Editor’s note: In honor of the 82nd MTR Western Sports Star of the Year event at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Paramount Theatre (get tickets here), correspondent Howie Stalwick quantified a hundred remarkable things that happened in sports around our state. The feats, awards and career achievements cited here are part of the legacy celebrated by the longest-running awards event of its kind in the nation.
From the preps to the pros, the Evergreen State has produced a long list of outstanding athletes and teams. Read along to learn a thing or two – 100 things, to be exact – about our state’s sports history.
1 Gene Conley, a baseball and basketball standout at Richland High School and Washington State, is the only player to win World Series and NBA championships. Conley won rings as a pitcher on the 1957 Milwaukee Braves and as a forward-center on the Boston Celtics from 1959-61.
2 Cy Young Awards won by former Washington Huskies star Tim Lincecum as the most outstanding pitcher in the National League. Lincecum, a graduate of Renton’s Liberty High, won his awards with the San Francisco Giants in 2008-09. He was Sports Star of the Year in 2010.
3 U.S. figure skating championships won by Rosalynn Sumners (1982-84). The Edmonds native, who attended Meadowdale High, also won a world championship in 1983 and captured a silver medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics.
4 Seasons with 100-plus points for longtime Seattle Totems center Guyle Fielder, minor league hockey’s all-time scoring leader. Fielder scored 1,929 points in 22 minor league seasons ending in 1972-73. He went scoreless in his only 15 NHL games (six in the playoffs) with Chicago and Detroit.
5 Years that Seattle Mariners star Edgar Martinez won the Outstanding Designated Hitter Award, which has since been re-named the Edgar Martinez Award.
6 Pro Bowl selections for ex-Huskies RB Hugh McElhenny, a member of the pro and college football halls of fame.
7 Rose Bowls won by the Huskies.
8 The University of Washington’s eight-man rowing shell won a gold medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
9 Holding penalties called against Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Walter Jones during his 12-year career in the NFL.
10 Consecutive seasons Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki won a Gold Glove for outstanding defensive play in the American League.
11 NCAA track and cross country titles won by Gerry Lindgren. Prior to his time at Washington State, Lindgren was a record-breaking high school runner at Rogers High in Spokane.
12 Victories for Washington’s unbeaten football team in 1991. The Huskies shared the national championship with Miami, coached by onetime WSU and Seahawks coach (and Everett High quarterback) Dennis Erickson.
13 NBA career points per game (13.1) for Spokane’s John Stockton. The all-time NBA assists and steals leader, a standout at Gonzaga Prep and Gonzaga University, is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
14 Major college record for interceptions in a season by Washington’s Al Worley in 1968.
15 Victories for unbeaten Washington State pitcher John Olerud in 1988. The sophomore hit .464 with 23 home runs to earn College Baseball Player of the Year honors. Olerud, who starred at Interlake High in Bellevue, played first base for 17 years in the majors, including five seasons in Seattle.
16 Points (including 14 goals) scored by Seattle’s Bernie Morris in four games when the Metropolitans downed the Montreal Canadiens in the 1916-17 Stanley Cup Finals. The Mets were the first U.S. team to win the Stanley Cup.
17 Consecutive years Gonzaga has qualified for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
18 U.S. Davis Cup tennis record for matches won by a captain, set by Tom Gorman (1986-93). A former top 10 player, Gorman starred at Seattle’s O’Dea High and Seattle University.
19 NASCAR Sprint Cup wins for Vancouver’s Greg Biffle, most for any Washington driver.
20 Seattle Sounders club record for Major League Soccer wins (20-10-4 in 2014).
21 Major league seasons played by Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson after he was cut by the Tacoma Tigers when he attempted to turn pro with the Pacific Coast League club in 1906. The following year, Johnson joined the American League’s Washington Senators and began piling up 110 shutouts (first all-time) and 417 wins (second).
22 Consecutive years the Huskies softball team qualified for the NCAA tournament (every year but the program’s inaugural season of 1993).
23 Points per game (22.9) scored by Eastern Washington guard Tyler Harvey to lead NCAA Division I basketball last season.
