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team in 1996 and serves as the team’s sport psychology consultant. She served on the national soccer team staff during the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games, the 1998 Goodwill Games, and the 1999 and 2003 World Cup. She will serve in that same role with the 2007 World Cup squad in China. Dr. Hacker works with professional, international and Olympic athletes in a variety of sports including swimming, crew, speed skating, track and field, tennis, Major League baseball, the WNBA and the NFL.
Born in Lancaster, Penn., on Nov. 24, 1956, Hacker is herself an accomplished athlete. In badminton, she has been ranked in the top 10 nationally in mixed doubles and women’s doubles, and she has qualified for nationals in in-line skating. While at Lock Haven University she participated in the 1976 Olympic Trials in both team handball and field hockey. She also played in eight field hockey national tournaments and in three regional basketball championships.
Frank Hall
Frank Hall played a significant role in the growth of youth soccer in Pierce County, and it was directly as a result of his coaching and support of youth soccer that some of the top young talent went on to national – and in some cases international – stardom.
Hall came by his interest in soccer quite naturally - he was born on March 16, 1935 in London, England, where soccer (it’s called football over there) was then and remains the nation’s most popular sport. He graduated from high school in England and came to the United States, where he joined the Air Force.
That move brought him to Pierce County, and the local youth soccer scene benefited greatly from his 46-year involvement as an administrator, referee and coach. The Tacoma-Pierce County Junior Soccer Association started out quite innocently in 1961 when boys of a wide age range played disorganized games prior to matches played by the Tacoma Soccer Club. Shortly thereafter, the Tacoma Soccer Club sponsored a team of boys from 9 to 12 years of age, which was the first youth team to be formed in the area. Hall coached the Tacoma Soccer Club Juniors, who played a five-game season against elementary schools at Jane Clark playfield.
Hall, along with Bill Aiken and George Black, started the Tacoma Youth Soccer committee within the Tacoma Soccer club in 1962. They first met on Nov. 6, 1962, to organize and operate a junior league. The first league of six 12-and-under teams played a 10-week season, with the title going to the North End Wanderers, later known as the Tacoma Wanderers.
For the 1967-68 season, Hall was elected president and the Tacoma Wanderers became the country’s first American schoolboy team to tour England, that occurring in July of 1967. Keys to the City of Tacoma were presented to the Lord Mayors of English cities that they visited during the three-week tour. Tacoma also experienced a big boost in numbers with 48 teams participating in five different age brackets, and through Tex Vaughn’s continued efforts, cooperation with the Metro Parks continued to flourish.
Roman Strug and Hall formed a 12-and-under select team to play in Portland and San Francisco, and this was the first Washington team to travel to other states. In 1977, his Tacoma Kickers played in the North American Championships.
Hall also played a major role in the formation of the Washington State Youth Soccer Association in 1966, of which he is a life member and an inductee into that organization’s Hall of Fame.
Rich Hammermaster
As boys basketball coach from 1964-78 at his alma mater, Rich Hammermaster led Puyallup High School to a 14-year record of 174-113. His PHS teams won six straight league championships in the mid 1960s through the early 1970s. During that time the Vikings compiled a 76-4 record in league play and a 111-17 mark in all games. The 1970-71 Puyallup High team reached the pinnacle, winning the state championship and earning Hammermaster the State Coach of the Year honor. In 1995, he became the 45th coach inducted into the Washington State Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.
Hammermaster, born Nov. 19, 1935 in Tacoma, was a multi-sport athlete at PHS, earning two letters each in football, basketball and tennis. In 1953, he played in the annual state-city all-star high school football game and then participated in football for one season at the University of Washington. After a redshirt season with the Huskies, Rich transferred to the College of Puget Sound. There he played football and basketball, earning all-conference, All-Little Northwest and honorable mention All-America football honors as a linebacker.
He returned to Puyallup where he worked for the school district as a teacher and coach. In addition to leading the Vikings on the hardwood, Hammermaster was an assistant to PHS football coaching legend Bob Ryan, and also the boys and girls tennis head coach from 1962-71.
In addition to coaching and teaching, Hammermaster was a football official from 1965-99, working games from the junior high to college level.
Ed Hardenbrook
Baseball at Lakes High School flourished from 1972-89 under the direction of head coach Ed Hardenbrook, who guided the Lancers to four South Puget Sound League titles and one state crown in two championship game appearances.
Hardenbrook was born Jan. 29, 1934, in Cosmopolis, Wash. Growing up in Aberdeen, he played baseball at Weatherwax High School and in the Grays Harbor semi-pro summer league. After graduating in 1952, he embarked on a four-year college career at Central Washington, at the same time playing more semi-pro summer ball for the Deming Loggers and Snohomish. His playing days came to an end only after two more years of ball while in the U.S. Army at Fort Riley, Kansas.
Hardenbrook coached baseball at Mann Junior High from 1960-71 before taking over the job at Lakes High School. His 1974 team finished 23-4 and won league, regional and state championships. Pitcher Mike Wholey was the team’s star, throwing a shutout in the state semifinals and pitching in both the Pierce County and state all-star games. The team was built on pitching, defense, speed and hard work. What was most remarkable about the Lancers was that none of the 16 players were born in the state. Many were from military families that came to the area from bases overseas and in other states.
Hardenbrook led the 1979 Lakes team to a 19-9 record and into the state tournament where the Lancers finished as runner-up. Some of his other top teams included his 1981 squad that won the SPSL and finished with an 18-3 record, and the 1982 team that also took the SPSL title on the way to a 16-6 finish.
In addition to coaching school teams, Hardenbrook coached summer youth baseball from 1960-86. Rick Austin, a major league pitcher, and Harold Adams, the 1973 state all-star game MVP, were among his standout players.
Hardenbrook coached in four Pierce County all-star games and in one state all-star contest. He was an inaugural member of the Washington State High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1988 and is also in the Tacoma-Pierce County Baseball-Softball Oldtimers Hall of Fame. He started teaching and coaching back in 1959 and didn’t stop until his retirement in 1996.
