Prep Football Shrine Inducts Three, Including Richland’s Rish
Of three coaches inducted into the Washington State Football Coaches Hall of Fame on Monday, the one with the fewest victories is the only one with a field named after him.
Fran Rish, who coached at Richland for two decades, was honored at the Hall of Fame luncheon with Bob Colleran of Clover Park and Gary Moore of Issaquah.
The ceremony was held at Cavanaugh’s River Inn and helped kick off a week of activities that culminates with the East-West Summer Classic at Albi Stadium Friday night at 7:30.
Rish played at Washington State College and coached there before going into the service during World War II. Afterward, he went to Richland and put together 12 consecutive winning seasons, beginning in 1948. From 1946 through 1966, his teams went 106-63-10, winning eight championships. In 1983, Bomber Bowl was renamed Fran Rish Stadium.
“I can’t accept the honor for myself,” he said. “There have been so many players, assistant coaches, administrators and family (who have helped).”
Colleran played at Prosser and WSU and was an assistant coach at Pacific Lutheran, North Thurston and Clover Park before becoming a head coach. From 1972-93, Clover Park went 123-92 with five South Puget Sound titles and six second-place finishes.
His philosophy, he said, “isn’t getting the points on the board … basically it’s what you put on the field.”
Moore’s teams went 137-72-3 in 21 years at Issaquah with a second-place finish in 1980. He was so popular in Issaquah that after retiring in 1984 he was talked into returning as head coach in 1988 and after re-retiring again in 1990, he returned to coach the defense.
“I’m glad I’m done coaching,” he said, “to end it with this award is icing on the cake.”
The coaches also presented their Gold and Silver helmet awards.
The Gold Helmet, to a long-time contributor, was given to Medical Lake assistant Larry Petersen. A Wallace and University of Idaho graduate, Petersen has been an assistant at Medical Lake for 30 years.
“I got into coaching to help kids,” he said. “I didn’t get into this for a plaque, but it validates what you do.”
The Silver Helmet Award is given to a member of the media. This year’s recipient is Jeff Jordan, sports editor of The Spokesman-Review. Jordan began covering high school sports in Spokane more than 25 years ago.
The football teams are practicing twice a day at Gonzaga University. The practices, open to the public, go from 9-11 a.m. and 3-5 p.m. The players are to visit the Shrine Hospital this afternoon before practice.
The coaches association clinic is Thursday and Friday. Among the speakers are Mike Walker, Bill Doba and Jim Zeches of WSU, and Paul Wulff and Mike Kramer of Eastern Washington University. Wednesday is a sports medicine clinic.
, DataTimes