24 Pac-12 Conference record for career interceptions, set by WSU’s Lamont Thompson (1997-2001).
25 Victories for local teenager Fred Hutchinson with the PCL’s Seattle Rainiers in 1938. Hutchinson, who attended Franklin High, was 25-7 as a rookie pro and drew overflow crowds to Sicks’ Stadium.
26 Innings pitched by former Gonzaga Bulldog Leon Cadore in a 1920 game between the Brooklyn Robins (now the Los Angeles Dodgers) and the Boston (now Atlanta) Braves. Incredibly, Boston pitcher Joe Oeschger also threw all 26 innings. The game was called due to darkness with the score tied at 1, so neither man earned a win despite setting a major league record for innings pitched.
27 Scoring average for Seattle University’s Elgin Baylor in the 1957-58 NCAA basketball tournament. Baylor was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, but Seattle lost to Kentucky in the championship game. Baylor, a longtime NBA star, is in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
28 Career high for NFL touchdown passes in a season by former Washington State quarterbacks Mark Rypien (1991 with Washington) and Drew Bledsoe (1997 with New England). Rypien attended Shadle Park High in Spokane. Bledsoe is a Walla Walla High alum.
29 Seattle SuperSonics record for points per game in a season (29.2), set by Hall of Famer Spencer Haywood in 1972-73.
30 Shortstop Alex Rodriguez produced the only 30-30 season (30 or more home runs and stolen bases) in Mariners history when he hit 42 homers and stole 46 bases in 1998.
31 Millions of dollars won by Fred Couples on the PGA and Champions tours. Couples, a Golf Hall of Famer who won the 1992 Masters champion, attended O’Dea High in Seattle.
32 Victories for Washington’s 2005 NCAA volleyball champions. The Huskies finished 32-1.
33 Years Bobo Brayton coached baseball at Washington State (1962-94). Brayton, a native of Birdsview (Skagit County) and an All-America shortstop for the Cougars, guided WSU to 21 conference titles.
34 Gonzaga women’s basketball record for points by one player in an NCAA tournament game. Courtney Vandersloot, who starred at Kentwood High in Kent, scored her career-high in an opening-round win over Iowa in 2011.
35 Touchdowns scored by Seahawks star Marshawn Lynch during his three college seasons at California. Lynch scored 46 touchdowns in his first three full seasons with the Seahawks, counting playoff games.
36 World Cup skiing victories for the Mahre twins of White Pass. Phil won 27 races and Steve won nine. Phil captured three World Cup overall titles from 1981-83. Phil and Steve finished 1-2 in the slalom at the 1984 Winter Olympics.
37 Seahawks uniform number of Shaun Alexander, who led NFL rushers with 1,880 yards and 27 touchdowns in 2005. Both marks remain team records.
38 In 1938, former Burlington (now Burlington-Edison) High and WSU star Mel Hein became the only center to win the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award. Hein is a member of the college and pro football halls of fame.
39 PCL record for pitching victories in one season, held by Rube Vickers (1906) of Seattle and Doc Newton (1904) of Los Angeles. Vickers set two other remarkable PCL records in ’06 with 411 strikeouts and 518.2 innings pitched.
40 Career high for home runs by Spokane native Ryne Sandberg (1990). The Hall of Fame second baseman turned down a football scholarship at WSU after starring at quarterback for North Central.
41 Age of longtime Seattle Rainiers pitcher Dick “Kewpie” Barrett when he threw a perfect game against the PCL’s Sacramento Solons in 1948.
42 Record wins for a Huskies softball pitcher in one season, set by Danielle Lawrie during Washington’s national championship season of 2009. Lawrie, the national player of the year, finished 42-8.
43 Professional Bowling Association (PBA) tournaments won by Tacoma’s Earl Anthony, a record that stood for more than 30 years. Anthony now ranks second behind Walter Ray Williams Jr.
44 Consecutive years Bob Robertson has broadcast Washington State football games (since 1972). Robertson also called WSU games from 1964-68, then took a three-year break to broadcast Huskies games due to a contractual obligation with a Seattle radio station. Robertson, who played football at Western Washington, graduated from Blaine High.
45 WSU basketball record for points in one game, set by former Cheney High standout Brian Quinnett against Loyola Marymount in 1986.
46 Regular-season games won by the Seahawks (46-18) the past four years. Only Denver (50-14) and New England (48-16) have more wins.