Ray Highsmith
Ray Highsmith, born on June 17, 1933 in Colorado Spring, Colo., earned accolades as a prep basketball and baseball standout at Glendale High School in Southern California. Rather than sign a professional baseball contract out of high school, he elected to accept a scholarship to play pitch for the Stanford University baseball team, which he did from 1951-55.
After leaving the Air Force where he was a jet pilot, Highsmith and his wife moved to Tacoma to be near her family. Highsmith started his officiating career in 1965, working games for the South End Boys Club. He proceeded through the high school ranks and also had small college assignments, and in 1972 officiated his first Pacific-8 Conference game. He continued to officiate in major college football games as the Pac-8 became the Pac-10, finally forced to the sideline after 20 years by a mandatory age limit. Among his plum assignments were three USC versus Notre Dame games, a No. 1 USC versus No. 2 Oklahoma contest, and the 1983 Rose Bowl. The latter was one of five postseason games in which he officiated.
After leaving the field, Highsmith hooked up with the National Football League as an official timer, a position he held for 14 seasons. He worked the 2006 playoff game in Denver between the Broncos and New England Patriots before retiring.
Pat Hoonan
Athletics has been an important them in Pat Hoonan’s life, from the years that he was a three-sports athlete at Aberdeen High School, all the way up through his tenure as an athletic Director in the Puyallup School District.
Hoonan was born on March 25, 1941, in Aberdeen. He played halfback and defensive end in football, guard in basketball and third base and catcher in baseball. After graduating from Aberdeen High in 1959, he went to the University of Washington for one year, playing baseball for the Huskies. Hoonan returned home and played football at Grays Harbor College in 1961 and ’62, then finished his college playing career at the University of Puget Sound where he participated in football and baseball.
After graduating from UPS in 1964, he was a wrestling coach and football assistant from 1964-67 at Puyallup High School. From 1967-86 he was head football coach and assistant baseball coach at Rogers High School. At Rogers, he led the Rams to five South Puget Sound League titles and a second-place state finish in 1979. The State All-Star football coach in 1980, Hoonan was inducted into the Washington State High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 1994.
From 1970-86 he served as the building athletic director at Rogers, later became the Puyallup School District’s athletic director, and in 1991 was named the Washington State Athletic Director of the Year. Hoonan, the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association assistant director from 1996-2000, was inducted into the Washington State Athletic Directors Hall of Fame in 1995.
Bob Johnson
Bob Johnson was one of Pierce County’s finest golfers during the 1960s and 1970s, and he proved his talent by competing on the Professional Golfers Tour from 1964-68. Johnson’s top PGA finish came in 1966 when he was runner-up at the Azalea Open in North Carolina.
Johnson, born on April 17, 1940 in Tacoma, won the Tacoma Junior Golf title six times and was the Washington State Junior champ in 1953. He played his high school golf at Bellarmine and Stadium, graduating from the latter school in 1958. In addition to playing golf, this natural athlete was a football and basketball standout. Johnson went on to play his collegiate golf at Seattle University in 1959-60. The Chieftains were 17-0 during that time with Johnson playing No. 1 on the team.
At that same time, he made his mark in Tacoma by winning numerous amateur tournaments, including Fort Lewis, Brookdale, Fircrest and Tacoma City championships. He also captured the Fircrest Golf Club Championship in both 1959 and 1960.
Vern Kohout
A native of Tacoma, Vern Kohout enjoyed a professional baseball career that took him as high as the Pacific Coast League where he played with the San Francisco Seals.
Kohout was born on Aug. 13, 1927 in Tacoma and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1945. He grew up playing in the Metropolitan Parks League and in American Legion in the 1940s. Kohout played baseball at Lincoln from 1943-45. He was the starting pitcher for the Seattle/Tacoma All-Stars against the State All-Stars at Sick’s Stadium in 1945.
He went on to his professional career after high school, and the list of teams reads like the itinerary of a long journey. In addition to playing in San Francisco, Kohout pitched for the Salt Lake City Bees of the Pioneer League, the Visalia Cubs of the California State League, the Bremerton Blue Jackets and Spokane Indians of the Western International League, and the LaMesa Lobos of the West Texas-New Mexico League.
After leaving pro baseball, he returned to Tacoma where he played Tacoma City League and Valley ball for Busch’s Drive-In and Cheney Studs in 1951-52. Doug McArthur started the Busch’s Drive-In team, and Kohout joined up as a player-coach.
Kohout taught in the Raymond Public School system from 1952-54 and also coached baseball in 1953-54. Prior to that, he spent a year coaching baseball at College of Puget Sound, from where he earned his degree.
Kohout stayed in the education field, teaching in the Olympia and Tacoma school systems and also serving as an adjunct professor at Central Washington State College. From 1964-90 he was an administrator for the United States Dependents Schools in regions throughout the world.
Dave Kerrone
Dave Kerrone officiated basketball in Pierce County for 30 years, earning the opportunity to officiate in 12 state tournaments. In addition to his work on the hardwood, Kerrone umpired baseball, modified fastpitch and slowpitch softball for 30 years. His outstanding work led to his selection to umpire at five modified fastpitch national championship tournaments.
Kerrone first earned distinction in athletics at Stadium High School. He provided the game’s only points on a 55-yard run when the Tigers knocked off the Lincoln Abes back in 1956. In addition to playing football, he was a guard in basketball and a sprinter and jumper in track.
After leaving Stadium, he participated in football and track at Washington State University from 1958-62, and then started a 35-year teaching and coaching career in the Clover Park School District.
For more than 40 years, Kerrone has been among the state’s top handball players, winning many state singles and doubles titles.
Dick Kunkle
David Krussow
David Krussow, born on Jan. 11, 1954 in Ellensburg, became the second Tacoma entrant to win a national soap box derby title when he finished first at the 1966 All-America Derby in Akron, Ohio.
Krussow’s national championship followed by two years the title won by Greg Schumacher, and like Schumacher, Krussow benefited from a strong local interest in the sport. Starting with John West in 1960 and ending with Krussow in 1966, five Tacoma derby winners placed in the top eight at Akron. After winning the title, Krussow was given a parade and police escort to the top of Kiwanis Derby Hill where he greeted well-wishers.
