Cy Greenlaw Old-timer’s Salute Recipients: Lloyd Blanusa, Kathy Hemion, Earl Hyder, George Grant, Dick Zierman and Mary Jane Bramman Cooper

Lloyd Blanusa

Perhaps the first thing you should know about Lloyd Blanusa is that Hall of Fame pitcher Pat Kelly considers Blanusa the greatest fastpitch softball pitcher of all time in Pierce County. That could tell you everything you need to know. But there’s much more to his story.

Born Sept. 13, 1928 near Buckley, Blanusa was a threesport star at Buckley High School (now White River). He earned all-conference honors in football, basketball, and baseball as a senior. Recruited to play football at College of Puget Sound, he instead joined the basketball team for two years. More importantly, though, he joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity and started playing intramural fastpitch softball.

After taking over as the team’s pitcher and leading the squad to a perfect record, Blanusa began his Tacoma playing career with Red Spot Electric. One year later, Tacoma’s top team—the Irwin Jones Dodgers—picked him up, and they went all the way to the state tournament semifinals. That began a run that qualified the team for nationals each of the next two years, although they only went one year, and featured Blanusa no-hitting Boise in the regional final in 1953.

CY GREENLAW OLD-TIMER’S SALUTE AWARD RECIPIENTS

2022 Lloyd Blanusa

Kathy Hemion

Earl Hyder

George Grant

Dick Zierman

Mary Jane

Bramman Cooper

2017 Ted Lopat

Bud Thomsen 2015 Earl Birnel

Harry Nygard Hank Semmem

A career move to the South Kitsap School District shifted Blanusa to a team in Bremerton for the next several years before returning to teach at his alma mater in 1957. The next seven years saw time with numerous Tacoma squads and quite the assortment of memorable games, but his teams could never quite make it back to nationals. Quick side note for perhaps the most memorable of those games—up 1–0 in the final inning of a game against Richland, Blanusa was called in from the bullpen as the closer when a missed call turned the final out of the game into the tying runner on first. The next batter powered one out of the park to turn the 1–0 lead into a 2–1 deficit. In the bottom of the inning, two quick outs set up a last chance, and Blanusa had the opportunity to go from goat to hero after the previous batter worked a walk. Unfortunately, it was not to be, as Blanusa popped out to second base. But the umpire called it back on an illegal pitch, giving Blanusa another chance. He took advantage of it—in his own words, “Next pitch, right in my wheelhouse (I didn’t have a wheelhouse) and wow, it went way over the right field fence for a walkoff home run. My most memorable at bat in 22 years of playing softball.”

His desire to return to that top level took Blanusa to the Doghouse Restaurant team in Seattle in 1965. They made it all the way to the metro finals but fell 2–1 in 11 innings. However, the powerhouse Federal Old Line team picked him up, and he won two games at regionals enroute to the championship and a berth at nationals in Florida.

Overall, Blanusa totaled 22 years pitching in his fastpitch career, with 17 in Tacoma, three in Seattle, and two in Bremerton. His teams played in 11 Northwest Regional Tournaments and two national tournaments, and he is a member of the Northwest Hall of Fame and the Kitsap Hall of Fame.

But do you really think the greatest fastpitch pitcher in local history would only have career highlights on the diamond? Of course not. Blanusa took the head basketball coaching position at White River High School in 1972, and the following year he led the squad to the Class A State Championship. And he continues to put his athletic talents to use on golf courses around the area.

Kathy Hemion

One of the best female athletes in Tacoma history, Kathy Hemion graduated from Lakes High School and from Western Washington University. She went on to a successful coaching career at Pacific Lutheran University.

Born in Seattle on July 29, 1952, Hemion attended Lakes High School when girls sports were not as well accepted as boys sports. That has changed for the better since 1970, when Kathy graduated, but the lack of opportunities didn’t stop her from becoming a successful athlete.

Hemion competed in basketball, volleyball, field hockey, synchronized swimming and tennis at Western, but it was in basketball where she made her biggest mark. During her four seasons as a Viking, the team twice advanced to the AIAW national tournament, and as a result she is now a member of the WWU Athletic Hall of Fame.

After graduating in 1974, Hemion returned to her hometown where she picked up slowpitch softball, playing left-centerfield for numerous league and tournament championship teams during the summer months. Among that group were Spud’s Pizza, McKnight’s Foods, and B&I Sports. Her squads consistently won league and tournament titles and qualified for nationals, with a best finish of seventh place. In 1994, she was inducted into the USSSA Slowpitch Softball Hall of Fame in the state of Washington.

Hemion continued to play slowpitch softball until retiring from the sport in 2000. Besides softball, she was an active participant in local volleyball and basketball leagues. She came from a family of athletes, as her brothers Whit, Jr., and Jack were also top local slowpitch players, and their parents followed all of their children’s athletic exploits with joy, encouragement, and tailgating supplies.

Beyond her playing career, Hemion built a strong coaching resume. She led the Pacific Lutheran University women’s basketball program from 1975-85, coach-

2022 Cy Greenlaw Recipients continued

ing the team to a national tournament berth in 1980 and to an 18-win season in 1982. She also coached Lute volleyball for 10 years and softball from 1975–76, an era in which the game was of the slowpitch variety.

Hemion, who served as a collegiate basketball official for several seasons, retired in 2014 after 28 ½ years teaching Special Education in the Tacoma School District.

Earl Hyder

Born October, 15, 1932, in Nashville, Tennessee, Earl Hyder started making headlines as an all-city and all-state football player and an all-state baseball player at Lincoln High School, where he graduated in 1952. One of his high school highlights came on the gridiron, where he ran back an 82-yard punt for a touchdown with less than two minutes to go to claim the 1952 Turkey Day Game—along with the city, league, and state championships— with a 7–6 win over Stadium High School.

Hyder played amateur baseball in the area’s City, Sunset, and Valley Leagues for more than a dozen years. He was a key component on two teams that won American Amateur Baseball Congress National Championships and on another that finished second. He was also noted for hitting the first home run at Heidelberg Park when it first opened.

Hyder played center field on the 1956 Stanley Shoemen team that became the first club west of the Mississippi River to take the title, claiming state, regional and national championships that year. He was joined in that outfield by current TPC Hall of Fame members Bob Maguinez and Ron Storaasli, the trio arguably one of the greatest “homegrown” outfields to play baseball in Tacoma. Hyder and Storaasli played at Lincoln High, while Maguinez prepped at Stadium. He had previously pitched a two-hitter to claim the league championship in 1955.

Hyder played 12 years with the Cheney Studs. In 1960, his two-run homer in the ninth inning against Detroit in the AABC title game won the national cham- pionship, allowing the Cheney Studs to take home the trophy. He had 11 hits in 20 at-bats during the series, a .550 average, and he earned All-America honors that year. Sandwiched in between the title years was a second-place finish with the Woodworth Contractors in 1958.

Hyder continued his involvement in athletics by playing for the Lucky Lager slowpitch team that competed in the highly competitive Western Washington League as well as working as a baseball umpire and basketball official. He also worked as the City of Puyallup’s recreation director prior to retiring.