47 Career-high games played in a major league season by Paul Strand, who played in 194 PCL games when he set the professional baseball record of 325 hits in a season in 1923. Strand, who attended Buckley High, batted .398 for the Salt Lake City Bees. The following year, he hit .228 for the Philadelphia (now Oakland) Athletics, when he played in the final 47 of his 96 major league games.
48 Approximate seconds swam by Bremerton High graduate Nathan Adrian to win the 100-meter freestyle at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. His official time was 47.52.
49 Huskies basketball record for points in a game, set by Bob Houbregs in 1952-53. Houbregs averaged a school-record 25.6 points, led the Huskies to their lone Final Four appearance in the NCAA tournament and became the only Husky to earn national player of the year honors in basketball. The Hall of Famer played high school ball at Queen Anne in Seattle.
50 Seahawks record for career interceptions, held by Dave Brown.
51 Base hits Hollywood actor Kurt Russell collected in 51 games as a pro baseball rookie in the Northwest League in 1971. Russell hit .285 as the NWL all-star second baseman for Bend (OR.), then batted .325 in 29 games with NWL rival Walla Walla in 1972. Injuries and acting conflicts soon brought an end to Russell’s baseball career.
52 Regular-season wins for the 1978-79 Seattle SuperSonics, who won the NBA’s Pacific Division with a 52-30 record en route to their only league championship.
53 Goals scored by Spokane Chiefs center Tyler Johnson in 2010-11, when he led the Western Hockey League. Johnson grew up in the Spokane suburb of Liberty Lake and attended Central Valley High.
54 Victories for the 1946 Spokane Indians (54-78) baseball team, which lost nine players in a fatal bus crash on Snoqualmie Pass. The death toll remains the highest in one incident in U.S. professional sports.
55 Conference wins for Marv Harshman in 13 seasons as Washington State’s basketball coach. Unfazed by Harshman’s 55-76 conference record and 155-181 overall record at WSU, the Huskies wooed Harshman from Pullman in 1971. The Lake Stevens High alum, who starred in basketball and football at Pacific Lutheran (he later coached both teams), went 245-147 in 14 seasons at Washington and is in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
56 Ken Griffey Jr.’s club record for home runs in a single season for the Mariners (1997, 1998).
57 Games needed for Jeanne Eggart to score 1,000 points, the fastest the feat has been accomplished in Washington State women’s basketball history. Eggart, a Walla Walla High graduate, holds numerous WSU records more than three decades after her career ended in 1981-82.
58 Age of Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze, who has won and rode in more horse races than any jockey in North American history. Baze grew up in Yakima, where he posted his first career victory.
59 Huskies softball record for stolen bases in a season, set by Angie Marzetta – now sportscaster Angie Mentink of Root Sports – in 1993.
60 Mariners record for stolen bases in a season, set by Harold Reynolds in 1987.
61 Consecutive-games hitting streak — longest in PCL history — that 18-year-old Joe DiMaggio was building when he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts against Spokane semipro pitcher Eddie Gesselman in a 1933 exhibition game in Spokane. DiMaggio was playing with the San Francisco Seals prior to his Hall of Fame career with the New York Yankees.
62 Length in yards of the longest field goal in Pac-12 history, kicked by WSU’s Jason Hanson in 1991. Hanson, who attended Mead High in Spokane, played 21 years with Detroit in the NFL.
63 All-time ranking for Mariners career wins leader Jamie Moyer in base on balls (1,155). The soft-tossing lefty, who pitched in the majors for 25 years until age 49, ranks 39th in strikeouts (2,441), 35th in victories (269) and first in home runs allowed (522).
64 Consecutive games without a loss for the Huskies football team from 1907-17 (60-0-4). The streak is a major college record. Coach Gil Dobie went undefeated (59-0-3) during his entire stay at Washington, from 1908-16. In fact, Dobie didn’t suffer his first loss as a college football coach until his 71st game. He went 8-0 in two years at North Dakota State prior to coming to Washington, then won his first game with Navy in 1917 before losing the next time out to West Virginia.
65 Sounders record for goals in an MLS season (in 34 games in 2014).
66 Career high for pass attempts in a college game by Washington State’s Drew Bledsoe, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1993 NFL draft. The Cougars have launched 66 or more passes 14 times in 32 games since midway through the 2013 season in coach Mike Leach’s pass-happy offense.