Krussow attended Peninsula High School where he competed in basketball and track. After graduating from Peninsula in 1982, he went on to compete in track & field at Western Washington University.
Have you ever run in the Sound-to-Narrows, or watched high school track & field athletes perform at Star Track? If you’ve ever been involved in or seen either event, you now know that both were the brainchild of Dick Kunkle.
Kunkle, born the son of a Pennsylvania coal miner on May 1, 1935 in Indiana, Penn., graduated from Waynesburg College. After four years with the Army in Germany, he returned to his alma mater, taking the sports information director job. He and his wife, Leah, eventually came to the Puget Sound area where he became sports information director at Pacific Lutheran College. He went back east for a time, but at the urging of friends returned to the West Coast to take a job as a sports writer with the Tacoma News Tribune.
Her served the paper as sports copy editor and sportswriter, covering professional teams such as the Sonics and the one-year wonder Seattle Pilots, as well as the Huskies and area small college programs. He also edited the weekly leisure-time magazine for eight years.
While a sportswriter with the paper, he founded the Sound-to-Narrows. The annual road race started with 350 runners but now attracts upwards of 20,000 runners. Kunkle’s other legacy is Star Track, the state high school track & field event which he co-founded that draws athletes from several divisions to one location for the state championships. The “super meet” was held for many years in Tacoma on the Friday and Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, though it has moved to other locations in recent years.
In 1981, he received the Distinguished Citizen Award given by the Municipal League of Tacoma-Pierce County in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the community.
Kunkle passed away in 1996 at age 61.
Joe LaPorte
Joe LaPorte developed his love for skiing in his teens when his father would take him skiing at Paradise on Mount Rainier. The two would hike from Narada Falls up to the lodge at Longmire and then ski down Devil’s Dip.
LaPorte was born on May 1, 1921 in San Francisco and moved with his family to Tacoma in 1929. He graduated from Bellarmine Prep, where he was a member of the ski team.
He joined the Army in 1944 and found a way to continue to pursue his passion for the ski slopes. While stationed in Europe, he was successful in spearheading a program that created recreational skiing opportunities for officers, enlisted personnel and WACs. While in Europe, he participated in the Army-sponsored European Skiing Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
After returning stateside, he was certified as an advanced instructor by the Pacific Northwest Ski Association. From 1952-65, he was chief instructor of the Tacoma Ski School, which offered free lessons to participants who paid only for transportation and insurance. The emphasis was on participation and not on developing Olympic champions. The ski school started at Paradise Valley but also moved to Snoqualmie Summit, Ski Acres and Crystal Mountain. In the late 1960s, LaPorte started the Cascade Ski School.
LaPorte also started the Totem Ski Club on American Lake, which gave skiers such as him the opportunity to strap on a pair of skis during the non-snow skiing months. LaPorte and his friends would perform shows in order to raise money to support the club.
Jerry Ledbetter
Pierce County has an outstanding and lengthy bowling tradition, and the area has produced a long list of successful regional and national champions. Jerry Ledbetter is certainly on that list.
Ledbetter has a lengthy list of career highlights, including 18 sanctioned 300 games, including back-toback 300s at a senior tournament in Ocean Shores. He has rolled nine sanctioned 800 series, with a high of 859. Ledbetter has won the Tacoma Scratch All Events city tournament on four occasions, in addition to the Tacoma Masters and the Tacoma Senior Masters championships. Nine times he has earned Tacoma All-Star Team recognition, once as team captain, and twice he has been on the Tacoma Senior All-Star Team. He has won 19 senior scratch tournament titles in Washington and Oregon since 1998.
The biggest highlights of his bowling career came when he earned a spot on the United State National Team in 1986 and representing the country at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, in 1987. He was one of two senior men representing the U.S. at the 1998 Tournament of the Americas in Miami. There, he won three gold medals, a silver and a bronze. The doubles team score and four-person team score are still tournament records. He has also represented the state of Washington five times, the most by any state bowler, at the national finals where the U.S. national team is determined.
Ledbetter, born on April 20, 1948 in Puyallup, has bowled in sanctioned leagues for 50 years, including 41 as an adult. He has been a member of the prestigious Tuell’s All-Star Travel League, one of the few scratch travel leagues remaining in the country, for 36 years.
Mike Levenseller
Mike Levenseller earned accolades as a football, basketball and track standout at Curtis High School, from where he graduated in 1974. Levenseller took his football game to Washington State University, where he earned Pac-8 Conference and AP All-West Coast first team honors as a senior. He can still be found in Pullman where he serves as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for the Washington State Cougars.
Levenseller, born Feb. 21, 1957 in Bremerton, was the Curtis High School Athlete of the Year in 1974 and last year was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame. In football, Levenseller earned All-Seamount League honors as a safety and halfback, setting a league record with 16 interceptions and averaging 6.9 yards per carry on 132 rushes as a senior.
At Washington State, Levenseller caught 121 career passes to rank third on the school’s all-time list, and his 2,061 receiving yards puts him second in that category. As a junior he set a school record with 67 receptions for a school and Pac-10 record 1,124 yards, earning him All-Pac-8 and AP All-West Coast recognition. As a senior he grabbed 43 passes for 736 yards and also played in the Challenge Bowl and the Hula Bowl.
The Oakland Raiders drafted Levenseller in the sixth round of the 1978 draft, and during his three-year National Football League career also spent time with Buffalo, Tampa Bay and Cincinnati. He went north of the border to play in the Canadian Football League, winning a Grey Cup with Edmonton in 1982, and finishing his career with Calgary from 1983-85.
Following his playing career, Levenseller served as an assistant coach in the Canadian Football League from 1986-91. He started coaching at Washington State in 1992 and was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2001. Levenseller and eight of the receivers he has coach hold down nine of the top 10 positions on WSU’s single-season receiving yardage list. Levenseller was inducted into the WSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Pacific Northwest Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
Bob Malley
Spanning a period of well exceeding four decades, Bob Malley has dedicated himself to the sport and activity of motorcycling. In his early years of racing, both as an amateur and a professional, his competitive spirit, racing accomplishments and outstanding sportsmanship qualities were unsurpassed and won him the praises of riders, officials and fans alike.
