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After graduation from Shelton High School, I enrolled at Central Washington University in Ellensburg and continued my athletic interests as a member of the Wildcat football team during the 1968 season. From 1969 to 1973, I was enlisted in the United States Coast Guard and, after completion of basic and advanced training, was stationed overseas at Cape Atholl, Greenland for one year and at Marshfield, Massachusetts for two years.
When my military obligation ended, I returned to college in Ellensburg where I majored in social science education. Restarting my athletic career, I again played football at Central Washington University for legendary Wildcat coach Tom Parry (National College Football Hall of Fame) during the 1973, 1974, and 1975 seasons. Earning three varsity letters as an offensive lineman, I was a starter at center in my final two collegiate football seasons.
Prior to the 1975 football season, my name appeared in College Football Roundup Magazine. During that senior year, I was named "Wildcat of the Week" by Central Washington University for my outstanding play and, after that final year of collegiate competition, I was an honoree of "Best College Football Players in America." I played one last time in 1980 as an offensive lineman for the Pierce County Bengals, Pro Football Weekly Magazine's national semi-pro football co-champion.
After graduating from Central Washington University in 1976, I began my teaching (history and language arts) and coaching (football and track & field) career. During my many years in education, I was also an athletic director for more than thirteen years and was the head football coach at four different high schools (Oregon --- Chiloquin and Washington --- Peshastin-Dryden, Concrete, and Lakewood).
Some of the highlights of my head football coaching career occurred at Peshastin-Dryden High School (now called Cascade High School in Leavenworth) and at Concrete High School. After winning our first five games of the 1980 season, my Peshastin-Dryden High School Cougars were ranked #2 in the state polls.
At the end of the 1983 regular football season, my Concrete High School Lions hosted the #1 ranked team in state football polls on a snowy Saturday morning in a regionally televised KIRO-TV High School Football Game of the Week with the Northwest League Championship and a state playoff berth at stake. With three seconds left on the clock and the score tied, I called time out and then my Lions lined up and kicked a 23 yard field goal to win by a 17 - 14 score. The Skagit Valley Herald named me as its 1983 Football Coach of the Year.
On Thanksgiving Day 1984, my Concrete High School Lions battled to a thrilling 9 - 6 victory in the state semifinal game in the TACOMA DOME. Nine days later, my Concrete Lions played in KINGBOWL VIII for the Washington State High School Football Championship in Seattle's KINGDOME and went home proudly with a 17 – 0 win.
Later, I was honored with the 1984 Washington State High School Football Coach of the Year award in a presentation by Chuck Knox, Head Coach of the Seattle Seahawks. Five of my Concrete High School Lions went on to play college football. Afterward, Concrete High School inducted me into the Lions Athletic Hall of Fame.
As an assistant track & field coach for fifteen years at Lakewood High School, I coached shot put, discus, and javelin. Since retiring from teaching in 2005, I have enjoyed volunteering for sixteen years as an assistant track & field coach at Cashmere High School where I work with the Bulldog javelin throwers. Over the years, I have had the good fortune to coach many great boy and girl competitors including numerous state track and field meet participants and place-winners, five javelin second place finishers, and three javelin state champions.
In 1980, while attending the summer session of graduate school at Central Washington University, I met Brenda Farley. Two years later, we were married on 12 June 1982 and our marriage of more than thirty-one years has produced three beautiful children and four wonderful grandchildren.
Dedicated to children with special needs, Brenda was a gifted special education teacher and school administrator who touched many lives during her more than thirty-four years in education. Tragically, nearly ten years ago, after a courageous ten month struggle with a rare and aggressive cancer (Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma), Brenda passed away on 14 September 2013.
Now retired from teaching and school administration, I have enjoyed life in Peshastin on the Wenatchee River in Peshastin since 2005.