67 Conseutive games won by Bellevue High before losing to Eastside Catholic of Sammamish, 35-13, in the 2014 Class 3A state title game. The winning streak was the nation’s longest active one in prep football, and remains the longest in Washington high school football history.
68 Minor league games played by Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith, all with Walla Walla in the Northwest League in 1977. The following year, the Cal Poly product made the huge jump from short-season Class A to the majors and started all season for the San Diego Padres.
69 Approximate seconds swam by Seattle’s Helene Madison to set an Olympic record in the 100-meter freestyle at Los Angeles in 1932. Madison’s official time of 1:08.8 bettered the previous record by five seconds. The Lincoln (Seattle) High graduate also won gold medals in the 400 freestyle (setting a world record of 5:28.5) and the 400 relay.
70 Games over .500 the Mariners finished in 2001. Manager Lou Piniella’s ballclub went 116-46 to tie the major league record for wins in a season, set by the 1906 Chicago Cubs (116-36).
71 Average number of extra-base hits produced by Earl Averill during his 10 full seasons with the Cleveland Indians (1929-38). The Hall of Fame center fielder came out of Snohomish High.
72 NHL games played by former Gonzaga goaltender Frank McCool before he was forced to retire after two seasons due to ulcers. McCool left school during Gonzaga’s brief run in major college hockey to turn pro with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1944-45. McCool won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year and helped the Leafs capture the Stanley Cup.
73 Stolen bases in 1969 for Tommy Harper, who led the American League while playing for the short-lived Seattle Pilots.
74 Players selected before Seahawks star Russell Wilson went in the third round of the 2012 NFL draft.
75 Years since Washington State won a conference championship in men’s basketball. The Cougars won the Pacific Coast (now Pac-12) Conference and made it to the 1940-41 NCAA title game before losing to Wisconsin. If you think 75 years is a long time for WSU fans to wait for another conference basketball title, consider that it’s been 100 years since the Cougars produced their only Rose Bowl win (14-0 over Brown in 1916).
76 Glen Goodall’s club record for goals in one season for the Seattle Breakers/Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League (1989-90).
77 Strikes thrown by Felix Hernandez (113 total pitches) during his 2012 perfect game against Tampa Bay. It was the 23rd perfect game in major league history, and the only one in Mariners history.
78 Games Mark McGwire played with the Tacoma Tacoma Tigers in his final minor league season in 1986. McGwire, who hit .318 with 13 homers at Tacoma, ranks 10th in major league history with 583 home runs.
79 Amateur bouts Pete Rademacher fought (winning 72, including the 1956 Olympics heavyweight gold medal match) before the Tieton High graduate made his pro debut against Floyd Patterson in a world heavyweight title fight in 1957 in Seattle. Patterson knocked out Rademacher, who played football at WSU, in the sixth round at Sicks’ Stadium.
80 Victories for Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Ray Flaherty (80-37-5 in 11 seasons). Flaherty, a standout two-way end in the NFL after playing at Spokane’s Gonzaga Prep and Gonzaga University, guided the Washington Redskins to NFL championships in 1937 and ’42.
81 Span of days in 1978 when Washington State track star Henry Rono broke world records in the 10,000 meters, the 5,000, the 3,000 and the 3,000 steeplechase.
82 Consecutive games won by the Class B Brewster High boys basketball team from 1974-77. The win streak remains the longest in Washington prep basketball history.
83 In 1983, Spokane’s Tom Sneva won the Indianapolis 500 after three runner-up finishes.
84 Games played by Spokane Comets goaltender Eddie Johnston – every minute of the regular season and playoffs, all without wearing a mask – in the original (pro) WHL in 1961-62.
85 Percentage of games won (.854, counting the playoffs) by the 2010 Seattle Storm. The winning percentage is the highest in Seattle professional sports history. The Storm finished 35-6, including 7-0 in the playoffs, to claim the WNBA championship.
86 Seahawks career record for coaching wins, held by Mike Holmgren (86-74 from 1999-2008).
87 Victories in 91 college wrestling matches for Washington’s Larry Owings, whose 1969-70 NCAA championship resulted in the only college loss by the legendary Dan Gable. The loss, in Gable’s final match at Iowa State, left the wrestling legend with a 181-1 record in high school and college.