Malley was born June 6, 1938 in Athol, Mass., and graduated from Stadium High School in 1956. He began his racing career in 1960, and by 1962 he was the leading scrambles rider in the Northwest. He went into professional racing the following year and at the end of the season ranked fifth in the novice standings. By the mid-1960s, Malley had achieved expert status in the American Motorcycle Association and was a leading competitor on the western racing circuit.
Most motorcyclists, however, remember the racing competitor as “Bouncing Bob”, who in 1970 became the Western Region starter for nationally-sanctioned American Motorcycle Association competitions. Malley decided to do something different and interesting for the fans. He initially got his “Bouncing Bob” moniker because his starting antics included a challenge to see how high he could jump above the motorcycles when beginning a race. Motorcycle daredevil
Evel Knievel reminded Malley that as a starter “you are always a performer.” Malley took tumbling lessons and added cartwheels to his starting repertoire. The result was electric. Racing fans anticipated and loved the gymnastics performance as a prelude to the waving of the Green Flag. By 1982, however, electric lights had replaced Malley’s cartwheels and a motorcycle era came to an end.
Malley did more than race and start motorcycle competitions. By the 1970s, he was also sponsoring two local clubs. One, “Young Hotshots,” was for youngsters aged six to 16 organized to teach young riders the art of motorcycling and safe riding techniques. The second club, ironically named the “West Coast Nomads” by its McNeil Island prison inmates, was formed in 1969, and was the first of its kind in the federal penal system. The inmates conceived the program themselves as a way to combine their love of motorcycles with developing skills as mechanics.
Roy McKasson
Roy McKasson, born on Aug. 23, 1939 in Kellogg, Idaho, attended Clover Park High School, where as a football standout he drew the interest of the University of Washington coaching staff.
McKasson, who played center for the 1956 championship CPHS team, as well as the 1957 squad, was such an outstanding player that The News Tribune named him to its all-time Washington Dream Team in its Dec. 5, 1996 edition. The football program retired his jersey, which hangs in the Clover Park High trophy case.
At 6-1 and 205 pounds, McKasson was considered undersized by the standards in 1960 when he piled up numerous honors as the center on the Huskies’ victorious Rose Bowl team. He earned all-conference and was a unanimous All-Coast honoree. He also was a consensus All-America, receiving recognition from the Associated Press, Look Magazine, the American Football Coaches, Newspaper Enterprise Association and ABC Sports. He also received the 1960 L. Wait Risening Award as Lineman of the Year.
In 1959, McKasson was selected as Big Five Lineman of the Week three times, and in 1960 he was United Press International and Sports Illustrated lineman of the week in a 29-10 Husky win over Stanford. He appeared in Washington’s back-to-back Rose Bowl victories in 1960 and 1961 and was selected by coach Jim Owens as a game captain during his senior season. McKasson went on to play in the Hula and AllAmerican Bowls and was inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame in 1987.
McKasson played for one year with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League, but retired to join the staff of Young Life. He worked with the Christian ministry in Dallas and Chicago until 1980, traveled and spoke for the Educational Reform Foundation for seven years, then brought his family back to the Puget Sound area in 1987. He passed away on Jan. 23, 1998.
Donya Monroe
Born on June 21, 1964, in Fort Knox, Kentucky, Donya Monroe put together one of the greatest high school girls basketball careers ever seen in Pierce County.
Monroe earned All-South Puget Sound League honors as a center during her sophomore, junior and senior seasons at Clover Park High School. During that incredible three-year run she averaged 17.4 points per game and grabbed 923 career rebounds. She capped her brilliant senior season by earning the state tournament’s Most Valuable Player award while leading Clover Park to the 1982 AAA state championship. The Warriors defeated Auburn, 52-47, to win the championship and finish the season with an amazing 24-1 record. That year, Monroe earned All-America honors as selected by Street & Smith’s, Converse and Parade Magazine, and she played in the Dial Invitational, a high school girls basketball all-star game, in New York City. During her prep career, Monroe averaged 13.1 rebounds per game, ranking her 23rd on the all-time SPSL list.
After graduation from Clover Park, Monroe continued her athletic career at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, where she scored 1,514 points in 120 games (12.6 average) to rank fifth on the all-time scoring list. Her name appears frequently on the career lists at UNLV, including the following: third in career rebounding with 922 (7.7 average); and 20th in career assists (149). Monroe twice earned first team All-Big West honors, and she played a key role in helping UNLV to NCAA tournament appearances in 1985 and 1986.
In 2006, Monroe was a qualifier for the RE/MAX World Long Drivers of America Championships.
LuAnn Moore
LuAnn Moore got an early start in bowling and was named to several junior all-star teams before joining the adult leagues at age 17. She was named to her first of at least 10 Tacoma Women’s Bowling Association (TWBA) all-star teams at age 21. At the local level she won the Babe Penowich Award (for scratch and all-event) four times, and she has garnered two Triple Crowns from the Classic League at Lincoln Lanes. She bowled at the state tournament from 1978-97, winning team titles in 1982, 1984, and 1986. She won both the singles and doubles titles in 1996. Moore and Nadine Fulton set a state record with 1,361 pins in that tournament. She won the doubles again with Fulton in 1998 and was first in All-Events in 1996, setting a record with 2,007 pins. She has two regional titles to her credit, won in 1991 and 1996. Her best game is a 299, her best series a 779, and she carried an average of 205.
Ed Niehl
Ed Niehl, born March 5, 1924 in Pittsburgh, Penn., got in on the ground floor of Bethel School District athletics, and he helped set the tone for decades of the district’s successful sports teams.
Niehl graduated in 1951 from Washington State College, where he played football from 1946-48. While finishing up his degree in early 1951, Niehl signed his first contract with the newly consolidated Bethel School District. His first task, as football and baseball coach, was to bring together the athletes from Kapowsin and Roy high schools, which were 18 miles apart, into one competitive team. Niehl drove the bus that brought the athletes from Kapowsin to Roy for practices. They rented Cheney Stadium, then located at 38th and Lawrence streets, for football games, and used Breseman Park, which is now the Lake Spanaway Golf Course, for baseball.
In the fall of 1952, when Bethel High School opened and brought the students to one building, Niehl served as a shop teacher and as head football coach. Fields at the school were still mostly unusable for competition, so the team again used Cheney Stadium and Breseman Park for games. Needing money to improve field conditions, Niehl formed the first Bethel Booster Club in 1954. Agriculture and shop teacher Robert Anderson and his students surveyed and planted a football field. Money raised built concession stands, ticket booths, a cinder track, bleachers and other improvements.
On the gridiron itself, Niehl built a powerhouse. In 1955, the Bethel football team outscored their opponents 146-0, winning six games and tying two in the West Central League. The 1957 gridiron squad outscored their WCL opponents 201-19 in rolling to the league title. The following year, Bethel went 7-0, scoring 190 points and allowing just 10. The Associated Press sports writers gave Bethel the nod as the best Class A team in the state.
Niehl was football head coach for 15 years and baseball head coach for four years at Bethel. He also served as a basketball assistant for three years. In 1956 he became Bethel’s athletic director in addition to his classroom teaching and coaching. He remained athletic director until his retirement in June 1981.
John Pregenzer
Born on Aug. 2, 1932 in Burlington, Wis., John Pregenzer went on to Illinois Wesleyan where he lettered four years in baseball and two years in basketball. He signed his first professional contract with Pittsburgh in 1958 and several years later joined the San Francisco Giants organization. Pregenzer came to Tacoma as a pitcher for the Tacoma Giants, splitting time between Tacoma and San Francisco during the 1963 and 1964 seasons. He spent the entire 1965 campaign in Tacoma where he set a Pacific Coast League record with 28 saves and was voted the best right-handed relief pitcher in the league. He retired after that season with a professional record that included 72 wins, 58 losses and 60 saves, and he was voted as member of the Tacoma Giants’ all-time all-star team.
After leaving professional baseball, Pregenzer taught and coached baseball at Orting High, winning two championships in two years. He then taught in the Franklin Pierce School District for 27 years, successfully coaching junior high football and basketball, and also making a significant mark in high school baseball. He led Washington High to seven league titles and two state tournament appearances in 16 years, during which time he was voted league Coach of the Year four times.
In addition to coaching, he continued his own athletic endeavors, playing softball for various teams, such as the Cloverleaf Tavern and Bullpen Tavern, and helping Mullen’s Auto Body win the 1967 state recreation championship. He also participated in Tacoma-area rec basketball leagues for 23 years and was a baseball and basketball official for several decades in Pierce County.
Carla (Reyes) Redhair
Carla (Reyes) Redhair was a three-sport standout at Bellarmine Prep from 1986-89 and is one of a small handful awarded the Bellarmine “Blanket” for earning nine varsity letters during her high school career. She went on to become a three-year starting outside hitter at Washington State.
Redhair, born on Jan. 27, 1968, in Oro Valley, Ariz., earned all-city honors in volleyball, basketball and softball while at Bellarmine. In volleyball, she was second team all-city as a sophomore, first team all-city and team MVP as a junior, and first team all-city, all-state, team and league MVP as a senior. She earned similar honors in basketball, including all-city and league MVP in her final season. In softball, she was two-time first team all-city and league MVP while leading Bellarmine to the 1986 state championship.
After graduating from Bellarmine, Reyes went on to have an outstanding volleyball career from 1986-89 at Washington State. Her name is etched on several Cougar volleyball top 10 lists: single-season kills, ninth with 438, and single-season digs, ninth with 384. She has 36 career solo blocks, which good for 10th on the all-time WSU list.
As a freshman, Reyes earned a starting role as a middle blocker and finished second on the team in attack percentage, solo blocks and total blocks. After suffering a season-ending meniscus tear and earning a redshirt year in her second season, she came back to play in all but six games as a sophomore, compiling solid statistics that showed she was back to full health. As a junior she played in every game, leading the Cougars with 438 kills, 1,256 attacks, 384 digs, and a 2.80 digs per game average, and finishing second in kills per game (3.20). She did not play during what would have been her final year at WSU.
Sarah (Rudolph) Cole
Sarah Rudolph was just 15 years old and a recent graduate of Wilson High School when she entered the University of Puget Sound, but in no time the teenager was making big waves in the pool for the Loggers.
When the Cole family moved the area, Sarah, born Sept. 11, 1966 in Lincoln, Neb., started swimming at Lakewood Swim Club for coach Mike Stauffer at age nine. The family moved to Tacoma and Sarah joined the Tacoma Swim Club, coached by Dan Wolfrom and Dick Hannula. During her senior year at Wilson High, she placed in the top six in both the 200 and 500 freestyle and swam a leg on the 400 freestyle relay that placed third at the state meet.
Because she was only 15, Rudolph chose to stay close to home, so she chose the University of Puget Sound. The UPS program benefited greatly as Rudolph won five NCAA Division II national swimming championship events from the years 1983-85, earning Swimmer of the Meet honors after winning three events at the 1984 national championships. She set Division II records in the 200, 500 and 1650 freestyles, and earned All-America honors from 1983-86. Rudolph was ahead of her time in more than just the classroom as five of her school swimming records stayed on the books for 10 years.
In 1984, she competed in the Trials for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. One year later as a 17-year-old UPS junior, Rudolph represented the United States as a national select team member competing at the 1985 Maccabiah Games in Israel. She won two silver medals at the event known as the “Jewish Olympics.”
Rudolph shined out of the pool as well, earning Academic All-America recognition and receiving an NCAA PostGraduate Scholarship while maintaining a 3.7 grade point average as a history major. She earned the University of Puget Sound’s Alice Bond Award in 1983 as the school’s top female athlete, and she was inducted into the University of Puget Sound Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.
He is currently a Professor of Law at the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University.