88 NFL games (counting the playoffs) played by Turk Edwards, a pro and college football hall of famer out of Clarkston High and Washington State. A two-way tackle, Edwards’ playing career ended in 1940 when his knee collapsed as he turned to head back to the sideline after the pre-game coin toss.
89 Major college record for pass attempts in a game, set by WSU’s Connor Halliday at Oregon in 2013. Halliday, who starred at Ferris High in Spokane, also tied the completions record of 58 and passed for 557 yards in a 62-38 loss.
90 Touchdown passes thrown by Vernon Adams Jr. in his two full seasons as a starter at Eastern Washington (2013-14). Adams threw 26 TD passes during an injury-plagued senior season at Oregon.
91 Games played by the 1990-91 Spokane Chiefs hockey team en route to the Memorial Cup title. The Memorial Cup tournament determines the major junior (20-and-under) champions of North America.
92 Major league wins recorded by Vean Gregg, who won 20 or more games in each of his first three seasons in the majors. Gregg spent much of his youth in the Chehalis and Clarkston areas. After his impressive start with the Cleveland Indians, arm problems shortened his career. He had a 92-63 record.
93 Largest margin of victory for a Huskies basketball team. Washington laid the wood to College of Puget Sound, 100-7, in 1921.
94 Wins for the 1970 Spokane Indians, led by future Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda. Spokane finished 94-52 and won the PCL title. Key players included longtime major leaguers Steve Garvey, Bill Buckner, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, Doyle Alexander and Charlie Hough.
95 Career hits in the big leagues for the Mariners’ five first-round draft picks (all position players) in the five amateur drafts held from January 1978 to January 1980. Only Jim Maler and Al Chambers reached the majors.
96 Points scored in the regular season by Spokane Flyers scoring leader Roy McBride in 1948-49, when the Flyers won the U.S. senior amateur hockey championship. Spokane teams later won four Allan Cups as the first U.S.-based senior amateur champions of North America.
97 Seahawks career record for quarterback sacks (97.5), held by Jacob Green.
98 Total yards produced by Eastern Washington in the first 2½ quarters of the 2010 Football Championship Subdivision (formerly NCAA Division I-AA) title game. The Eagles rallied from a 19-0 deficit in the final 17 minutes to beat Delaware, 20-19.
99 Uniform number worn by Seahawks defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy in 1992 as a tribute to Philadelphia Eagles star Jerome Brown, who died in a car accident that year. Kennedy and Brown were friends since playing together in college at Miami. Kennedy, who wore No. 96 during his 10 other NFL seasons (all with the Seahawks), won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award wearing No. 99.
100 Seahawks record for career touchdown catches, set by Hall of Famer Steve Largent from 1976-89.
8 Comments
Appreciate the Metropolitans picture leading things off. Still holding out tiny bit of hope the NHL returns to the Emerald City.
I think Howie covered a whole lot of ground on both sides of the state.
Couple of boo-boos in this fun piece. Pic shows Tez wearing 96 and the cut line says he wore 96 in honor of Jerome Brown, contrary to the text and the facts. The numbers for the UW’s unbeaten streak don’t match either the cut line of the Dobie pic or the boldface numbers in the text. The Dobie pic # is doubtless HIS record as UW coach.
Fun piece this is, though.
Thanks, Pix. Fixed. Dobie’s undefeated streak is 70, which is a new/corrected entry. He was 8-0 in North Dakota, 58-0-3 at UW and won his 1917 opener at Navy before losing to W. Va. The cutline was correct.
excellent article, very interesting, thanks! I learned a lot too, which is saying something, given how closely I seem to follow Seattle sports, at least according to the rest of the family.
Glad you enjoyed. Yell your friends.
Glen Goodall had a fabulous scoring career with the Thunderbirds, but had the misfortune to be a generous 5’9″ when the NHL preferred hulks. If he were playing today, with the pros limiting the clutch-and-grab strategies and small guys like Tyler Johnson succeeding, I’d be willing to bet he’d have a good career here instead of playing in Germany’s league as he ended up doing.
Pretty cool list!