Pete Sabutis
Pete Sabutis was the premier pitcher in Tacoma and Pierce County from the late 1930s to the mid1950s, and the southpaw star of K Street’s perennial City, Valley and Sunset League champions rarely suffered defeat.
Sabutis graduated from the sand lots of Pierce County to take the mound for a year with the Tacoma Tigers of the Western International League during a time when baseball fever was at a high pitch locally. Teams in the semi-pro ranks included high school and college stars, and many semi-pro and former professional players, and the competition was fierce.
A lefty with a dazzling curve, Sabutis starred in every appearance. The K Street nine competed in the Valley League under the name of Edgewood (most teams represented communities from Morton to Gig Harbor) but the pitching poison was always the same, a lefty named Sabutis.
Records weren’t kept very well during that era but veterans who played in those leagues will tell you that Pete authored his share of one, two and three-hitters with regularity. He no doubt had a no-hitter or two as well. If your team was facing the “K Street” aggregation, and Sabutis was on the hill, there was almost no chance.
Born in Tacoma, Sabutis attended Lincoln high school where he was one of the top prep pitching prospects in the state. He also made a mark during that time as one of the area’s very best handball players.
Greg Schumacher
Greg Schumacher was the first of two Tacoma Soapbox Derby champions to take the checkered flag and win the national title at the All-American Derby in Akron, Ohio. Soapbox Derby was a big sport in Tacoma from 1936-73, and Schumacher raced during the height of Soapbox Derby interest in Tacoma. During a seven-year period in the 1960s a total of five Tacoma Derby winners went on to place among the top nine at the All-American Derby national championship in Akron, Ohio. Tacoma’s track, modeled after the one at the national derby in Akron, was built at a cost of $100,000 near present-day Cheney Stadium, and this certainly was a bonus to the local winners.
Schumacher, born in Tacoma on Nov. 3, 1949, placed second in the Tacoma Soapbox Derby in 1963. He came back the following year as a 14-year-old to win the hotly contested Tacoma championship and qualifying for the All-American Derby. Along with winning the national title, he won a $7,500 college scholarship and an all-expenses-paid trip to the New York World’s Fair. Upon his return to Tacoma, a ceremony was held in his honor. Schumacher credited the intense competition in Tacoma with preparing him for the national Derby.
After his Derby exploits, Schumacher attended Wilson High School where he played center on the football team. He graduated from Wilson in 1968
Mike Stauffer
Born on Oct. 4, 1943 in St. John, Kansas, Mike Stauffer went on to earn high school and college AllAmerica honors as a swimmer. Stauffer not only participated in football, swimming and track & field at Tacoma’s Wilson High School, he was a standout in all three sports. He earned All-City honors as a football end and finished fifth in the pole vault as a senior at the 1961 state meet. His biggest splash came in swimming where he set state records in the 50 and 100 freestyles. Stauffer went on to swim at the University of Minnesota, where he was a three-time All-American, the first swimmer from Tacoma to earn All-America recognition. He was a member of the Golden Gophers team that broke the American record in the 400-yard freestyle relay at the Big Ten Championships, and twice placed fifth in the 100-yard freestyle at the NCAA national meet. Now retired from teaching in the Clover Park School District, Stauffer coached swimming at Lakes High School from 1967-2003, leading the boys team to state titles in 1984 and 1985.
Keith Tinner
Keith Tinner, born on Sept. 5, 1955 in Seattle, is one of the finest sprinters to have laced on a pair of track spikes in Pierce County.
Competing for Lincoln High School, Tinner was a three-time state champion in the 440-yard dash and a two-time state champ in the 220-yard dash. He won his first state 440 title as a sophomore in 1972, clocking 48.7. That same year, he anchored Lincoln’s state champion mile relay team that clocked 3:19.9. As a junior, Tinner won the state 440 crown in a time of 48.5 and made it a double with a winning time of 22.0 in the 220. As a senior in 1974, Tinner made it three in a row in the 440, clocking 47.3 in the title race. He also notched his fastest time in winning the 220, a blazing 21.6. That same summer, he became the first high school athlete in the state to run a sub 47-second 440, his 46.7 counting as a high school mark because he had not yet entered the University of Washington. In addition, Tinner’s fastest mile relay split was an incredible 45.6. Because of this success, he earned a spot on the U.S. Junior National Team.
Not only was Tinner a great quarter-miler, he put down some impressive best times in the shorter sprints: 9.8 in the 100-yard dash, and the aforementioned 21.6 in the 220-yard dash.
After graduating from Lincoln in 1974, Tinner lettered three times for the University of Washington. As a freshman, he ran the lead leg on the Huskies’ 1975 national champion mile relay squad. The team clocked 3:04.0, which stood as the school record for 30 years, finally being broken in 2005. The relay’s finish helped Washington to finish 17th at the national meet. Tinner also ran on the 400-meter relay team that clocked 39.7, a time that still ranks sixth in UW track & Field history.
Tiffani (White) Rowland
Tiffani White, born on July 16, 1981 in Yakima, earned national gymnastics championships at elite levels during a 12-year career.
White learned the sport and trained at North American Sports Academy, also known as NASA Gymnastics. She broke onto the state scene in 1991 as the Washington State Junior Olympic all-around champion. A year later Tiffani burst onto the national horizon as a USA Gymnastics national team member, and in 1993 she was a Western USA national championship qualifier and a USA junior national elite regional champ.
In 1994 she was the Pacific Northwest Elite all-around champion, and in 1995 was selected to the Sports Festival and junior national teams. That same year she earned distinction as the first Pacific Northwest gymnast to perform three specific moves on the balance beam.
She won 1995 national championship in the floor exercise and finished as the national runner-up in all-around that same year. One year later, she won the national crown in both floor exercise and balance beam. In addition to her national titles, she twice won the state balance beam, floor exercise and all-around championships. She also won a regional balance beam title.
Tiffani twice participated with the U.S. national gymnastics team in exhibitions at Key Arena, and three times was chosen to be a demonstrator at the regional coaches clinic. She earned the title as the “Strongest Gymnast,” pound-forpound, in strength testing conducted at the Olympic Training Center.
After graduating from Puyallup High School in 1999, she competed for one year at Oregon State University and graduated from that school in 2003.
Sid Williams
Sid Williams didn’t take up the sport of racquetball until 1966 at age 30, but the excellent workout he received and the great fun he had eventually led to long and continuing success in regional and national competitions. Williams, who was born in Tacoma in August 1936, participated in basketball and boxing at the Tacoma Boys Club on South 25th Street. While working as a civilian employee at McChord Air Force Base, Williams began playing racquetball at the base gym. Along with Art Redford and Dan Bueler, Williams formed the Washington Racquetball Association, and Williams was elected president. Within a year the organization had grown to 46 players, and in 1971 it hosted a Canadian team in its first international competition. Soon, many local and international tournaments were held at McChord AFB. His success led to a 27-year playing sponsorship from Ektelon, and as the American Amateur Racquetball Associations (AARA) regional director, he was responsible for hosting racquetball events in Alaska, Montana, Oregon and Washington states. He also developed a program to teach inner-city youth how to play the game. In 1995, Williams and Ace Utaland won the men’s National 55+ Masters Doubles title at the Gresham (Ore.) Racquetball Club in Oregon. In February 2007, less than four years removed from back surgery, the 70-year-old Williams teamed with Kris Kaskawal to finish second in the Hawaii World Outdoor One-Wall men’s “A” division Doubles Racquetball Championships. In his racquetball-playing career, Williams has won numerous senior, masters and golden masters titles on a local, state, regional and national level.
Dan Wolfrom
In 32 years as the swimming coach at Henry Foss High School, Dan Wolfrom led the Falcons to a total of six state championships, one by the boys and five by the girls. His 1986 boys and girls teams won both state titles, making him the only high school coach in the state to coach both state championship teams in the same year.
Wolfrom, born Sept. 15, 1943 in Seattle, graduated from Peninsula High in 1961 and then from Central Washington in 1965. He earned four letters swimming at Central, becoming the first to accomplish that feat at CWU.
He started coaching at Foss High School in 1973 and stayed at it until retiring in 2005. He led the Foss girls to four consecutive state crowns from 1983-86, and led the Falcons to their fifth title in 1991. He coached 23 individual state champions, 10 relay state winners and an incredible 104 All-America swimmers.
In addition to coaching at Foss, Wolfrom served as Tacoma Swim Club head age-group coach from 1968-93.
Wolfrom won numerous coaching awards, including National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) Coach of the Year and Washington Interscholastic Coaches Association Coach of the Year. He also received the NHSCA Outstanding Service Award and the David H. Robertson Excellence in Coaching Award.
He served on the Pacific Northwest Swimming Board of Directors for more than three decades and has been inducted into the Pacific Northwest Swimming Hall of Fame and Washington Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
L-R: Joel Parker, Allison Lotspeich, Rhonda Chachere, Fifi Robidoux, Netra McGrew, Michelle Clark, Donya Monroe, Kathy Taylor, Ruth Rufener, Becky Davis, Kathy Schumock, Karen Turner, Darlene Seeman, and Jim Angelel. Missing Mary Ann Johnson.
Clover Park High School Girls 1982 State Basketball Champions
Clover Park’s run to the girls state basketball title in 1982 was not unexpected. Just one year earlier, the Warriors won the regional championship before finishing fifth in the state tournament. This was an experienced team with five senior starters, led by the talented Donya Monroe, who that season would earn every honor from all-league right through to All-American. In addition, though none of these players were around in 1978, a history of Clover Park state tournament success had been established when that Warrior team won a state title under the guidance of head coach Nancy Wells Rothenberg.
The 1981-82 Warriors ran through the regular season without a blemish on the record, but in a battle of unbeaten powerhouses they dropped a 58-43 decision to Bellevue in the district semifinal. They battled back to beat Garfield, 66-47, and earn a spot in the state tournament with a 22-1 record.
The eight-team field was loaded, and the Warriors drew Richland, another 22-1 team, in the opening round. They were up to the challenge, rolling to a 67-45 win and into the semifinals against 19-5 Blanchet. With 6-1 forward Kathy Taylor notching 16 points and six rebounds, Clover Park dispatched of Blanchet, 51-43, to earn a spot in the championship game opposite Auburn, which had put together an impressive 26-1 record to that point. The showdown for the state championship featured a battle between South Puget Sound League champions – Clover Park from the South and Auburn from the North.
The game was close after the first quarter with Clover Park holding a 13-12 lead. Auburn surged ahead, 25-21, at the half, but the Warriors, and in particular Monroe, got it going in the third period. With the 6-2 center scoring 11 points, Clover Park took a 38-35 lead into the final period and held on to win by the five-point margin, 52-47. Monroe poured in a game-high 26 points on 12-of-23 shooting, and was chosen tournament MVP. Clover Park point guard Netra McGrew scored 10 points while controlling the tempo.
Monroe also led both teams with 18 rebounds, and it was that aspect of the game that played an important role in the outcome as the Warriors pulled down 50 boards to just 29 for Auburn. Besides Monroe’s 18, Michele Clark had 11 rebounds and nine points and 6-1 forward Kathy Taylor, playing on a bad ankle, had 10 rebounds to go along with six points and four assists.
As befits a championship affair, the teams played a clean game with both squads turning the ball over just seven times.
The next day, the News Tribune ran an article chronicling the championship game, and Monroe told reporter Stan Farber that the team vowed as early as the first practice to win the state championship. “Our goal wasn’t to go undefeated, but to win the state championship.”
The goal was accomplished.
Let’s Meet the Players
Jim Angelel
See bio on page 35.
Joel Parker
Joel Parker came out of Foster High School in Tukwila and went on to Central Washington University, where he played one year of football and two years of basketball. After graduating from Central Washington in 1976, he was a boys basketball assistant coach at Napavine High School and then at Clover Park High School from 1976-79. From 1982-84 he was a girls assistant coach at CPHS, and then took over as head coach, serving in that position from 1985-89. He is currently self-employed as a building designer.
Becky (Davis) Buchanan
At 5-8, Becky Davis was the reserve center behind 6-2 All-America center Donya Monroe. Still, Davis averaged almost five points per game for the 1982 state championship team.
Since graduating from Clover Park High, Davis has continued to enjoy athletic endeavors, including rec league volleyball and softball, and numerous outdoor activities including hiking, mountain and road biking, swimming, snowboarding and skiing.
Michele T. (Clark) Jones
Like many of her Clover Park High School teammates, Michele Jones came from a military family. She was born on July 1, 1964, in Weisbaden, Germany. She was a starter on the 1982 championship team. She later attended Tacoma Community College and Western Washington and is currently working as a judicial assistant in the Pierce County Superior Court.
Mary Ann Johnson
A 1984 graduate of Clover Park High School, Johnson played basketball all three years at CP and enlisted in the Air Force where she has served our country for over 19 years. She continues to play basketball on several Air Force team, has coached youth basketball teams in the Air Force and while stationed in Japan and also coaches junior high girls basketball as well.
She now resides in Vail, AZ.
Karen (Turner) Lee
Karen attended the University of Washington and received a law degree from the UW School of Law. Now a practicing attorney, Karen is the past president of the UW Alumni Association.
Netra McGrew
While it was Donya Monroe that earned lots of headlines for her rebounding and scoring prowess, it was often Netra McGrew who found a way to get her the basketball. McGrew, born Dec. 7, 1963 in Seattle, earned All-South Puget Sound League and All-West Central District honors while playing point guard for three years at Clover Park High. After graduating from CPHS in 1982, she set several University of Idaho women’s basketball records that still stand. She holds the Vandals’ single-season record with 218 assists set during the 1985-86 season, a season in which she earned second team All-Mountain West Conference, and she also holds the single-game record with 18 assists. A three-year letter winner, McGrew is second on the school’s career assists list with 484. She graduated from Idaho in 1987 and is currently living in Olympia where she is a general manager for Costco.
Donya Monroe
See bio on page 49.
Darlene Seeman
Darlene Seeman was a senior member of the 1982 Clover Park High School basketball title team, and she also played softball at the school. Her best sport was soccer, which she played five year for the Cozars club team. Seeman played soccer during the day and basketball at night. After graduating from CPHS, Seeman played soccer for two year at Colorado State University and was on women’s national team in 1983 and 1984. She was born on Jan. 4, 1964 in Tacoma and now lives in Littleton, Colo., where she is the operations manager for American Civil Constructors.
Kathleen Schumock
Kathleen Schumock was a sophomore forward during the championship season, and she also participated in slowpitch softball. She was born on Feb. 18, 1966, in Long Beach, Calif. After graduating from Clover Park in 1982, she went to Western Washington University and graduated from there in 1988. She now lives in Bellingham and works as an elementary school teacher.
Kathy Taylor Shelby
Following graduation from Clover Park in 1982, Kathy attended Eastern Washington State College where she graduated in 1986 with degrees in Sociology and Criminal Justice. While at Eastern she was a member of the basketball team for four years and received the Most Inspirational Player award her junior and senior seasons. She then played a year of professional basketball in Australia for the Tazmania team before returning home. For the past 19 years Kathy has worked as a flight attendant for Delta Airlines. Married to Les for 12 years, they have three children who enjoy horses on their ranch as well as tennis, soccer and basketball.
Ruth Ann Rufener
Ruth Ann Rufener, born Oct. 6, 1965 in Lakewood, played basketball at St. Frances Cabrini and at Lochburn Junior High prior to her sophomore season when the Clover Park High girls team won the AAA state title. She split her time between the junior varsity and varsity. During both her junior and senior years she led the Warriors in rebounding and she earned several awards, including All-SPSL honorable mention in 1983 and All-SPSL second team in 1984. She went on to star at Tacoma Community College and later graduated from Pacific Lutheran in 1989.
Player photos and bios unavailable for: Rhonda Chachere, Alison Lotspeich, and Fife Robidoux.
Back row, l-r: Jim Angelel (coach) Rhonda Chachere, Michelle Clark, Ruth Rufener, Donya Monroe, Kathy Taylor, Kathy Schumock, Becky Davis Front row, l-r: Netra McGrew, Fifi Robidoux, Allison Lotspeich, Darlene Seeman, Karen Turner. Missing: Mary Ann Johnson, Joel Parker
CONGRATULATIONS
Bremerton
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P: 360-479-8477
F: 360-479-8417
Buckley 135 Jefferson Ave Ste G Buckley, WA 98321
P: 360-829-6300
F: 360-829-9040
Federal Way
34617 11th Place S Ste 201
Federal Way 98003
P: 253-815-1117
F: 253-815-1107
Fircrest/Corporate Office
4040 Orchard St W, Ste 100
Fircrest, WA 98466
P: 253-564-1560
F: 253-564-4449
F: 253-582-8506 The team members at MVP Physical Therapy would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the Inductees at the banquet. Your hard work and dedication have paid off…
Gig Harbor
5801 Soundview Dr Ste 204
Gig Harbor, WA 98335
P: 253-851-8790
F: 253-857-8093
Lacey
8645 Martin Way E Ste 103 Lacey, WA 98516
P: 360-491-3900 F: 360-491-3909
Lakewood
7308 Bridgeport Way W Ste 103
Lakewood, WA 98499
P: 253-582-8142 F: 253-582-8160
Lakewood OT/Work Rehab 7308 Bridgeport Way W Ste 203
Lakewood, WA 98499
P: 253-582-8500
Port Orchard
1950 pottery Ave Ste 6 Port Orchard, WA 98366
P: 360-874-8009 F: 360-874-8010
Puyallup
1410 S Meridian Ste A Puyallup, WA 98371
P: 253-770-1807 F: 253-770-1985
Silverdale 2416 NW Myhre Rd Ste 102 Silverdale, WA 98383
P: 360-698-6764
F: 360-698-0887
Sumner 5814 Graham Ave Ste 101 Sumner, WA 98390
P: 253-891-7093
F: 253-891-1033
Tacoma Central 1550 S Union Ave Ste 130 Tacoma, WA 98405
